Category: Home

10 Ways To Stay Productive Even Working Remotely

Working remotely has its pros and cons, but if you can stay productive, then there are more benefits than negatives. In this post, I shared with you 10 ways to stay productive even working remotely.

Working remotely is becoming extremely popular today thanks to technology. Whether you’re an entrepreneur working remotely or an employee, there are numerous benefits. Entrepreneurs have the freedom to travel or work from a place of their choice while employees can save time on commuting each day and work in a more comfortable environment of their choosing.

Working remotely can be beneficial, but staying motivated and productive is also a concern. Often, the added distractions can lead to being far more unproductive, which can be a huge negative for most. For those who are working remotely and can’t seem to get into the usual work groove, there are ways to boost motivation and increase productivity.

Here are 10 ways to stay productive even working remotely:

1. Create A Daily To Do List

Each day, my first activity is to create a to do list organizing the tasks from most important to least important I need to achieve each day. When you start each day with a concrete plan, you’re far more productive because you can jump from task to task smoothly as you finish each item on your list. Creating a schedule is a great way to stay ahead of your days!

2. Set A Designated Start And Stop Time

If you are working remotely, it will be easier if you set up your start and end times for each day at the same hours as your team. For my overseas employees and team members, I frequently ask them to work during my ‘work hours’ because it makes communication a lot easier. If they are working at a different time than me, I have noticed our productivity levels decreasing significantly. Working together will help you interact with your team and avoid long delays.

3. Create A Space For Work

Most people may not realize it, but I often times work from home. In fact, I have built numerous 6 figure + businesses from the comforts of my home. However, I quickly realized that working from your bed or on the couch isn’t always the most efficient way to do things. Even at home, you have to separate your home life from your work life. Create a space or area for work where you go to solely lock in on your tasks. For me, I converted the dining area in my house to my home-office and it has worked great for me.

4. Don’t Fit Non-Work Related Things Within Your Day

The biggest cancer to productivity when working remotely is changing your schedule each day to fit in appointments, hang outs with friends and errands. If you worked a job where your hours were fixed between the times of 9 AM to 5 PM, you wouldn’t be able to easily go to the dry cleaners at 3 PM or catch a matinee movie with your best friend. When you work remotely and don’t have a ‘fixed’ schedule, many people take advantage of this and fit in other things within their work day. This causes a lack of productivity and an added on distraction that can quickly hamper productivity. Stay disciplined at all times!

5. Limit Distractions

When working remotely, your work must be the priority, not the laundry or the cooking.  Don’t fall victim to the temptation of finishing household chores during the times of work. To be productive, work as though you are in the office and do not let your surroundings get in your way. Not only that, but don’t allow distractions such as the television, cell phone or other things ruin your day.

6. Identify And Solve Productivity-Problem Triggers

Conducting a self-assessment of your productivity over a week or two will help you determine what triggered the problem. Not only that, but if you’re working with a friend or family member around, ask them what things they notice that may be affecting your productivity. It’s also good to get criticism from a third party who has your best interest at heart. When you have identified the triggers, you can come up with a plan to solve them. This is an act of mindfulness and self-awareness that can benefit you greatly.

7. Wake Up Early

When you have the luxury to wake up at any time, most people cherish their sleep and decide to sleep in. However, the saying never changes. The early bird always gets the worm. Whether you’re working from the top of a 200 foot corporate building or from your desk at home, its the hungriest who earn the most. You may be working at home, but you still need to wake up early. Waking up early helps a person become proactive and more likely to identify the idea of being in charge of making things happen. What better way to stay motivated and be productive than to fuel your fire for making things happen by waking up early?

8. Get The Right Tools

If you wish to respect your new-found environment as a workplace, you’re probably going to need the proper tools to be effective. Whether it’s two monitors, a printer or a large desk, figure out what exactly you need to stay productive. Often times, people think that they can just utilize a laptop and sit anywhere and achieve anything. However, for most people that’s not the case. Surround yourself with the right tools and resources to be productive and successful.

9. Utilize A Software For Maximum Productivity 

Productivity software are available to help a person working at home become productive. This type of software will help you to stay organized and motivated and result in being productive. Some of the best productivity tool you can use at home:

– Focus Booster: A time tracking app that helps you to stay focused on the task at hand.

– Asana – A task management software that helps track projects view upcoming deadlines and submit work.

– Azendoo – A work management application available on web and mobile that enables you and your team to communicate, share documents, collaborate around tasks and get organized together.

10. Take Regular Breaks And Vacations

Working remotely is working comfortably anywhere you want, but sometimes you need a break from even that. Taking breaks daily will allow your mind to clear itself of all the jumble from your work day and enjoy a few stress free minutes to yourself. Whether it’s meditating, taking a short walk or eating something, breaks are crucial to keep your mind fresh. Not only that, but if you start feeling burned out…it may be time to take a vacation. Often times, some time off might be the answer to your lack of productivity!

Conclusion

Working remotely has its pros and cons, but if you can stay productive, then there are more benefits than negatives. In this post, I shared with you 10 ways to stay productive even working remotely.

Top 15 Entrepreneur Podcasts For 2017

Podcasts are entertaining and usually jam-packed with knowledge from industry experts with substantial experience. Each of the podcasts provides a unique perspective how to achieve success in the entrepreneurial world. In this post, I shared with you the top 15 entrepreneurs podcasts for 2017.

Podcasts have been extremely popularized within the last few years. Entrepreneurs are a very strong community that has leaned on podcasts for motivation, inspiration and ideas. One aspect in particular that makes podcasts so popular is that they provide a different perspective on a variety of subject matters, usually from experts. Listeners can hear straight from the featured guests, which can then provide them a ton of perspective and answers they may be seeking. For many, getting this type of insight is worth a lot.

Podcasts have become a very useful tool for the busy entrepreneur. They’re easy to digest a large amount of content in a short period of time and entrepreneurs can listen to podcasts while multitasking. Entrepreneurs and business leaders have turned to podcasts as a source of inspiration and education. But with the growing popularity of business podcasts being launched, it’s getting harder and harder to find the best podcasts for entrepreneurs.

Here are my top 15 entrepreneur podcasts for 2017:

1. StartUp

The StartUp podcast is what they call a podcast in a podcast. It starts as an inside look at Alex Blumberg launching a podcasting business. StartUp Podcast is unlike any other podcasts where most of the entrepreneurship podcasts have a “host interviewing an expert” format. With StartUp podcast, they give utilize narrative storytelling to share wisdom, inspiration and education.

2. Mixergy: Startup Stories

Mixergy is a consistent favorite because of their in-depth interviews and their high production episodes, which always leave their listeners satisfied and excited for more. They have a unique way in presenting their interviews. Their interviews are done in the format of “how to” guides for building a company. If you’re looking for more insight on the topics of product development, customer acquisition, sales and scaling, this podcast is great for you. They also provide transcripts for each episode in case their listeners want to go back and research particular moments.

3. How To Start A Startup

This is another great podcast that functions the way higher education should. This began when the Y Combinator president Sam Altman gave a one-semester crash course at Stanford University on how to start a startup. Later on, he had 29 other Y Combinator alumni as guest speakers and put together 20 lectures on running a startup. Each of the lectures has an incredible and powerful message.

4. Entrepreneur On Fire

A lot of people love Entrepreneur on Fire because of its amazing range. This is an award-winning podcast where the host John Lee Dumas interviews the most inspiring entrepreneurs seven days a week. If there’s an entrepreneur out there doing something noteworthy, you know John will find them and interview that individual. Not only that, but Entrepreneur On Fire has a TON of content because they’re conducting interviews daily.

5. Powerkeg: Igniting Startups

This might be a newcomer to the business podcast lineup, but Powerkjeg is starting to turn heads in the industry with a solid list of guests, in-depth interviews and informative content. They mainly focus on the tech industry and reveal how entrepreneurs outside of Silicon Valley found traction and success.

6. Jocko Podcast

The host, Jocko Willink, is a retired Navy SEAL officer who is straight forward and on point. When you listen to him, you will surely learn key lessons about leadership, work ethic and discipline that can help you become a better version of yourself.

7. The Tim Ferriss Show

Known most famously for his work behind The 4 Hour Workweek, Tim Ferris has become godlike among entrepreneurs. He considers himself a human guinea pig and takes a methodical approach in search of the most efficient strategies to find success in any skill, sport or business venture. His show is the best choice for those who want serious content, but with a more fun and light approach.

8. The #AskGaryVee Show

The host, Gary Vaynerchuk, is one of the most famous entrepreneurs who shares some honest truths in his podcast. He focuses on marketing, social media and entrepreneurship most specifically. As a host, he doesn’t shy away from the tough questions and dives straight to the tough topics and gives an unfiltered opinion.

9. The Growth Show

This podcasts can give good pieces of advice in growing a business. It is produced by HubSpot and features guests who have achieved remarkable growth with their businesses. He delves into how various entrepreneurs achieved remarkable growth and what it was like to go through the transition. It can give plenty of ideas and strategies in taking the business to the next level.

10. Smart Passive Income

This podcast’s host, Pat Flynn is very well-known in the  blogging and podcasting spheres for building passive online businesses. This is ideal for people who are interested in building a business that will provide them a wealthy lifestyle with the freedom that they seek. The host considers himself a “crash test dummy for starting an online business.”

11. Perpetual Traffic

This podcast discusses breakthrough strategies for using paid traffic to get more leads and more sales. It has the incredible hosts – Ralph Burns, Keith Krance, and Molly Pittman. The strategies they share are all actionable and apply to all businesses regardless of size and industry. The podcast covers every type of PPC platform there is – including LinkedIn Ads.

12. Zero To Scale

This podcast is built around a more specific concept than some of the other podcasts. The hosts are entrepreneurs who bring listeners behind the scenes on what it looks like to build a business from zero to $20K in revenue per month and beyond. This podcast is a report of the direct application of the principles that are talked about in real time.

13. ConversionCast

This is the only podcast that talks hard numbers. This podcast gets to the heart of the metrics that are required for finding success in a business. The show mainly discusses measurable data that marketers have proven to give businesses a competitive advantage. Each episode reviews a real-life case study and offers measurable tactics that enable listeners to take action in their own companies.

14. PNR: The Old Marketing

This podcast is hosted by Joe Pulizzi & Robert Rose. The show is produced by the Content Marketing Institute and focuses on building content strategy based around current trends. Every episode talks about a marketing example from the past that people can learn from even up to this age. The marketing strategies are cool dynamics to understand what worked decades ago and how it can be applied to today’s technology-driven world.

15. Tick Tock Podcast

This podcast shares time-saving tools for busy entrepreneurs and marketers that don’t have time to hunt for the tools themselves. Each episode runs for 3 to 7 minutes, but covers a particular tool. It gives practical examples of how an entrepreneur or marketer can utilize tools and everything is about efficiency.

Conclusion

Podcasts are entertaining and usually jam-packed with knowledge from industry experts with substantial experience. Each of the podcasts provides a unique perspective how to achieve success in the entrepreneurial world. In this post, I shared with you the top 15 entrepreneurs podcasts for 2017.

10 Practices To Follow To Launch A Successful Business

Every startup is tough, but having good practices from the beginning is helpful to reach the success you want. In this post, I shared with you 10 practices to follow to launch a successful business.

Starting a business is perceived as one of the toughest things to accomplish. Not only that, but people are often terrified of starting a business because they see statistics that say more businesses fail than succeed. Every startup is a gamble, but the early days are the most important.

If you have a really good launch strategy, you’ll face less failures early on and burn less cash. Most businesses struggle to survive because they end up going for a tail spin early on and never get a chance to fully recover. However, I have found that launching your business the right way is vital for long-term success.

Here are 10 practices to follow to launch a successful business:

1. Be Prepared For Anything

When starting a business, you have to be prepared to deal with anything. As a business owner, you never know what can come your way. One day, you might be hit with a law suit and the other, you might have the press knocking at your door to cover your company. Successful entrepreneurs can’t be weak, they’ve got to be ready for any challenge that comes their way.

It’s not so much about being prepared or even over-preparing, but it’s about developing the right mentality to handle situations. You have to not only be able to make logical decisions, but you have to keep emotions out of business maters. How you carry yourself is extremely important to launching a successful business that will sustain itself for a long time.

2. Hire Beta Testers

Any time you’re launching a new business, get actual CUSTOMERS to test your products or services out. Many people fail at their business because they take a concept they believe to be great and just run with it. However, what you think is great isn’t necessarily how the market or your customers may think.

When launching a new business, product or service, you really have one opportunity to capture your audience. If you fail the first time around, people will have that memory engraved within their minds. Thus, you should always prepare a soft launch with a beta group to get their thoughts, feedback and concerns about your business. From there, continue to improvise until your beta testers are complaint-free.

3. Embrace Competition

Whether you just started or have been in the marketplace for decades, competition is always going to exist. Regardless of where you launch your business, you’re going to have competition in the present or in the future. Learn to embrace your competition because they provide a lot more benefits than negatives for you.

Competitors not only validate the opportunity for your business, but they can provide you with a ton of education. By looking at your competitors, you can use their history to see what mistakes they made so you can avoid the same ones. Don’t be turned off by your competitors, be willing to accept them and see how you can use them to your advantage.

4. Create A Support System

The journey of an entrepreneur often times seems to be a very solitary quest. However, you can rid yourself of the loneliness if you create a support system early on. Make sure your friends, family and business partners have your back. This will dramatically increase your odds of success because your emotional health and mental health will be significantly stronger if you have people you can look to for support.

You don’t need someone who’s going to give you solutions for each problem you face. That’s going to be up to you to overcome those challenges. However, when times are tough….it never hurts to have a cheerleader who supports you and pushes you to never give up!

5. Know Your Goals

The reason why you launched your business is because you have a goal. Whether your goal is to build the biggest brand in the marketplace, make a billion dollars or change the world, you have some sort of goal. It is crucial to keep your goal close so you always know why you’re doing what you’re doing.

As you develop your business over time, your goals will be a constant reminder as to why you make certain decisions. Not only that, but you need to channel your goals/vision to future employees, customers and partners that you may bring on to your business. Never lose sight of your goals when launching a business!

6. Really Know Your Market

Before you start a business, you should always know your market. You need to conduct research or gain experience in your market so that you know it inside and out. Crazily enough, at my last startup, we knew so much about our market and customers that we could tell you exactly what most of our users would do on a Friday night. It’s not just about knowing who your customer is, but it’s also a lot about knowing their habits, mindsets and beliefs.

Once you understand your market, you can then hone in on your customers. Before you can create a product, you need to know your market. Before you can sell your products in that market, you need to know your customers. Self education is VITAL to succeeding with the launch of any business.

7. Utilize The Digital World

As you know, technology has ran rampant in the last few years and taken over the world. If you’re launching a new business, you must have a strategy to go digital. Whether you’re a restaurant or a brick and mortar retail store, you still have to leverage the power of the internet to succeed.

Stay up to date with digital trends or hire someone who will. No matter what type of business you are launching, do not ignore the massive benefits you can unlock from the digital world. As an entrepreneur, it is your job to find the most cost-effective marketing methods and the online space can definitely provide one for you.

8. Establish A Cash Resource

At the end of the day, you probably need to have some kind of financial resource to succeed. Whether you have investors or you self-fund your business, some cash is required to successfully start. It’s very hard to really launch a business with $0. If you are able to accomplish that feat, hats off to you but most people aren’t so lucky.

You must have some amount of capital to launch your business. Identify how much cash you will need through the various stages of your business and how you plan to fund your company. One of the biggest reasons why companies fail is because they run out of money.

9. Build The Right Team

In business, having the right team to help you is necessary and crucial. Assembling a team that will work together and delivers your products harmoniously is mandatory. The team should be able to share your vision for success.

Before launching a business, you need to build a team that shares the same mindset as you. As a new entrepreneur, don’t try to do it all yourself. Identify your weaknesses and hire smart people that are damn good at what you aren’t. Surround yourself with really smart people to achieve massive success. Remember that entrepreneurship is a team sport!

10. Choose The Right Business Structure

Whether you form your business entity before or after the launch, it is something that you will have to do eventually. However, choosing the wrong business structure can hamper the success of your business long-term. You don’t want to choose the wrong entity, have issues with partners and end up paying more on taxes than you should be.

Unless you have knowledge on this topic, identify a plan for your business and consult a CPA or a business attorney to help you. By getting the assistance of a professional to select the right business structure, you may end up saving yourself years of headaches. The structure you choose will ensure the success of future decisions such as raising capital or exiting the business.

Conclusion

Every startup is tough, but having good practices from the beginning is helpful to reach the success you want. In this post, I shared with you 10 practices to follow to launch a successful business.

10 Tips For Building Email Marketing Lists That Actually Work

It’s easy to market to those who already know about your brand, which is why email marketing is such a powerful tool. Building your list will give you the opportunity to increase subscribers and engage with customers regularly. In this post, I shared with you 10 tips for building email marketing lists that actually work.

If you’ve given your email address in exchange for something in return, you’ve probably received an email newsletter at some point. Well, email marketing is more popular than ever before because of the outstanding results it provides businesses. Email marketing is one of the most powerful channels for nurturing leads through a sales funnel to convert them into customers eventually.

According to a survey done a few years ago, out of the 1,000 web—based businesses, that were involved, these companies reported email marketing to have the highest marketing ROI for them in comparison to other mediums. Based on the surveyed companies, 23% of the total sales were attributed from this single channel. Email marketing has been one of the most profitable channels for businesses in all types of industries.

However, it’s really hard to do email marketing unless you have an email list. The days of buying email addresses of random people for pennies on the dollar are over because they don’t convert. Consumers don’t purchase things from a random email because there is no relationship or trust. Building an email list is extremely important if you want to be successful with your email marketing efforts.

When it comes to building an email marketing list, there is no super quick trick to collect a bunch. There are however a number of strategies, tactics and tips you can utilize to convert at a higher rate and build your email rate faster.

In this post, I share 10 tips for building email marketing lists that actually work:

1. Make It Easy For People To Sign Up

There are companies that miss out on email sign ups by not making it easy for people to register. In order to collect more email addresses, it is best to make it easy for your website traffic to locate and sign up for your email list. Don’t place it on just the home page or one part of your website, make it easily available on all areas of your website pages.

One of the more popular and successful methods that have worked for my businesses has been creating a pop-up. Having a pop-up box is something that the user cannot avoid and it makes it really seamless and easy for them to receive their ‘free gift’ in exchange for their email address.

2. Constantly Update Your Content

When you update the content on your website, there is more opportunity for you to collect emails. The more times a user comes back to your website, the more opportunities you have to increase the number of subscribers you have.

Here’s how you update your content:

– Write blog posts.
– Unveil new products/services on an ongoing basis.
– Release new episodes of a vlog, podcast or interview series that is shared frequently.

This strategy is simple, but can work brilliantly well. This approach was used by Bryan Harris of Video Fruit and it increased his subscription rate to 30% per upgrade offer. One of his best offers generated him an insane 62% increase in subscription rate.

You want to collect email addresses of your most loyal users. These are the people who come back and check out the latest content on your website as it comes out. This strategy gets solid results that can rapidly grow your list of subscribers over a long period of time.

3. Create A Powerful Call To Action 

Any time you want to collect emails, you have to CAPTURE the users attention. Especially on a website that has a ton of things going on, your email capture form can easily get lost amongst the crowd. You have to find a powerful call to action that is placed in an area within your website that will be easily visible.

You know your audience best so figure out what means the most to them. Capture their attention by addressing a problem that you know they may have and show them how you solve that problem.

For example, if you know your audience is having trouble parenting their toddlers. You’re going to want to create a call to action such as “Don’t Let Your Toddlers Run You!”

That’s a problem that parents are having when they come to your website. You know this so you’re looking to provide them a free pamphlet or ebook to show them how to solve this problem. For example, your next statement underneath that may say “Sign up to get 20 tips for controlling your toddlers and disciplining them!”

4. Give Incentives or Giveaways

At the end of the day, nothing is free. Why would someone give you their private contact information? You have to think about ways to incentivize your audience. People will always want something in exchange and the best way to capture someone’s attention is by giving them something “FREE”. This strategy can be very beneficial for email marketers.

The marketing team at WWRD ran a sweepstakes and increased their emails subscribers by 11%. Another example is Josh Earl who managed to acquire over 60,000 emails with a giveaway in just 10 days.

Running a giveaway is fairly easy as long as you structure it in a way that is interesting to users. Here’s how you can do it:

– Prepare a prize that your audience would want.
– Give bonus entries for every referral that they can have.
– Give something to the people who don’t win, a participation gift.
– See if you can partner up with a brand that wants exposure who’s willing to provide gifts to your audience.

Byran Harris offered a prize of a 10-year subscription to Leadpages, an industry-leading landing page service. This gave him additional 2,239 emails in 10 days. He decided to pick a gift that would attract the right type of audience (marketers) and he’s offering something that has a value of around $3,000 which makes it extremely worthwhile.

Research has shown that freebies such as ebooks skyrocket email sign-ups by more than 200%. Giveaways are a lightning fast, guaranteed way to boost your email list. In addition to the direct benefit of increasing your list of subscribers, it also increases goodwill with existing subscribers as they are more likely to pay attention to your emails in the future.

5. Convert Non-Confirmers Into Subscribers

How many people do you think to fill out your email forms each day? Whatever the number is, 20%+ of those people are not making it onto your email list.

Often times, entrepreneurs want to validate their email list by making sure every user confirms their email address before they are added to their list. However, whether you realize it or not, there are tons of emails that don’t get sent to the inbox. As a result, the user never receives the confirmation email and you end up losing a ton of potential subscribers.

Utilize a tool that shows you the non-confirmed subscribers as well so that you can re-send them an email and reach out to them later on down the line if they don’t confirm immediately. There are apps and software that you can use to search all the contacts that have signed up, and you can filter who are the non-confirmers to the subscribers. This is a great way to continue increasing your list of subscribers.

6. Leverage Social Proof

Social proof is very powerful as 63% of the consumers say that they are more likely to purchase from a site that has product ratings or reviews. A series of peer-reviewed studies were conducted in 2008 and the researchers found that social proof is consistently more influential for people when they are making important choices.

One of the keys to leveraging social proof is volume. The bigger the number, the better. If you quantify your subscriber by social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) the numbers won’t be impressive. But quantifying them all as one will give you a volume, and people will be impressed, and your subscribers will believe in this proof. It doesn’t hurt to show a statistic that says, “250,000+ people have subscribed already!”

An example of this is Michael Hyatt’s numbers, which you can see below.

When you see his total number of subscribers showing 512,944. Now that is impressive and anyone who sees this feels a lot more comfortable to also give their email address to Michael.

But does that mean that they are all subscribed to his email list? No, it could be a combination of all the followers he has from social media all the way across to his email list. The point here is that when visitors see this massive number, they’d are impressed and they feel far more relaxed in sharing their private information with you.

7. Test And Optimize
When you venture into email marketing, testing is very important. It is the only possible way to know what works and what doesn’t. Every audience and industry is different so you really have to see what methods work best for your operation. You can test various distribution channels, the placement of different signup links, widgets on your website and the types of giveaways and gated content you offer.

It is always a good idea to ask users or readers for feedback. If you want ways to improve your website and how you convert users, the opinion of your existing users will matter. See how people react with your website and make changes to your design and layout accordingly.

Most email services offer analytics that makes it easier to find out how readers respond to your A/B tests. Then, you can refine and optimize your strategy based on your learnings. Don’t ever be satisfied with your numbers, always be looking to optimize and increase your conversions.

8. Provide True Value With Opt-in Incentives

Today, it is rare to find a website that doesn’t have some sort of featured opt-in incentive. Almost everyone is using this method for acquiring subscribers. However, users are also turned off by these free incentives because some people offer some real CRAP in exchange for their information.

Make sure you provide some real value and you actually give the users what you promise them. People will be disappointed and have trust issues with your website if you make false promises. The more you give, the more opportunities to monetize your audience you will have later on down the line.

9. Set Expectations And Be Transparent

As we mentioned and discussed in the last section, don’t try to deceive people. Instead, be transparent and honest with what users can expect by signing up for your email list. One of the biggest reasons why people don’t convert their leads is because people create distrust with them long before they ever get the chance to sell them. Tricking people into handing over their email address may be effective for growing the list, but they will provide you no value later on down the line.

Your subscribers must know what they’re in for, whether it’s great deals and promotions or information and education. Not only that, but tell them how often you plan to email them and communicate with them. I’ve signed up for some email lists that email me 3x a day. I’m unsubscribing from those email lists within 24 hours because they’re just spamming my email box and wasting my time.

10. Convert With Landing Pages

If you create a marketing campaign outside of your website, you can build a landing or squeeze page and convert with that. Offer a free giveaway, incentive or piece of content in exchange for your email list on a squeeze page. Make it clean and simple so that users can get what they came for immediately.

In order to generate traffic to your website, you can create a Facebook ads campaign and focus on a targeted niche to lower your cost per click. From there, try to figure out how much each email subscriber is worth to you. That’s the easiest way to set up a profitable marketing campaign.

Conclusion

It’s easy to market to those who already know about your brand, which is why email marketing is such a powerful tool. Building your list will give you the opportunity to increase subscribers and engage with customers regularly. In this post, I shared with you 10 tips for building email marketing lists that actually work.

8 Ways For Kids To Make Money And Be Entrepreneurial

Age is just a number and your age is never a hindrance to succeed in the field of business. If you want to develop or test the entrepreneurial drive in your child, have them pursue a business opportunity that might be fun and exciting for them to see where it takes them. In this post, I shared with you 8 ways for kids to make money and be entrepreneurial.

Being an entrepreneur and having your own business can start from a very young age. A lot of millionaires today showcased their entrepreneurial spirits when they were kids and used that early experience later on in their lives. It is not impossible for kids to start a business and become successful entrepreneurs.

As summer is drawing close, it will be a great opportunity for kids to start a business at home. Children today are more addicted to computer games and social media sites, so one way to get them out of the house might be through the lure of earning some cash. By getting them some early experience in the real world, this may cultivate an entrepreneurial drive later on in their lives.

Here are 8 ways for kids to make money and be entrepreneurial:

1. Sell Lemonade

Lemonade stands have been popularized for decades as the perfect way for kids to get their feet wet in the business world. However, this common trend really hasn’t changed. During a hot summer day, children can set up a roadside stand and make batches of lemonades or other types of drinks to sell.

The only thing I would change about making a lemonade stand today versus 20 years ago is the content in your lemonade. Instead of selling regular lemonade that is filled with sugar, can you find a healthier alternative or recipe that tastes good but has a low sugar content? Can you make cold pressed lemonade at home and charge more than just $1? Give your kids some ideas on how they can capitalize on trends today, but the idea of selling lemonade is still better than ever before!

2. Pet Sitting Services

Believe it or not, pets need someone to look after them as well. Whether the owners are out at work all day or on a vaction, pet sitting is an extremely profitable and fun business. More and more people are hiring pet sitters to give their animals company. Kids who love animals, especially dogs, can make money out of a sitting service they can give to their neighbors’ pets.

Kids are usually great with animals and for a short period of time, they can be a great caretaker for pets. They can provide regular walking, feeding, grooming services and most importantly can provide the pets with company. Using this approach, the child can eventually enlist the help of his/her parents to set up their very own pet sitting business.

3. Recycling

Recycling is not only great for the environment, but it’s an easy way to earn extra cash on the side. Teaching kids how to recycle or repurpose items from their own home is the best place to start. It’s a great way for kids to get their entrepreneurial feet wet as they learn how they can make money.

The children can start by taking the items they find in their own home, recycle it and earn cash from it. If they want to take it a step further, they can even re-purpose these items to create awesome creations and see if they can sell it at a garage sale or to other artists. If kids have the skill of recycling, they can make use of old items themselves and sell them online, to their neighbors or others. It will not only teach them how to operate a small business, but also how to take care of the environment through recycling.

4. Lawn Service

Nowadays, everyone has a lawn. The most tedious part of a lawn is that it is filled with grass, plants and trees. Especially with summer coming along, a lot of people in the neighborhood want to clean up their yards because they’re going to spend more time outside.

Kids who are looking to money can easily start up a lawn service. They can help others in the neighborhood for a small fee to mow their lawns, trim their grass, clean up weeds, water plants and even potentially help them plant new flowers/foods. Kids can come up with various fee structures depending on the size of the yard. They can go door to door pitching their services or advertise in the neighborhood letting everyone know of their new services. Children can learn a lot from doing a few of these things!

5. Make And Sell Crafts

For kids, especially girls that are extremely artsy, making craft is a very profitable hobby. Whether they’re making things like scarves, crocheted hats, gift baskets, jewelry or other things, the creation of crafts can be an extremely good source of income. For kids that have the patience and the creativity, entering the crafts space is a great idea.

Crafts made can be sold in events and festivals or sold online to reach more customers. Not only that, but this type of business is great because children can learn a lot. Give your kids a ‘small loan’ to buy them the crafting supplies they need and then they can spend their time making various crafts and charging others. From there, they can learn about profit, loans and the entire cycle of a business.

6. Sell Online

Growing up, another business venture that I took part in was selling things online. My parents house had a ton of random figurines, dolls and other items that would sit around in boxes. Even though my parents didn’t know it at the time, I thought they were a waste of space so I decided to go on ebay.com and auction off my parents antiques. I made a quick $100 until I got busted.

Well, kids should definitely not do what I did because they’re going to face the wrath of their angry parents. However, I did learn something from that business venture. If you have items or things around the house that you don’t use, give them to your kids to sell. Teach them the art of creating listings online, collecting payments, packaging/shipping items and valuing things. Not only that, but they can also sell old clothes or shoes that they don’t need anymore through a site like Ebay. This will clean up the house and give them some early entrepreneurial experience!

7. Car Wash

As a kid, I probably would have washed cars for free because of how enjoyable it was. If your child is looking for a fun business opportunity, starting up a local car wash business might be ideal. Not only that, but this is actually a fun business where they can also enlist the help of a friend or sibling.

Car washing is another form of business that kids can do during their summer vacation or even on weekends throughout the year. Everyone will have cars for the foreseeable future and they will continue to get dirty. The demand will always be there and if children are willing to come to their house to wash the car, they can charge a higher fee than normal. Kids can gather up a bunch of cleaning materials and go door-to-door asking neighbors if they want their cars washed.

8. YouTube Channel

My younger brother has recently given it a go at starting a YouTube channel. I encouraged him to do so after I learned about how massive the opportunity is. He told me of an impressive 12 year old that is earning around $500,000 a year from his YouTube channel. If your child has a hobby related to video games or anything else, they can simply record awesome videos and share them through YouTube.

Videos may even contain things that interest them or tutorials that other people can benefit from. From there, the child just partners up with YouTube/Google and throws advertisements on their videos itself and they get paid for each person who views or clicks on the advertisement. While it takes a lot of views to earn a significant chunk of money, the internet has shown us that anything can go viral at any time. If your child has a solid interest int he digital space, this is a creative business that can help them make some quick money.

Conclusion

Age is just a number and your age is never a hindrance to succeed in the field of business. If you want to develop or test the entrepreneurial drive in your child, have them pursue a business opportunity that might be fun and exciting for them to see where it takes them. In this post, I shared with you 8 ways for kids to make money and be entrepreneurial.

How To Be Successful And Achieve Your Life Goals In The Next 5 Years

Finding success is all about creating the right plan and developing the right mindset that will enable you to tackle your goals no matter how tough things get. In this post, I shared with you how to be successful and achieve your life goals in the next 5 years.

Everyone has their own definition of what success is to them. Not only that, but everyone also has a desire somewhere inside of them to achieve their definition of success. However, being successful or attaining tough goals isn’t always easy. For most people, success is everything and they spend their entire lives trying to attain their life goals.

Your goals are the things you aim to achieve in life. Successes and goals go hand-in-hand. Achieving your goals along the way are extremely important because it gives you a consistent reminder that you’re on the right path for success. Every successful person set smaller goals along the way and they did whatever it took to achieve it.

Success is hard to achieve, but not impossible. The truth is, success is not a destination, success is a mindset for us to take on to achieve our goals. We do not stop having this mindset once we have achieved our goal. Instead, we need to adopt this mindset forever to enable us to achieve success in whatever we do.

In this post, I will share with you how to be successful and achieve your life goals in the next 5 years.

1. Have a SMART Goal

As mentioned, success and goals usually work hand-in-hand, for you to be successful, you need to have a goal. Every goal is achievable if you are determined to achieve it no matter what the circumstances are, so you must set a SMART goal.

– Specific: “This is my goal. What do I want to achieve with this goal? What is the exact outcome that I am looking for?” Your goal needs to be specific. You cannot just say that your goal is to be successful, get really focused. Having a specific goal will help you determine the steps you need to do and the risks you need to take.

– Measurable: “How will I know when I have achieved my goal? What does success look like?” Having a goal of “to be successful” is generic and very broad. Success does not happen only once; it can go on forever. Having a measurable goal like, “My goal is to achieve one million dollars in revenue this year” is something far more measurable. Once you achieve that, then you are successful in that goal and you can focus your attention on your next goal.

– Attainable: “Are there resources I need to achieve the goal? What are those resources?” Every goal you set should be attainable. Earning a million dollars is attainable, but you can’t attain it if you just sit and wait around, you need to work on it. You can start a business and earn that kind of money.

– Relevant: “Why am I doing this? Do I want to do this? Is it a priority in my life right now?” Every person has different priorities; thus, the relevance of their goal is also different from one another. Set up a goal that is relevant to you and what you prioritize it.

– Time-oriented: “What is the deadline? Will I know in a few weeks if I’m on the right track?” Every goal you set should always be time-oriented. We may have a life-long goal, but we should not wait around for forever to achieve success. We also need to set shorter-term goals that are achievable in shorter time frames.

2. Find A Mentor

Sometimes, the path to success and achieving our goals isn’t always clear. Along the way, you’re going to experience challenges and things that may cause doubt in your mind. You may encounter things that may possibly stop you from achieving your specific goals.

However, enlisting the help of a mentor is a great way to keep yourself on track. Find someone who has achieved the level or type of success you want and see if you can get them to mentor you. When finding a mentor, remember not to take up too much of their time and always offer to give back to them in any way that you can. Then, as you deal with obstacles and tough times, share those concerns with them and see what kind of advice they can give you.

3. Take Massive Action

There is no successful person in the world that became successful from just sitting around and waiting. Everyone who is successful or has achieved an amazing goal has worked their ass off to attain it. Whether you’re Beyonce or just a regular college student, we all have the same amount of time in each day. Everyone gets 24 hours, the difference between Beyonce and you is just massive action.

Many people want to achieve what Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates may have achieved in their lifetimes, but we can never achieve what they have achieved without taking action and putting in the work. These super successful individuals went through the same struggles and obstacles as we did, but they didn’t quit when things got tough. They embraced their failures, learned from them and bounced back stronger than ever.

Conclusion

Finding success is all about creating the right plan and developing the right mindset that will enable you to tackle your goals no matter how tough things get. In this post, I shared with you how to be successful and achieve your life goals in the next 5 years.

10 Successful Home Businesses You Can Start With No Experience

With more and more opportunities to work at home opening up, there is no better time to start your own home-based business than now. In this post, I shared with you 10 successful home businesses you can start with no experience.

Are you tired of working at the same office and want to escape the rat race at your workplace? Do you plan to have your own business, but are hesitant because you don’t have much experience?

There are plenty of ways to earn money if you become tired of going through the same routine every day. Many firms and companies offer work-at-home jobs, but the growing trend in the world has been starting your own businesses from home. To be honest with you, half of the week I actually work out of my house as well. Even with little to no experience, you can start a home-based business and earn a sufficient income.

Here are 10 successful home business you can start with no experience.

1. Meal Prepping

If you love cooking or have a hobby for being a chef, you can turn it into a quick and easy business with no experience. Tons of busy professionals are looking to make lifestyle changes and eat healthier. Create a ‘weekly’ menu and prepare all your foods with organic and healthy ingredients. You’ll be able to make all your food in the comfort of your home and package it for your customers. From there, your customers can either pick it up or you can hire a delivery person to drop off all the food to your clients.

2. Blogger

Being a blogger is still PROFITABLE today. People are shocked to find out that they can still make a successful living from blogging, but it’s more doable than ever. Even though it is common, it’s one of the most popular and profitable work from home opportunities available. If you have knowledge in a space and enjoy writing, start up a website and build an audience around your blog. Many digital entrepreneurs started earning from home by launching their own blog and finding ways to monetize it. Blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme, but you can surely make money from it in the comfort of your house.

3. E-Commerce Retailer

Online retail has grown more than ever before. If you have some money to invest upfront, you can utilize a platform such as Shopify or Amazon to launch your own products. Find a supplier using a site like Alibaba or locally and launch your own brand. In 2016 alone, $136 billion of revenue was generated by Amazon. Online retail is taking over the world and you can get a piece of the pie all while sitting at home in your pajamas. Not only that, but you can even look into drop shipping so you never have to touch the inventory.

4. Tutoring

Online tutoring has become extremely popular because the student and the tutor can learn/teach from the confines of their house. I was actually shocked to find out how big the online tutoring world has become. The other day, I found out that my brother had a tutor in another state and they had weekly video chat sessions to go over material. My brother has had absolutely no complaints and he’s actually happier that the sessions are done online instead of in person.

5. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing has a negative connotation around it because of the way that people have abused it in recent years. However, when affiliate marketing is approached correctly, it’s actually still a very profitable and successful business opportunity. If you have your own website or social media following, you can sell products of companies that you believe in and if they choose to sign up, you’ll get a commission or reward for referring the user over.

6. Business Coaching

If you have a ton of business acumen or experience, you can actually launch your own coaching business. Surprisingly, experienced business coaches can earn up to $500 per hour for sharing their expertise. Business coaching helps aspiring entrepreneurs find success, help new business owners launch their companies and they help experienced entrepreneurs keep up with demand.

7. Copywriting

Copywriters are mainly in charge of writing content for a website, advertisements, marketing campaigns, commercials, newsletters, mailings and many other types of things. Copywriters usually have a degree in marketing, advertising or communication, but it’s clearly not necessary. Businesses will hire you if you can deliver tasks with a superior level of quality on time!

8. Editing

Just like Copywriting, this is another freelance gig where it may be helpful to have some kind of degree, but not completely necessary. There are many forms of editing that you can take on too depending on your skills and passions. You can help aspiring authors edit their manuscripts and books from the comfort of your home. Not only that, but if you’re more into the digital stuff, you can be a video editor and utilize software to help edit projects.

9. Graphic Design

Graphic designers who work at companies often complain of the stress they get from their bosses. If you have no experience as a graphic designer, you can still start a graphic design business. You just have to take an online course or self-educate yourself on how to be a good graphic designer. If you possess the skills of a graphic designer, then pursue it. Eventually, you will find clients for whom you will create flyers, informational pamphlets, product catalogs, advertisements and more. It is one of the most well-known business where you can earn at home and be your own boss.

10. Be A Music Teacher

Many parents want their children to excel in many aspects of life. One of them is music. If you have the talent to play musical instruments such as the piano, guitar, violin, then you can use this skill to teach children. You can accept students at your home where you can teach them one-on-one and on a regular basis.

Conclusion

With more and more opportunities to work at home opening up, there is no better time to start your own home-based business than now. In this post, I shared with you 10 successful home businesses you can start with no experience.

How To Successfully Become A Digital Marketing Consultant In The Next 6 Months

Becoming a digital marketing consultant is not easy. But if you possess the skills, confidence, and understanding necessary, you might become a successful one in 6 months or less. In this post, I shared with you how to successfully become a digital marketing consultant in the next 6 months.

No matter how the economy or world around you is doing, one thing will never change. Businesses will exist and they will want to make more money. In order to make more money, often times business owners will seek out marketing consultants to help them improve their numbers.

Marketing consultants will never die out, they just evolve into different mediums over time. The demand for skilled professionals with good experience in social networking, internet marketing, search marketing, mobile and search engine optimization is developing at a rapid pace.

In light of all the growing demand, Digital Marketing Consultant’s are making a ton of money by offering their services to businesses worldwide. Competent digital experts bridge the gap between the business and the online world. Digital marketing experts are constantly being hired because more and more businesses are finding it difficult to digitally market their businesses.

Being a digital marketing consultant has been a service that I have provided for a few years now. However, due to time constraints and my businesses growing rapidly, I’ve been able to take on fewer and fewer clients each year. However, digital marketing consultants can get paid a lot. At the peak of my offerings, I was making around $250 an hour for consulting businesses.

In this blog post, I’m going to show you guys exactly how to successfully become a digital marketing consultant in the next 6 months.

1. Be Optimistic

Optimism is said to be contagious. The road to becoming a digital consultant is not easy and it isn’t completely straightforward. Along the way, you will struggle with ups and downs, but it does not mean that you should just give up. Regardless of what you will encounter along the way, you need a positive attitude to face it all. If you are planning to become a digital marketing consultant, you must have a vision of what you want to achieve and keep that positive mental image engraved in your head for as long as you can.

2. Stay Focused On Goals

A skilled digital marketer always understands the “Why.” One must understand the overall goals, as well as how individual actions contribute to the goal. It is an essential perspective in making decisions throughout a successful project. When marketers wonder, they often ask “Why am I doing this?”, instead of “How does this impact the program”? With marketing, every action has a direct result and you want to constantly remind yourself of that.

3. Strategies vs. Tactics

A strategy is a plan of action with a goal. A tactic is a particular action that is part of implementing the strategy. A lot of marketing consultants can’t distinguish the difference between the two and it often leads to losing clients. Understanding the difference between strategies and tactics can ensure all the “why” is present and will contribute to more successful projects.

4. Listen And Empathize

A lot of people underestimate the power of listening, but for marketers it is a vital skill. The combination of real listening and the ability to empathize with others will make them very successful. Understand the current situation, goals and troubles that a business is having while sharing the necessary emotions to relate with them. From there, the job of the digital marketer is to understand what they need to do and how to do it. Experienced and confident marketers provide valuable perspective and a plan of action well before they implement anything.

5. Prioritize

Any successful consultant will tell you that you have to prioritize your clients and make them feel like the most important people in the world to be successful. A big part of the consultant’s job is to collect data, organize, extract insights and present recommendations that balance options with priorities. Prioritization can vary from engagement to engagement, but most clients are going to expect a lot of your time. Clients will also expect phone calls keeping them in the loop and these are all obligations that you must consider before taking on a job.

6. Understand The Digital Marketing World

From social media marketing to search engine optimization, there are a ton of digital marketing methods that a business can utilize. If you become a one-trick pony, your clients results will suffer and so will your paycheck. Be well-rounded and knowledgeable about the entire space of digital marketing. Understand the needs of a client and really grasp the concepts before you take on a project.

7. Develop A Strategy For Each Client

Every client has a unique set of requirements; no two firms will want the same thing. Develop a unique strategy for each. Understand what the client wants and tailor a strategy that will cater to their specific needs. Always listen to what the client wants and strategize around them instead of bringing a pre-packaged plan.

8. Analyze The Clients Existing Marketing Tactics

In order to save a lot of time and to save your clients a ton of time, you really need to analyze what methods of marketing your clients have done. Find out what has worked, what hasn’t worked and try to figure out why they got the results they did. In order to become a consultant, you can’t just implement ideas. You have to also be able to analyze previous pieces of data and figure out how you can improve upon things.

10. Create A Killer Portfolio

No matter the strategy you have, people are looking for a consultant that has the resume to back it up. You can claim to be the leading expert on SEO, SEM, Social media marketing and everything else, but it means nothing if you don’t have a portfolio that proves this. Create a portfolio citing your previous works with excellent results, utilize case studies and obtain testimonials from previous clients that you can use for future sales pitches.

11. Set A Price That You Are Worth

Digital marketing consultancy is not a free service and there is no set price for it. Pricing shows how you value yourself to your clients and nothing is more valuable than your time and service. What is 20 hours of your time, effort, hard work and knowledge worth to you? Set your own worth and don’t discount it if you don’t want to.

12. Educate Yourself Constantly

Anyone can learn to become a digital marketing consultant if they understand the internet and have basic marketing skills. However, the best digital marketing consultants don’t take a couple courses or educate themselves just once. They’re constantly learning and spending just as much time to improve their own skills as they are on helping their clients. If you really want to be successful in this space long-term, go in with the mindset that you’ll never know everything when it comes to marketing and that you’ll constantly have to improve yourself.

Conclusion

Becoming a digital marketing consultant is not easy. But if you possess the skills, confidence, and understanding necessary, you might become a successful one in 6 months or less. In this post, I shared with you how to successfully become a digital marketing consultant in the next 6 months.

7 Digital Branding Strategies That Are Extremely Popular In 2017

In this post, I shared with you 7 digital branding strategies that are extremely popular in 2017. Adapting to the latest trends in digital marketing is vital to seeing continued success with any business.

Each year, there are always new digital branding strategies that begin to gain traction.The most successful business owners and marketers are the ones who are constantly adapting to emerging trends, instead of sticking to one method forever.

Each year, competition between businesses becomes tight and sometimes can go beyond what they can imagine. There is always a way to better strategy each year. Where there is technology, strategies also evolve.

Here are 7 digital branding strategies that are extremely popular in 2017.

1. Social Media Advertising

If you haven’t jumped on the social media train yet, 2017 is the year to do it. Companies are becoming more and more profitable with social media advertising. In fact, platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have been extremely successful for even my own businesses when it came to paid advertising.

The ad platforms are becoming extremely advanced in being able to target a specific audience allowing companies to be more profitable than ever. If you are offering a product or service, find a way to get your business visible on social media platforms. Utilize their advertising networks and see if you can generate a ROI for your company.

2. Video Marketing

For 2016, content was considered the “King,” but for 2017 it has been dethroned by video. Video marketing ended up becoming an extremely popularized trend towards the end of 2016. From the beginning of 2017, businesses have been able to market and brand themselves effectively with the use of video.

Consumers are becoming less and less likely to read something, but far more likely to watch something. As long as the videos are engaging, users will not only connect with it but they are even more likely to share it with friends and family. Whether you’re looking to grow your businesses reach or simply trying to engrave your brand amongst your existing customers, video is the way to go!

3. Viral Marketing

While viral marketing has technically been a strategy for years now, it has seen quite a bit of improvement in the last few years. With viral marketing, your goal is to find a way to get your consumers and loyal advocates to share your brand with others. You basically have to ask yourself, what can I do that will motivate my customers to talk about my business with others?

That isn’t always an easy question to answer. It really takes a lot to have a successful viral marketing campaign. However in 2017, using giveaways, sweepstakes and incentivizing the entire process can garner some really positive results. If you can find a ‘viral’ way to convince people to share your business in exchange for something free, you’ll get quite a lot of buzz.

4. Mobile Marketing

Mobile too has been an emerging and growing market for the last few years now. Mobile advertising has not only shown to convert better than web in the last year, but the reach on mobile is nearing web. One solid way to brand your business is to simply create a mobile application that users can keep & use on their smartphone.

Today, a huge percentage of the population has mobile phones, and they are convenient to use in looking for a brand they want to explore. A lot of companies have adopted mobile responsive web design and email templates to reach out to their customers. Mobile has a significant impact on search marketing in addition to desktops, laptops and tablet devices.

5. Influencer Marketing

Perhaps this might be the strategy that has always been and will always be trending. Today’s consumer is more likely to trust an influencer than the brand itself sending the message. Consumers tend to think of influencers as unbiased experts with knowledge to share.

Often, they become loyal to the brand, especially if they can see that their favorite influencer is also loyal to a specific brand. In 2017, it is best for a brand to invest time and resources to identify and align with the right influencers, who not only believes in their brand, but can communicate that message to the right audience.

6. Wearable Technology

The wearables space ended up becoming the big thing that saw a ton of growth in 2017. With that in mind, imagine being able to get your brand so close to people that it’s actually inside of what they’re wearing. From smartphones to fitness bracelets, wearables are becoming extremely popular.

For brands, the ultimate goal is to find creative ways to get their marketing in front of users of wearable technology. Maybe even better than smartphone advertising, wearable technologies might be something that consumers cannot escape. Find a creative way to get yourself integrated within wearable technology in 2017!

7. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This strategy should always be on top of every digital marketing strategy of a company, especially for 2017. No matter what technologies have evolved in the digital world, search engine use has NOT seen a decline. In 2017, Google went heavy on updates and announced about the mobile index and Accelerated Mobile Index.

The future of internet search has also changed from the traditional keyword discovery to voice search. The voice assistants from Amazon, Microsoft and Google Home are gaining mainstream popularity and talking to a piece of technology is evidently the future of task functionality. Regardless, search engine optimization continues to convert astoundingly well for businesses even in 2017.

Conclusion

Adapting to the latest trends in digital marketing is vital to seeing continued success with any business. In this post, I shared with you 7 digital branding strategies that are extremely popular in 2017.

6 Business Success Stories That Will Inspire You Immediately

Every success story at some point began as an ordinary person. Not to mention, everyone in the world has the same 24 hours in a day. In this post, I shared with you 6 business success stories that will inspire you immediately.

Every business has some sort of history and every founder has a story. Some successful businesspeople have started with nothing, but today, they have almost everything. Success is not always easy to achieve and it usually takes a ton of determination and handwork to finally be victorious.

Success stories of those who rose from rags to riches is always inspiring. However, some people have attained success in the most unusual ways and have experienced things some will never go through.

Here are 6 business success stories that will inspire you immediately:

1. Chris Gardner

If you happen to be a Will Smith fan and have watched the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness’, you may be familiar with Chris Gardner. The film was based on his story. He was physically abused by his stepfather as a child and was placed in a foster home. The problems and woes he had before did not leave him even as he grew up, married and become a father.

Even as a grown up, he still struggled with homelessness and at the same time, trying to be a responsible father to his son. In the movie, his struggles are all evident, but his rise to riches is inspirational. The lessons he learned from his mother became his motivation to build himself and his business tenaciously. He became the CEO of his stockbrokerage firm called Gardner Rich & Co through uncanny perseverance.

2. Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is one of the most famous and influential women entrepreneurs and celebrities. She is known for her multi-award-winning talk show, the Oprah Winfrey Show. Before she became this famous, she also experienced struggles and pains. She was born into poverty to a teenage single mother. When she was nine years old, she was sexually abused. This wasn’t just a horror she faced during her childhood as it happened again when she was 13 years old. With years of suffering from abuse, she ran away from home.

While she was in high school, she became the night time radio co-anchor and was later transferred to the daytime talk-show because of her incredible ad-lib delivery. Eventually, she was discovered and offered her own talk show. Her talk show went national and had earned her a million dollars. Since then, she has created a more intimate confessional form of media communication and has earned respect and admiration of many because of her rags to riches story.

3. Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie is an American industrialist that founded the Carnegie Steel, a company that produced more steel than all of Great Britain. He was born to a poor handloom weaver in Scotland. He lived in poverty in a one-room house and often slept just to forget how hungry he was. His family migrated to the USA to fight hunger and starvation. He started working at age 13 as a bobbin in a cotton mill.

In his spare time, he read works of famous historical Scottish heroes. He also became a telegraph messenger boy and eventually became an operator because from his hard work. He ended up expanding his knowledge through reading books. He got a job in the railroad industry and learned about the business in general. It was during this time when he began investing in steel and oil companies that he began earning huge returns. Having learned the business and industry of railroad making, he founded the Carnegie Steel Corporation in 1889.

4. Dhirubhai Ambani

Not all success stories come from the USA. India also has its share of rags to riches heroes. Dhirubhai Ambani is the founder of Reliance Industries. He may be rich and the founder of a massive company today, but his road to success wasn’t easy. Even as a young boy, he already possessed the skills of a successful entrepreneur. He would buy a tin of groundnut oil on credit and sell it on the roadside at retail. He earned few rupees for profit and on weekends, he would set up bhajia (Indian snack) stalls at village fairs to make ends meet at home.

When he was 17, he worked as a dispatch clerk. A few years later, the company became a distributor of Shell products and he was promoted to manage the company’s oil filling station. During this time, he dreamt of him having his own oil refinery, which he later realized with his petrochemical ventures. When he was back in India, he ended up starting a textile mill. Later on, he realized his dream of having an oil refinery and became the founder of Reliance Industries.

5. Li Ka-shing

Li Ka-shing was considered as one of the richest men in Asia. Before he had that title, he was just a 15-year old boy who quit school. The Hongkong business magnate, investor and philanthropist once worked in a plastic trading company.

He also became a salesman just to make ends meet. Being the hard worker that he is, he controlled his own destiny, which led to success. Today, Li Ka-shing, the founder of Cheung Kong Group, is operating in 55 countries and employs 260,000 people worldwide.

6. Colonel Harland Sanders

Maybe a lot of people doesn’t recognize the name, but seeing the picture of an old man with a clean, crisp white suit, black string tie, and a walking cane, you would eventually recognize him as the famous person behind the “finger licking good” Kentucky Fried Chicken. He is none other than Colonel Harland Sanders. The people mentioned earlier may have achieved success at a young age, but the founder of KFC had achieved success when he was 65 years old.

Throughout the working years of his life, he struggled with family issues and poverty. When he retired, he received one hundred fifty dollars from social security. He used his retirement money and bought chicken wanting to share his fried chicken recipe to everyone. He had no culinary background, but his chicken recipe was loved by everyone who tried it. From there, KFC was born and it has now become one of the most well-known food chains in the world.

Conclusion

Every success story at some point began as an ordinary person. Not to mention, everyone in the world has the same 24 hours in a day. In this post, I shared with you 6 business success stories that will inspire you immediately.