Category: Marketing

10 Helpful Tips For Using Twitter For Marketing

In this article, I share 10 helpful tips for using Twitter for marketing. If you’ve always wanted to unlock the potential of Twitter, this post is perfect for you.

 

Twitter is an underrated marketing tool that many people often tend to overlook. For me, it’s been one of the most successful ways to market myself and my businesses.

 

 

Many businesses and personal brands have been thriving for the last few years when they have unlocked the tricks behind using Twitter. In this article, I share my 10 helpful tips for using Twitter for marketing:

 

 

1. Create A Professional Profile

 

The image for your profile picture is 81 x 81 pixels. The image for your header is 520 x 260 pixels. Make sure you get a graphic designer to professionally create these images for you so that you reflect your brand properly.

 

 

2. Post More Than General Messages

 

Everyone wants to sell more merchandise or get more customers using Twitter, but it’s not that easy. Don’t bore your followers and potential customers by sharing the same boring stuff. Look for unique content or posts that you can share with your audience.

 

 

3. Actively Check Your Mentions

 

Speedy responses are a great way to stay connected with your audience. If someone has a comment, question or concern….they should be able to tweet at you. Check it every few hours and make sure you provide helpful answers to your mentions. It’ll make your brand look a little better.

 

 

4. Use Hashtags The Right Way

 

Hashtags aren’t a way to spam random words or phrases into each of your posts. That’s the easiest way to look like an amateur. If you want to use hashtags properly, search for different phrases. Go through these phrases that are relevant to your business or brand and see how you can make a splash.

 

 

5. Tweet Consistently And Regularly

 

The more you tweet from your profile, the healthier your account is. I try posting 3-4 times a day on my personal Twitter account. The key to Twitter marketing is to ensure you have a high level of engagement with your audience. The more tweets you put out, the better your engagement numbers will be.

 

 

6. Follow The Trends

 

Twitter has a trending section on the left that shows you the most popular things that are taking place at a specific time. If you put your brand or business in more of the trending topics (relevant ones), you will have more people looking at your business. If you tag your posts with trending hashtags, you can raise awareness for your brand easily.

 

 

7. Images And Videos Convert Well

 

No matter what social network you are on, you’ll find that images and videos tend to convert better than anything else. Twitter works just the same even though most posts are driven through text. If you can find images or videos to mix in with your posts, that’ll get more eye balls to your page.

 

 

8. Integrate Twitter With Your Other Marketing Methods 

 

If you have a blog or website, make sure you are finding a way to connect your site with your social media profiles. For example, I have a “Follow Me” button and a Twitter feed showing my latest posts on my website. If you can get your visitors to convert to followers, you are putting your potential customers closer than before.

 

 

9. Action Words Have Higher CTR’s 

 

If you’re looking for a higher click-through-rate, you need to include action words that feature verbs and adverbs in your posts. Marketers have analyzed over 200,000 links that have contained tweets and they quickly found out that verbs and adverbs had much higher CTR’s than tweets that were heavy with adjectives and nouns.

 

 

10. Be Authentic 

 

The key to Twitter is that a ton of different personalities are active on it. You need to be original and authentic with the way you post your content on that network. Showcase your brand through your tweets, don’t be too focused on putting up a fake front. Authenticity always win at the end.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In this article, I shared my 10 helpful tips for using Twitter for marketing. What are some tips that have worked especially well for you?

 

 

photo credit: JefferyTurner via photopin cc

 

8 Types Of Content That Can Drive You A Lot More Traffic

In this article, I share 8 types of content that can drive you a lot more traffic. Find out what some of the best ways you can utilize content to drive more visitors to your website.

 

Most recently, I have become really interested in the world of content. Not only did I start a new company in the content marketing space, DailyMondo but I have also been focusing a lot of my time in this space.

 

 

Whether you start your own blog, publication or just decide to share stuff on the side, it’s all about maximizing your efforts. I learned quickly that it isn’t the amount of time you spend but rather how you spend your time that will make your content marketing efforts successful.

 

 

Here are 8 types of content that can drive you a lot more traffic:

 

 

1. Infographics

 

Infographics are really awesome. They take information or data and present it in a really visual way. Not only are they easy to view because of how little time you need to spend, but they tend to also get shared far more often.

 

 

Whether you decide to take popular infographics from the internet or decide to create your own, you can get a lot of traffic by sharing this type of content. Be sure that you use an info graphic when you want to communicate an interesting statistic, research, or point of data.

 

 

2. Pictures 

 

When I tried marketing DailyMondo.com and trying to get it to go viral through Facebook, I realized my text posts were underperforming. Then, I had the brilliant idea of trying to share images.

 

 

DING DING DING! I had a winner. From my preliminary research, I found that images, memes and other types of photos relevant to your audience tend to perform a lot better. You get more shares and more views.

 

 

3. Opinion Posts 

 

When I first started my blog, I didn’t think anyone gave a shit about what I had to say. Turns out, a lot of people care what others have to say. Whether they agree with you or not, it doesn’t really matter.

 

 

The thing that matters is whether or not you’re drawing attention towards your content and getting people to get involved. I learned from my blog that my opinionated posts tend to have the most comments and the most shares.

 

 

4. Videos

 

Videos are probably the holy grail of media content that you can share on the internet. After experimenting with a bunch of different media types on DailyMondo, we quickly realized that video was the best choice.

 

 

Why? Well, videos tend to keep the audience engaged for the longest period of time and require them to do the least amount of work. Whether you decide to make your own videos or share existing videos, it’s a great way to drive some extra eyeballs towards your content.

 

 

5. Lists 

 

I don’t know what it is about lists, but they tend to convert really well. Some of the most shared posts in the whole internet have just been simple lists that had some really captivating content.

 

 

If you have a topic or genre that would be really good for creating a list with, give it a shot. Here’s the first ever list style post I did and it still gets traffic until this day. The post featured 50 great quotes about entrepreneurship here.

 

 

6. Interviews Or Podcasts

 

A lot of my great friends are interviewers or podcasters that have had huge successes. Take one good friend for example, John Lee Dumas generates 6 figures a month all from his site EntrepreneurOnFire where he shares interviews with entrepreneurs doing amazing things.

 

 

While it is crucial to note that John is one of the most hard-working individuals ever who redefined this space by doing 1 interview a day, this type of content has a lasting effect. The interviewed person tends to share their success with their audience while others looking for help indulge themselves in the content.

 

 

7. Current Events

 

With social media sites taking a strong focus on the ‘Trending’ section, you can drive a lot of traffic to your page by timing posts really well. For example, my friend released a post about Mayweather and why an education was important no matter how successful you were just weeks ago.

 

 

He released the post right after 50 Cent offered Mayweather a huge chunk of cash if he would read him a page from Harry Potter. Since the topic was hot, people clicked through to his post at a ridiculous rate. He generated over 50,000 hits that weekend!

 

 

8. The Authentic Stuff

 

At the end of the day, you can only fake so much of it. At some point, you need to come up with original content that is real and appealing to your audience.

 

 

This content can be the hardest to curate, but it’s probably going to give you the most long-term value. My blog is an example of authentic content I share from a lot of my personal experiences.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In this article, I shared 8 types of content that can drive you a lot more traffic. What are some things that have worked really well for you?

 

 

photo credit: theloushe via photopin cc

 

5 Beautiful Truths About Starting Your Own Business

In this article, I discuss 5 beautiful truths about starting your own businesses. I use my own experiences to share some of the most rewarding parts of launching your own company.

 

Starting a business has become more and more popularized in recent times. I remember going to India a few years back and talking with people in the country who had big entrepreneurial dreams.

 

 

However, many of these individuals were terrified of creating their own business. After poking around, I found out that the idea of entrepreneurship was extremely frowned upon in India. It was looked at as a sophisticated way of saying that you were jobless.

 

 

Not many of us are us lucky those who live in the United States or England. In these countries,  entrepreneurship is highly promoted and looked at as a very good choice for many. I found all my success thanks to launching my own businesses.

 

 

If you are on the fence about starting your own business, here are 5 beautiful truths about starting your own business that may change your mind:

 

 

1. Freedom Is A Great Feeling

 

When I started my first business, I wasn’t looking for money more than I was looking for a way to escape the 9 to 5 life. Making money in my businesses was obviously a big goal since it gave me the freedom to stay away from jobs.

 

 

When you start your own business, you have complete freedom. This can be good or bad for many people. However, most people love having control on what they want to make, how they want to make it and who they decide to bring on their team.

 

 

2. You Have Endless Potential

 

When you work a job, you’re constricted by the salary and bonuses that your employer dictates. Even if you’re the top performing individual in a certain space, you will still never earn truly what your worth. If you do the math, the company will always be making a profit off of your work.

 

 

When you start your own business, things change. You finally get the opportunity to get compensated for everything you’re worth. It’s a much riskier path, but you aren’t constricted by a yearly salary. The harder you work and the better results you deliver, the more success you will achieve.

 

 

3. There Is No Substitute For Passion

 

Starting your own business is an amazing feeling. The rush and drive you feel when building your company is absolutely exhilarating. There is no greater substitution for career happiness than being passionate about the shit you’re doing.

 

 

It would be damn near foolish to start a business if you weren’t passionate about the ideas, products or sector. Thus, going under the assumption that you build a business that focuses around your passions, you won’t have any problems putting your heart and soul into the business.

 

 

4. Everything Is More Rewarding

 

Before becoming an entrepreneur at 17, nothing really got me truly excited. Everything was cool or sick to me, but it wasn’t something that got my adrenaline pumping. When I had to deal with various challenges in my business, everything changed.

 

 

Each time I overcame a big challenge or scored a juicy deal, I felt like a winner. It was like playing in game 7 of the NBA finals and hitting the game-winning shot. When you start your own business, the successes you have along the way feel a lot better and are far more rewarding.

 

 

5. Success Is In Your Hands

 

When you work a job, you can do the best damn job possible and still get fired. The greatest part about running your own business is knowing that you control your destiny/future.

 

 

The more successful your business is, the more successful you will be. You’re not relying on someone else to write you a paycheck at the end of the month and you sure as hell don’t have to kiss any asses. Being in charge is a great feeling!

 

 

Conclusion

 

For those of you who have been on the fence about starting your own business, I hope this article was some additional motivation to start now. In this post, I shared 5 beautiful truths about starting your own business.

 

 

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7 Social Media Mistakes You Don’t Want To Make

From my own experiences and working with other businesses, I quickly realized that a lot of people make silly mistakes through social media on a regular basis. In this article, I discuss 7 social media mistakes you don’t want to make.

 

Social media is an amazing platform that is used by lots of people. However, many people misuse social media because they make silly mistakes. As a result of these mistakes, the conversions tend to suffer.

 

 

Social media was something I always understood. I was just really lucky to have grown up with technology and social media the way I did. The social media boom took place as soon as I really understood using the internet.

 

 

Kids nowadays understand technology even better. A survey recently showed that more kids knew how to use an iPad than they knew how to tie their own shoes. Times are changing.

 

 

In this article, I discuss 7 social media mistakes you don’t want to make:

 

 

1. Doing ‘Social Media’

 

Social media should be used to humanize your brand or services. However, too many people label social media as a marketing job. When you try to ‘do’ social media, you find it hard to get results. However, if you spend that time being social like you would in real life, social media can provide you amazing results.

 

 

2. Trying To Be Active Everywhere

 

Unless you’re a massive corporation, you don’t have any reason to be active on all of the social media platforms. You would rather do really well and convert on a few platforms than do poorly on all the platforms. For me, I found out Twitter, Facebook & Instagram were the best channels. I’ve stuck to those channels for my professional offerings.

 

 

3. Diving In Without A Plan

 

Before you dive into a social network, you really need to understand a few things. Ask yourself who your target audience is, why this is a good platform to find them and how you plan to reach them appropriately. If you’re not able to find a good answer to all three of these questions, your social media campaign will NOT be successful.

 

 

4. Inconsistent Brands From Platform To Platform

 

This was a mistake I made early on as well. Unless you’re trying to run conversion tests, you shouldn’t have different profile pictures, about me’s, links, and other information on different social media platforms. Your brand should NOT be inconsistent through different social networks. Be consistent!

 

 

5. Don’t Abuse Hashtags 

 

Hashtags are useful for two things when sending out posts. You can be funny with it or you can summarize a few topics that your post covers. However, there are too many people that make a post like the one below:

 

“50% off pizza at our store today. #Pizza #Deals #California #Marketing #Corporate #Swag #TBT”

 

Nothing pisses me off more than to see a post like this. What does your pizza deal have to do with corporate, swag, or throwback thursday? Absolutely nothing. These types of posts will quickly cheapen your brand and have you looking foolish. Avoid it at all costs.

 

 

6. Lacking Call To Actions In Post

 

You need to create a funnel out of your social media platforms. Each time a new visitor comes to your profile, you should have some sort of pre-created funnel to convert that user. Mine is pretty simple as shown below:

 

Read biography –> Click website link –> Array of ways to convert through my site

 

Not only that, but you should have a conversion funnel for each of your posts. Many people make great posts, but leave out a call to action causing them to lose out on a lot of potential opportunities.

 

 

7. Ignoring Negativity

 

On social media, people feel like they can say just about anything to you because they’re hiding behind the keys of a message board. However, as an organization, you cannot ignore rude or negative comments. I get negative comments all the time through social media. Instead of hiding or running from it, I tackle it head on. I find a clever way to tackle the comments.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Social media is something that requires a lot of patience, practice and persistence. If you manage to balance those 3 things, you’ll eventually be successful. In this article, I discussed 7 social media mistakes you don’t want to make.

 

 

photo credit: courosa via photopin cc

 

Is Your Blog Idiot Proof?

In this article, I ask a very important question to bloggers everywhere. Is your blog idiot proof? If not, I discuss how you can make it idiot proof.

 

When I first built my blog out, I went through a specific process to figure out how I would design and develop my site. After the first few versions were done, I realized that I could barely navigate through my own blog.

 

 

I knew it was time to take a couple steps back. I decided to completely redo my blog from that day forward. I have learned a valuable lesson about building websites over the last few years.

 

 

If a 5 year old can’t figure it out, it’s too complicated. Luckily for me, I have a younger brother who I can use as a testing dummy to figure out various aspects of my website.

 

 

From numerous iterations and specific tests, I am officially able to say that my blog is idiot proof. In this article, I plan on helping you answer the question ‘Is your blog idiot proof’?

 

 

The Blog Itself

 

When I first designed my site, I had too many items I wanted to list on my navigation bar. For some reason, I decided to omit the blog completely from my navigation bar, which made it hard to find.

 

 

Instead, I had it shown on my homepage towards the bottom where I featured a couple of articles and had a click through. I had a couple people test it and the results were NOT promising at all.

 

 

It took 3 people an average of 1 minute and 25 seconds to find my blog. They were my friends so they were willing to look for a long time. A random visitor usually commits 5 seconds before deciding to stay or leave.

 

 

If you have a blog, make sure it is VERY easy to find. Even though my home page isn’t the blog itself, it’s very easy to FIND. I have it displayed at 3 different places.

 

 

I have a blog text shown in my navigation and footer menu as well as leaving the placement towards the bottom of my homepage where I showcase some of my most popular articles. If people cannot find your blog in 5 seconds or less by visiting a web link, you need to make some dramatic changes to your website.

 

 

Organization

 

When you go to the blog page itself, are your articles well-organized? People come to a blog for a very specific reason. They are either looking for an article specifically, enjoy your writing in general or are browsing to see if your style of writing will peak their interest.

 

 

For each of those three reasons, you need to give them a simple solution. My blog specifically caters to all three of those visitors.

 

 

For the person looking for a specific article, they can use the search bar to find it quickly. For the loyal readers of mine, I have my articles organized by the date they were published through the stream running down the middle. Lastly, for the completely new visitor just browsing, I break down my articles in various ways. They can check out the most recent articles, view my personal favorites or look at the most popular articles through the side bar.

 

 

The key to every blog is understanding what your vision is and what people expect from you. When you write a blog article, you’re taking some content and contextualizing it for your audience. When it comes to your blog itself, you must do the exact same thing for your various visitors.

 

 

The Article Itself

 

This is extremely easy to do, but I have seen it messed up far too often. When you click through to an article, it needs to be easy for people to understand. If it’s not, people aren’t going to read it.

 

 

Running through the basics, my articles are displayed in a way that even a kindergartener can figure out what it is about. Every article features a huge title at the top, relevant picture below it and lastly the content underneath all of that.

 

 

Instead of writing 500 words without any spaces or line breaks, I choose to write chunks of 50-100 words per paragraph. Not only that, but I utilize bold fonts to highlight the main topic of each section.

 

 

Believe it or not, most people often just read the title of your article followed by the bolded items. Not only that, but you want to display the content to your audience in a manner where they do not feel overwhelmed. They’re not trying to pick up a chapter book, they’re simply looking for some information within a couple of minutes.

 

 

The Shareability

 

How easy is your blog to share? Again, you must ask yourself whether or not a 5 year old can figure out how to share the articles on your website. The fastest way to spread content is through social media.

 

 

For my blog, I try to make it easy for my readers to share my posts. I have a sharing bar on the left side that follows the reader as they read. It doesn’t block the content, however it presents itself in a way that they can share my content easily.

 

 

If someone is sharing your content, they’re really helping you. Don’t make it difficult on them! Make it easy for people to share your content.

 

 

Discussion

 

Blog articles are a great tool for generating conversation. However, people are less likely to  engage in discussion if it’s a pain in the ass for them to do so.

 

 

You need to ask yourself who your target market is. What kind of platforms do they feel most comfortable with engaging in discussion? My audience is entrepreneurs and I realized a lot of them use a platform called Disqus.

 

 

On the other hand, if I had a blog targeting teenagers, I would NEVER use Disqus. Why? It’s for the simple fact that most teenagers have never heard of Disqus. Instead, I would use the Facebook discussion plug-in.

 

 

Creating conversation is a very important tool for your blog. However, making it easy for your audience is just as important. Survey your readers to figure out what the best platforms for starting discussions are.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In this article, I discuss different techniques bloggers should utilize to make their sites idiot proof.

 

 

photo credit: Éole via photopin cc

 

 

5 Signs You’re A Young Hustler

In this article, I share 5 signs that you’re a young hustler. I officially became an entrepreneur at the age of 9 when I launched my first website. From there, I would go on to do many other small things to make money at a young age.

 

The word ‘hustler’ has a negative connotation to many mostly because of the way media conveys that word. However, to me ‘hustler’ is a very positive word. It represents an individual who goes after what they want regardless of what it takes.

 

 

I officially became a businessman at 17 when I started my first company. However, I had signs that I was a young hustler well before that. I sought out various opportunities and capitalized on them starting from the age of 13.

 

 

At 13, I found a way to earn coins easily on a game and decided to make a business out of it. The game was selling these coins at $40 for every 1 million coins, so I decided to start my own ‘underground’ business of selling coins at $30 for every 1 million coins.

 

 

In high school, I would sell candy and other random items to make a little bit of cash. Both of these ventures only worked for so long, but it was an eye-opener for me.

 

 

In this article, I’m going to share 5 signs you’re a young hustler.

 

 

1. You’re A Rule Breaker

 

Ever since I can remember, I hated rules. I would do whatever it took to break the rules so that I would have the upper hand in everything I did. Young hustlers typically do NOT care for the rules.

 

 

If you’re frustrated with the rules and are constantly finding ways to get around them, that’s a big sign. Self-starters are usually people who would rather create their own rules instead of following them.

 

 

2. You Love Taking Risks

 

Creating your own venture or starting your own business is a huge risk on its own. If you have always lived for taking risks, it might be a strong sign that you’re a young hustler.

 

 

You cannot be successful as an entrepreneur unless you take a couple of risks. It doesn’t matter what the risk is, but you must live a little on the dangerous side in order to capitalize on things.

 

 

3. You Create Your Own Opportunities

 

Growing up, I hated being patient. Adults used to dislike that a lot, but I realized it help me a lot with who I am today. Entrepreneurs are people who create their own opportunities instead of sitting around waiting for one to come.

 

 

If you’re constantly looking for angles to make money or to capitalize on a specific opportunity, that’s a huge sign that you’re a young hustler. The more creative and innovative you are, the better your chances for success will be.

 

 

4. You’re Very Curious

 

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. I remember being extremely inquisitive growing up. I always had questions and wanted to know the answer to something always.

 

 

Curiosity is a great trait for entrepreneurs. It shows a desire to learn and investigate, which is something successful individuals must do. Don’t let people criticize you if you end up asking a lot of question because that’s a great thing. 

 

 

5. You’re Extremely Competitive

 

Most people who know me know that I’m extremely competitive in whatever I do. I hate losing. Being competitive is a big sign that you’re a young hustler.

 

 

Being competitive means trying to be the best at whatever it is that you do. As an entrepreneur, your competitive attitude can be the difference between success or failure.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In this article, I shared the 5 signs you’re a young hustler. Feel free to share some signs you saw in the comments below.

 

 

photo credit: Exotic Car Life via photopin cc

 

5 Signs You Really Need To Quit Your Job

In this article, I share 5 signs you really need to quit you job. I draw from my personal experiences and the discoveries I have by talking with others to write this post.

 

At the ripe age of 15, my father walked into my room one day and told me you have to get a job. I put down my headphones, paused the game I was playing and gave him a perplexed look.

 

 

He said, “All those games I’ve been buying for you and all that money I’ve given you to go out with friends isn’t going to come from me anymore. It’s time you learned the value of a dollar.” That was it.

 

 

The next couple weeks were followed by me looking for a job. Between the ages of 15 to 17, I worked more jobs than the usual teenager did. I did sales, project management, customer service, tutoring, coaching, billing, telemarketing, and just about any other odd job that would hire me.

 

 

I would last a month or two at each of these jobs before quitting. This pattern continued throughout those two years and I finally realized that something wasn’t right. I couldn’t possibly try every single job in numerous different fields only to hate every single one of them equally.

 

 

It was at this moment I realized that I hated the whole idea of working a job. It wasn’t for me and I had to find a new career path. From there, I jumped into entrepreneurship and found a career I love.

 

 

In this article, I share 5 signs you really need to quit your job:

 

 

1. The Whole Experience Is Toxic

 

When I worked jobs, I dreaded the commute to the establishment and I counted down every single minute until I was free. I felt like a prisoner and these were some really toxic conditions.

 

 

If you totally dislike going to work, being at work and cannot wait to get out, it’s a sign that you really should quit your job. Your quality of life can be improved dramatically if you decide to work on something that will actually make you feel good.

 

 

2. Your Heart Is Somewhere Else

 

You may physically be at the place of work, but your heart and mind are really somewhere else. If this is the case, working a job isn’t for you. When I worked those mundane jobs, I was constantly daydreaming about other things.

 

 

Listen to your instincts. If you do what you love, money will always come. It’s worth taking the risk to do something meaningful that will make you happy for the rest of your life. Don’t force yourself to work a job that isn’t right for you.

 

 

3. You Don’t Feel Appreciated

 

Being appreciated and getting respect from your co-workers and bosses is extremely crucial for a healthy relationship in the workplace. If people do not appreciate the services and work you do for their organization, you have no reason being there.

 

 

I remember coming up with really creative ideas at a specific job, but not getting my voice heard. I would try sharing it with my bosses or managers and they would simply ignore me as if I didn’t exist. If you don’t have an active voice and role in the organization, it’s a sign you should move on.

 

 

4. You Think You Can Do Better

 

Do not EVER limit yourself. If you feel that you can get a better job or do something superior, do it!

 

 

Do not let fear hold you down from achieving your full potential. Not only must you think limitless thoughts, but you must act on these thoughts limitlessly as well. If you think you can do better, you’ll never know unless you try.

 

 

5. You Don’t Learn Anything

 

Every day is successful one if I go to bed knowing a little bit more than I did the day before. If you’re working at a job where you do not learn anything new, it’s really time for a change. Let me explain why.

 

 

A relationship between an employee and a company goes far beyond just a paycheck being exchanged for time. Employers are expected to create strong culture, help their employees learn and to foster growth in the workplace. If you aren’t constantly evolving with your job, you’re going to be screwed 10 years from now.

 

 

Conclusion

 

For all the dreamers out there, this article is targeted to you. I recently delivered a TEDx talk asking the important question – If not now, when? In this article, I shared 5 signs you really need to quit you job!

 

 

photo credit: katiew via photopin cc

 

 

How To Learn A New Skill Quickly

I have truly learned that the best skill is the one where you master your ability to learn. In this article, I share how to learn a new skill quickly.

 

When I decided to start my first business, I was 17 years old and still in high school. I went to a public school and I never really had any formal experience with starting a business.

 

 

As you can imagine, I had to learn a bunch of new things really quickly if I wanted to be successful. Lucky for me, I had two things going for me. I was a really good self-educator and I could pick up things fast.

 

 

Many people have wondered how I’ve been able to learn so many different things in such a short period of time. I never realized it, but one of the best skills I have mastered is learning to learn.

 

 

In this article, I share my tips on how to learn a new skill quickly:

 

 

Break It Down

 

In 3 months, I had taught myself how to do search engine optimization for Google, Yahoo & Bing. I had no prior background to this, but realized that this was a service my customers really wanted.

 

 

Before you can master any skill, you must break it all down. Categorize the various elements of your learning into different jars. You’ll want to have various jars for each level of learning you must do. For example, level one may be fundamentals/basics for something.

 

 

You need to have a clear understanding of what you must learn in order to successfully master a skill. You want to categorize each of the skills into different jars based on difficulty and level of importance.

 

 

You need to ask yourself what the very minimum you must learn before you can start implementing or taking action. Once you’ve engulfed all the knowledge from those jars and created a segmented plan of what goes into mastering this skill, you’re ready to move on to the next step.

 

 

Apply It

 

It’s one thing to memorize something, but it’s a whole another thing to implement it. One of the biggest issues I have with college is that curriculums and classes are focused around memorization instead of implementation.

 

 

Once you have the fundamentals down, you’re ready to take action. As you apply your skills, you’ll quickly hit a bunch of roadblocks. Each obstacle may require you to learn something new about this skill in order to get past it.

 

 

Do not look at this as a negative thing, but rather as a positive thing. I have found this to be the quickest way of learning. It’s hard to learn about something from A to Z when you don’t know exactly what you’re going to need to know.

 

 

By applying your skill, you quickly figure out the lessons that are more important than others. You get to learn on the fly, but you’re guaranteed to actually learn something since you won’t be able to get past the roadblock until you implement it.

 

 

Sequence It

 

Once you start applying your skills, you quickly learn what items are of greater importance to you. Everyone uses skills differently and must learn various areas of a craft. Instead of learning everything from A to Z, you get to sample the playing field a bit by applying yourself.

 

 

Now you have a better idea of what things you really need to learn and in what order. Sequence your jars so you can create a lesson plan for yourself on what you need to learn.

 

 

Do not stop implementing or taking action to just learn. You learn by doing and that’s the quickest way to master a craft. Continue trying your best to apply the skill and only stop when you’ve hit a roadblock.

 

 

Practice It

 

Just like anything, the more you practice something, the better you will become. You can’t expect to be renowned at a skill immediately after picking it up. You need to constantly practice and improve yourself.

 

 

When I started learning SEO, I began working on my own sites. However, I knew I had to raise the stakes if I really wanted to master this skill while getting some practice. I started offering SEO as a service to my clients at a heavily discounted rate.

 

 

The stakes were officially raised. I was now responsible for delivering a service to my clients while I had the opportunity to practice and sharpen up my skills along the way. I believe that pressure is the greatest teacher because failure doesn’t become an option at that point.

 

 

Conclusion

 

By applying this simple 4-step process, I have been able to master a handful of new skills over the years. In this article, I shared my tips for how to learn a new skill quickly!

 

 

photo credit: Jan Tik via photopin cc

 

What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From WhatsApps $19 Billion Acquisition

In this article, I discuss what entrepreneurs can learn from WhatsApps $19 billion acquisition. There are a lot of valuable lessons that can be learned from this massive acquisition made by Facebook.

 

The BIG news from yesterday has been the insane fact that Facebook purchased WhatsApp for $19 billion. Yeah, you heard that right. That’s 19 Instagrams and Instagram was a whole lot of money on its own.

 

 

There are a lot of factors that specifically made WhatsApp so successful. Not only that, but entrepreneurs can learn so much from the founders and the success of their startup.

 

 

In this article, I share what entrepreneurs can learn from WhatsApps $19 billion acquisition:

 

 

Rejection Is The Best Motivation

 

One of the co-founders Jan Koum applied for jobs at Facebook & Twitter. Believe it or not, both of these companies rejected him. Instead of paying him a 6 figure salary, they are buying him out for 11 figures.

 

 

As an entrepreneur, you have to take rejection as a positive. Use that to fuel you towards your goals and successes. Jan could have easily gave up when these companies rejected him, but he decided to keep pushing forward.

 

 

He was determined to show the world that he did have value. As you can see, he created one of the largest messaging platforms in the world that Facebook just paid massive amounts of money for.

 

 

Embrace The Struggle

 

Jan came to this country as a teenager as an immigrant with his family. His family wasn’t wealthy by any standards and he quickly learned the meaning of hard work. Entrepreneurs must learn to embrace the struggle.

 

 

Because Jan felt the lows of life, he had tremendous amount of determination to create a better future for himself. Life isn’t about playing strong hands, it’s about playing weak hands extremely well.

 

 

You Don’t Need Money To Market Your Startup

 

People constantly are under this belief that they need a large amount of money to get tons of visibility towards their startup. I have built my startups without spending any money on marketing and WhatsApp did just the same thing.

 

 

They have over 400 million active users, but they have not spent a single dollar to acquire these users. Instead, their money is used on hiring really good employees that can support their infrastructure.

 

 

If you’re able to think outside the box and come up with creative ideas of your own, you do NOT need money to market your business. Just remember, there’s always a better way to get something done.

 

 

Quality Trumps Quantity

 

You cannot build a startup focusing on acquiring as many users as you possibly can. That’s completely the wrong approach. You must create a product of quality that your users will love and engage with on a regular basis.

 

 

More than 70% of the 400 million active users would log on to WhatsApp every single day. That’s amazing engagement and a huge stream of recurring users that are using their application every single day.

 

 

Instagram did the same thing and got a massive payout for doing so. It’s not about revenue or making a ton of money. It’s about building a brilliant product that has a positive impact in the lives of your users.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In this article, I shared what entrepreneurs can learn from WhatsApps $19 billion acquisition by Facebook. What have you learned from this company?

 

 

 

Networking Etiquette: Why People Have Networking All Wrong…..

From visiting tons of events, I’ve learned a lot about networking. Unfortunately, too many people ignore proper networking etiquette and they have networking completely wrong. In this article, I share my thoughts on this highly popular topic.

 

Networking has become more and more popular over the last few years. From attending hundreds of meet-ups, mixers, conferences, and networking events, I’ve learned a thing or two about it.

 

 

Unfortunately, networking isn’t having such a positive impact as it should be. I had the amazing time to spend the last few days with entrepreneurs who understood networking. We attended Startup Grind in Northern California and had an amazing time.

 

 

As soon as we got there, we began networking and I found tons of people who didn’t know a thing about networking. In this article, I talk about why people have networking all wrong…

 

 

Quality Over Quantity

 

People feel like it’s a gold rush and that they have to talk to as many people as they possibly can. For me, networking is all about building quality relationships with high quality individuals.

 

 

I’d rather have 5 amazing relationships built in one night rather than 500 business cards from people I know nothing about. I saw one guy going up to everyone passing out business cards talking about how they do mobile development.

 

 

They spent 30 seconds with each person and they literally treated the experience like a gold rush. As you can imagine, they would be the last person I would call for mobile development. Why? Because, they don’t give a shit about me.

 

 

All they do is care about the money and that became very evident from their interaction with me. By the end of the night, their business card was in the trash. On the other hand, I met great people who actually wanted to build a relationship and I’m going out of my way to help these individuals for FREE.

 

 

Follow Up Yourself

 

Don’t feel that you’re entitled to getting a follow up from anyone. I slacked off a bit with my networking follow-ups throughout the week and I was disappointed with myself for it.

 

 

However, I met the founder of Rotten Tomatoes – Patrick Lee. He was a great individual and he took my business card. Within a few hours of meeting him, I had an email in my inbox from him following up and looking forward to chatting with me further.

 

 

Wow, here’s a guy who built one of the most successful film platforms in the world and he was emailing me to follow up. That’s simply amazing because he doesn’t feel more superior than others. He treats everyone the same and understands that following up is a vital part of being successful as a networker.

 

 

Stop Taking, Start Giving

 

I hate people who come to networking events looking to take whatever they can. Many people seem very keen on learning enough about you so that they can see what they can take from you.

 

 

Business relationships especially do not work like this. A successful networker doesn’t ask, they instead spend that time giving. What can you do to help make someone else’s life better?

 

 

Don’t Be The “ME” Monster

 

The best thing a networker can often do is just listen to what other people have to say. I have developed some of the best relationships and connections by shutting my mouth and listening to others.

 

 

We all love to talk about ourselves and share our accomplishments, which there is nothing wrong with. When networking though, remember that others want to share the stage and the spotlight with you.

 

 

I ask people questions and take a genuine interest in what they do and enjoy. I can probably talk hours on end about myself, but I’m not there to bore people. I’m genuinely interested in building relationships with others.

 

 

Be You

 

I don’t care if you’ve sold a business for hundreds of millions of dollars or if you’re building a startup from your garage. I care that I can meet people who are authentic and are showing who they really are.

 

 

I come across too many people who are bullshitters or completely fake at networking events. It’s a huge turn-off. I become disinterested in the conversation and have no interest in knowing them further.

 

 

Be real and be you. It’s not hard at all, but often times people put on a fake personality that they think will impress others. If people don’t love you for you, don’t bother spending time with them.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In this article, I shared a few tips on why people have networking all wrong. Do you have any comments or thoughts on this article? Share them below!