Category: Uncategorized

4 Easy Steps To Boost Your Online Reputation

In recent years, reputation management has become extremely popular. Businesses charge individuals and other companies hundreds to thousands of dollars a month to manage their reputation. In this article, I’m going to share 4 easy steps to boost your online reputation without paying tons of money.

 

In recent years, reputation management has become extremely popular. Businesses charge individuals and other companies hundreds to thousands of dollars a month to manage their reputation.

 

 

Surprisingly, people are paying for it because managing your reputation is very important. Your clients, employers, and even dates are googling your name to dig up as much dirt about you as they can.

 

 

Not managing your online reputation can be the reason why your clients go with the competitors, employers hire someone else, or your date dumps you before even giving you a chance.

 

 

In this article, I’m going to share 4 easy steps to boost your online reputation:

 

 

1. Get a www.yourname.com domain

 

One of the easiest and quickest ways to build credibility for yourself is to create a website that’s all about you. You get to control everything that is said about you!

 

 

Not only that, but your domain name will typically show up on the top of search engines when other people search for you. Personal websites are a very easy way to boost your online reputation.

 

 

2. Get Some Professional Headshots

 

Professional headshots can cost anywhere from $50-$100 but will prove to be a very valuable investment. People judge you by the pictures they see online and you’d much rather be seen posing in a suit than lying on the floor of a club.

 

 

Take a few professional pictures and use them on social media pages, your website, and any other sites people are visiting to find out more about you.

 

 

3. Get Other People To Talk About You

 

The fastest way I was able to build my online reputation was by getting other people to talk about me. These other people included bloggers, influencers, media outlets, journalists, and just about anyone else who was a credible source.

 

 

Don’t look for a friend or cousin to talk about you, but rather other authority figures who can boost your online reputation very quickly.

 

 

4. Blog Like An Expert

 

In your professional career, you must be an expert at some topic or area. Create a blog on your personal website or through WordPress and start sharing your expertise and knowledge with others.

 

 

Blogging is an easy, but effective way to build up your online reputation since you can share your experience with people on a broad scale. Your blog will typically show up when people search for you and you can leverage that to impress others.

 

 

Conclusion

 

If you plan to invest in anything, invest in yourself. Building your online reputation is something that will carry on with you for the rest of your life. Be sure to use these strategies and others to successfully create a strong online reputation for yourself.

 

 

And before I end this article, I will share you with one of my favorite pictures about this topic.

 

10 Things Stopping You From Being Successful

Regardless of what your profession or craft is, everyone wants to be successful. If success was easy, then everyone would be at the top 1% of their game. In this blog article, I share the bad habits many people have that stop them from being as successful as they wish they could be.

 

Regardless of what your profession or craft is, everyone wants to be successful. If success was easy, then everyone would be at the top 1% of their game.

 

 

Unfortunately, success doesn’t come easy for anyone. In America, we have something called the 1% which is the epitome of success. 1 percenters are the seen as the most successful individuals in our country, but all of them have had quite a journey to their own success.

 

 

Success isn’t easy and it never will be. In this blog article, I will share 10 things stopping you from being successful and how you can overcome them:

 

 

1. Putting Things Away For Tomorrow

 

Procrastination is what they call this. Successful people never save work for another day. They focus on getting everything done when it needs to be done regardless of how long they may have to stay back at the office.

 

 

If you’re committed to succeeding at your craft, nothing should stop you from putting in the hours necessary to succeed. Some of the best NBA players have been seen coming to the gym first and leaving last.

 

 

2. Friends That Could Care Less About Success

 

Success can often times be limited by the people you spend your time with. Are you spending time with people who are better than you or on a similar path?

 

 

Stop spending time with people who bring you down and don’t add to your success. There’s a saying that goes “If you can’t change your friends, change your friends.”

 

 

3. Lack of Belief

 

If you have ever watched a movie called The Secret, you know how important your inner belief is. Belief is believing that your goals have already been achieved and it’s just a matter of time before you achieve them. The greatest minds in history have been successful through all adversity thanks to their untouchable beliefs.

 

 

Stop doubting you and your goals. If you really believe in something and want to achieve it, develop a strong mindset. Be grateful for your achievements along the way and live your life around those goals. Believe you have achieved it and it is just a matter of when the rewards come to you.

 

 

4. No Motivation

 

Staying motivated around the clock while you stay on the grind is not easy. However, motivation is the driving force for success and it’s crucial to find a way to stay motivated as much as possible.

 

 

If you want to be successful, you need to be motivated to achieve your success goals. Find things, stories, videos, or even people who motivate and inspire you to stay on track.

 

 

5. You Think Failure is Final

 

Failure is something all success stories have had to deal with at some point of time. The attitude with which you tackle failure is extremely crucial to your success. Failure is not final and it’s just an opportunity to learn.

 

 

Learn why you failed and embrace it. Failure doesn’t define you as a person or business, it’s just an event that happened at a time and place.

 

 

 

 

6. Hobbies Don’t Equate to Success

 

Many people think part-time gigs and hobbies can translate into huge successes. Unfortunately, the truth is that you have to work your ass off all day and night to be successful.

 

 

If you have big plans for success, you need to re-strategize your plan of action. Figure out which things you really want to be successful at and see how you can put all your time into it.

 

 

7. Willing to Settle for Anything Less

 

Successful people set goals and refuse to settle for anything but what they wanted initially. Imagine what would have happened to the world if some of the best athletes, musicians, and entrepreneurs were willing to settle for less. What would happen if NFL teams were willing to settle for conference championships instead of Superbowls?

 

 

Do not change your images of success. Change your plan of action if anything. Do not settle for anything less than what you initially planned. No goal is impossible or crazy, it just takes perspiration and serious determination to succeed.

 

 

8. Lack of Persistence

 

Sometimes, it takes numerous tries to get something right. If you’re lucky it make take you 5 or 10 different tries to make something work. If you’re not so lucky, it may take you 200-500 different tries to make something work. Persistence is key and those who give up never realize how close they were.

 

 

Don’t give up. If you have goals in mind, do whatever it takes to succeed. It’s important to stay persistent at your craft. Consistently test, experiment, and try new methods of achieving, but never give up.

 

 

9. You Don’t Educate Yourself

 

A degree from college means nothing. Learning and self-education is one of the most important characteristics for success. The greatest masterminds in the world spend time learning something new about their craft everyday, which helped them become the masters of their destiny.

 

 

Don’t look at your fancy degree or high school classes as the final stop for education. Continue learning and educate yourself on things that can help you master your own goals.

 

 

10. Stop Stressing, Start Having Fun

 

At the end of the day, success is nothing if you aren’t having fun. It’s okay to have stressful moments on your way to success, but you shouldn’t be stressed out all the time. Whatever your craft may be, make sure it’s something that you’re passionate about and enjoy doing.

 

 

Having fun is crucial to success. If you don’t love what you do, you won’t be very good at it. You can try to love something, but it’s just not the same. Find the fun in your craft and leverage that to get to the top.

 

 

Conclusion

 

As I said earlier, success isn’t easy. However, success can be achieved and overcoming these 10 things can greatly attribute to your success.

 

 

photo credit: Ed Callow [ torquespeak ] via photopin cc

Twitter Tactics: How To Get Retweeted

With over 40,000 followers and many of my tweets getting over 100+ retweets, I have learned a lot about Twitter marketing. In this article, I share my best twitter tactics to get more retweets and strategies on how to increase your social influence.

 

Twitter is one of the most active and popular social networks on the internet right now. This social network also holds tremendous value for businesses and bloggers because of how quickly content can spread.

 

 

One of the best ways to acquire followers or spread content is by getting retweeted by others. If you’re not familiar with retweets, it’s just like a “share” button that takes your messages and posts it on someone else’s Twitter page.

 

 

I have over 40,000 followers on Twitter (don’t worry they’re real) and have had many tweets been retweeted by 100 or more people at a time.

 

 

In this blog article, I’m going to share how to get retweeted:

 

 

1. Great Content Goes A Long Ways

 

Whether you’re looking for retweets on your blog articles, quotes, or opinions……great content goes very far. You have 140 characters to be creative.

 

 

Understand who your followers and audience on Twitter are and content that is meaningful to them. If you can appeal to your Twitter audience, you will get more retweets.

 

 

2. Time & Day Matter

 

Are you tweeting in the wee hours of the morning? If you’re sending tweets at 3 or 4 AM tweets, here’s why you aren’t getting retweeted.

 

 

The time and day that you choose to Tweet matters greatly. The charts below will show you the best times to Tweet to get the most retweets from your audience.

 

 

 

 

As you can see from the charts above, certain days & times show the most activity on Twitter. Tweeting your best content during those times can vastly increase your chances of getting retweeted.

 

 

3. Use Link Shorteners

 

If you’re uploading links along with your Twitter posts, that’s great! Content with links posted on Twitter get retweeted more often, but you need to be shrinking your links.

 

 

People tend to retweet content that features shorter links way more than un-shortened links. I personally use https://bitly.com to shorten my Twitter links because of the data and metrics it provides me.

 

 

4. Less is More

 

Believe it or not, your Twitter audience will appreciate you more if you do something known as selective tweeting. Instead of posting every tweet that comes to mind, save the best for Twitter and the rest for your friends.

 

 

Post less on Twitter, but make sure your every post on Twitter is magnificent. Focus on posting the content that’s your best so that you get more retweets from your audience.

 

 

5. Be Quotacious

 

My most popular tweets have been quotes or proverbs that I have shared with my audience. For some reason, users cannot pass up a great quote and always have the urge to retweet it.

 

 

If you’re looking to use retweets to increase your social media influence and build up a larger following, you can start by quoting things your audience will be interested in.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Getting retweeted on Twitter is an art that takes time and experimentation to master. Keep experimenting with different ideas and tweets to create more influence through Twitter.

 

 

 

 

Street Smarts vs Book Smarts, The Epic Debate Continued

Street smarts vs book smarts. This is an epic topic that has been debated for ages, but there is no right answer. In this blog article, I will share my personal bout with both topics and show you the best conclusion that I came to.

 

Growing up, I’ve never really been book smart. Everything about the books we had in school disgusted me.

 

 

The books were dirty, boring, and usually meant homework so I ended up hating books for a greater part of my childhood. However, once people stopped shoving books down my throat and I got to pick my own choices, I began loving them.

 

 

However, street smarts and book smarts completely mean different things. Here’s what they mean:

 

 

The Definition 

 

Here’s how the dictionary defines the two –

 

 

Street Smarts: A shrewd ability to survive in a dangerous urban environment.

 

 

Book Smarts: Someone who is intelligent, learns well, and educated very well academically.

 

 

Most people who are street smart aren’t very book smart and vice versa. Growing up, I was very street smart but not so book smart.

 

 

In any situation, I was capable enough to handle myself or to figure out things on the go. Many of my friends weren’t this way, but they were very book smart.

 

 

I learned from an early age that street smarts and book smarts had great value, but the most successful people had a strong balance of both.

 

 

What It Means Relative To Entrepreneurship

 

“How much can you possibly know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?” – Fight Club 

 

 

Read that quote. Stop, take a deep breath and read it one more time. As humans overall, we appreciate and require the formal education we receive through school.

 

 

However, entrepreneurship is something that requires more than an academic lesson. As a college student, I was in the academic setting. Outside of my college classes, I was in the street setting performing those actions.

 

 

Can you really succeed in entrepreneurship by just reading and learning through books? Can you really succeed in entrepreneurship by performing and not gaining anything academically?

 

 

The answer to both questions is simply, NO. It’s extremely tough to succeed without finding a balance between book smarts and street smarts.

 

 

Finding The Balance

 

Finding the balance for me was extremely difficult. I grew up disliking academics very much but didn’t mind the street smarts I had gained.

 

 

When I became an entrepreneur and tried to use my hustle to get me through things which resulted in me falling flat on my face often. Hustle can get you through the door, but education keeps you there.

 

 

It became evident that I had to know my shit in order to succeed in the entrepreneurial environment. I could hustle up to a certain point, but to close deals I had to know what the hell I was talking about.

 

 

That’s when serious academic education kicked in. I was doing everything right, but closing deals since I had a lack of knowledge on the topic I was discussing.

 

 

That’s when I picked up books, articles, blogs, and just about anything with a wealth of knowledge on it. I began learning quickly, but something had changed.

 

 

I was suddenly becoming book smart, just not inside the classroom. I was educating myself on cold calling techniques, marketing strategies, SEO, web design, web development, and so much more.

 

 

These were all things I had never learned in a classroom setting, but I learned outside of school. I became book smart on the things that I was passionate about and cared about.

 

 

Here I was, a 17 year old kid who could barely pass his English class but I was able to master the art of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) spending a few hours a day afterschool.

 

 

Suddenly, it made all the sense in the world to me. School was teaching me all the things I didn’t want to learn.

 

 

How could I be book smart when I could care less how many molecules are in an object? How could I be book smart when I’m forced to read a book because it’s on the state-wide curriculum?

 

 

I had to read and study a bunch of shit that I never got to choose. I couldn’t be book smart growing up.

 

 

As an entrepreneur now, I know exactly the types of things I want to study and read. Not only do I enjoy it, but I dive at the opportunity to learn more.

 

 

Putting It All Together

 

Whether you choose to be an astronaut, magician or successful entrepreneur, you’re going to need a balance of street smarts and book smarts to come out on top.

 

 

I was never book smart, but I had to gain that skill to have a shot at being successful at my craft. As an entrepreneur, it’s important to never stop learning and hustling.

 

 

What are your thoughts on street smarts vs book smarts? Share your thoughts by commenting below.

 

 

photo credit: szeke via photopin cc

What I Learned From Cold Calling 300 People Out of a Directory

Entrepreneurs have to hustle at all costs. Yesterday, the hustle got real. Here’s what I learned from cold calling 300 people out of a directory selling my products and services.

 

Many people think the art of cold calling is dead. I still think cold calling is alive, but there are just a lack of people willing to give it a shot.

 

 

When the hustle gets serious enough in entrepreneurship, you should try cold calling. Cold calling is an easy way to test your market, validate a product, and generate sales for your business.

 

 

Yesterday, I picked up the yellow pages and started calling random individuals who I felt would be prospective customers for my product.

 

 

This was the first time I had really ever cold called a mass group of people, but I learned a lot from the experience. Here’s what I learned from cold calling 300 people out of a directory:

 

 

1. Write Your Pitch Down

 

Before I began pitching, I took some time to craft a well-writen pitch. Every time I picked up the phone, I had my pitch sitting right in front of me to limit any mistakes I could be making.

 

 

If you write your pitch down, you’re much more organized and calm on the phone. Being organized and prepared are extremely important to successfully cold call.

 

 

2. They Just Hang Up…..

 

If people weren’t into my pitch or the product I was selling, they would simply hang up. It’s really not as bad as people think!

 

 

The worst thing someone can do is just hang up on the phone or say a few mean words. Once I realized that, I was far more confident.

 

 

3. Don’t Stop Calling

 

I got a lot of voicemails when I started, but that didn’t stop me from continuing. I left voicemails and kept calling. I spent over 4 hours cold calling person after person through the directory.

 

 

Cold calling is truly a numbers game. The more numbers you call, the higher chances of conversion you have for your product or service. Never stop calling!

 

 

4. Experiment 

 

Test and experiment pitches with different people. See which pitches have the highest success rates and which ones don’t.

 

 

Once you figure that out, you can consistently use one pitch that you know has the best chance of working.

 

 

5. Analyze Your Audience 

 

I quickly found out that a certain ethnic group wasn’t going for the product. I was also able to isolate an ethnic group that was far more interested in the product and decided to focus on them.

 

 

Before cold calling, it’s very important to analyze who you’re calling and how they’re reacting. If you can figure out a more targeted audience to call, your closure rate dramatically increases.

 

 

Conclusion

 

No matter what anyone says, cold calling is not dead! It just takes the right mindset and attitude to successfully cold call individuals. Share your best tips for cold calling success below.

 

 

photo credit: How can I recycle this via photopin cc

How to Hack Time and Get More Out of Your Days

Are you always pressed against time? Don’t worry, that’s a common feeling most people have. Entrepreneurs especially see time fly right by. How many of you have looked at the time and said, “I wish there were more hours in a day.” I used to say that all the time! In this blog article, I’m going to share with you how to hack time and get more out of your days.

 

Are you always pressed against time? Don’t worry, that’s a common feeling most people have. Entrepreneurs especially see time fly right by.

 

 

How many of you have looked at the time and said, “I wish there were more hours in a day.” I used to say that all the time!

 

 

In this blog article, I’m going to share with you how to hack time and get more out of your days.

 

 

1. Some “You” Time 

 

Each day, you need to keep some time open for things you like to do. Whether it’s a hobby, going to the gym, or going out and getting drinks with friends, set aside some time each day for yourself.

 

 

When you have some time for relaxing or fun each day, it’s a lot easier to work harder and faster.

 

 

2. Learn To Say “No”

 

Productive people know when to say no. If you have lots of things to do and people are trying to pile more tasks on your desk, you need to step up and say NO.

 

 

You know how much work you can handle and how you manage your time. It might not be easy to say no, but it can make the biggest difference on how productive your days are.

 

 

3. Start With The Tedious Stuff First

 

Mornings are when you are the most refreshed. Instead of saving the things you hate for the end, start with the tough stuff first.

 

 

Not only will you be able to do a better job on it, but you’ll be able to look forward to something you may enjoy doing. Productivity has a direct correlation with your attitude. Always find ways to increase positivity so that you can increase your productivity.

 

 

4. Work Smarter, Not Harder

 

Are the things you’re doing everyday worth your time? Is this someone else can do? Does this really need your attention?

 

 

These are some very crucial questions that you should be asking yourself. You always want to work smarter, not harder. When I say that, I mean that you should be doing the work that really requires your expertise and knowledge and hire assistants or others who can manage the things that really don’t need much skills and insight.

 

 

5. Value Your Time

 

How much is your time worth? Can you delegate some tasks to other people so that your net income increases?

 

 

If your time is worth $100 an hour, it would clearly be a poor choice to mow your lawn or clean your house. Instead of doing that work yourself, you can hire someone to mow your lawn and clean your house while you are able to focus on the tasks that make you more money.

 

 

6. Stop Trying To Do It All

 

If you have a bunch of tasks to do, focus on one item at a time. Multi-tasking can be disastrous and usually ends up taking more of your time.

 

 

Get one thing done at a time before moving to the next. You will be far more productive because your work will be solid and you will probably end up finishing a lot quicker anyway.

 

 

7. Maximize Your Meetings

 

A lot of time is spent on phone calls and meetings talking about nothing. An easy way to save more time and get done with meetings quicker is to get to the point.

 

 

Every meeting has an agenda and the quicker you get to it, the quicker you get to leave. Meetings and phone calls can take up a large portion of your day so it’s extremely crucial that you maximize your time during those moments.

 

 

8. Wake Up Early

 

Instead of staying up late to finish work, try waking up early. You’re the most productive in the mornings and that’s typically the time when most other people in the world are awake as well.

 

 

The difference between waking up at 8 AM and 6 AM is unbelievable. Those extra 2 hours can help you get done more than you can ever imagine.

 

 

9. Automate Things

 

Are there things that you’re doing everyday? If so, find a way to automate things that always require your attention. For example: If you always have to submit reports to your team, find a way to automate those reports.

 

 

10. Stay Organized

 

Searching for things can take up a lot of your time. It may take a few minutes extra to stay organized, but you’ll be glad you did it.

 

 

Many people waste a ton of time because they are unorganized. Personally, I’ve lost many hours due to a lack of organization in my office.

 

 

Conclusion 

 

Increasing productivity in your daily life takes a lot of practice and hard work. However, with the right amount of patient and practice, you can eventually get the most out of your days!

 

 

photo credit: Βethan via photopin cc

My Narrow Escape From a Life of Corporate Hell

Growing up, I had big dreams of what I wanted to be once I had grown up. I wanted to be a professional basketball player, computer engineer, lawyer, and a corporate employee. When it all came down to it, I chose to be a corporate employee. I will share with you how I barely escaped a life of Corporate America.

 

As a little kid, I had big dreams of what I wanted to be once I had grown up. I wanted to be a professional basketball player, computer engineer, lawyer, and a corporate employee.

 

 

Basketball didn’t work out since I was too short and skinny. Computer engineer sounded good on paper, but was way too tedious for me. Law still is one of my passions, but I could never make it out alive through all the school.

 

 

All that was left on the table was a profession as a corporate employee. Funny thing is, even after starting my first company, I was still poised for a path that would see me working for a big corporation.

 

 

Why I Wanted To Be A Corporate Employee

 

After all my other possible career professions seemingly didn’t work out, I decided I would attend business school and do whatever it took to get a high position job in a well-known corporation.

 

 

I wanted to be a corporate employee because business degrees didn’t require much school, corporate employees got flashy titles, and I thought they made decent money.

 

 

It was only after a year of pursuing entrepreneurship that I realized I would be setting myself up for a life of drudgery by pursuing a corporate job.

 

 

Why I Changed My Mind

 

Once I became an entrepreneur, the world around me opened up. I finally understood why people were as wealthy and successful as they were.

 

 

I became an entrepreneur at the age of 17 when I launched my first business. I didn’t know much about entrepreneurship at the time, but I was balancing high school classes and clients.

 

 

I quickly fell in love with creating and operating a business. I was able to grow my business to over 15 virtual employees and did upwards of $80,000 in revenue in my first year. For a high school senior just starting his first business, those numbers were great for me.

 

 

As I was graduating, I quickly began questioning the path I was taking in life. I was attending business school hoping to working at a company like Microsoft or a JP Morgan.

 

 

But why?

 

 

The Mind Shift

 

I began coming across tons of successful individuals. None of these people said they worked for a company or held a small position in a large business.

 

 

They all built fascinating technology, multi-million dollar businesses, top rated mobile apps, and other types of businesses. I quickly began watching this grow into a trend.

 

 

The most talented individuals would never make more than a yearly salary working at a corporate job. Their skills wouldn’t shine bright, they would just be another cog in the system.

 

 

On their own, these individuals were making millions of dollars from their own business. At a corporate job, they would have been lucky to make anything more than $80,000 a year.

 

 

Only the people at the top thrive in corporations. Whether you build your own business or work for one, you will quickly see that only a select few thrive at the top.

 

 

In the entrepreneurial community, there’s a saying that goes a little like, “Always hire people who are better than you.” 

 

 

This is exactly the model the big corporations take. They benefit tremendously by picking up talented individuals and offering them a salary.

 

 

They limit the competition that they could possibly be exposing themselves too and add another piece to their company. That piece can increase their profits or revenue by millions of dollars, but he/she would still get the same salary at the end of the month.

 

 

I quickly realized that corporate jobs have no meaning. What are you really working for in a corporate job? There is no passion, excitement, or reason for you to succeed.

 

 

You’re just another puzzle piece filling the holes necessary. You’re easily replaceable, undervalued, and underpaid. I could have wasted my whole life by accepting a 9 to 5, but I wouldn’t do that job justice.

 

 

I refuse to work for something where my talent and skills aren’t appreciated.

 

 

I refuse to work for just a paycheck.

 

 

I refuse to do work that isn’t passionate or meaningful.

 

 

I refuse to be another piece of the puzzle.

 

 

The Leap To Entrepreneurship

 

Entrepreneurship is truly my savior. I’m glad I found it at a young age so that I didn’t have to suffer through the treachery of a corporate job like many entrepreneurs have.

 

 

I got a job at the age of 15 working at my Dad’s company. I truly understood why working a job can be so bad. My job had decent pay and wasn’t tough, but I just hated everything about the idea of a job.

 

 

It took me 2 years of struggling to finally quit, but quitting was the best decision I have ever made. After I jumped into entrepreneurship, I haven’t looked back.

 

 

When I wake up in the morning, I open my computer up and everything I’m building is mine. I’m not a puzzle piece or some cog in the system.

 

 

Every day I am working on things that I am passionate about. I have a reason to get up early in the morning, work when I’m sick, and not take vacations.

 

 

It’s because everything I do, I do it for my OWN business and for my OWN beliefs. The harder I work, the more I make. The better I use my skills and talents, the more it benefits my business.

 

 

In a corporate job, I would take all my sick days, run at the opportunity of a vacation, and have a tough time waking up each morning. At the end of the day, who wants to be just another robot?

 

 

Conclusion

 

Thankfully, I have been able to escape a life of corporate hell. If you are on the fence about entrepreneurship or a corporate job, I highly recommend reaching out to me. I will be happy to share my thoughts and opinions on this topic even further.

 

 

photo credit: Ciorra Photography via photopin cc

3 Rules For Sales Success In A Startup

As a startup, sales is everything. It defines whether or not you have a market for your business and it gets your business off the ground. In this article, I will share 3 rules for sales success in a startup.

 

As a startup, sales is everything. It defines whether or not you have a market for your business and it gets you off the ground.

 

 

Getting sales as a startup is probably the most challenging thing you will ever go through. It takes a lot of hustle and determination to make things happen in the early-going.

 

 

The biggest challenge for all of my startups has been validating my product through customer acquisition and selling products. After months of struggling, I made huge breakthroughs by learning a few key rules of startup sales.

 

 

In this article, I will share 3 rules for sales success in a startup.

 

 

1. Stop Selling, Start Educating

 

It’s amazing how much of a difference it made once I stopped ‘selling’ people. Selling is the act of jazzing up and pitching your product to others.

 

 

Educating is explaining a problem or necessity and fulfilling that by sharing a product or service that you offer. When doing startup sales, your goal is to teach people about the need of your product (not sell them on it).

 

 

Once you teach people that they need your product (assuming you do a good job), they will come to your door asking for it. I’ll share an example with you below:

 

 

For StatFuse, we offer a virtual platform that helps students and parents with college admissions. Instead of talking about our product initially, here’s what our pitch traditionally looks like:

 

 

“With college admissions more competitive than ever, public schools really don’t have very many resources available to students. Parents really need to know that their kids are getting zero to no help from their counselors. Generally, 1 counselor is responsible for the academic guidance of 500-600 students. There just isn’t enough time and help available for students and parents from the schools anymore.”

 

 

If you look at the pitch above, I never mention anything about StatFuse or what our product does. I simply explain the problem that students are dealing with to parents and let them decide whether or not they agree.

 

 

Typically a response to something like this is, “Oh no! That’s awful to hear, is there anything we can do for our kids to avoid this?”

 

 

This is generally when I jump in and share what my product can do for them. The key point to get out of this is that you can only sell something to someone who is educated about the need of your product/service.

 

 

It starts with educating the person. Once that happens, you can share what you have to sell once they truly understand the issue or problem that they are facing.

 

 

2. Don’t Build It If You’re Scared To Share It

 

If you’re scared of telling people about the awesome products you’re building, you shouldn’t build it. While building a product is important, telling people about it is just as important.

 

 

Many startups can’t sell their product because they make 2 mistakes:

 

 

A. They are scared to tell people about it.

 

 

B. They don’t know how to tell people about it.

 

 

Whatever the reason is, you have to find a solution to your own problems to find sales success within your startup. If you’re scared to tell people about it, you have to either get over your fear or find a ‘business’ person to join your startup to help you out.

 

 

If you don’t know how to tell people about it and don’t have a lot of money to do so, you have to hustle. Hustling isn’t always the most attractive method of sales, but it’s the only way to get traction for your idea.

 

 

Hustling can mean cold calling, guerrilla marketing, and just about any other method of sales that requires you to get your hands dirty. Whatever the method, it’s extremely crucial to step up and share your products.

 

 

3. If You Don’t Know How It Happened, It Doesn’t Matter

 

Startup sales is all about creating a sales process and learning from it. During this period, you need to measure everything you do. Data is truly king at this stage and you need to get all this information:

 

 

– Who are my customers? Know everything about your customer, who they are, what they do, and how you can approach them.

 

 

– Successful methods of acquiring customers. If someone gives you $500, how many customers can you get? Where will they come from? How long will they take? How much resources will you have to utilize?

 

 

– How can you scale this model of customer acquisition? Is it cost-effective? Is it something that will last for a long time to come? Is this a business or just a product?

 

 

The only way you can answer these questions is by tracking everything that happens within your startup from a sales side. You need to have data and analytics on everything you do.

 

 

Conclusion

 

These 3 steps alone is not enough to give you sales success. However, these tips and strategies will greatly help you achieve the sales goals you have for your startup.

 

 

photo credit: SalFalko via photopin cc

The Secret To Massive Influence

When you think of influential people, who comes to mind? Are they gurus in your industries? Are they icons in their respective sports? Are they highly powerful individuals running countries or organizations?

Regardless of who you consider as an influential person, the power of influence does not come easy. In this blog article, I will share the secret to massive influence.

 

When you think of influential people, who comes to mind? Are they gurus in your industries? Are they icons in their respective sports? Are they highly powerful individuals running countries or organizations?

 

 

Regardless of who you consider as an influential person, the power of influence does not come easy. In this blog article, I will share the secret to massive influence.

 

 

It’s Never About You

 

Influencers never make anything about themselves. It’s always about pleasing others and making others feel invincible.

 

 

Some of the greatest motivational speakers come into a room and suddenly make everyone in the room feel like all-stars. Give them 5 minutes and you will see a room full of people jumping in joy.

 

 

How does this happen? What does this influential person have that others do NOT have?

 

 

Bring Out The Best In Others


Influential people have this uncanny ability of bringing out the best in others. Whether you’re working at an $8/hour job or a millionaire, influential people do not care.

 

 

They will find one common trait of greatness among the both of you no matter what. Influencing people really starts with making feel people good.

 

 

There are celebrities out there that are loved by the people and others who are hated. The celebrities who are loved, live life thinking they are better than nobody. The celebrities who are hated often do things to put themselves on a higher pedestal than others.

 

 

The first step to massive influence is to know how to genuinely make people feel good. Care about people regardless of where they come from or who they are. Here are things influential people do to others:

 

 

– Remember people’s name.

 

– Show a genuine interest in what someone else does and how they do it.

 

– Listen.

 

– Make people feel important and useful.

 

– Help people.

 

 

Influence goes a long way. If you want to be influential, you have to forget about being influential. Focus on what you can do to help others.

 

 

If you can have someone smiling after having a conversation with you, they will remember you. Influential people are not individuals who do great things, they are individuals who make others feel good.

 

 

If you make someone feel good once, they will come back to you. You have created influence and a system of loyalty.

 

 

When you bring out the best in people, people tend to listen a lot more carefully to everything you have to say!

 

 

Conclusion 

 

With great influence, comes great responsibility. For those of you interested in increasing your influence, PLEASE REMEMBER that these techniques are not to be misused. Always be honest with all your dealings.

 

 

photo credit: fensterbme via photopin cc

5 Tips To Stand Out As A Young Entrepreneur

Being a young entrepreneur comes with many challenges. In a world crowded with experienced professionals, young entrepreneurs have a hard time standing out. As a young entrepreneur, I have had a lot of trouble standing out as a young entrepreneur. It took a lot of hard work and strategizing to separate myself from the crowd. In this blog article, I will discuss 5 tips to stand out as a young entrepreneur.

 

Being a young entrepreneur comes with many challenges. In a world crowded with experienced professionals, young entrepreneurs have a hard time standing out.

 

 

As a young entrepreneur, I had a lot of trouble standing out when I got started. It took a lot of hard work and strategizing to separate myself from the crowd.

 

 

In this blog article, I will discuss 5 tips to stand out as a young entrepreneur.

 

 

1. Establish Yourself As An Expert

 

Regardless of what industry you are in, you must establish yourself as an expert. When people look at you as an expert, your level of credibility goes up and you have something to fight the competition with.

 

 

Competitors usually have lots of experience and a large portfolio of work they can showcase. However, many of them have not established themselves as an expert in their industry.

 

 

There are many ways to establish yourself as an expert. You can write a book, guide, or pamphlet filled with tips and advice for your customers. You can even sign up for sites like HARO or PitchRate and present yourself as an expert to journalists and media outlets.

 

 

Anything that showcases your extensive knowledge base is a great way to start. As long as your customers can see some credibility behind what you say, your chances of standing out will dramatically increase.

 

 

2. Stay Professional At All Times

 

Many young entrepreneurs have a tough time staying professional and let their emotions get to them. Business and emotions never mix!

 

 

As a young entrepreneur, you will work with tons of customers and clients. They often pass on the opportunity to work with young entrepreneurs because they want to avoid the unnecessary drama.

 

 

In tense situations, young entrepreneurs must always keep their composure and stay professional with clients and customers. Never lose your temper or control.

 

 

3. Develop A Presence Online

 

As young entrepreneurs, we need to leverage ‘new’ technology to our advantages. Young entrepreneurs have to develop a strong online presence through social media, search engines, and blogging.

 

 

9/10 people google the name of a person before working with them. When people Google your name, they expect to see nothing bad. Not only that, but they expect to see some good.

 

 

If you can build a social media presence, write a blog, and get your name out there on the search engines in a positive light, it will greatly help your chances.

 

 

4. Go Above And Beyond Expectations

 

When customers or clients hire you, they have a set of expectations. While most professionals manage to fulfill those expectations, very few of them are actually able to exceed them.

 

 

As a young entrepreneur, great work goes a long way. If you are able to provide services and products that exceed customer expectations, you may open up a lot of doors.

 

 

Great work leads to customer loyalty, referrals, and even positive reviews. As a young entrepreneur, you only need 1 person to take a chance on you. If they love what you do, they can open you up to a huge network of people.

 

 

5. Be Everywhere 

 

When I first started out as an entrepreneur, I knew it wouldn’t be easy acquiring customers. I knew I had to stand out, but the road to differentiating myself wasn’t easy.

 

 

One of the best ways I stood out as a young entrepreneur was through my ambition to succeed. Any time there was an industry-related event taking place in my area, I was always there. My constant appearance did 2 things:

 

 

1. It gave me the ability to impress people who could potentially be my customers and clients by giving me 1 on 1 time with them.

 

 

2. People remembered who I was and what I did. Being the only 17 year old at a mixer or conference had huge value for me. People not only remembered me, but they went above and beyond to find ways to help me.

 

 

Opportunity can strike at any point of time. By placing yourself everywhere, you begin to brand yourself. By branding yourself through repetition, you begin to stand out as a young entrepreneur and find more opportunities.

 

 

Conclusion 

 

Standing out as a young entrepreneur isn’t easy. However, it’s extremely worthwhile. Some of the most successful young entrepreneurs stood out early and have ridden that success with them decades letter.

 

 

photo credit: Philipp Lücke via photopin cc