Category: startup tips

Discover the Power of Day 1 Thinking

Dieting and business have a lot in common - they both rely on systems that seek to scale results. They both share a common flaw: unproductivity due to complacency.

Have you had a friend on a diet who does an intense workout and then eats pizza and ice cream? "Oh well, I've already exercised so I can cheat a little."

Except - this path leads towards homeostasis rather than progress.

Many times we take greater risks once we feel safe or protected which leads to more accidents and actually increases risk. This is called Risk compensation.

Risk compensation is a theory which suggests that people typically adjust their behavior in response to the perceived level of risk, becoming more careful where they sense greater risk and less careful if they feel more protected (source).

(Read the last blog for a guide on what to charge for your services here)

Risk Homeostasis initially proposed in 1982 by Gerald J. S. Wilde, a professor at Queen's University in Canada, suggests people weigh the expected costs and benefits of safer and riskier behaviour before taking a riskier behavior.

Expected benefits of risky behavior (e.g., gaining time by speeding, fighting boredom, increasing mobility)

Expected costs of risky behavior (e.g., speeding tickets, car repairs, insurance surcharges)

Expected benefits of safe behavior (e.g., insurance discounts for accident-free periods, enhancement of reputation of responsibility)

Expected costs of safe behavior (e.g., using an uncomfortable seat belt, being called a coward by one's peers, time loss)

In a Munich study, part of a fleet of taxicabs were equipped with anti-lock brakes (ABS), and afterwards the cabs with the ABS had more accidents than the cabs without ABS.

Munich Cabbie Results

The idea Wilde has about this is that cab drivers, feeling more protected, took more risks. Their corresponding behavior change canceled any benefit from the safety measures by ABS.

The Challenger rocket exploded because the managers at NASA felt like the 2nd O-rings were enough to not look closer at the potential for catastrophes despite warnings from engineers at NASA that the rocket wasn't safe to launch.

The Danger of Complacency

At the heart of this, is the dangerous toxin of complacency.

It's just as much a risk in dieting and getting complacent that you've "put your steps in" so can cheat on your diet - leading to a permanent stalemate to getting into better shape - as it is for businesses.

Businesses that want to grow, become profitable and then after becoming profitable often stop innovating their processes, addicted to old systems that no longer work.

"Hey it worked before why not just stick to what's working?"

That kind of thinking crashed Kodak and many more businesses. It's why mid-level managers are still dealing with employees who hate their jobs.

There isn't any intrinsic value in the work being done that is cultivated. I left working at Facebook because there wasn't any investment in the employees to cultivate more skill sets for vertical rather than lateral promotions.

Many companies like Facebook completely lack professional development - it's all about a high turn over rate because they feel if they invested more into their employees they'd have to pay them more.

Yet, this short-term thinking misses the elephant in the center of the room: work avoidance, extrinsically motivated employees don't give it their all, more mistakes are made, no learning from the mistakes is done because the staff feels unsupported - this all costs companies millions of dollars in loss of revenue from inefficiency.

If a startup - or any business - stops looking for ways to improve their systems and relies only on techniques, they will stop winning over the competition and decline.

This advice goes for continuing to be a good friend, a good husband, a good business partner, a good son to your mother (said from my perspective as a guy).

A good athlete doesn't stop training just because the race is over.

It's Day 1 Every Day

In every annual letter to the Amazon shareholders, Jeff Bezos writes the enigmatic line:

"It remains Day 1."

After saying this for years, Bezos after being questioned on what it meant said,

"Day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always Day 1."

We have to keep creating thought experiments, AB testing, surveying our target audience, studying the competition, taking moonshots, reframing problems, testing as we fly and using first-principle thinking as Elon Musk did creating SpaceX.

Ultimately there isn't a magic bullet. No secret handshakes or magic pill that makes you a millionaire. You have to start thinking like a millionaire and study how and why successful launches worked and what didn't work about them.

Use this data as more than a way to brag at cocktail parties about what you know and have learned. Use this data to calibrate your next moves in business and beyond.

You're directing your own movie - creating the cast, the plot and the ending. What story does it tell?

Comment below!

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How Much Should You Charge for Your Services – Answered

How much should you charge for your services? For startup founders, pricing is a four-letter word - many get nervous charging higher prices and low-ball their own offers when starting out.

When I started my first Facebook policy expertise business I simply accepted what other businesses offered to pay me - which often wasn't as much as this type of exclusive-working-at-facebook-in-depth-knowledge was worth.

It is challenging to put a price tag on intangible items like connections, knowledge and time.

(Read the last blog for a guide to social media marketing here)

Yet if you are selling a product, setting a price seems a bit easier because you have very clear numbers to take into consideration, such as cost of manufacturing, packaging, shipping.

As an executive business consultant I've talked with tons of entrepreneurs and wantrapreneurs who had pricing their services as a big pain point. Women who are startup founders especially found it challenging to charge based on what they are worth.

Googling Won't Provide the Answer This Time Here's Why

One of the reasons why it is hard on folks to determine what to charge for their services - in the consulting sphere - is that we have been trained to run in the rat race maze after the all mighty paycheck.

The old way of thinking that business schools teach is a standard formula for determining an hourly rate: Add up your labor and overhead costs, add the profit you want to earn, then divide the total by your hours worked.

If you try and google how much you should charge for your services as an entrepreneur, you'll find outdated advice that won't serve you well on your journey into owning and running a startup consultancy.

Google search results

Sites will tell you to add up:

Time you spend at work even if you’re not actually working, including travel
Your commute
Time you spend working at home
Time you spend working when you’re theoretically not working
Calculate your actual hourly rate

But this type of advice comes from the first industrial revolution, working in a factory, eating lunch when the whistle blows - not from the reality of what it means to run your own business and solve problems for customers and other companies that cost them a lot of time and money.

The value of the time you saved a company, who didn't have the solution you offer, can be exponential.

In a nutshell, value is based on figuring out how much people are willing to pay for your service.

Just asking isn't likely going to work because people rarely have an idea of what they're willing to pay, but offering 3 different tiers from low, medium to high helps you use the Sanders 2-Option close to make a sale.

Dan Kennedy has some great advice for determining what you charge for your services. This is an excerpt from his book No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs:

"Now, you may not have a situation that lends itself to clear-cut billable hours as I do, so how can this strategy work for you? It has to. It's even more important to you than to me."

"Let's say you own six stores and each store has a manager. You'll have to decide how much of the business's bottom-line profit goal will be provided by the managers and how much is still inextricably linked to you. If you want $500,000 at the bottom line, and you figure half is dependent on you, you've got a $250,000 target."

It's sort of like a heart attack being required to really get somebody to change their eating and exercise habits. A lot of your decision making gets easy with this number staring you in the face. It's hard to con yourself with this number confronting you."

"In fact, I suggest having it stare you in the face a lot until you internalize it. Write your number "$____ per Hour" on a bunch of colorful four x 6-inch cards in bold black letters and stick these cards up in places where you work and will see them often."

"Generally speaking, with this number confronting you, two business life changes probably come to mind immediately. First, you realize you've got to surround yourself with people who understand and respect the value of your time and behave accordingly. This isn't easy, and they'll forget often because familiarity breeds contempt. Periodically, you'll have to re-orient them. You also must get people who don't respect the value of your time out of your business life. If you let people who don't understand and respect the value of your time hang around, you won't even have a fighting chance."

"Second, you have to eliminate the need for doing -- or you need to delegate -- those tasks and activities that just cannot and do not match up with the mandated value of your time."

Charge Based on Value

You want to charge based on value not an hourly rate, once you realize your value to your target audience (ideally not starving artists) you can walk customers up the value ladder from intro offers to premium services.

While I do have hourly rates, 99% of my clients are choosing packages at a higher price point for facebook policy expertise.

The higher price point usually equals more dedication from your clients, less flakiness - they invested more than the $20/month gym membership they never use and thus are more committed to getting the results of their investment.

Also, another side benefit of charging based on your value and a transformation rather than 'market rates' from a google search is you attract more clients in that income bracket rather than using hope marketing ("broke marketing").

But I think the first step is to realize your own worth, because we first have to overcome the mental block we are worth what we charge.

How did you come up with the prices you charge for your services? Comment below!

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5 Quick SEO Tips – How to Increase Your Search Rank Result

SEO basics: Five tips & best practices to consider for your website

SEO explained

Here is an SEO starter guide for those who want the benefits of search engine optimization without spending hours googling and guessing. Let's get started!

Provide useful product or service information

Step 1: Discover What Your Audience is Googling

If you don’t know what your audience is googling you can’t optimize your site, so here is an easy way to find that out.

Imagine you are one of your customers, and start entering in search terms. It seems pretty easy but you’d be surprised how many people don’t experiment with googling things first.

Use short and meaningful page titles and headings

Let’s say you own an Italian restaurant in San Francisco. Now imagine you’re in San Fran, you’re hungry for some pasta or authentic Italian pizza - what would you google?

* Italian restaurants in San Francisco
* Bay area Italian food
* Best Italian restaurant in the Mission District

You now have some of your first search terms. Are these the best search terms with the highest search volume? Maybe, let’s do some more research.

Include details about your business

a) Find The Commonly Used Keywords For Your Business

Searching Google for Italian restaurants in SF produces many results:

Glancing at the search results you can see key phrases used, “Italian restaurant” and “San Francisco” as well as “Italian food.” The reason why we’re seeing this is because websites are using title tags to rank in search results.

We can also see Italian restaurants appear in “best of” lists for more than one website, which may be a good idea to include somewhere on your website, if you’re the owner of an Italian restaurant.

Check image and video tags

Search engines might not always interpret images or videos in the same way people do, so it’s important to use words to help the search engine understand these items. Make sure you adjust the "alt =" text of your images to reflect the keyword you're targeting.

Use descriptions that your potential customers can relate to

b) Find Out New Ways Your Customers Search for the Same Topic

You’ll want to use a Keyword Explorer tool, there are a few free ones on the net, or you can pay for one on sites like SEM Rush, ahrefs, and moz.com I believe offers a free one after you create a profile on their website.

This is where you'll discover more keywords, rated by their search volume and a few other long-tail keywords which consist of entire phrases versus just one or two words.

Knowing these gives you the sense of how people are searching in different ways for the same thing.

c) Research Related Subjects & Themes in Your Niche

You can increase your search rank results by blogging about topics in your niche, increasing the amount of keywords your site ranks for.

But, this won’t be any good, if you’re just guessing and writing content. I’ve heard of more than one person that complains, “Well I’m producing tons of content but nothing ever happens!”

That’s because you need to produce content that is optimized for search engines based on what words your customers are already using.

Going to forums, Quora, Reddit, Facebook groups and finding out what phases your potential customers are using is a great way to create a word bank to fill your blogs with.

Another pro tip is to find pain points and solve them on your website or IRL for your Italian restaurant in this hypothetical example.

Eg: people complain there's no seating at other Italian restaurants - you add an outside patio area and mention on your site, "Unlike other Italian restaurants that don't have seating you'll always have a spot in our new patio area.

You can even subscribe to podcasts by authority figures in your vertical and write down keywords you hear coming up again and again.

Step 2: Optimize Your Website Pages for Search

Make sure your website looks good on mobile and use the data you’ve found from the previous steps in this article to add those keywords and long-tail phrases to pages on your site.

Always start with a keyword phrase at the beginning of paragraphs and in titles or headings on your website.

You can use free and paid plugins on WordPress to optimize your site even more, like the Yoast SEO plugin.
Step 3: Create Content With Search Intent in Mind

There are 3 main search intents when folks are googling:

Navigational: They’re looking for a specific website, e.g., ‘Italian restaurant’
Informational: Looking to learn more about a specific topic, e.g., ‘Italian restaurants in SF’
Transactional: They’re looking to purchase a specific product/service, e.g., ‘book a table in San Francisco’

Typically, informational searches rank the highest with Google - but research your field and back it up with proof.

Step 4: Design Snappy Clean Short Website URLs

Google’s bots crawl website URLs in addition to content on your site. That being said, you want to make sure you get this one optimized from the get go without changing
it later.

The simpler and topic-based URL you have, the better SEO results you’re going to get. This means no long numbers in your URLs, but short URLs that have a major keyword in it will work best.

eg: /italian-restaurant-SF

Step 5: A Few Bonus SEO Tips

Make sure your website loads fast, and install an SSL certificate, which means your site has an HTTPS instead of HTTP.

What's your niche? Comment below!

New Solution to Facebook Ad Policy Violations

After years of working at Facebook, I understand exactly what ad copy in your funnel is triggering the automations and how to get compliant. I'm a Facebook ad policy specialist and can audit your funnel, and share what to say that Facebook wants to see instead - but just isn't telling you.

Want to book a call to talk to Facebook and get results? Get solid answers directly from the source instead of guessing, googling and playing roulette? Schedule a call with me and I can easily tell you proven reasons why the automations flag you and how to become compliant.

You'll be swapping out walking in a minefield of ad flags, to have a sure path to having your Facebook ad accounts protected from being disabled. My clients have included social media marketing agencies of Tony Robbins, Harv Eker and Dean Graziosi. I'm featured on the Queen of Facebook Mari Smith's Marketing Essentials Course.

Save energy and money - how much is it costing you to not know why Facebook is shutting you down? My calendar is here.

I get 100s of emails a week from businesses and advertisers asking for help when their facebook ad account keeps getting disabled, so my calendar gets booked fast. But if you want to get to the front, you can pre-pay for a consulting session here: Book a call

If you want to skip the line before this offer ends, immediately secure an expert-level Facebook consulting call from someone at Facebook. Book a call with me now! If you're ok with waiting a bit longer, and entering the waitlist to see if you're eligible - Schedule a call or contact me via email.

How To Use The Einstein Technique of Combinatory Play

Have you hit a brick wall inventing a new product, trying to create a strategy for your business or personal life and felt like you're out of ideas?

You're not alone, we all get "writer's block" brainstorming how to solve persistent problems. Whether that's how to rise above the competition, fighting custody battles in split families, or creating your unique selling proposition for your service, product or business as a whole.

There is a technique that can help you break past this like the Kool-Aid Man bursting through bricks.

It's using an unrelated activity to stimulate your brain to make new connections. Einstein called this technique, thinking outside the box, but playing with multiple boxes: "Combinatory play," which he felt was essential to productive thinking.

Combinatory play means to explore a diverse collection of concepts and ideas, finding the common thread between many dissimilar fields.

Using this technique the big picture becomes more than just the sum of many different parts and it also diversifies your thinking through cross-pollination of many varied interests.

Einstein would take a break when working on a physics problem to play violin, as his form of combinatory play. On those days when Einstein would get stuck, he'd set aside his work and play the violin for a few hours.

During that break he'd suddenly get an idea that would help make a new connection to move forward on the problem at hand. Just like that.

Galileo often would spot mountains on the Moon due to his training in painting and drawing giving him a greater understanding of shading in the dark and bright regions of a landscape.

Albert Einstein first coined the phrase combinatory play in a letter to French mathematician Jacques Hadamard, but it's been used throughout history.

Taking a bath helped Archimedes discover the principle of buoyancy,Leonardo da Vinci studied placentas of calfs, jaws of crocodiles, muscles of a face, the light of the Moon, and the edge of shadows.

Einstein drew inspiration from David Hume, a Scottish philosopher who was one of the first to question the absolute nature of space and time.

Charles Darwin studied geology and economics to develop his theory of evolution.

David Bowie used a custom-developed computer program called the Verbalizer. He'd input sentences from journal entries and news articles which the Verbalizer would mix and match together.

He'd use these bizarre combinations as inspiration for writing song lyrics.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin who created Google, combined the frequency of citations used an academic paper in order to demonstrate its popularity to the internet on how many other sites link to one specific site.

This idea is what led to creating Google.

Netflix creator Reed Hastings combined the subscription model from his gym membership to video rentals after getting high late fees renting Apollo 13.

Why We Get Stuck in the First Place

When we get used to thinking in a certain way about a particular issue or problem we're trying to solve, our brain maps this pathway through our neurons.

Our brains are always working for order and predictability, and can get pretty set in non-productive routines.

When we see something novel, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) part of our brain is wired to review old rules and apply them to the new situation. Our brains do not want to create new ways if it can help it.

While going back to familiar paths can work for things we automate like driving and eating, it can also restrict our creativity. So it's necessary to take a break from this part of our brain if we want to create new solutions.

This is where combinatory play can help us do this by relaxing our mind.

3 Steps to Start Combinatory Play

1. Do Something New: Let Your Guard Down to Let in New Ideas

Next time you're stuck try doing a new unrelated activity. We stress ourselves out trying to solve problems and when we switch gears to a new unrelated activity, it lowers our guard to let a free flow of new ideas, through new neural pathways be created.

2. Combine 2 Unrelated Activities Together

Playful creativity combines 2 known ideas to make a 3rd new idea possible. Doing unrelated activities with the intention of learning a new path or method for solving a problem stimulates our creativity in a fresh way. This works subconsciously so if you don't get the "ah ha" moment right away - no worries it will come.

3. Switching Point of Views is Revealing

Just like having a business consultant helps you see the same issue through new eyes, switching your own perspective through combinatory play will lead to new angles being revealed.

Try walking around your mental room and seeing the same issue from an avatar's perspective. Create a persona of another person in a new niche and think of how they would view the same issue you're looking at.

Just as different countries may be decoupling their technology, you are decoupling neural pathways that are so used to the same thoughts you get stuck.

The next time you're wanting a new break through try doing something completely different to cross-train your brain. Trello's blog has some great suggestions here:

"Take a page out of the athlete’s playbook and cross train your brain. An Olympic runner doesn’t prepare for her next competition by simply running laps on the track; she pursues other physical activities such as swimming, weight training, or even pilates, for example."

"Each cross-training activity works a different, but complementary, part of the body that will help her get stronger in her event overall. The same goes for your brain. If you’re a novelist, try your hand at poetry. If you’re a painter, dabble in sculpting. If you’re a computer scientist, play around with web design."

Taking a nap and getting into REM sleep has shown to produce new ideas just as doing something, intentionally mundane can free your self-imposed stress up allowing the brain to wander.

That's how NASA engineer James H. Crocker fixed the distorted lens of the Hubble Telescope. He saw the European shower head in his German hotel was adjustable to fit different heights.

Crocker realized that, by using that same concept, NASA could make an automated device to reach inside Hubble and install corrective optics.

A Visual Combinatory Play Activity

Make two lists of 10 objects each on the left and right sides of the paper. Pick one from the left and combine it with one on the right. Play with the combinations until you find a promising new combination, then refine and elaborate it into a new invention.

Combining bagel with slicer yields a bagel slicer with plastic sides designed to hold the bagel and prevent rotation when slicing.

Suntan lotion and insect repellent combines to form a new product —one lotion that protects against both the sun and insects.

Cell phone and soda can inspire the idea of utilizing cell phones as devices that, with sensors, would enable users to dispense soda and other products from vending machines with the expense charged back to the vendor via the carrier.

Closing Thoughts - See Similarities in Different Things

The act alone of comparing and combining different things will inspire new ways of thinking. However, you can fast-track this by intentionally seeking to see the similarities between different ideas and activities.
Don't expect this to be a perfect fit, but you will develop new neural pathways to lead to your Eureka moment.

So for closing thoughts, I suggest you pick up a book or magazine about a subject you know nothing about. Go to another niche's business conference, and make friends with people from all types of professions, interests and backgrounds.

Initiate a conversation and ask people, "What's the most fascinating thing you're working on right now?"

When you hit that writer's block for creating anything new, ask,

"What different type of industry has faced something like this before? How did they solve it?"

You may just strike inspiration to create the next blockbuster for your business, and at the very least you'll keep moving forward, progressing your business to the next level.

So let me ask: What's the most interesting thing you're working on right now?

. . .

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How To Think Like A Winner

"The greatest obstacle to discovering was not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin

How many businesses have closed their doors since March 2020? Over 100,000 according to the Washington Post.

While there are certain obstacles that can't be overcome due to restrictions the government has chosen to apply to cities across the world, there is also a deeper rooted problem in how businesses think about change & admitting there may be a better way of doing things.

Why did Blockbuster go out of business despite Reed Hasting offering to sell Netflix to Blockbuster in the Y2K year of 2000, for $50 million dollars? According to Forbes, Netflix is now valued at $194 billion dollars.

It was time for a change from the old guard to the new guard, but Blockbuster fell behind because they were attached to old ideas and processes and a pretense of knowledge about their audience.

The artifice of knowledge (eg we already know it all) closes our perception from new signals from outside sources that are the catalyst for growth and opportunity.

If you'll look at any recent political issue, you can see people prefer mentally vivid images versus accurate data. The images stick with us, everyone loves a good story. But doing the legwork to verify the claims made by memes-gone-viral that doesn't interest us.

More than ever, most stuck with their habit, and routine even when the advantages of changing far outweigh the cost.

Established routines in our lives and in the businesses we work at and run can often obscure the chance to improve on the design.

When we look at processes themselves, we see that they are by definition created to solve yesterday's problems. And yet the world keeps changing with new problems but many processes stay the same.

Countless people are applying for unemployment right now, and in the state of Texas the Texas Workforce Commission's website is woefully out of date.

Many are denied claims because of this outdated technology, and the same goes for veterans who gave their eyesight, life or a limb in service of their country.

Yet VA benefits are withheld, or backlogged on a pen and pad not computerized so long that Vets often die before getting the benefits they need to survive. Especially now.

The DMV is the same way. As are many other industries. And it comes down to a way of thinking.

If we don't question the processes we are using, and treat processes like a religion, this can get in the way of progress and forward momentum.

The heart of many large organizations becomes clogged with antiquated procedures that serve no one, and benefit only those too lazy to examine what can be done that's better.

Sometimes it's important to simply ask:

"Do we own the processes we use or do the processes we use own us?"

It's easier to conform ourselves to doing things the same way they've always been done.

In fact there is even scientific data showing that fighting against the urge to conform activates the amygdala and produces pain to think independently.

One of the ways we can break free of being slaves to outdated processes that hurt our businesses like Blockbuster adhering to an unsustainable business model, is by breaking things down to their essence and shifting perspectives.

In my Elon Musk blog about First-Principles thinking, I discussed how Musk used this way of thinking to create SpaceX, reducing the cost of buying a rocket by creating a company that built and launched rockets.

Right now more than ever we need to be on the balls of our feet, ready to adapt to sudden changes in the market. I have an exercise that will you help develop first-principles thinking for your business.

Take 1 day out of your week to question what seems obvious. Question all the foregone conclusions about how things are and how they are supposed to be.

Question all the assumptions you have ingrained as just facts of life, about your business and your goals.

Question these assumptions to expose the invisible limitations that control your life and impose artificially low ceilings to what you can achieve.

With each presumption you have, ask yourself:

"How could this be different?"

"What if the way I do this was better, what would that look like?"

"Why are we doing things this way?"

"Can I replace this process with a better one? Or get rid of this process all together?"

Make sure to support your new ideas with current evidence which demonstrates feasibility, not just outdated ideas from last year's playbook.

Many of the limitations and many of the processes we created were made in response to problems that don't even exist anymore.

When we remain stuck in the perpetual unchanging loop of old processes, we don't act. When we refuse to act we become attached to the mirage of our self-importance.

New thinking risks our old image of ourselves and our business. It risks admitting we may not be as self-important as we thought, if we can find a new way to do things better than your last year's you had created.

Is it worth the risk? Well you can be broke with your pride intact like Blockbuster, or risk feeling a little less self-important with more disposable income, because you chose to re-think a better way of doing business.

And it isn't just business. You can apply this way of thinking to find the source material inside you to become the architect of the new you.

You'll have to let go of how self-important you felt about the old model but it is often required to move beyond tactics to using a winning strategy.

There is a much greater risk involved in remaining stagnant, and not acting. We've all seen massive changes since the historic COVID-19 stay-at-home orders in March this year were dictated. Trillions lost in the stock market.

Those who learned how to think about their business differently survived. But you can't just think outside the box. You have to walk around the box and say,

"If I wanted to destroy my company what would I do?"

This will let you find out ways your competition is succeeding that you aren't and ways to put redundancies in to safe guard against new market changes which threaten to destabilize an industry.

Thinking this way allows you to stay ahead of the curve. When looking at a more successful business in your niche, ask yourself - thinking about your competition's customers:

"Why are they making this decision?"

It's because they believe in something you don't, finding what that is, and adapting it for your business - or better yet creating an improved model for that which is even better - is how you stay in business.

What's a new way you can do business? Comment below!

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Is Facebook not explaining why they disapproved an ad?
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5 Business Tips Every Business Owner Should Know

One of the biggest challenges owning a business is being a specialist in your own field, but a complete newb on the skills for managing a business and scaling it.

You can dodge the bullet of making common mistakes many startup founders make by reading the following 5 tips every business owner should know.

1. Learn to Make Definite Decisions

One of the biggest ways to fail in business is being indecisive. Not making a decision is a decision too and can hurt your momentum as well as create new problems. Getting crystal clear on what your business does and what it doesn't do will help you refine your process and get-er-done much faster.

2. Study Your Competition

Be aware of your competition and either reverse engineer their successful tactics, improve upon them or use first principle thinking to overcome where they offer something better than your company does.

3. Know the Marketplace and Define Clear KPIs

A successful business needs data on who their target audience is, market trends, current competition and expected growth in supply and demand.

Glossing over this can be a fatal flaw where an entrepreneur bases a whole business model on an audience that doesn't actually exist.

Don't make that mistake. Do careful, detailed and written down market research from the jump.

You need to be clear on the 4 Ps: product, price, promotion, and place. They can navigate the creation of your market research, marketing plan, and customer avatars, and serve as a great jumping-off point if you're not certain where to start.

4. Learn How To Write & Read Good Contracts

Whether it's an NDA, non-compete or a marketing proposal you're presenting or receiving this is another overlooked skill that can be developed with a little googling. (Here are 12 Elements Every Marketing Contract Should Have)

The more proficient you become at writing agreements and reading them (or outsourcing this to your lawyer) the better business you'll be able to do.

5. Consistently Improve One Thing Everyday

Consistency is the key to growth and learning how to adapt to new and changing markets. Find out which processes work well, optimize them and look for ways to improve them. Daily.

While it may seem like a lot to ask, to improve one thing everyday it could simply come down to improving how you make your first cup of coffee, getting consistent wake up and sleep times to increase productivity, using tools like Evernote to schedule meetings and times when you put the nose to the grind stone to churn out new ideas for your business.

All these little things add up to create the momentum that carries you forward to the next gen level of what your business is able to accomplish - as long as you are consistently mentally looking for ways to up the ante.

It is as much an attitude as it is a daily ritual. Reviewing your day's tasks at the end of the day and seeing what you've got done adds to the feeling of completeness, helps remind you of things you forgot to do, and shifts from the frantic overwhelm to an organized plan of attack for the next day's activities.

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Prediction: Post C-19 Lockdowns The Experience Economy Will Boom

You just got finished checking your phone, perhaps your stocks, but you're tired of staring at screens and the feeling of cabin fever rages inside, because you've been inside too long.

Government mandated shutdown orders have created a new socially-distanced social life that is driving a hunger for more that will explode into the experience economy.

Many experiences that are tactile, memorable and real have become 10Xs more valuable than possessions as we battle adapting to this new way of life.

As stated in previous blogs, I predict life will return back to more of a normal setting by the end of 2021 - let's hope I'm right. Until then, everyone wants what they can't have: real life experiences outside the home.

Pre-covid retailers capitalized on the trend of marketing to the experience economy drive. Starbucks notably made a lot of money extending the familiarity of a local coffee shop to the global scale.

Take another example, Cabela's for instance. This outdoor retailer transformed their showrooms into quasi-outdoor adventures complete with waterfalls.

There are smart bathrooms in Westfield shopping centers and sensory gardens which are gardens that have a collection of plants which are appealing to one or more of the five senses; sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch.

My prediction: Emerging from the 2020 Covid lockdown, people will super charge the experience economy due to 365 days of being inside more than out socializing.

The experience economy will start booming - it already is as mentioned in the Airbnb blog post where rural Airbnbs made $200 million just this past June.

Hot air balloon rides, outdoor events, fishing trips, nature, water, sky, bars, restaurants, sports are all going to be poised to make significant profits once everything re-opens to full capacity.

No amount of AI Amazon Go Stores, Echo auto ordered products, smart cars and drone delivered pizza can equal human interaction (although drone delivered pizza does seem pretty cool):

Once either society returns to normal socializing or we adapt better as a whole to reduced capacity socializing and the public space becomes used again, millions of people will be on the edge of their seats to get out of the house and start living life again.

If you haven't invested either in stocks of an existing experience-economy company or in starting your own experienced-based company -- now is the time.

Even right now, creating companies that offer in person real life experiences with Covid-19 adapted processes, you stand to make a pretty penny as consumers look for alternatives to staring at Zoom screens 24/7.

Comment below on an experience-based purchase you made in the last 3 years that you really enjoyed!

For me it was a trip to Hawaii, what about you?

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How to Use Apple’s Stock App

Source: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stocks/id1069512882

Apple has a great Stocks app which assists investors with prices updated in real time as well as a consistent stream of news articles from many media sources.

This is helpful because while you will have your standard lineup of stocks you can check prices at a glance with, you'll also be able to customize your stocks with new additions.

Say for instance you're on reddit financial threads or talking with a business partner about an exciting new stock, you can add this one to your roster here for it's history, prices and anything else you'd like to follow up with.

The Easy Process of Apple Stock Price Checking

First step is just opening up your Apple Stocks App.

You'll see the indices and funds with a standard stock lists that often begin with the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 for example.

Right after these, you're probably going to see Apple Inc following those indices.

How to use Stocks app on iPhone 1.PNG — The stock stats for the day are @ the Apple Stock app's home page.

To view more stock prices simply scroll down
Tap on a stock to get more info

You'll see the chart displaying a stocks price for the day once you tap on it
Timeline options: Simply click on a measurement of time like a month or 6 months and more times frames to gauge the trending prices for a span of time.

Apple Stocks Media Intel

There's a handy section called "Business News" that you can tap on at the bottom to view the top stories in business that Apple News displays

How to add new stocks

1. Click on the search bar at the top:

How to use Stocks app on iPhone 4 — Just like Google search bars type search terms here for stocks

2. Type in the stock ticker symbol for a stock you want to see.

3. Tap on the stock you want to look at. Make sure to click on the right stock and correct exchange.

4. After the stock chart comes up, you can see all of the info just like with the stocks on your standard list.

5. Click on the add button located in the top right hand side to add this stock to your roster

Simple Steps for Removing Stocks

1. Press the edit button in the top right corner of the app's home screen.

2. Just tap the minus sign next to the prices you want to remove then "Done"

Here's a list of promising tech stocks in 2020:

Top Tech Stocks for September 2020

If you're applying First Principle Thinking described in my last blog you're full of ideas for improving your business & investments. So which stocks are you excited on investing in?

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How Elon Musk Uses The Power of 1st Principle Thinking

Credit: Tech Insider/Recode/NASA

While Amazon & eBay are killing it in the ecom sphere, Elon Musk is crushing it in a real life Tony Stark way.

Musk co-founded PayPal, created and owns Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and The Boring Company that's working on hyperloop trains to go from New York to Washington in 29 minutes.

So how does a private citizen compete with NASA and launch his own rocket into space?

It starts with rejecting everything you've ever learned. Doubting the conclusions about everything concerning a problem you're trying to solve until all you're left with is the distilled truth.

Most companies in the beginning have experimental phases, where intrinsic motivation and curiosity drives most of their innovation.

But what happens over time? Processes form and management becomes to afraid to mess with an existing system, and so that system stagnates.

Breaking even becomes the benchmark instead of pioneering or breaking ground in a new field.

Elon Musk turned the space industry on its head by applying first principle thinking, instead of getting stuck thinking about things in the same way.

Are you familiar with invisible rules?

While that sounds a bit abstract invisible rules affect us every day.

These are the habits and behaviors that are so ingrained they exist as almost an invisible constitution or charter we unconsciously follow in business and in personal endeavors.

When something challenges habitual ways of thinking about an established mode of acting many get defensive and stand up for...their own limitations.

First principle thinking is one of the best ways to undo these invisible rules that limit our ability to innovate.

First principle thinking reverse-engineers complex problems and frees our minds to creative possibility. Sometimes called “reasoning from first principles,” the concept is to break down complex problems into simple elements and then reassemble them from the ground up.

It’s one of the best ways to learn how to think for yourself and unlock your own creative potential, and move from linear to non-linear results exponentially as Elon Musk has done.

In early 2002, Musk founded the company that would be known as Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, with over a $100 million of the money received from the PayPal sale. Musk's goal was to make spaceflight cheaper by a factor of 10.

SpaceX's end goal is to bring economies to scale for colonizing Mars. Musk said that SpaceX won't file for an initial public offering until the "Mars Colonial Transporter" is flying regularly.

When PayPal was sold to eBay, Musk went to the beach in Rio de Janeiro but he wasn't just there for the scenery; he was reading Fundamentals of Rocket Propulsion.

Elon Musk spotted the trend that despite everything else getting smaller and cheaper like computers and smart phones, rockets get more expensive without improving.

Musk went to Russia to see if he could get rockets any cheaper than the American ones which were a stunning $130,000,000 dollars.

He met with many Russian officials, drank lots of vodka but even trying to grab a decommissioned intercontinental ballistic missile (missiles de-armed of weapons) the cheapest he could find was $20 million.

It was also pretty slim pickings if you're looking for a venture capitalist to fund your trip to Mars so the real life inspiration for Marvel's Iron Man had to regroup.

By the way, the Iron Man filmmaker Jon Favreau inspired Elon Musk to make tech that was only in a comic book to become a reality:

"I think it's important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy," Musk said in an interview with Kevin Rose.

"The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy," he said. "[With analogy] we are doing this because it's like something else that was done, or it is like what other people are doing. [With first principles] you boil things down to the most fundamental truths … and then reason up from there."

Elon used first principle thinking to overcome the road block that progress creates, meaning processes are created by definition to look backwards and not be questioned.

After failing to get affordable rockets from Russia, on the way back to America, Elon Musk told the aerospace consultant who accompanied him there that,"I think we can build a rocket ourselves."

Elon Musk decided to ignore everything he knew and that the public knows about the process of sending a rocket into space (via NASA).

Rather than tackle this from a 30,000 view, Musk went microscopic and broke apart the physics involved in sending a rocket into space.

Tesla's founder examined what rockets are made out of:

Titanium, copper, carbon fibers and aerospace-grade aluminum alloys.

Then, still using first principle thinking he researched what the cost of these materials is on a commodity market and discovered that the materials of a rocket costs around 2% of the selling price.

This was due in large part to the outsourcing within the space industry for all the work in building the individual parts for cutting the metal and shaping the atoms.

Musk decided to set up shop with vertical integration owning the entire process of manufacturing and launching rockets.

SpaceX manufactures around 80% of their own rocket components and does some pretty innovative sourcing for their raw materials.

One SpaceX employee bought theodolite, which is used to track and align rockets, for $25,000 on eBay after finding out the new version cost too much.

This type of first principle thinking was used across the board for SpaceX.

Instead of using expensive materials for handles of hatches, they used spare parts from bathroom stall latches.

SpaceX avoided paying through the nose for astronaut custom-built harnesses and used race-car safety belts.

They swapped out specialty onboard computers that range in price up to $1 million dollars with the same type of computer that you're using in an ATM for only $5,000.

The way of thinking by analogy, following old established-process-based routines would have you think, well if NASA can't use the same rocket twice, I doubt anyone else can.

Musk turned this whole fallacy on its head.

This approach of first principle thinking truly reached the pinnacle of rocket science innovation when Elon Musk's SpaceX designed rockets to be re-usable.

And did so successfully not just theoretically.

Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond. Falcon 9 is the world's first orbital class reusable rocket.

[Source:SpaceX.com]

Today's blog isn't about hero-worshipping Elon Musk - it's a tale told about how to learn from what's already working but in a way that even defies this sentence.

When you talk about reverse engineering a sales funnel or an existing business model, and making improvements on it, or the poster boy formula in blogging or YouTube it's a way of learning from what's already working without really learning.

Shifting to first principle thinking means taking apart a process, forgetting what you already know about it and seeing if there is a non-linear way to make the leap to new ideas.

Even our keyboards are flawed, if you look at the top row of keys you'll see it's designed to spell out "typewriter" to sell more typewriters not for an ergonomic method of typing the alphabet into words efficiently.

But it's a process, it's just "the way things are" so we accept it.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Elon Musk didn't. And his results speak for themselves.

Musk cherry-picked the best, brightest avionics engineers -many formerly at NASA- and gave them the freedom to build rockets instead of push paper, get stuck in procedure and never see their dreams materialize.

Musk hosts a regular Friday lunch where anyone can ask questions about where SpaceX is going.

So the next time you're faced with a wall you can't seem to break down to either solve a problem, innovate a product, design a new marketing strategy or invent a solution - try first principle thinking.

You may just find a winner.

What something you're trying to solve for right now?

Comment below!

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5 Top Tips to Avoid Zoom Fatigue

Credit: Google Trends

While working at Facebook I interfaced with teams around the world on video, which was cool when mixed with real life meetings with fellow Facebook colleagues but now everything is on Zoom.

If you feel like you're getting a lot more tired at the EOD than pre-covid19 you’re not alone. Zoom fatigue is a real issue that many of us suffer from since March of this year.

Back in the 80s Sci Fi films showed video chatting as futuristic tech - their future is our right now but why are Zoom video chats tiring?

Well, in a real life meeting there is a lot more social stimulation, just being around other people can be invigorating. But in the silo of staring intently at a screen to retain the info can be exhausting.

Video Calls Make Us Lose Focus

Being able to do a quick whispered comment in a meeting to a colleague and then refocus doesn't have a Zoom equivalent. It's way too easy to lose our focus and go down the rabbit hole.

It starts innocently enough with one email, one Facebook messenger response, one text, or perhaps a Slack convo that we attempt to do all within a minute or two

10 minutes later we refocus, look up and have no idea what was being said and look like an ass to other conference attendees.

Not to worry! For all you social media marketers on Facebook, IG, Twitter, and business owners or remote workers I've got a few tips to help:

Here Are 5 Tips to Relieve Zoom Fatigue

1. Talk On The Phone - Yes This Is Still A Thing

Ask any preteen right now & they'll say phones are so 1999, but phone calls are still a thing for a lot of people, especially those who run their own businesses.

Phone calls are especially helpful to reduce Zoom fatigue. When on the phone with Mari Smith, the Queen of Facebook, we chatted about my upcoming feature in her Facebook Marketing Essentials course (FBME2).

Mari and I opted for a phone call instead of Zoom, because we have both been on so many Zoom calls recently due to covid 19. A phone call was a nice break from Zoom fatigue.

Here's a plug for her marketing course I'm featured in talking on Facebook policies: Mari Smith's Facebook Marketing Essentials 2

Back to relieving Zoom fatigue - if you're a pacer like me, talking when you walk helps get the creative juices flowing as well for new business ideas and conversation starters.

You can also see if there are any calls that you can switch to email or Slack if they aren't too too in-depth, this will help you recharge and refresh. Phone calls also let you do a little multitasking without appearing rude to your Zoom guests.

Saying something as simple as, "I'd appreciate a chance to recharge from staring at screens so much, mind if we switch to a phone call?"

Chances are, the other person is also facing Zoom fatigue and would enjoy a break too.

If you're a business consultant and give career advice, this can be achieved just as well over a phone call as on Zoom. You can even build in looking at a website a client has on your computer for a couple of minutes, giving feedback, and then stepping away from the screen.

2. Integrate Breaks Into Your Daily Schedule

Uninterrupted screen staring will tire us out so we need visual breaks to "refresh our mental screens" in a manner of speaking. Visual breaks help us refocus, if our brains are growing fatigued.

When you plan the day, build in a few breaks. If you have a longer Zoom call scheduled, make sure to take a few mini breaks and look away from your computer screen. Follow the 20 second rule, for every 20 minutes staring at the screen look at something 20 feet away, for 20 seconds.

Your friends, family, and business associates are going to be a lot more understanding than we may assume, if you both want to talk without having to look at the screen, to give your eyes a break for a moment (and perhaps add some carrots into your diet).

Sometimes things just get busy and you have nonstop Zoom calls, make sure that your scheduling app, daily planner Google Calendar or smart phone notepad (wherever you schedule the day at) also includes a buffer of 20-30 minutes between meetings.

This will give you a little bit of time to go for a 10 minute walk outside (walking increases productivity and creativity up to 60%), make a cup of coffee, meditate for 5 minutes, make a healthy snack and look away from the screen.

3. Notice Zoom Callers Backgrounds

Now this may sound silly at first, but you can actually reduce strain by simply taking a moment to look at the background of your Zoom counterparts.

Sometimes we stare at our own faces too much on Zoom calls, or other people's faces, but when you take a moment to notice the plants in your associates background, book titles on their bookshelf, it can give your eyes a break from staring at the same thing.

At the same time, if you're on a Zoom meeting with a bunch of people and they all have clutter in their backgrounds, don't focus on that. Even ask people not speaking to use avatars or suggest plain backgrounds either with a green screen and the Zoom virtual background feature or just for them to sit with a plain wall behind them.

4. Ensure There's Speaking Protocol for Social Zooms

Given that we are all on lockdown due to Covid-19 regulations often socializing nowadays is done on Zoom calls. But, if everyone is talking at once (especially when there's alcohol involved) this can lead to fatigue (and annoyance if your guests decide yell over others to be heard).

This can be solved by just simply verbalizing that taking turns is going to be followed. Now everyone gets a chance to talk and it isn't a room of people talking at once - this relieves screen fatigue.

When there aren't clear expectations outlined, the more alpha members of both genders jump in and compete for conversation space. By outlining expectations and format, this helps everyone out and reduces Zoom fatigue.

5. Reduce Multitasking

Multitasking IRL or on Zoom actually lessens our productivity. For those readers who are entrepreneurs and are familiar with 'serial entrepreneurship' you understand how spreading yourself too thin isn't as effective as laser-focusing on one project and nurturing it to perfection.

While it's tempting to think that you can use Zoom to do more in less time, research shows that trying to do a lot of things at once leads to a lesser performance.

This is due in part because you have to turn one part of your brain off and back on for the different types of tasks, which equals around a 40% dive in productivity.

According to the Stanford Memory Laboratory, those who multitask a lot can’t even remember stuff as well as those who choose to use tunnel vision productively, which makes sense given the experiences I've had and fellow startup founders in juggling 10 things at once leading to less quality than focusing on one thing or just a few things.

This also reminds me of another proof of concept moment in business history. Ebay started by dominating a small market of those who liked beanie babies, Amazon started with just books.

It was by focusing on a smaller area first, and getting expert level at this that lead to these companies' success and later expansion to other markets. You can read more about this in the blog on What Made Amazon & eBay So Successful (it's all in the power of dominating sub niches).

They key take away here is that when you're on a Zoom call, it'll be helpful to close the other tabs you have open and put away your smart phone. Be here now. Distractions can wait.
Practice these 5 tips and you'll find it refreshing to relieve the Zoom fatigue as we adapt to the new normal. By the end of 2021 I predict we'll have things more or less back to normal.
In the meantime I hope you've found these steps helpful. Do you have anything you've done to help with Zoom fatigue that isn't on this list or have a story about Zoom fatigue you want to share?

Comment below!

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Direct Mail Makes A Comeback in 2020

Direct Mail is making a comeback! When was the last time you got a hand written letter from a friend or family member? Probably a while. But you still get those oil change coupons right?

You don't need a mindset changing Haiku to see the facts told by data:

US Postal Service reports that around 77 billion pieces of mail are made and sent each year. The result? 28 percent higher sales for companies who send mailers like catalogs and offers.

Ever get an Ikea catalogue in the mail with colorful pictures and designs? Even I can't resist looking through it.

USPS held another study which surprisingly found that while mobile marketers are spending $247 billion by the end of 2020, direct mail marketing offers a higher return for a much much smaller investment.

What are the numbers?

Well, direct mail campaigns expect on average $2,095 in sales for every $167 spent. For those not great at math, that's a return of 1,300 %!!

That's a bit more than just, "Will this ad double my ROI?"

There are some important deets to consider here. One is that direct mail isn't just about emotions, although that’s an important element of branding.

It's about taking action, reaching your audience, directly in a way that convinces them to act. Really, when you consider the big picture, direct mail is just another aspect of content marketing.

Online ads often get skipped over, it's much harder to ignore physical mail.People open mail faster - as soon as they get it often - than other mediums so there's that benefit.

The Millennial factor - as a Millennial I can speak to this as well, we love the 90s, and much of that old school feel. There is something about direct mail that inspires nostalgia.

With COVID city wide shut downs globally, people are just at home more anyways. And they are looking for new things to do. Direct mail is making old new again.

These days there is a lot more customization so using cookie data and more, direct mail campaigns can be segmented just like you would an ad on Facebook, and offer a more personalized experience to convert even higher.

Also there are very few advertisers using this method to reach customers - it isn't at all saturated, so there's that as well.

For more tips read Neil Patel's blog post on direct mail here.

What was the last letter you remember receiving? Or mailed ad that you liked? How will you use this strategy for your business?

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The Secret Power of Follow Up Questions

Right now it is especially important to stop looking at TikTok & develop the skill of active listening.

Customer feedback is often ignored and profits are lost because a Startup founder is too attached to an old idea that is no longer feasible in today’s market.

We’ve got black lives matters protests, we’ve got different opinions on COVID-19, opinions on how the government is handling it...

What they should be doing what they shouldn’t be doing..blah blah blah. It's so much!

When you find yourself going down a black hole of madness and negativity there is another option:

Instead of just waiting for someone to stop talking and eagerly decide exactly who they are and tell them this forcefully, we can also choose to simply pause. Ask a few questions to clarify their point of view.

We can exchange the eagerness to speak our opinion for curiosity.

The Art of Follow Up Questions

I believe that right now many of us have lost the art of follow-up questions.

I was hanging out with a friend I’ve known since childhood and I share the exciting news of one of the biggest moments of my life, of launching my second business in e-commerce.

He asked zero follow-up questions and made me feel like I hadn’t even spoken. And I know honestly reflecting there were moments as a teen, I was so eager to share something that didn’t notice the other person had just shared something meaningful.

The good thing about perspective is you can use it to examine itself. Instead of the knee-jerk reaction many have to constructive feedback to say, “Well I guess I failed at that too.” < end convo > we have the amazing quality of trying just a little harder.

Studies Show That...

Right now is a great time to examine perspectives, especially our own, and see how we can do better, be better than just mediocre.

The Harvard Business Review did a study on active listening that revealed some key insights here.

Credit: Harvard Business Review

Imagine that - when someone gives you feedback and sounds judgmental af you don't receive their feedback too well. On the flip side, when feedback is delivered from someone who is active listening, it is 10 times more well received.

The study the Harvard Business Review did demonstrates this isn't just a theory but statistically proven true time after time. One lab experiment assigned 112 undergraduate students to be speaker or listener.

Another lab experiment done with 114 undergraduates at a business school. The students were told to talk about their future plans and each student was paired with poor, moderate and good listeners. This is what they found:

Credit: Harvard Business Review

Our customers deserve better too. Many are buying on debts they can’t pay back and it’s not too much to ask for active listening to play a role in the customer experience.

The Pay Off is Big

The teenage version of ourselves isn’t who we are today - we are fully capable of asking follow up questions to demonstrate sincere interest in our clientele.

And, the added perks of doing so are many. The small amount of energy invested in being curious, will often reduce conflict, and increase CTV.

The range of environments and businesses that benefit from follow up questions and active listening is well documented. In the medical peer-reviewed Electron Physician journal a study revealed that:

"One of the important causes of medical errors and unintentional harm to patients is ineffective communication. Active listening does not come naturally to most of us, and, like other communication skills, it must be learned and developed."

I definitely don't want a doctor to operate on the wrong body part because he didn't listen well! Asking follow up questions derived from sincerely listening to someone has tremendous value.

This journal also makes the important observation - active listening doesn't always come naturally.

You do have to make an effort to develop it to benefit from these skills. But, the pay off is huge:

Better business deals, better converting sales funnel, positive social circles and high-power networking.

Appreciated & Respected

I’ve learned since being a child, the value in asking follow-up questions. I've learned the value of active listening and making other people feel appreciated and respected.

Personally & professionally.

Of course, I'm still working on perfecting it but, I'm aware of where the work needs to be done which is where the first battle is won.

When someone doesn't feel appreciated or respected who's shopping at your store or contracting your service you reduce their loyalty and chance they'll give you repeat business.

In social circles, this can cause unnecessary rifts that are easier to prevent than repair.

That’s why it’s important right now to just take a moment and pause before we respond to other people.

This helps us in our business doing market research on what the customers really want instead of our assumption of how we can solve their pain points.

What are the underlying circumstances of a pain point?

What second solution are they trying to solve in addition to the first?

These sort of questions are not asked nor are they answered when we are quick to assume that we know what another person feels, thinks, or believes.

We won't know a prospects' wants and needs unless we ask follow-up questions.

Omitting this very crucial part of social interaction is what leads very good people who used to be great friends to sometimes never even speak again because they take a hard stance on one issue, and refuse to listen to each other.

With the heightened emotion, panic, fear and everything else going on right now the reptile part of our animal brain that dictates the flight or fight response just assumes that if someone doesn’t agree with us about something like Covid they must be a danger to be avoided.

While this can be understandable if someone who tested positive is out shaking hands and kissing babies and refuses to socially distance - which would be irresponsible and unfair to other people who don’t want to get sick-

In other circumstances when it’s merely an intellectual debate those follow-up questions help us to understand why someone feels the way they feel.

You will discover using the secret power of follow up questions, pausing your first reaction, that you have more in common with another person than you think you do.

And they’ll hear your point of view better if you listen first. #facts

Great Follow Up Questions To Ask

So the next time you find yourself disagreeing with someone try waiting to share your opinion. First ask follow-up questions like:

What led you to believe this?

Is that so?

What do you think of other people that disagree with this point of view?

Do you think other people may have doubts about that?

What would you say to someone that doubted that this is the best approach?

Does their opinion have any merit?

Is there anything you think you should say to someone that you respect but may not share your opinion on this topic?

Do you have any doubts about the position you’ve taken on this issue?

In Conclusion...

By simply asking people for more information you show them that you are sincerely interested in understanding why they think the way they do instead of demonstrating to them that your only interest is in hearing yourself speak or being right or just scoring points in a conversation or debate.

And we need more constructive solution-focused conversations right now, less aimless arguing.

Asking questions through active listening also shows that you respect the other person.

How many times has a sales agent tried to pitch you over the phone, or at a car dealership or at Best Buy and was more concerned with getting to the end of their pitch than hearing you?

Annoying right?

Not just annoying - it’s ineffective. The sales agents that pause and listen to what the potential customer is actually saying convert at much higher rates because they’ve made people feel appreciated and respected.

Now that you’re taking the time to really ask why they feel the way they feel instead of assuming you already know everything about them because of one word that triggered you - everyone feels better.

It also empowers you to overcome misconceptions the other person may have had about you. As well as clear up misunderstandings you had about the other person.

So ask follow up questions!

It allows us to bridge gaps rather than burn bridges which is always a lot more advantageous.

Do you have a time you wish someone listened to you better as a customer or personally?

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Time Management Tips for Entrepreneurs

Time management is a skill set not many are naturally talented at but it yields greater results than crossing your fingers and hoping you get everything done on your to-do list.

Entrepreneurs in particular are subject to having 500 projects, all half-finished, running at the same time because delegating time, energy and prioritizing tasks can be a challenge.

(More challenges: Congress Challenges Big Tech here)

The ability to self-direct is another talent that doesn't come naturally to everyone, let alone those brave enough to quit the 9-5 to start and run their own company.

You need two skillsets to be effective: time management & task management

According Journal of Universal Knowledge Management:

"Task management is the process of managing a task through its life cycle. It involves planning, testing, tracking, and reporting. Task management can help either individual achieve goals, or groups of individuals collaborate and share knowledge for the accomplishment of collective goals

Tasks are also differentiated by complexity, from low to high. Effective task management requires managing all aspects of a task, including its status, priority, time, human and financial resources assignments, recurrence, dependency, notifications and so on."

I thought I'd share some effective time management tips with you on today's blog, from trusted sources, because, well, uh...we are all managing our own time now working remotely due to C19.
From Entrepreneur.com:

Break Down Your Activities Into Simple Problems

"Utilizing your consciousness requires more energy and can be avoided by simplifying your problems. Excellence in time management revolves around establishing a process and breaking it down into small, atomic operations that are easy to grasp and don’t require intensive resource consumption."
The idea is that you develop your own process that is generally the same for handling new activities or problems, but you adapt it to the situation.

This holds an advantage to producing repeatable results once you get in your groove for developing your new how for how you approach a task or problem.

When you break this process down into smaller steps, it's easier to systemize organizing your day instead of hitting that wall of overwhelm we feel when tackling everything at once.

From James Clear, author of Atomic Habits:

The Ivy Lee Method: The Daily Routine Experts Recommend for Peak Productivity

"By 1918, Charles M. Schwab was one of the richest men in the world. Schwab was the president of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, the largest shipbuilder and the second-largest steel producer in America at the time. The famous inventor Thomas Edison once referred to Schwab as the “master hustler.”

He was constantly seeking an edge over the competition. One day in 1918, in his quest to increase the efficiency of his team and discover better ways to get things done, Schwab arranged a meeting with a highly-respected productivity consultant named Ivy Lee.

As the story goes, Schwab brought Lee into his office and said, “Show me a way to get more things done.” “Give me 15 minutes with each of your executives,” Lee replied. “How much will it cost me,” Schwab asked. “Nothing,” Lee said. “Unless it works. After three months, you can send me a check for whatever you feel it's worth to you.”

The Ivy Lee Method During his 15 minutes with each executive, Ivy Lee explained his simple daily routine for achieving peak productivity:

At the end of each work day, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow.

Do not write down more than 6 tasks. Prioritize those 6 items in order of their true importance.

When you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the 1st task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second task. Approach the rest of your list in the same fashion. At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six tasks for the following day.

Repeat this process every working day. The strategy sounded simple, but Schwab and his executive team at Bethlehem Steel gave it a try. After three months, Schwab was so delighted with the progress his company had made that he called Lee into his office and wrote him a check for $25,000. A $25,000 check written in 1918 is the equivalent of a $400,000 check in 2015."

So why does this work? It's simple without too much over thinking or analysis needed.It forces you to make hard decisions eliminating the fluff and it removes the initial barriers to starting up.

Also instead of multitasking it forces you to focus on achieving one task which can improve the quality of your results.

From Pat Flynn:

Take Advantage of Just-in-Time Learning

""Just-in-time-learning" changed everything for me. That is, I only consume content related directly to the next task I have in the current project I'm working on.

Blog posts, podcast episodes, videos—they must help me with completing that next task on my priority list, or else it doesn't deserve my attention...at this moment.

'Just-in-time-learning' changed everything for me. FOMO (fear of missing out) does make this hard though, because there's so much great stuff out there we don't want to miss.

However, if you're smart about it and as you come across interesting and potentially helpful content you put it aside into a tool such as Evernote for easy access later, it can truly change how much you get done versus how much you learn.

I love this tip from Pat Flynn - so much of the time entrepreneurs become program-addicts, enrolling in course after course and not taking action with A+ syndrome - thinking it has to be perfect to begin.

Focusing on just consuming content related to achieving the next task is a way to laser focus actions for all of us info-aholics.

Pareto principle - 80/20 Rule

Can't leave out the most well known time management strategy can I? From Forbes:

"This “universal truth” about the imbalance of inputs and outputs is what became known as the Pareto principle, or the 80/20 rule. While it doesn’t always come to be an exact 80/20 ratio, this imbalance is often seen in various business cases:

• 20% of the sales reps generate 80% of total sales.

• 20% of customers account for 80% of total profits.

• 20% of the most reported software bugs cause 80% of software crashes.

• 20% of patients account for 80% of healthcare spending (and 5% of patients account for a full 50% of all expenditures!)

Instead of trying to do the impossible, a Pareto approach is to truly understand which projects are most important. What are the most important goals of your organization, or boss, and which specific tasks do you need to focus on to align with those goals. Delegate or drop the rest."

Investopedia has a good example here of how to apply the 80/20 rule as well.

Next up from Than Pham:

Do the hardest thing first, every single morning.

"Do the hardest thing first, every single morning. When you start your workday, tackle the task you find the most difficult to do or are most likely to procrastinate on. When we postpone those kind of tasks till later in the day, we often get stressed about them and keep postponing them."

"By flipping it, you can go on with the rest of the day knowing you were productive. Even if you did nothing else, you still had a productive day. I've done this for the last 5 years of running my business and it helped us tremendously. Everyone in our company does it too and it's part of our onboarding training to teach people this concept."

I haven't tried that one out, but I like the idea...and I probably would have benefited from applying it to my self-employment taxes this year as I literally waited until July 15th to file. ?

From my own experiences running multiple companies from the comfort of my own home, I've found one technique really useful. So here's a tip from the Jetski Shaman blog:

Time Stamped Index Cards and/or Smart Phone Notepad

Writing down a list of tasks for the day on a index card inside a spiral index card book or on a notepad on my iPhone with the empty checkmark circle is always super helpful and motivating.

• Write down all the tasks you have to do for the day on an index card or digital notepad

• Read over them and determine what has the 1st priority, 2nd priority, 3rd priority & so on

• Re-arrange the order of the tasks on a new notepad or index card according to priority

• Add a time stamp before the 1st word of the task for what time you want to achieve it

• Check off the tasks as you complete them. Ahhh the feeling of completing a task!

Pro tip: add a 30 to 45 minute buffer between tasks to stay on track as it sometimes takes longer

Credit: Apple.com

What about you? What have you found to be helpful for time management?

For more time management tips check out this article on 34 Time Management Tips

. . .

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The Art of Guerrilla Marketing

Credit: Diana Parkhouse

Guerrilla Marketing is the ability to turn heads without an extremely large budget. According to Lexico Guerrilla Marketing is defined as:

Innovative, unconventional, and low-cost marketing techniques aimed at obtaining maximum exposure for a product.

It isn't what you'll learn about in a class on marketing from your community college or four year university. The key word here is unconventional.

PayPal Got Played By We Pay @ Their Own Conference

Have you ever heard of PayPal freezing a business's money randomly?

It happens. A lot. CNN Business descriptively states:

While it's supposed to be a measure to protect users against fraud, more often than not it has hurt businesses finances a lot. One person was raising money for cancer treatment when PayPal froze his account. Do a simple google search for 'PayPal froze my money' and you'll find thousands of results:

Pay processors and the drama they sometimes cause for entrepreneurs deserves a whole blog unto itself, but going back to Guerrilla Marketing, there are new competitors to PayPal every year. One refused to stay quiet.

One of my favorite examples of Guerrilla Marketing is when the payment processor We Pay dropped a 600 pound block of ice, with hundreds of dollars in it at PayPal's developer conference, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The message was clear:

“PayPal freezes your accounts” and that you should “unfreeze your money”… by switching to WePay.

Credit: https://techcrunch.com/2010/10/26/wepay-ice-paypal/

According to Hubspot this increased revenue for We Pay significantly:

• Conversions on landing page 3x higher
• 300% increase in weekly traffic
• 225% increase in signups

But Guerrilla Marketing isn't just pulling pranks it's being prepared for increased traffic and having a framework set up ahead of time to benefit from it. We Pay's achieved this by having a dedicated landing page for its stunt.

The WePay team had prepared in advance for a peak in engagement. They were ready for more emails, calls, and tweets than normal. And they had fun with it, documenting everything with pictures.

Carrie Remake Telekinesis in NYC Coffee Shop Stunt

In 2013, a marketing stunt to promote the remake of Carrie, a horror film from the Steven King book of the same name, pushed Guerrilla Marketing to a new level. A crazy telekinesis stunt was pulled on unsuspecting New Yorkers just trying to get a cup of coffee:

Needless to say, it was effective in getting the word out about the upcoming October 2013 film. While it could be argued that this ploy didn't perfectly fit the definition of being cost-effective

-I mean staging a telekinetic action scene in real life is rather elaborate-

I say it still counts as Guerrilla Marketing. Guerrilla Marketing stunts are risqué, highly visible, and attention-grabbing - all of which the Carrie NYC coffee shop captured. Hard to top that!

Carrie Foursquare's SXSW Tactic Added 100K New Users

On the balling-on-a-budget level, the company Foursquare, which popularized the concept of real-time location-sharing and checking-in, played an actual game of Four Square at SXSW in Austin, Texas in front of the convention hall.

Credit: https://www.zdnet.com/article/playing-four-square-with-foursquare-at-sxsw-2010/

The game drew 1000s of walk-up participants, said Dennis Crowley, CEO of the firm. While the company co-hosted a party Monday night, Crowley said, its SXSW presence didn’t include other bells and whistles like signage or a booth in the hall. It largely hinged on “a box of chalk and two rubber balls,” he said.

“We played all day long, and there was always a waiting line,” Crowley said. “We were handing out tee shirts, buttons, and stickers. Anytime someone didn’t know what Foursquare was, we helped them find it on their phone. We helped get them up and running and using it.”

Foursquare benefited from an additional 100,000 checkins that Saturday they played the four square game at SXSW on. Ever wonder why you see an ad for a store after walking by the store?

Since 2014, Foursquare launched Pilgrim, a piece of code that passively tracks where your phone goes using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and GSM to identify the coffee shop or park or Thai restaurant you’re visiting, then feeds that data to its partner apps to send you a 10 percent off coupon if you leave a review for the restaurant.

Today, Pilgrim and the company’s Places API are an integral part of tens of thousands of apps, sites, and interfaces. As Foursquare’s website says, “If it tells you where, it's probably built on Foursquare.”

While there are privacy concerns using Foursquare and it's technology, that game of four square they played was a great example of low cost Guerrilla Marketing.

If you want to use Guerrilla Marketing for your business here are a few tips:

• Keep your strategy fun, simple, and witty.
• Physically travel to the influencers in your target communities.
• Engage influential bloggers through mutual plugging.
• Flatter your audience. Always make them look good.
• Make social phenomena the core of your campaign.
• Be outrageous.
• Dare your audience to test your services
• Create a viral video that is humorous and pokes fun at yourself.
• Leverage existing communities, events and platforms.
• Impress people who can grow your business thru their audience.
• Create controversy by challenging your competitors. Credit.

How can you use this strategy in your business? Have you seen Guerrilla Marketing happen in real life, or have a favorite example yourself? Comment below!

. . .

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How to Use SEO to Drive More Sales

One of the pain points small to medium sized businesses have (& even Fortune 500s in some industries) is not understanding what SEO is, and feeling it’s too technical.

Search Engine Optimization is in essence, how to get your website to rank on google searches when your prospects are searching for your product or service.

BUT there are even more benefits to keyword research that will be revealed below.

Keyword Optimization in a Nutshell

Let’s first get clear on the specifics of what SEO is:

Search Engine Optimization discovers which specific terms potential customers search google with to find a service or product.

How money is made through search terms is by including these same search terms on your website. This gets your website ranking higher on Google search results.

But – you need to know the exact phrases as well as words, and that’s just the beginning.

Beyond SEO

Finding those keyword terms is absolutely necessary to get your website content to rank higher on search engine ranking pages (SERPs). Also, you’ll want to be on page 1 of Google for search term search results because people rarely look beyond page one.

Yet, there is a level deeper you’ll want to go for maximum benefits:

Customer intentions when googling. When you know why your prospects are searching for things as part of the customer experience you expand your opportunity for upsells & downsells as well as where and how to build out new products and services.

For more info on how to improve your business by understanding the customer experience read this metrics blog here.

Making keyword research a regular habit you do for your business helps understand how your audience views the world, which enables your messaging to be more on point with better customization and personalization. This generates better trust in your business too!

Have you ever made a content map? I linked a nice Hubspot article to the words ‘content map’ to peep, it’s great to map out your blog content & social media posts ahead of time.

Integrating SEO into how you map out your content calendar will boost your business presence online and up your game by a whole bunch, as more of your audience will read your blog and consume your content when it is already planned with SEO in mind.

Bullet Point Your Search Terms

Step One: Brainstorm Likely Terms Your Audience Searches For
Just start thinking up the type of terms your audience may search for when looking to hire your type of service or buy your type of products, when Google searching.

It can be helpful to role play what you would do if you were a customer, or what you already do personally, when googling for a product. Write down those search terms. If you have a team, get their thoughts too. Think of how your customers may phrase things.

Step 2: Validate Search Terms With Reality
Go on Quora, google your keyword term plus forum or blog or articles and you’ll find where online conversations are happening about your topic. This will get you the exact words your customers are using.

For example, if you run a podcast or marketing firm search “podcast+board” or “marketing+forum” or vice versa, and you’ll find forums and bulletin boards where folks go to find more info. It’s a great place to get your finger on the pulse of current trends.

Pro-tip: Look at Wikipedia, enter your search terms, and look at the table of contents on articles that pull up. This will get you some new search terms that be even more clutch.

Step 3: Google Autofill Hack
This is a nice little hack even millionaires I work with in eCommerce didn’t know about until I taught them! Go to Google.com and enter in the first word of a keyterm — don’t type in the full phrase though let Google autofill the rest.

This is the genius of it, Google will suggest the most popular search term combos that people search for. This will advance your search term list with real results you aren’t guessing on but have in specifics.

Bonus: Google Search Console
Stroll over to the Google Search Console to see the keywords your website already ranks for. Google will also give you the heads up if you have broken pages and/or links on your site, or anything that prevents them from properly indexing your webpage on search engines.

The Genius of Long-tail Search Terms

At this point, if you’re following the steps outlined in today’s blog, you’ll have quite a few search terms written down from:

√ Your brainstorming
√ Role playing as the customer
√ Your teams ideas on search terms
√ What you find on forums and boards in your industry and
√Google auto fill suggestions

To be effective you’ll want to have four to six baseline key phrases.

Ex: Marketing, marketing strategy, marketing plan and eight to twelve long-tail phrases.

Ex: Marketing plan template, Marketing help for small businesses, Marketing ideas during covid.

Baseline search term phrases are just that, your baseline. Start with these, put them on your landing pages, even in About pages if you can.

Use one phrase for your home page and the other phrases should have landing pages or whole sections of your website dedicated to these terms.

This empowers you to earn rankings on search results on Google. But make sure when choosing baseline key words to include relational search phrases in addition to the main one.

What I mean is this, remember when we talked about intention and the customer experience? The plain picture search term of say “marketing” will have higher competition than a less-than-obvious search term that denotes the experience your customer has on the customer journey.

An example of a key word phrase that reflects intent would be “get leads for my business” instead of just “marketing.” It’s a more specific intention which separates the people who may also be marketers from your customer base, that you actually want to reach.

As you may have noticed, the second phrase is a long-tail search term.

The long-tail search terms are fantastic on clarifying the customer’s intention, like the “getting leads for my business” above. You can even make certain weeks in the month themed for specific long-tail search terms you want to split test for SEO generated traffic on your site.

Sounds pretty dang useful right?

There are a few tools SEO experts recommend using I’ll mention as well.

SEO Tools Experts Use

√ Google Keyword Planner

Try and use your twelve to fifteen search terms in the planner’s keyword suggestion tool, and peep the ad groups Google suggests to piece out and label what you see.

You can find terms related to the ad groups, and view the estimated search volume for each term and the suggested bid — keep in mind it’s an AdWords tool made mainly to sell more ads.

Keep your perspective balanced here, as search volume is just one metric. Search terms with a lot of traffic don’t always help, but when you marry this to the bid price, you’ll notice high bid price means higher conversion values.

It isn’t a hard fast rule, but you’ll begin to see that bid price fluctuations are a vital sign when diving in to the research. Ideally, you want to mark and edit your search phrase with a combo of search volume and bid price. Try to find the mid point.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed right now – it’s understandable. You can stick with all the advice given before the Tools section here and still come out on top, better than before.

Here are a couple of other tools SEO experts recommend:

Yoast Suggest
Google Trends

TLDR Cliff Notes Version: Yoast is a free WordPress plugin (with advanced options on the paid plan), it alphabetically lists related search terms from Google, and Google Trends is gold for seeing a timeline of the popularity of a search term.

Google Trends is key if you plan on running Amazon or Shopify eCommerce businesses, as you can see spikes, dips and plateaus for search terms ( = buying habits) of a product you’re evaluating for adding to your shop.

What are your favorite key takeaways from today’s blog on SEO? Comment below, thanks.

. . .

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

Great Leaders Don’t Create Robots

Credit: Rock'n Roll Monkey

Does every piece of news, blog and social media post have to reference COVID19 right now? While we are limping our way through a pandemic sometimes there needs to be a break from obsessing.

During a crisis we look for leadership to guide the ship we're sailing into safe harbor. At every company, you'll have tons of managers but not very many leaders. Let's talk about leadership.

At an email-marketing conferences I attended, the speaker made it a point to communicate that we won't succeed without a solid plan.

To attempt to keep doing the same thing without strategy is called "hope marketing" and makes a lot of folks live the reality of "broke marketing."

Hope without a strategy doesn't create leadership. Leadership is developed when your hope and positive thinking are matched with a concrete vision of the future and a way to get there.

Real Leaders Know It Ain't About Them

Word of mouth is one of the most powerful ways to grow a tribe, to create a group of people dedicated to a specific purpose or cause. You'll find this in any major sport - word of mouth is a powerful driver and builds communities.

One of the mistakes people make is defining leadership as the worship of a single person. Identity politics is one of the most divisive cancers right now plaguing America.

Leadership that lasts beyond tomorrow and creates a strong community grows when the leader gives people a platform for spreading ideas that work.

Who do you trust more: an ad you see on your Facebook Newsfeed, or a recommendation your friend made? The friend of course. The culture around a product or service grows when people recruit other people. That's how ideas spread too.

People won't do it for you - they do it for each other. Leadership is embracing that it really isn't all about you. It's about the movement you're creating. The shared values of those who follow you.

Change is Inevitable - Except from Vending Machines

Generally speaking, managers don't like people that stick out. By definition they want everyone to tow the line, and stick within established rules.

Many companies have PR statements that say they are about innovation but reward conformity more than anything else. It was definitely like this when I worked in tech at Facebook. You didn't want to stick out in any way.

Managers were overworked and had no bandwidth to recognize the talents of their employees. I quit my job at Facebook because of this and started a successful consulting firm and e-commerce ventures.

I was a deviant - I didn't fit in with the status quo. But neither did Elon Musk, Henry Ford or Tony Robbins. All of them are outliers that challenged conformity. While I wouldn't say my contributions to society can light a candle yet to these notable people, there's something important to worth mentioning:

Managers don't like deviants, they don't like nonconformists who may be eccentrics or mavericks with too much individual personality. Deviating from conformity is a failure for a manager working to deliver within the rigid lines of their role.

Managers crush nonconformists - that's what they do. Managers don't inspire people. Leaders do.

Leaders understand a different outlook: change is unavoidable and also one of the keys to success. Not human robots.

Credit: Craig Sybert

As it turns out, when you have a workforce that is dedicated to change and more fully engaged in making things happen-- not only are employees happier but they are also more productive.

This is a much better way to organize a business than making people walk on tip toes, using threats of losing job security and fear as a motivation to do a good job.

Leadership isn't just popularity, power and showmanship.
The Harvard Business Review states:

"A successful leader as one who can understand people’s motivations and enlist employee participation in a way that marries individual needs and interests to the group’s purpose."

Find Someone Succeeding & Encourage Them

When someone at the job place has created a workaround, or another way of doing routine work that works better, instead of punishing them for not conforming shine the spotlight.

While it won't always be the case, often innovation comes in small packages from employees just figuring out a better way to do a task that isn't officially sanctioned in the employee handbook.

Great leaders find someone deviating from the norm creating success - and encourage them.

Many things we know and love as part of every day life happened because someone did something different than the norm and challenged the group-think of conformity in the workplace, society or within a specific industry.

Air Bnb is one example of this, so are Lyft & Uber, as well as Google's Gmail as mentioned in the blog about managers needing to adopt flexible strategies from leadership to keep folks motivated post COVID (to not just do the minimal but to exceed expectations).

It's raining right now in Austin, Texas and Leonard Cohen is playing on the online radio station I listen to, Radio Paradise.

As I listen to the lyrics sang, I think of leaders who inspired me in my journey from 9-5er to entrepreneur. And the traits they have in common.

One of the shared attributes every one of them has, is the ability to put aside their own ego and become sincerely invested and curious in how other people think, feel and perceive life.

Who are some great leaders you've met in your life? Who inspires you?
. . .

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

5 Tips on Starting a New Business During Covid

Credit: Danielle MacInnes

Now is a great time to start a business. You're saying, "Hold up Trevor, we are all on lock down, are you kidding?" No joke - right now is a great time to start a business with a caveaut:

Design a company that is agile, not dependent on physical location, with a strong online presence.

Businesses succeed when they solve a problem. Right now, consumers have a whole set of new problems that your business can solve.

Whether you're launching a new clothing line for sweat pants and lounge gear or at-home fitness training, there are opportunities to grow and succeed in the new marketplace.

Create a Business Plan

Starting a new business is exciting, nerve wracking and you gotta think on your feet a lot. But, if you have a business plan mapped out ahead of time it gives you a great jump off point.

You may not even follow the plan. Or you may pick and choose parts to follow and adapt other parts as you go along - being agile is critical to your success. Pivoting as you see fit allows you to succeed.

Don't kill yourself writing it. Make it 5-7 pages max. Get your ideas out of your brain in a format for a business template.

Cover these Important Business Points

Write down your answers to these questions in one document:

How are you going to grow?
What are you trying to build?
How are you different from competitors?
How do you make customers wildly happy?
Ponder the chapters of your business

Think about the segments of growth for the chapters of your business. For instance, if you're starting a vegan delivery food truck that customers can order from via an app - 1st you'll have the food truck and app developed.

Then your vegan food delivery service can expand to a full restaurant. After that it'll become a catering business for a larger area. Perhaps this will then open up to franchising or being priced to sell.

The concept here is that when you're thinking on your feet, you can miss important details. When you're doing some deeper thinking on the bigger picture of your business ahead of time you can map out the smaller steps in between significant moves.

You won't have time to sit on your couch and just strategize once you've really got the ball rolling. You may not have all the answers but putting your thoughts down in a structured business plan gives you a resource to refer back to to connect the parts.

You'll have something to refer back to when you're on the move making things happen. It helps you gain perspective on how you connected ideas together that manifest as concrete action steps.

This is especially helpful when you've spent time ahead of time analyzing your competition so you know how you can stand out - or at least have a starting place.

Go Find Smart People to Criticize You

After creating your business plan, structured for stay-at-home, online-friendly covid reality, then find the three smartest people you know.

You know who these people are, they are the super smart folks around you in your friends circle or even co-workers from present or previous jobs.

It would be even better if they also run their own business. Either way, you want them to give you hard criticism on your ideas. Because this helps you increase your ability to make your business better.

Be prepared to hear some hard words. Go into it expecting they will tell you your ideas suck. Don't fish for compliments. Lean into their criticisms. Ask open ended follow up questions.

Remember - your goal is to get them to poke holes in your strategy and future visions so you know where you can improve.

It's highly likely if they see things you aren't seeing, and you want to get investors, those angel investors will see the same things or some of them as well.

Thinking up objections ahead of time and better yet solving them puts you ahead of the rest.

Get Yer Legals Set

Make sure you understand the basics on what you need to do for local taxes, which vary state to state. For example if you're starting an e-commerce store you need to buy at the least an LLC or sole proprietorship, and a sales tax license.

You'll want to get a business bank account to separate your taxable income from your business from your personal finances. It'll be set up with a business EIN number, which is like your social security number for businesses.

Invest in a good attorney and a good accountant. Prioritize the accountant first as you'll want to make sure you don't owe the IRS money. You can hire an attorney after you start making income. When you're ready to scale, you have to make sure your books are straight.

And of course, make sure you have a website for your business, and a business email that isn't just @gmail. Look up Gsuite and how to connect that to your domain for a business email.

Find People Like Me

Reach out to entrepreneurs like myself who already run their own business and ask them for two minutes of their time.

You'd be surprised but many people who are very successful love giving back and helping the newbs out with advice they wish they knew when starting out.

[Hint hint - the reason why I wrote this blog]

Having a solid convo with an established business leader, the higher up the better, will help you see the gaps that laterally moving won't catch.

It's also inspiring to talk to those who have tried what you're doing and succeeded.

What are your tips for those starting out with a new business? Or, what do you wish you had tips about for starting a business?
. . .

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

The Economy of Integrity

Credit: Bonnie Kittle

We live in uncertain times but one thing we can all count on is our own ability to frame the social interactions we have. This is both in our personal lives and in business connections when we interact with other business owners or potential partners for joint ventures and more.

It's one of those nuances of human behavior often ignored - are you being the best version of yourself?

This is where professional development meets personal development. Why is it so hard to take a step back outside the echo chamber of previously held beliefs?

Some of it is habit. Habit in how we think of ourselves, the world, other people and our potential. For many, their careers don't take off until they figure their shit out, as a person. Yet - you won't see this taught in MBA programs at major universities.

It's Not What You Do It's How

There are tons of awful people that donate to charities yet abuse their spouses, do unhealthy amounts of drugs and never take a long hard look at who they are actually becoming aside from profit margins met.

Have you ever tried to save a friend from themselves? Passionately advocating on how to dodge the bullet you see headed towards them from their current actions and life path?

What usually happens?

A shit ton of defensiveness and resentment.

Leonard Cohen once sang,

"And I lift my glass to the awful truth
Which you can't reveal to the ears of youth..."

Cohen sings of the eternal resistance of being told what we know is true - that perhaps we aren't trying hard enough. Perhaps we owe it to ourselves to be a bit more honest on if actions taken are doing justice to the version of ourselves we become when energy follows thoughts.

The act of becoming is talked about in many esoteric texts and yet very divorced from the business world, as far as an inherent quality we associate with success.

The art of becoming is the acknowledgement we aren't perfect but also aren't helpless about who we become during the process of living our lives.

I've been blessed to meet, rather recently, a number of influential multi millionaires at the top of their game for their industry. And in this circle something is different than others I've met in previous years who were also successful in business.

These people, many of whom know each other, have spent time understanding who they are and reflect honor and integrity into how they do business and affect the world.

Back to the friend you're trying to save analogy (happened several times for folks I know). It isn't what you're saying. The content is gold - your intentions are pure, you don't have anything to gain here. It is all for the sake of your friend who is fucking up that you want to save.

It isn't what you say, it's how you say it. If anyone feels lectured to, instant walls go up. Higher than the BS ones the prez wants to build between USA and Mexico. Just add water or err um..strongly worded advice.

People feel the energy coming from you behind your words. This has parallels in the start up world as well.

LTV Isn't Accidental

Of the highly successful 7 figure business leaders I've had the luck to meet, connect with, and in some cases become friends with - the feeling of 'this person genuinely cares for others' and reflects that in how they do business is a great predictor of not just success but longevity.

You may have heard of LTV, the life time value of a customer who makes multiple purchases with your business. A customer's LTV exponentially increases if they trust your business. This is the economy of integrity.

When customers feel a bond because of the tribe you've created based on integrity, the rituals specific to your business, and the values you stand for (and what you won't accept: read I'm Not For Everyone) this not only increases long term profits but you become an excuse for others to rise up and act better.

Do we need to wait for Christmas to be generous, forgiving and proactively giving?

Of course not. It's an attitude. An attitude of gratitude. Ok I did see that on the wall at a meeting I was at back in the day. But despite it's rather pithy phrasing, it speaks to deeper concepts.

It's the idea that every Sci Fi author understands - sometimes we are world-creating. We create a micro world of who buys our product or service and determine what kind of environment and culture we create.

Make use of the free will and choice we do have to lead a company based on values of integrity. It gives back so much more than it takes. Your influence continues to grow positively and affect the lives of others in a way that inspires them to do the right thing.

Don't Take My Word for It

Don't take my word for it - plenty of studies from multiple sources back up, empirically, the values delivered by being a decent person, and how that decency affects organizational structures beneficially.

From the National Academy of Sciences:

"Leadership by individuals of high personal integrity helps to foster an environment in which scientists can openly discuss responsible research practices in the face of conflicting pressures. All those involved in the research enterprise should acknowledge that integrity is a key dimension of the essence of being a scientist and not a set of externally imposed regulatory constraints.

To the Journal on Public Integrity and Ethical Leadership:

“ 'Moral values and norms' are often absent when scholars are involved in describing, explaining, and understanding the reality of governance and administration (the dominant focus is on goals and interests; biases and irrationality; institutions; and context and power). An “ethics and integrity turn” in the dominant fields of study is needed."

The Economist referenced a study ran by Tim Hird of Robert Half Management Resources who aptly said:

“Companies with strong, ethical management teams enhance their ability to attract investors, customers and talented professionals,” explains Hird, adding that ethical behavior starts at the top and allows companies to create a culture that values integrity."

Going back to the friend analogy - the reason I bring this up is that this fits your engagement with your customer base as well. If you really want to help your friend out and avoid a slow motion accident you see coming, listen first. Focus less on the righteousness of the point you're making. More on what his or her needs actually are.

Same goes for the impact your business has on the world through the interactions your clients have with each other, with your business and others they come into contact with after purchasing.

When the person you are is reflected in the values of your company, this ripple effect increases CTV by just making people feel more comfortable because they know, see and feel your integrity.

You may just inspire them to also live their lives with higher integrity - helping your business thrive through word of mouth, increase customer retention and long term profits but also help the world become a better place.

"The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office."

-President Dwight D. Eisenhower

I'd like to hear your comments on your experiences as a customer and business with integrity.

. . .

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

The Power of Tribes

Credit: Joel Mott

We live in challenging times right now. Police brutality has led to business closures from storefronts near protest marches, COVID19 panic buying has led to food and toilet paper shortages and many college graduates, like myself, were stripped of the gift that walking across college stages in grad regalia gives our hearts and souls.

Would be memories never created due to the bizarre pausing of normal life, as we all wait, breathless, for the next thing to happen, hoping paradoxically for things to return to normal.

Business right now is also juxtaposed with innovation opportunities but strained to maintain existing product lines above margin.

Steve Jobs' iconic slogan for Apple, "Think Different," really applies to all verticals still attempting to run a company in these challenging times.

How to Challenge the Status Quo Correctly

Companies that defeat the status quo often succeed where many fail. Whenever the state of affairs is changing, it gives one a chance to be remarkable.

However, many grains of sand make up a beach. Microinfluencers are forgotten by heads of marketing as they push out more cold audience targeted ads.

When you challenge the status quo and can follow through with incredible products or services so unlike what's already out there you start to build a cult following & the story of your business changes.

This following is what makes the difference when you actually are

"Thinking Different."

Quality always beats out quantity. A highly engaged group of followers will recruit more people to join your tribe. They'll take the lead creating micro leaders to step up to the plate and push the envelope.

Nature Abhors A Vacuum

The problem is, there is such a large amount of people that have convinced themselves that it's best to do nothing. That's part of the reason why we see Black Lives Matter protests striking a chord globally. The sleeping masses have woken up and see doing nothing isn't enough now.

To build a business, you need to build a brand. To build a brand you need to build a following. To build a following you need to think differently than the other millions of brands out there saying,

"Buy my stuff, buy my stuff."

Nature abhors a vacuum. A vacuum exists when many who think alike, share pain points your product or service can solve but see no leadership to guide them forward.

Leaders find out how to enter these vacuums and generate momentum. They create the ripple effects the world feels later, after critical mass is reached.

This type of movement generates another type of momentum: the speed of shared trust, the pace of belonging, the transformation of individuals into a tribe.

Be Congruent Inside & Out

Distinguishing your customers from other brands and their clients takes some work. You need to develop your own rituals unique to your company's vision.

Don't be afraid to be a little eccentric. As long as it isn't forced. Jobs was probably very socially awkward but with a genius for aesthetic design.

The funkiness of having all MacBooks after a certain period, come with Garageband, a program to create music, really helped solidify Apple's tribe from competitors.

When you're feeling stuck, think about rituals you enjoy. Contemplate how to integrate these with your tribe. What are things you enjoy, hobbies-wise?

Take a moment to see if you can repurpose some of these activities into a ritual for your company. You may see there are areas you can still rise to challenge the status quo and become remarkable.

. . .

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

Where Reverse Engineering Fails & Stories Win

Credit: Math

Just like a good cup of coffee, feeling like you are beating the competition in your business's market is a feeling you want to savor. But what are you competing against?

The typical response is binary. Apple competes against Microsoft. General Motors competes against Toyota. Netflix competes against Hulu.

However, when customers are using your product or service to solve a pain point they are doing so to satisfy a complex set of emotions, moods and attitudes.

There are times when a customer may decide to purchase from you because they want to meet a goal. The steps towards reaching this goal have sub-steps that have to be achieved before reaching the purchase point.

The 3D Sphere Model of Competition

Credit: jgvdthree

Just the belief that things can get better is a foundation for moving forward. If consumers don't believe that anything can improve it will be a lot harder of a sell. How does what you sell help your clients make progress in their lives?

The way someone makes progress towards completing a goal is a path that offers many moments for you to solve their pain points. If you have an Ecommerce store selling coffee it would make sense to sell coffee mugs as well right?

Amazon's suggestions of similar products customer bought after buying what you're purchasing is responsible for millions of dollars in sales.

But the only way you will be able to even get to this point is if you understand what is competing with your products. Think beyond a linear timeline. Make it more like a 3 dimensional sphere that intersects with other spheres.

If You Were Selling Coffee...

If I was selling coffee, the competition you may think is other coffee brands, and tea. However, just like last Tuesday's blog mentions another source of competition is not buying anything at all.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, talking about the competition Netflix faces said:

“Really we compete with video games. We compete with drinking a bottle of wine. That’s a particularly tough one! We compete with other video networks. Playing board games.”

Thinking outside the box of typical market research on the competition, you'll want to ask, "What do people do instead of drinking coffee?"

Crazy as it seems there are folks who use cold showers to wake up in the morning, or buy really bright lights to turn on in the morning. Workers who work the night shift have their own unique sets of alternatives to coffee which can only last so long before a tolerance is built up.

Energy drinks, Yerba matte, lemon juice and even just water are other sources of competition to coffee. Cigarettes are a replacement for coffee to stimulate the user into being more awake as well as physical exercise.

Using the sphere model of where competition exists for your product, we can see it's more than tea but also yoga mats and stationary bicycles. What circumstances are people in when they seek coffee?

Students, office workers, teachers, entrepreneurs and many more use coffee to start their day. It's a popular drink. What aren't people saying about coffee?

Power of Micro Targeting

Answering these type of questions helps you niche down to a specific market you can micro target and develop a tribe of enthusiastic buyers that will take your company to the next level.

Going with our example of coffee as a sample product you would be selling, we can definitely sub niche down to different categories like:

Social coffee drinkers - they only drink coffee in a coffee shop with friends

Daily coffee drinkers - there are subcategories here as well, the instant coffee drinkers, the pre-ground coffee drinkers, and the whole bean grinders that consider themselves coffee aficionados.

Intermittent coffee drinkers - switching between chai teas, coffee and green teas this group is constantly experimenting with a variety of caffeinated beverages.

How you speak to each member of these groups (which can be subdivided further) will be different.

The marketing messages for an instant coffee drinkers won't be the same as a coffee aficionado who might only use an Aeropress and burr grinder (this is me - I love making some of the best coffee ever created).

The experiences that each group has inside of specific circumstances will decide how you present your product. Finding out that exercise is a competitor for drinking coffee may make you want to pivot into finding ways to combine both.

Reverse Engineering Vs Story Model

There are certain brands who will never have direct competition because of the immersive experience buying their product creates for customers. Trying to reverse engineer an existing business's model can only go so far.

Creating your own story that is filled with rich details solving multiple pain points in the customer's journey is how you stand out from the competition. The truth is most companies don't go to this level of detail.

Crafting unique rituals specific to your consumer's demographics, and circumstances surrounding their decision to buy is going to put you leagues ahead in your progress towards becoming the best version of what your business is capable of.

. . .

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

How To Measure Better Company Metrics

startup blog, startup blog, startup blog

Credit:Luke Chesser

It is easy to get caught up in measuring metrics at a company as a way to gauge success but the data is often not organized in a manner that allows a business to consistently forecast which tactics will be successful.

When you start up a new business, it's exciting to have data that you can parse to see which split test is successful, whether this is in advertising creatives, ad copy or product designs.

But, it's often taken for granted just how complex and layered this process is because it isn't just about delivering a satisfying product but a complete experience that makes buying from your company stand out from the competition.

Distinguishing Your Company From Others

Even the limitations of your product or service can be used as part of the unique selling mechanism. Take for example Twitter's 280 characters limit for tweets & calling a post a "tweet." (See last week's blog on the war between Trump and Twitter)

There are so many levels of a pain point your product or service solves, that it takes a very nuanced approach to address the gap filled. This means that just basing definitions of success on quantitative data will miss the elephant in the room, the customer's:

Credit: Sarah Kilian

Why a person buys your product or service is not always something so granular that it can be put on a spread sheet. This why can change at different times of the day, year or with a set of personal experiences of infinite variety.

Facebook's Metrics Fail to Measure Actual Data

When I worked at Facebook in the ads department we had scores that rated us on how effective we were at our jobs. The number one score was Customer Sat, for Customer satisfaction. The C-Sat scores determined the stability of vendor contractors that staffed for Facebook as well.

However, there was a huge hole in universally rating everyone, for every type of customer, based on one, very black and white metric. The amount of money a person had to spend on ads often was a big trigger on whether or not they were satisfied with the support from the ads department.

If you were too broke to spend enough money to both A/B test and retarget (or even understood what retargeting is) then it didn't matter how many help center articles you read --you'd be unhappy. It wasn't an accurate measure of job performance.

We didn't have conversations with management on understanding why customers chose Facebook over other social media platforms to advertise on.Or how Facebook products or services helped make progress in people's lives & which circumstances they were trying to make progress in.

How to Discover Multileveled Pain Points

Many organizations completely miss defining what the real reason is that customers hire them, and easily fall into the common trap of a one-size-fits-all solution that never solves the problem.

Diving deeper than the surface level metrics opens up new possibilities for growth hacking and innovating company structure, both B2B and B2C.

Taking the time to investigate a customer's multileveled why for consuming your business's offering helps uncover the real reason they buy. Before Volvo messed up their brand image, people didn't buy Volvos to get from A to B or for a flashy look. They bought Volvos to feel safe.

The Secret to True Innovation

One thing you'll discover when going beyond quantitative metrics is the reason why your customer does not purchase. This is often an even more important area to focus on.

If there isn't a product or service that fits a customer's needs, they'll choose not to buy anything rather than settle for a less-than-perfect solution.

Customizing a product or service to fill this need is where many entrepreneurs have made billions of dollars. If you've looked at a niche and felt like you don't have any room to compete because it's over saturated that's a big sign that you probably haven't defined your client avatar's Why well enough.

It's a whole range of experiences that create the need that you're solving. This goes far beyond the basic demographic information of age, gender, location and interests.

When you captivate the story of every day consumers in that split second of struggling to move forward and being stopped by not having what they need - this is the real gold.

Workarounds Offer Insight Into Product Development

Finding out what things your customer base is substituting for what they really want is another opportunity to growth hack. If they have a work around that's pretty "meh" because what they want isn't available you can become very successful by solving that trade off.

Start paying closer attention to the workarounds you use in your own life to get things done, digitally and physically. Being both the consumer and the entrepreneur at the same time can yield new insights because of the way you can think outside the box than just quietly suffering wishing for something better.

Take note of both your own circumstances, and social-emotional depths when faced with something you can't solve perfectly. Observe other people's buying habits and workarounds and discover if consumers are repurposing something it isn't intended for.

This will signal a new gap your product or service can fill. It's a story that mere metrics won't tell you about. This type of market research reveals the nature of pain points in a way that offers you a chance to stand out in solving them.

. . .

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

How Entrepreneurs Go From Good to Great

Credit:NeONBRAND

As an entrepreneur you are a risk taker by virtue of your chosen profession: to be a leader instead of a follower takes courage. But how good do you have to be to succeed? How is success defined in your professional and personal life?

My last blog, COVID Economic Recovery Solutions, discussed the benefits of investing in employees, and seeing the return of professional development in productivity, profits, and increased word of mouth marketing.

In the same way you may invest in your staff, you can also invest in your company's other assets.

Don't Settle for Good Enough Go for Great

We walk a fine line between "just good enough" and "great." To the average suburbanite, just being able to pay bills without a boss breathing down your neck is a huge success.

But the line between good and great, while being thin, is what separates the quitters from the Elon Musks and Steve Jobs of the world. Entrepreneurs benefit from a daily check in and brainstorm sesh on how to make what's good even greater.

You will feel the difference, those few extra hours here and there add up to the bling, the shine, the razzle dazzle of a clean mean business machine. Your customers will feel the difference too when you put in the energy to fine tune and improve what's "just good enough" into something truly excellent.

Drive & Dedication

It feels good to solve a problem - this is at the heart of 99% of all marketing messages. When you've gone through the rigmarole of questioning how to fix something until that eureka moment - it's satisfying to arrive.

But don't rest on your laurels. The allure of complacency is strong and keeps you at mediocre instead of embracing your brilliance. You have to cultivate the inner engine to improve. It has to be an attitude. A mantra.

Once you create the habit of improving, you can't help but get better. This is across the board, personal, romantic, business, family, social life, hobbies, sports - attitude is gratitude.

What I mean is, you'll thank yourself for creating the habit of dedication to improvement. It's a new routine that once developed will help you reach the next level of your potential.

Self Sustaining Networks & Teamwork

There are plenty of entrepreneurs who can wear 10 hats and play multiple instruments. But to be truly successful as an entrepreneur, this means building a strong network. Creating a team that fills the gaps in your own competence is part of what crosses from 'just good enough' to something great.

I chose to use the word sustainable with a specific intention: The personal and professional networks built must be mutual, reciprocal and headed towards a destination that is beneficial.

If only one business is benefiting, see where you can help the other business benefit even more. This goodwill will not go unnoticed. It's all about who you know right? You may catch the eye of an affiliated interest that yields even greater return.

At the very least, you've increased loyalty to your brand and secured a better professional network.

The Self Efficacy Question

Self-efficacy is, in a nutshell, increasing your abilities by believing that you can increase your abilities. And of course taking action to increase them.

It's shown remarkable results in test scores in children in Kansas City, Missouri, and strengthening people's beliefs that they have what it takes to succeed produced even better results in college students at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Student underachievement brought about by low academic motivation is a major factor contributing to school dropout levels according to the Department of Teacher Education and Higher Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Beyond Social Cognitive Theory in an academic setting, self-efficacy has huge potential to help businesses improve. 7 League Boot leaping over obstacles with emotional resilience is achieved by believing that you can overcome these obstacles.

The consistency and commitment to keep on trucking, and examine your methods for achieving success along the way is the key to making that success a reality.

Live, Breath, Sleep the Mindset of a Champion

Whether you're fighting cancer, winning an olympic gold metal, or mastering the art of public speaking - the mindset that you have frames your ability to perform at low or at peak levels.

To even consider quitting a day job requires a whole shift of mindset. But let's take that one step further.

When you believe your company will succeed, in addition to making the efforts to ensure it will, the mindset of a champion means that that needed grit to not only survive but to thrive is present.

Having the mindset of a champion doesn't mean you ignore the less-than-great realities of a situation or sugar coat the gaps in your business.

It means you don't hesitate to face these head on, and do what it takes to succeed. With of course, no moral ambiguity. Doing the right thing, for your business, only improves who you are and the quality of customers you attract.

I've mentioned this before, but one of the defining moments of my life was when my childhood mentor drove me to a homeless shelter when I was kicked out of my mother's house.

He let me know that while he doesn't support this happening, I also needed a wake up call and realize that even if I didn't like my step father, I had to do what it takes to survive with a roof over my head.

Hows that for a gut check?

I didn't have the mindset of a champion then. But 3 days ago I graduated the University of Texas at Austin, having gained acceptance into UT with a recommendation letter from the president of Austin Community College.

It was a hard struggle but once my mindset changed from victimhood to proactive reluctant hero - life aligned to produce the results I wanted.

The same is true for entrepreneurship.

What separates us from the 9-5ers is our ability to innovate, think outside the box, create solutions, and have an unshakable belief in ourselves, our brand and the goals we set out to achieve.

This is the mindset of a champion.

. . .
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COVID Economic Recovery Solutions – Treat Employees Right

Credit: Husna Miskandar

The economy's crashed, hundreds of thousands of jobs are lost and now as society begins to rebuild and open up again it's time to rethink how jobs are structured.

Recently, when moving 4 filing cabinets out of my living room, in order to build an at-home library I spoke with the manager at U-Haul. There were 7 people waiting, with an average wait time of 40 minutes just to check in a rented truck or U-Haul van.

When I asked the manager, a man named Christopher, if it was possible to hire one or two other employees to help manage the customer load he replied,

"I can't get people to work here. They all want to stay home and collect unemployment benefits due to COVID."

I was shocked that the economy is hurting not just because of COVID fear making local governments close down brick & mortar shops but also due to people not wanting to come to work to mooch off of unemployment.

Credit: https://writingboots.typepad.com/.a/6a00e55283a630883401bb0953519e970d-pi

This hurts retailers but also local cities and their economies because when and if local businesses reopen, if they are understaffed, with long lines, it's just going to push consumers to order on Amazon instead of shop there.

Obviously some businesses like U-Haul you can't order online..though drones are doing some amazing things these days.

Low Quality Jobs = Low Quality Work

Aside from the rather unique moocher situation with some staying home to college a paycheck and not working remote but living on tax-dollar funded government benefits...

- There is a lot to be said about flipping burgers or working a register or answering phones and being treated poorly by management.

The Trickle-Down Effect of Incompetence

When the number one concern of employers is not investing in employees to create a high quality work environment, but how can we cut costs, outsource labor to 3rd world countries, lower the hiring wage, reduce worker hours and spread them out over more employees and reduce benefits - well is that motivating people to do a good job?

The question answers itself. If an employee is given a half-ass training (because the manager is also underpaid and under trained), and they are disrespected and made to feel like:

"You are easily replaced so appreciate this shitty job,"

Then it's the trickle down effect of incompetence.

On the other hand, if employers approached training employees as an investment, with professional development included to help employees not only gain competence but additional skill sets to make them more of an asset to the company and their growth opportunities - this changes the ripple effect in workforce management.

Investing in both higher wages and professional training, with work culture more evolved than mashing buttons to get minimum wage then employees will find their own reasons for working harder to do better.

This creates a better quality product or service for the end user that the company serves, which then increases customer retention, loyalty and lifetime value.

Brand loyalty is something that shouldn't just be customer-centric. Brand loyalty cultivated in both the customers and the employees, when increased also increases profits and productivity.

Strikes at Whole Foods and Amazon

If decision makers at the CEO level can't read the room or doubt the logic in the above paragraphs just look at the strikes by Whole Foods workers and Amazon employees who continued to toil on in unsafe working conditions.

When you aren't given a lot benefits-wise, as a bargaining chip from your employer, you don't have a lot to lose if you get fired for striking.

This loses time, money, convenience, customer satisfaction scores drop and just as employees leave for a job that pays $1-3 dollars more an hour so will customers when there are delays due to poor work ethics and project management skills by hiring managers and those who structure employee business models.

Businesses Have to Adapt to Survive COVID19

Instead of making excuses about how an existing system can't change, employers should wake up and smell the Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee: with the lack of foot traffic now is the perfect time to retool the business model

Sam's Club, Costco and HEB grocery store have all taken the lead here and raised wages for their employees as well as invested in their safety.

As mentioned in management philosophy blogs, research has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that when intrinsically motivated individuals apply their efforts to a task they are 10 times more productive and successful than people who are only money-motivated.

This means it isn't just about the money - don't treat your employees like dirt anymore and they will reciprocate. So few jobs actually invest any sincere time in building new skill sets in their employees but every time a company does this, the employee becomes an unofficial brand ambassador.

Feeling respected and appreciated is the cornerstone for every social interaction that's successful, from family, to relationships, to friends to business both B2C and B2B.

Creating this feeling in employees with concrete specific investments in improving their abilities, you now have a spokesperson for how great your company is. Many of these employees are like micro influencers with their own social networks sometimes rather large.

More employee loyalty creates more profits because you get better work done, word of mouth organically spreads to their friends, families, and facebook and twitter accounts without a single ad dollar needing to be spent.

In a large company multiply this by 100 or 1000 - it's pretty damn clear it's stupid to treat employees as disposable to-go containers or warm bodies to fill a space when there is a much higher return from professional development in the workspace.

Where We Go from Here Matters

Ecommerce is booming, many jobs and even schools may utilize more remote work than in person attendance now. Businesses will have to adapt to a post-COVID world in order to survive. This means the old guard has to change.

Instead of hyper focusing on reducing labor cost - putting some real thinking and research behind it to create a 2020 strategy that involves treating and paying employees better, will only benefit everyone better and rebuild the economy. Mic drop.

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

5 Steps On How To Overcome Sales Objections

Every business has to overcome sales objections, spoken and unspoken, to grow and prosper.

Whether your company is B2C or B2B, the sales process of client acquisition will always involve initial objections before purchase.

There are certain tactics that work across the board, in most verticals, so today we'll go over how to overcome sales objections to get the sale.

Anticipate Objections

It sounds simple, and isn't impossible to do, yet it isn't always common to hear a company be the first to say your objections. It's incredible effective when you do this, saying something like:

"I know you're probably thinking, this is way too expensive, but honestly can you put a price on happiness?"

By calling attention to a topic that many customers want to avoid, which is their reason to object to buying, you start to overcome objections before they happen.

Anticipating objections means taking the initiative, and calling out objections as you sense them. There are the standard objections, and also new ones specific to your prospect and this particular selling circumstance.

How can you sense which objections are hidden beneath the surface but aren't being aired out? By changing the nature of how you're listening to your prospect.

Always Active Listen

Many people, regardless of trying to make a sale, will listen only to wait for their turn to talk. This won't get you the sale. Listen with the intent of understanding. This builds trust with your potential client, and allows you to hear the 2nd reason behind a no.

The first reason is the surface level 'no' which doesn't have the emotional triggers that the real reason for the no has. The real objections are rooted in emotion, and association.

When truly listening to understand, there is more data to draw from. You start to get the feel for what isn't being said, as well as what is being said.

This creates an opportunity to anticipate their objections and have a solution ready to go in your response.

Respond

Your response should validate the type of concern that the prospect has, even if it’s that your competitor offers a better deal.

Even if it’s the latter by using curiosity, not defensiveness, you’ll be able to fully explore what is that the prospect likes better about the competition.

Many times it’s just a matter of sticking with what they already know and not wanting to risk an unknown.

In other cases, by asking questions with a true active listening approach, you’ll find that the customer isn’t as sure about their decision to go with the competitor.

You’ll unearth new pain points about the business they currently use, and can position your reply to show your company
connects those gaps.

And if it doesn’t, you’ll also be in a great position to use this as market research and tweak your own business model to offer what your competitors don’t offer but your customers / their customers want.

This is a high leverage position to be in.

With my clients, who are tired of getting Facebook ads disapproved without a solid answer from Facebook as to what part of their ad triggered the disapproval - I offer something no other competitor can offer:

Insight into why Facebook makes certain decisions, and the exact words, copy, in ads and landing pages, that caused the ad to get flagged as well as what ad copy would be approved instead.

This enables me to acknowledge gaps in the market, identify objections, and overcome them ahead of time by offering a solution Facebook doesn't offer - a clear explanation of what caused an ad to be disapproved and guidance on getting it approved.

(Does your agency need a FB Policy Expert? Schedule a free discovery call here)

Confirm - Check for Understanding

After discussing their objections, and how your company overcomes them, touch base to make sure you’re on the same page.

In schools, this is called a “Check for understanding” where a teacher double checks the class understands the material thus far, before moving on to new topics.

This is very similar, you’re the teacher, with the secret knowledge, and your prospect is the student, yearning to learn, even if they don’t know what is possible to learn.

Look for the confirmation, by paraphrasing their objections, summarizing your response and defeating of the objections, and ask if that sounds right.

Budget concerns - If they are objecting due to you haven’t built enough value first. It means you need to build more value.

I need to talk to my husband - We’ve all heard this one, or a version of it. Make sure that you aren’t playing a game of telephone and get the decision maker (DM) on the phone, or in the meeting before going for the close.

I’m too busy right now - Emphasize the fear of missing out, either a quantity scarcity, or a special price scarcity as the price will go up after tomorrow, or for a mastermind group, there are only a few spots left approach works well.

I need to think about it - This is a question of credibility, trust, and the value that’s been built (or hasn’t been built) about the product or service.

Price

If a prospective customer says your service is too much, it’s to your advantage to know what the competition is offering.

The difference in cost can be overcome with the unique selling mechanism your company has, that’s part of the brand slogan, ideally.

“You get what you pay for, and you look like someone who appreciates a quality product.”

This approach shifts from “It’s too expensive” to “Am I really giving myself the [royal] treatment I deserve?”

Conclusion - Know Your S#%t

Ultimately the better you know a product the better you can sell it.

The real secret is not only knowing your product, but also being well versed in:

▶ Your product/service's unique selling mechanism
▶ The market your business is in
▶ Your competition

The more you can speak on why your product or service specifically stands out - the more this confidence and expertise effortlessly translates to the customer who will mirror your energy.

If you’ve done the research and speak confidently based on knowledge, statistics, and results this will motivate your prospects to buy from you more than anything else.

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Secret Dreams

Running a business is a stressful job if your heart isn't into it. When you're driven by a sense of a calling, a passion, and as previous blogs like "Uh Oh Management Needs A New Business Plan" have mentioned, armed with an intrinsic motivation much of this can transform into a labor of love.

But what of the paths not yet taken but dreamed about? Those nights entrepreneurs lie awake, thinking of the next million dollar invention or business model are full of the promise of what's to come.

The nights of enigma, mystery, and that sense of a far away destiny calling you. It is as if there is a party on the other side of the horizon line, just out of view, that you've been invited to, but can't find the address.

It was a feeling like this that introduced me to entrepreneurship in the form of blogging 4 years ago in April 2016. It was taking action on this feeling - refusing to miss another beyond-the-horizon opportunity - that let me quit my day job. It is the nature of being proactive that actions product results.

Instead of acting 'normal' and just chalking up my late night ideas as fantasy or 'unrealistic' I pursued my passion. Taking little steps one at a time, starting companies on the side while I worked at Facebook.

Getting proof of concept that there was a market for my services, a demand that exceeded the supply and thus the side hustle became the main hustle.

That's not all though. We want to make it to the top with our goals and ambition. For someone truly motivated I feel like there are not limits to how high your energy and focus can take you. As Lil Wayne raps, "No ceilings."

In the time I've spent working as a full time entrepreneur I realized there are secret dreams I have yet to act on. Sometimes it's out of nervousness that I'm not capable of achieving them. Other times the to-do list takes over and I forget about the never-talked-about dreams a part of me is still nurturing.

Some of it are businesses and iPhone apps I want to start but haven't been brave enough yet to seek venture capital for. And there are secret dreams I have for my own human potential. Many of these secret dreams surprise my family and myself when I shared one last week for the first time.

I want to be a classical pianist, and perform classical piano pieces in concert halls by Bach, Mozart, Chopin, and Ludovico Einaudi. There's no background that justifies this - I didn't have piano lessons as a child or study it in college. I play some blues piano improv, but I've never been good enough to consider myself "a pianist."

Yet - this is something in my heart that I really want to pursue. I'm considering taking piano lessons now, to make this secret dream a reality, once the world opens back up for regular business after COVID shutdowns. I had the fortune to see Ludovico live at the Bass Concert Hall in Austin, Texas last year, and he was incredible.

I suddenly realized, after I took the leap of quitting my day job, and following my instinct to become a business owner, now that this was possible, I could pursue another secret dream: sailing. Again, there is no context that makes any sense at all. My family hasn't been big on boats, I didn't grow up with any experience on boats that was memorable.

Well there was one moment, as a child, I heard my father say that one day he hoped to get a sailboat. Except, he invested poorly into his life, and business. Ended up old and broke, never pursuing any of his dreams. I guess I took that lesson to heart: how not to be.

I joined a sailing club, befriended a few skippers, and ended up going sailing on $100,000 dollar yachts. The waters glistening with beauty, the wind on my face, as a new friend let me steer his Beneteau Oceanis 38 across the lake. I marveled at how my secret dream, while not yet achieved of owning and sailing a yacht, was at least made more real now. Someday this will be my yacht, I'll let my friend steer.

Another ah ha moment came in a flash, as I found myself thinking about music. I've never seriously pursued learning how to make electronica music. I've dabbled here and there with a few experimental tracks like this one.

But, overall, I didn't take this seriously. In a sort of heart-to-heart moment, before I fell asleep a couple nights ago, I came to terms with the fact that this was something I never thought I would be capable of doing but have a very real interest in learning.

Chillstep in particular, with sampling beautiful singers, on a broad spectrum of neat soundscapes, complete with clips from movies relevant to the mood of the track - this is a dream I've denied myself the chance to see if I can make it happen.

I don't know when I will (perhaps if I meet DeadMau5 at a party & he's cool with sharing a few tips) but...I'm honest with myself that this isn't bullshit. It's a legit passion and interest I just haven't nurtured a whole lot. Another path yet to be taken, waiting, on the other edge of the horizon.

Any one of these secret dreams, has a startup idea behind it. It's part of what guarantees success - if you are genuinely interested, beyond just the money, in making something happen, that kind of motivation is unparalleled. I encourage you to look inside, and ask yourself,

"What are my secret dreams?"

Think about what you may have written off as unrealistic, or just not for you. And revisit these dreams. You just may discover that million dollar idea. Or at the very least, create a new route, for a path not yet taken, that leads to a good work-life-balance and increased personal happiness.

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5 Steps for Designing a Successful Chatbot Flow

Chatbot marketing is one of the newest trends to gain a foothold in the marketing world and there's a reason why: chatbots work.

When you can automate basic questions that most customers always ask, it saves time and money. If you're paying someone to design a chatbot, you'll want to direct them to create a flow that works for your website.

Or perhaps you're creating the chatbot yourself, either way, here is a quick tip on chatbot design:

Option 1 - The Opt In

If someone sees your ads, lands on your website and your messenger bot pops up, the first step is to give them 3 options for what action you want to funnel them to.

Don't make it open give them a path to take. If they are just browsing your chatbot can show a few resources your website offers and encourage them to opt in to your email list to get a lead magnet.

Option 2 - Learn More

The 2nd option could be "I'd like to learn more about your products, or services" and from there you send this potential customer to another sequence that offers them a chance to check out your latest products and services.

Option 3 - Book A Call

The 3rd one is perhaps they are looking for a case study or something specific from one of your services. And get them to book a call with your sales agent, or opt in for an email list, or provide their phone number to get updates.

4. Text Opt In Copy That Converts

"John?"

First name question mark? Is a great way to get people to respond if they opted in to your text alerts from your chatbot.

You can have a simple intro, after they reply to the first name question mark text of:

"Hey this is Thomas from [company name's] and wanted to see if you have any other questions."

And then your sales agents can close them on the phone.

5. Chatbot Flow

Once your potential customer has opted in, you want to have value-based content that solves their problems. When your content delivery includes value packed nuggets without any heavy sales pitches but gentle reminders of your services or products along the way it's a great way to increase conversions.

By providing value first, you gain more trust, and market authority that will boost conversions when your services are interwoven into the educational content they get for free.

You want to be careful with text messages because people will get annoyed if you send them too many texts. Web based alerts you can do more often without risking burn out.
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