Tag: startup tips

What You Need To Know Before Launching A Startup

Launching a new startup is an exciting, but also confusing time. Most entrepreneurs struggle because they are not entirely sure of what to expect. In this post, I share some of my best tips on what you should know before launching your startup.

 

I often get emails from aspiring entrepreneurs asking me what they should know about before launching a startup. If I had the magical formula or answers to everything you need to know before starting a business, I’d be some type of guru. The truth of the matter is that nobody has these answers.

 

Why you ask? Well, it’s fairly simple actually. No two startups, entrepreneurs or launches are ever close to the same. The obstacles, roadblocks and circumstances with every startup is completely different. As a result of these variables, you can never prepare anyone completely for the challenging road ahead.

 

However, looking back to the days of my first startup launch….I definitely wish I knew all that I know about entrepreneurship today. In this post, I’m going to share with you what you need to know before launching a startup so that you can be prepared for the roller coaster ahead.

 

Team 

 

Team is the single-most important thing that will define your rate of success and failure with launching a new business. You cannot do it alone and the sooner you realize that and effectively understand that equity distribution is for the greater good of your business, the better your chances of succeeding will really be.

 

Find a great team that not only compliments your skills, but compliments your personality. It’s great to hire a really smart guy that’s 30 years older than you, but are you guys really going to be able to spend 12 hours a day without ripping each others heads off? When building your team, don’t just access skills but also look for a connection between you and your other partners.

 

Chase The Passion, Not The Paper 

 

Entrepreneurship and being successful is NOT about money. That’s just a reward that you earn for hard work for creating value and really cool sh*t. If you chase the paper, your mindset and focus is on all the wrong things and your startup will inevitably go down a path you’ll probably regret in the future.

 

Making money is a great metric to track success, growth and keep the lights running, but that’s not what your ultimate motive should be. Follow your passion, what is it that you want to change about a certain market, niche or problem? Why are you so passionate about it and why do you believe you’re the right person to do it?

 

Know Your Customer Better Than Yourself

 

Before you go out and build or launch anything, take your idea and know who your ideal customer is and everything about them. Customers make or break your business and if you do not understand who they are, you’re going to fail.

 

Get out there, be social and survey your potential customers. You don’t need money, you just need information from these potential customers. Find out who they are, what they’re looking for, how far they’d be willing to go to get it and if you’re ideas are the right solutions they want.

 

If You Don’t Have Competition, Be Terrified 

 

You’ve probably heard this saying the other way around. If you have competition, be scared. To be honest, competition is great. It shows validation for the space that you’re in and it gives you a massive educational advantage you wouldn’t have otherwise. If there is competition, that means that other people think there’s a problem that needs to be solved as well.

 

If there’s no competition and you believe you’re the only one smart enough to think of it, there’s probably a 99% chance you’re wrong. In most cases, competition is the best thing for you because it provides you validation and you can learn from their mistakes and products. If you have no competition, rethink your ideas numerous times.

 

Nobody Will Understand Your Choices 

 

It’s okay if nobody understands your decision to become an entrepreneur. If this path was so normal and socially acceptable, the world would be filled with entrepreneurs. I’m always  weary when the public is heavy on something and far more intrigued when the public is against something.

 

As an entrepreneur, you have to understand that you’re about to embark on a journey unlike any other. The things you will learn, experience and go through will be unmatched to almost anything else you’ve ever dealt with in your life. You have to be prepared to go against everyone else’s ‘advice’ and follow your self belief.

 

Conclusion 

 

Even with this list of things, you will still face tons of other things that you will never have foreseen in your journey. This is just a short list of some of the things I wish I had known when I first launched my business as it would have definitely helped me in the long run. Share some of the things you wish you knew before launching a startup down below in the comments.

 

8 Things You Should Know Before Starting A Blog

Starting a blog has been the most popular thing on the internet recently. In this article, I share 8 things you should know before starting a blog that will save you headaches later.

 

With more bloggers than ever producing content on the internet, blogging has become extremely popular. While blogging may seem like an attractive thing to do, there are a lot of things you should know about it before getting started.

 

 

Many bloggers think that success and traffic will come easy, but they’re in for something else. While blogging is easy to set up, it’s extremely difficult to consistently write great content while bringing relevant traffic to your site.

 

 

In this blog article, I will share with you 8 things you should know before starting a blog.

 

 

1. Focus Your Content

 

Before writing your content, you need to focus on one specific topic. Typically, your topic choice should reflect your skills, expertise, and passions.

 

 

Once you have focused in on the type of content you want to write, make sure all your articles somehow revolve around the general topic you choose. The quickest way to lose traffic and readership is to write about things that your audience doesn’t care about.

 

 

2. Consistency Is Key

 

Bloggers rarely know the huge responsibility they’re getting themselves into. By blogging, you vow to write great content on a consistent basis. If you promise your readers that you will post every 3 days, you HAVE to post every 3 days.

 

 

Many blogs disintegrate quickly because the blogger loses interest or cannot keep up with the posting schedule he/she started with. It seems like lots of fun when you get started, but you HAVE to be consistent.

 

 

3. Traffic Has To Come From Somewhere

 

Many bloggers start a blog and get extremely frustrated when they cannot bring in much traffic. On paper, bringing in traffic to a blog seems easy since most people don’t know what struggles bloggers go through.

 

 

Just opening up a blog alone will not get you much (if any) traffic. You need to spend 25% of your time writing great content and the other 75% of your time finding ways to bring free or paid traffic to your website.

 

 

4. Don’t Lie In Your Titles

 

Many people think a great way to promote their articles and get a lot of readers is to write amazing titles. Typically, these amazing titles end up being fake or cannot deliver on the promise.

 

 

When you write a title and someone sees it, they are expecting you to deliver on the title that you have promised them. Always make sure your title backs up the content in your article!

 

 

5. 6 Figure Incomes, 4 Hour Work Days, and Vacations Don’t Come Easy

 

The blogging world has been corrupted by many individuals who have sold people on false hopes and dreams. While it’s definitely possible to live a great life by making passive income from running a blog, the chances of it happening are very low.

 

 

Even more than that, most of the successful bloggers who make 6 figure incomes and take vacations all around the world entered the blogging sphere in the early 2000’s. Don’t start a blog thinking this will happen to you in a few months because it takes years of hard work and great content to be on this path.

 

 

6. Quality Outweighs Quantity

 

Marketing a blog can be very challenging. You can spend $100 on a PPC campaign, bring 500 visitors, and get zero positive value out of it.

 

 

Bringing in a shit ton of traffic to your blog won’t make your website popular. Blogs need to have a community of loyal readers who return to the website on a regular basis. Instead of looking for ways to bring large amounts of visitors, find ways to bring a few visitors who you know will convert to long-term readers.

 

 

7. You’re On Your Own 

 

Unless you have a budget to outsource design, development, or online marketing work to third party companies, you’re truly on your own with your blog.

 

 

You’re in charge of uploading pictures, editing/cleaning up the website, adding new information/content, and running your own marketing campaigns. Blogging isn’t for slackers and you have to be committed to your craft.

 

 

8. Do It For Anything But The Money

 

If you’re starting a blog, do it because you love writing about a specific topic. Don’t start a blog because you see someone living an amazing life as a professional blogger.

 

 

If you do it for the money, your content stinks and your judgment is clouded by your desire to make some cash. It’s great to make money off any website, but it shouldn’t be the main reason why you’re starting.

 

 

Conclusion 

 

Blogging is a very exciting, but challenging thing for people to take on. It’s extremely fun and rewarding, but be sure to know these 8 things before starting a blog.

 

 

photo credit: Telstar Logistics 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.

 

 

 

 

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

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