Entrepreneur -- Time was when getting feedback from a customer was a process so complex, it was akin to getting blood out of a stone. Thankfully, we don’t live in those times.

Today, not only is feedback nothing more than an email away, but customers actively come to you with suggestions and ideas. In fact, theylove sharing their insights with you because they understand that the more feedback they give, the better your product becomes.

However, most of this feedback just ends up cooling its heels in hard drives, which is, well, tragic, considering all the good it can do. A motivational tool, a wall of love. . . the ideas are limited only by your imagination. Here are our top five cool things that you can spin off with customer feedback, to wow your customers and your own employees.

1. Drive product roadmap with feedback.

Take it from the experts: Your customers are the stars simply because they use your product day in and day out. No matter how hard you try to empathize and put yourself in their shoes, you'll never come up with some of the exciting ideas that occur to your "power users."

So, stop brainstorming and start following customer discussions on forums. Read support tickets, listen to feedback and, most important of all, record all the ideas you hear. Not only will your customers appreciate your willingness to listen and implement their ideas, but you will set yourself apart from your competitors, as a business that genuinely cares.

2. Create a 'wall of love.'

There's a world of difference between knowing that your customers love you and actually seeing proof of it. Create a wall of love containing all the amazing things your customers have said about you, your product and your service. Put it online to show your employees that what they do actually matters; it changes people’s lives for the better. You can even create a document with these testimonials and publish it online for potential customers to see just how trustworthy you are, how much you really care about them and their feedback. It also makes for excellent sales collateral.

A physical wall of love at your workplace won’t hurt either. In fact, we can’t think of a better motivation tool. Being able to walk by a wall and see how what you do matters: There can’t be a better motivation tool in existence.

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/251743

2/2/2016, Entrepreneur -- Your morning affects your entire day. What you do or don’t do each day will influence how productive you are, how energetic you feel, what you accomplish and, ultimately, how successful you are as an entrepreneur.

If you’re an entrepreneur with a satisfying and motivating morning routine, you’re in good company. If not, don’t despair; take some inspiration from the morning routines of fellow entrepreneurs.

1. Wake up early.

Many world-famous entrepreneurs that you follow on Twitter, read about in Entrepreneur and admire have one thing in common: They wake up early. When you wake up early, you have a greater sense of control over the day. For one thing, you get to decide what to do first, second and third.

By waking early, you also tend to have your greatest burst of energy, creativity and activity right from the start. This is the perfect time to slay some of the day’s bigger and brain-demanding tasks.

“Early” for you could be 9 a.m. or 10 a.m.. That’s okay. We all have our times of peak productivity.

2. Drink water.

It’s really simple. Just drink water.

Adding a chug of water to your morning routine does several important things: It boosts your metabolism, cleans things up, gives you a boost of energy, makes you fully alert and helps your digestive system run smoothly.

Kat Cole of FOCUS (Auntie Anne’s, Carvel and Cinnabon) is religious about her water routine. The first thing she does after hopping out of bed is to drink three cups of the stuff.

Coffee is the morning beverage of choice for most Americans. And certainly, caffeine is extraordinary. You can still have your coffee. But, first, have a drink of water.

3. Think about the most important things in your life.

Many entrepreneurs focus on their goals as the first order of the day. By keeping their goals at the forefront of their minds, they are more likely to work hard toward those goals throughout the day.

Consider Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary. He's a financial guy. So, the first thing he does after waking at 5:45 a.m. is to check the overseas bond markets. For O’Leary, the personal impact of those markets is enormous, and he wants to keep the information he gleans there present during his work day.

DECEMBER 21, 2016, Entrepreneur.com -- With the holiday season upon us, there is no better time to relax, unwind and pick up a good book. If you are looking for some book suggestions that aren’t just entertaining, but that can actually teach you a thing or two, here are some of the best  business books to consider reading over the holidays. These books can give you some valuable lessons that you can utilize as you start 2017 off on the right foot.

Entrepreneur.com, 12-7-2016 -- The end of 2016 is fast approaching, and while many of us area already caught up in all of the hustle and bustle that comes with the holiday season, there is actually no better time to regroup, refocus and to start thinking about 2017.

What are your goals for the coming year? For many people, these goals include financial motivations. If you want to finally get wealthy in 2017, here are five ways you can actually do it.

1. Work for your dreams, not someone else’s.

If you really want to start making money and finally be wealthy in 2017 then you need to do something that you are truly passionate about. Without this passion, you are never going to reach your full earning potential. Focus on doing what you love and what you are passionate about, not just something that happens to be in a highly paid field.

2. Dream big but start small.

Everyone wants big success fast but it’s better to go slowly. Optimize your process first before you try to go big. Take my top student, Tim as an example. He started stock trading with just $1,500, grew it to $1 million in three years and then over $3.3 million in four years. He bets bigger now that he is more confident, thanks to his early education. He is one of my favorite examples of starting small and working your way up slowly to something much more.

3. Give to others instead of yourself. 

Most people find this tough to do, but trust me, you can only have so many Lamborghinis and Ferraris and Porsches. Trust me, as someone who has had all three, they are not as fulfilling as giving back to charities, such as my Timothy Sykes Foundation is infinitely more rewarding and fulfilling. Remember that true wealth is not just about having the most money, but the most inner peace too. You will truly feel successful, established and wealthy if you start giving to others.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

8-30-2016, Entrepreneur -- When I first took the helm as executive director of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center over a year ago, I brought with me 15 years of experience in the Silicon Valley venture capital community. I’d been through tech booms and busts, economic upswings and downturns, so I was feeling an abundance of confidence: Like anyone who’s been in a profession for over a decade, I (initially) found it easy to sit back and think I'd "seen it all.”

I was mistaken; in fact, my first year of leading the Center taught me, through the experience of others as well as my own, that when it comes to starting and leading any young entrepreneurial organization, every day is filled with surprises and unexpected lessons.

The Nasdaq Entrepreneur Center, for those who don't know, is a new San Francisco-based non-profit organization designed to educate, innovate and connect aspiring and current entrepreneurs. Since the center's 2014 inception, some 2,000 entrepreneurs have gained from its classes and programs. Through interviews I conducted with the Center’s Young Executive Advisory Board members, I myself gleaned five practical lessons that can help any entrepreneur who dreams of starting something big:

• Customer problems are solved on a continuum, not with a single solution.
• Data cannot be collected retroactively.
• Patience for your company's most important problems is essential.
• Strategy time is crucial.
• Never deprioritize your team in pursuit of more working time.  

Here are the direct words of those entrepreneurs:

1. Aleda Schaffer, strategic partnerships manager, American Airlines 

'Customers are more than just a single problem they’re trying to solve.'

"Coming from venture capital, I was used to finding a single problem to solve. With the Center, I expected the single [biggest] problem to be an entrepreneur’s need to fund-raise -- and that this would drive the focus of our programming. But it quickly became clear that our customers needed a richer experience beyond just investor guidance; they responded to classes aimed at design thinking, sales and marketing, PR and media training and even organizational management. Don’t get me wrong -- they still wanted to meet investors, but it wasn’t a 'be all' solution.  

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Entrepreneur, June 1, 2016 -- Social media marketing is still a new business tool, relatively speaking. There’s no magic formula for success, and the potential benefits of your efforts are broad and not entirely predictable.

That promise is appealing, especially to young entrepreneurs, but results don’t come automatically -- even if you have a solid strategic foundation for your campaign. In fact, it requires a tremendous amount of planning, effort and refinement before you start to see results. And in most cases, the tools and features offered by social media platforms straightaway aren’t typically enough to give you the edge you need.

Social media operates in a hyper-competitive arena, and if you want to stay alive, you’re going to have to use the newest tools to support your efforts.

The key measure of success in social media, as in most other forms of marketing, is your overall return on investment (ROI). When most people think about ROI, they focus on the return they’re getting, and how to improve it.

They help you work more efficiently, to reduce the amount of time and money you expend in managing a campaign, and increase the power of everything you create or direct. In theory, at least, this should boost the potential of every dollar or hour you put in.

Related: 6 Tools to Develop an Outstanding Social Media Marketing Strategy

With those goals in mind, we want to show you five incredibly powerful up-and-coming social media tools you should be using to enhance your campaign:

1. Notifier.

One of the biggest trends in social media marketing right now is influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is the art of engaging with prominent authorities to earn more visibility for your posts and brand.Notifier is a tool that helps automate and improve your influencer relationships. By plugging in your content, it will automatically search it for references you’ve made to other brands, and pull up their social information so you can notify them that you’ve cited them. This gives you an “in” for engaging with new influencers, streamlining your influencer marketing campaign.

2. Real Geeks’ Facebook Marketing Tool.

If you’ve ever been intimidated or frustrated by the process of Facebook advertising, but are convinced of the potential value there,Real Geeks’ Facebook marketing tool is perfect for you. Designed for realtors, the tool connects your Facebook ad campaign directly to your website. From there, it automatically pulls data (such as home listings, images, etc.) and generates the type of ads that tend to generate the best results. You’ll be able to monitor and adjust these ads before they go out, and create your own if you so desire. The tool also provides detailed, easy-to-follow reporting, so you can track your progress accurately.

3. SocialOomph.

SocialOomph doesn’t have a particularly fancy user experience layer, but its functionality is powerful. With this, you’ll be able to connect all your social media profiles into one area, schedule posts in advance, and even “bulk upload” updates to have them roll out periodically over a preset schedule. It’s fantastic if you’re in the business of content syndication (as you should be), and it offers a number of audience insight tools as well.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Entrepreneur.com, 10-24-2016 -- Entrepreneurs are the biggest dreamers on the planet. We are slightly crazy at times, but that’s what gives us the ability to "go for it" while others sit back thinking, “This might not work out as planned.”

Being an entrepreneur can be an emotional rollercoaster. We often experience fear, stress and anxiety. Sometimes we do fail. Not every startup idea is a unicorn. In fact, most eventually fail. There are going to be difficult times throughout every entrepreneurial journey. Here are five ways to remain highly motivated when the going gets tough.

1. Have a purpose.

Have a larger purpose, far beyond just your business. Once identified, use your entrepreneurial journey as a means to fulfill it. 

When you have something to work towards, and it consumes your mind, it makes the difficult times and situations much easier to confront and deal with. 

2. Surround yourself with a strong support system.

Often times when faced with difficult situations, our friends and family become our sounding board. The biggest hurdle most entrepreneurs have to overcome is being able to ask for advice when it’s needed. We are a very proud and sometimes stubborn group. Once you get over the initial fear of asking for feedback and advice, it becomes clear that your support system can help you get through even the most difficult times.

Talk to your friends and family on a regular basis if you don’t live near them, meet up weekly with friends to socialize, and consider hosting a weekly family dinner for your closest friends and family members. Positive energy is contagious, constantly interacting with positive individuals that have your best interest in mind is very healthy. 

3. Press pause.

Many entrepreneurs assume that if they face a tough time, the only way to power through it is by working 20-hour days until it has passed. If you work nonstop, it’s just going to make difficult times worse, and you will experience burnout.

Not only will pressing pause and getting away from your business allow you to recharge your batteries, but there is a good chance you will come back with amazing ideas for your business. When you are unplugged for a few days, it allows you to think more clearly than you would if you were head first in the daily grind. 

I recently took a trip to recharge, and it was on that trip that two new startups were conceived -- a home teeth whitening kit and a diet detox tea -- both launching this November. We also have another half dozen products rolling out over the next few months, and all of them were ideas that were sparked on this trip.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Entrepreneur -- You know them. By name. By reputation. They are the living legends, the household names, the superstars. They are the entrepreneurs who have succeeded against all odds and beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. How did they make it? What catapulted them to the pinnacle of success?

Related: A 30-Day Challenge for Entrepreneurs: Tap Into Your Courageous Leadership

Was it some genetic mutation, raw brilliance or freakish bit of luck? It was none of these. Yet it was all of these. And it was something more. Beyond their sizzling hot businesses and flashy personal brands, many entrepreneurs have a depth of character.

They think in ways that few others do. The sayings quoted below encapsulate such thinking. These sayings aren’t inscribed, framed in some museum or attributed to any entrepreneur specifically. Rather, these quotations comprise the mental attitude of an entrepreneur who knows what he or she wants, knows how to get it, and knows that success is going to happen.

If the entrepreneurial ethos could speak, here is what it would say.

1. 'I don’t care what they think.'

Lao Tzu said,

Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.

Successful entrepreneurs know this to be true. It sounds callous to not care what people think, but a healthy disregard for public opinion is essential to doing work that matters.

When entrepreneurs get hung up on how people perceive him, think of them, say about them, write about them and talk about them, they're not on the path toward building an exemplary business. Instead, they are on a path to try to please the crowds.

2. 'I will dream bigger than you ever dared.'

Before a business can be built, a dream must be dreamed.

Howard Tullman wrote,

Dear entrepreneurs: Have a dream and make it a big one.

Good advice. When I myself read the mission of SpaceX, I’m tempted to snicker: 

SpaceX . . . was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.

Live on other planets. Seriously? But that’s the kind of convention-defying dreams an entrepreneur must possess. My own dreams are smaller, but they are still dreams. They seemed unlikely when I first dreamed them, but, looking back, I’m glad I dreamed, and dared and did it.

Go ahead. Thumb your nose at convention, and unleash your biggest and most insane dream.

3. 'That’s stupid.'

You’ve got to know when something simply won’t work.

Building a business entails a maelstrom of massive change and rapid movement. If you decide to labor over every decision and analyze every move, you’re going to be stuck. Sometimes, you need to label an idea, a plan, a strategy or a decision as “stupid,” and move on.

Steve Jobs once told competitor George Bodenheimer,

Your phone is the dumbest f**king idea I have ever heard.

Jobs wasn’t afraid of ticking people off, and calling a spade a spade. You can be more nuanced in your speech, but you have to be clear in your mind about what’s going to work and what’s not.

Read the rest here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/251737

3-15-2016, Entrepreneur -- Many people dream of leaving their nine-to-five jobs to start their own businesses. Many successful entrepreneurs had to keep their day jobs until they reached a point in their businesses when it was feasible to quit. This transition time can be stressful and difficult, especially when you don’t enjoy your job, but it doesn’t have to be.

While ambition is important, it is not always enough to move you forward. Maintaining your motivation and drive during your transition from employee to entrepreneur is crucial. It’s easy to veer off course and get discouraged during this transitional phase. Here are some actions you can start taking immediately while you’re still at your day job that will keep you on track and moving forward.

1. Get crystal clear on your reason for starting your business.

Connecting with your “why” is the most important first step you can take. Maybe you are motivated by being your own boss, financial independence, time freedom, creative expression, being home with your kids or helping others. Whatever your reason, knowing what motivates and drives you is what will keep you focused and committed to your dream when times get difficult.

Related: The 8 Biggest Challenges for New Entrepreneurs

2. Commit yourself to your dream.

Having the desire for something to work vs. committing to it are vastly different. When you commit to your dream, you are making a binding obligation to see it through to success. It means you are “all in,” you find solutions when faced with obstacles and you don’t quit, no matter what. Make that pledge to yourself, and then tell the people in your life.

3. Create a personal vision for your business.

Think about what you want in your business a year from now and write it down. Be very specific and detailed. Describe in great detail in the present tense your ideal day, what activities you engage in, who your customers/clients are, how many customers/clients you have and what your monthly income is.

Read your vision aloud every morning and evening, focusing completely on the end result -- your vibrant, flourishing business. By keeping your focus on the result, you will be able to make the day-to-day choices to ignore any negative thoughts that may arise.

Read the rest here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/254549

MARCH 20, 2017, Entrepreneur.com -- For some people, entrepreneurship is a way of life. Creating something new and leading a team is living the dream, and a destination in its own right. For others, it’s only a means to an end, or might even be considered a detour en route to even bigger and better things.

4/25/2016, Entrepreneur -- Everyone procrastinates. Even the most successful people struggle with it every day. But successful people do something that most of us don't -- they push past it. They don’t make excuses or allow it to affect their output. They come up with smart, actionable strategies to break past mental barriers and stay productive.

Here are eight ways successful people defeat procrastination.

1. They keep themselves accountable.

Show yourself commitment to getting things done. Making a commitment to yourself helps keep you accountable. You can do this by writing your goals down, keeping a to-do list with you, and creating reminders in your phone and on your calendar.

Related: Leading By Accountability Is Contagious

2. They make themselves accountable to others.

If you can’t stay accountable to yourself, you might have more success staying accountable to other people.

Tell everyone what you plan to do and talk about your goals. Tell friends, employees and employers your intentions and you won’t want to let them down. For example, if you want to go to the gym every day, ask a friend to text you every evening asking “did you go to the gym today?”

Another suggestion is to start documenting and sharing your journey. A blog or vlog where you share the projects you’re working on and your progress will encourage you to get things done. Allowing yourself to be under public scrutiny can help light a fire under you.

3. They tie themselves to the mast.

In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus has his ship’s crew tie him to the mast so that he could hear the Sirens’ song without being drawn in and tempted to jump into the sea. If you’re a chronic procrastinator and simply can’t resist the temptations of things like Facebook and Youtube, it might be time to tie yourself to the mast.

There are tools such as Rescue Time, SelfControl and Focus that will temporarily block access to distracting websites like Facebook so you can work on the things that matter. It’s an extreme measure but also very effective.

There are less aggressive tools such as Facebook Newsfeed Eradicatorand Distraction Free Youtube. These will allow you to have access to Facebook and Youtube but block the distracting parts of these websites (such as the newsfeed) so you can still use them for business purposes, like managing ads.

Entrepreneur -- Many people suffer from being rational dreamers. They want to achieve a big dream but hold themselves back by being risk averse. They don't want to disrupt the status quo and play things safe. 

To coax themselves out of their comfort zones, people learn to setgoals. I consider the process of goal setting to be like arranging checkpoints along the way to a desired end. Setting and meeting small goals can serve as a thermometer check on progress, measuring advancement and indicating an overall plan's viability.

Approach goal setting like creating a customized road map to chart your success. Think about when you take a really long road trip with your friends. Most often, you start off knowing the destination, but since road trips can be fairly long, making pit stops along the way is necessary.

Before venturing out, you might decide to stop a quarter of the way along for food, then at the halfway point for gas, at the two-thirds mark to stretch and perhaps 100 miles beyond that for more gas.  

You’re meeting smaller, more immediate goals that build on your efforts to reach the final destination.

Create a personalized road map for arriving at your desired destination by setting the following types of goals: immediate, intermediate and stretch goals. 

Related: Create a Personal Business Plan That You'll Really Use

1. Set a stretch goal.

Start by developing a stretch goals, a long-term objective that will take years to accomplish. Determine your stretch goal first because this choice will influence the selection of intermediate and immediate goals.

A stretch goal should be big. Some stretch goals are more specific than others. One person's specific goal might be “to become the CEO of Google.” Another individual's vaguer stretch goal would be “to produce a national television show.” An extremely vague goal would be “to work in the fashion industry.”

It's OK, though, to leave room for interpretation.

Be as specific as possible and allow yourself to adjust a goal. Once you establish a stretch goal, you can sketch out checkpoints along the way.

Read more here.

Find your groove with these habits that build courage and personal strength.

3-22-2017, Entrepreneur -- Anyone who has ever started a business has faced fear. A little bit actually can be a very positive catalyst. But when fear overwhelms your ability to make decisions, it can become paralyzing and leave you feeling stuck. That’s a sign you need to take action and restore the sense of confidence you once had.

When we're young, we think we're invincible. We can do anything (just ask my teenagers!). Yet for many of us, that confidence and self-assurance erodes over time as we get older. We wake up one day confronted by thoughts we can't shake: “I can’t. I shouldn’t. I couldn’t possibly.” We start to question our choices and ourselves. We second-guess our gut instincts and overthink things.

The stories we tell ourselves limit or enhance potential.

Fear and self-limiting beliefs create imaginary boundaries that can keep us from acting in our own best interests. There's a reason: Our brains are wired to resist change. They will process anything we repeatedly think, say or do and formalize it into a habit. It’s easier for our brains to depend on habits because they don’t have to work as hard. It’s comfortable. But if those habits aren’t serving you, where does that leave you?

We don’t get stuck overnight. We slowly dig a rut that gets deeper every time we think or behave the same way. It doesn't take much imagination to get complacent and content with the status quo. If we stay in a rut long enough, it can feel as if we'll never climb out.

Singer/songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard urges us to "get out of your rut and get in a groove." But how do you shock yourself back into that wonderful state where creativity, courage and passion seem to flow effortlessly? 

Creating new habits takes courage.

Know that hitting the reset button requires courage and determination. You'll need to take risks to push yourself beyond your comfort zone and go after what you really want. 

If you don’t feel particularly courageous, there’s good news: Courage is a moral habit we can develop with practice. How? By choosing new habits. When we think and behave in new ways, we create new neural pathways in our brains. The more we think that way, the stronger those pathways become. This is why it's so important to push beyond what seems comfortable, familiar and safe.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

12-11-2017, Entrepreneur.com -- From a young age, we're raised to believe that we can accomplish pretty much anything so long as we work hard enough to achieve it. And, for the most part, that makes sense, at least intuitively. If you study for three hours while your roommate studies for one, you'll probably do better on the test. If you spend 50 hours at work every week while your peer spends 30, you'll stand a better chance of getting a raise or a promotion.

This idea follows us at every stage of our lives, and it echoes a cornerstone belief of Western culture: As long as you work hard, you're going to be successful. But there's a problem with this philosophy: Hard work isn't always enough.

The Netflix approach

This idea is hard to accept at first, if you're a hard worker who invests major time and effort to get what you want in life. Perhaps then, it's best to introduce the alternative notion, using a corporate example.

Netflix (yes, the company responsible for those late-night television binges) has found success in part because it abolished the idea of hard work being the sole determining factor in an employee's progression within the company.

Netflix formally introduced this idea in a 2009 slide deck explaining the company's culture, but the idea dates back to 2001. Since her departure from Netflix, the company's former chief talent officer, Patty McCord, has been on podcasts and spoken in interviews about the rather different work ethic Neflix evolved.

After experiencing financial trouble in 2001, the company made a bold move to lay off a third of its employees -- not based on how long they'd worked there or how hard they'd worked, but solely on what they contribute, and how they impact the company's bottom line. This infuriated some long-time, hard-working employees, but those who remained ended up getting more done because they didn't have to correct others' mistakes, or work around unnecessary teammates.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

9-18-2017, Entrepreneur.com -- Any successful person will tell you about a life-defining or breakdown moment from their past that was responsible for making them who they are today.

These entrepreneurs and members of The Oracles share their black swan events that caused big epiphanies.

1. Chaos creates opportunities.

Moving can be as stressful and traumatic as death, public speaking, and bad bosses.

I was born in Mexico City before moving to Toronto, Canada, at eight years old. Then I moved to Houston for junior high and high school. There, I spent years on the debate team, and my life seemed destined for a professional “grown-up” job in law. Yes, I wanted to give the world another lawyer. Then, a surprise: I had to move again in the middle of my junior year!

My new school in Santa Monica, Calif., didn’t have a debate team. I felt depressed because I could no longer practice my passion. But the school had a film class, taught by a very popular teacher. At first, I laughed. Only a school in L.A. would have “artsy” film classes. But then I decided, what the heck?

In that very class, I met Alex Kurtzman, and we started writing together shortly after. Law went out the window as we put 20 years into Hollywood, co-writing the scripts for "Mission Impossible III," "Transformers," "Star Trek," "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," and more.

The chaos in our lives can also open opportunities. The trick is to stay calm in a storm and not miss them. You can always reinvent yourself. — Roberto Orci, Hollywood super producer and screenwriter whose movies and TV shows have grossed over $5 billion worldwide

2. Believe in miracles.

A life riddled with failure is hard to shake off. But each failure sculpted who I am today. And I experienced miracles along the way.

On my eighth failed company, I was in a state of financial, mental, and spiritual meltdown. But through grit, hard work, and hustle, I launched my ninth company with zero money. Instead, I sold two partners on the business idea and used their tiny amount of capital to begin.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

12-15-2017, Entrepreneur.com -- How many of us are unhappy with our day jobs? We dream of leaving behind the 9-to-5 and following our dreams; of leading a life where we get paid for doing what we truly want to do. That's the essence of entrepreneurship. The desire to love our work.

But how, exactly, do we do that? How do we take a hobby, like brewing craft beer, gardening or photography, and turn it into an income-producing business?

For most of us, the answer is not as simple as quitting our jobs and going for it. Instead, there are decisive steps we can follow to realize that dream . . . and still get to eat. On a regular basis.

1. Ask for honest feedback.

You're not the best judge of your work, and neither are your family and friends. You need a mentor -- an experienced professional --and honest feedback. Before you can make real money, your work has to be remarkable. Everybody has a camera, but not everybody understands lighting and framing. Even some professional photographers can't seem to capture the drama of a moment.

You should also consider a learning environment, where you can find an expert teacher, one-on-one feedback and fellow students to discuss the finer points of your craft. One option is Learning with Experts, an online school that helps hobbyists polish their skills under the tutelage of expert teachers in a group environment.

This option is kind of perfect: You get individual instruction and a critique of your work, plus a built-in, knowledgeable focus group.

A second option is Mogul, a worldwide platform that reaches 18 million women per week and provides personalized mentorship in the form of a 24/7 digital advice hotline. Still another option is LinkedIn, a platform that is arguably the best place to search out expert mentors and peers, alike. LinkedIn has been touted as a place to help users create a network of trusted allies.

2. Get proof of concept.

"Proof of concept" is a business term used by entrepreneurs seeking funding. Even if you don't need funds to get started, securing proof of concept is not a bad idea. It helps you find out whether people will buy your product or service.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

6/20/2016, Entrepreneur -- It’s one of the most popular questions in interviews, and also one of the most understandable. Why not hear why your future employee is right for the role straight from the horse’s mouth?

Why then, does it fill us with so much trepidation? Partly because there’s no way of tricking this question, you’ve just got to believably detail exactly why you’re better than all the other applicants for the job. You’ve got to tell them why what you’ve got is worth having.

The one key thing to remember is that the hiring manager is putting their reputation on the line, whoever they hire. Sell yourself into them with confidence and evidence that you’re the best person for the job, and this question can be the key to unlocking that job offer.

Work out what they want

Your first step, as always, is to do your research. Start by reading the job specification. Then read it again, looking between the lines. It might be that they’re asking for soft skills like flexibility or high emotional intelligence while what they’re really looking for is someone who can adapt to new tasks and be proactive with their work, or someone who understands others and can manage effectively.

By decrypting some of the jargon in job descriptions, you can gain an understanding of the kind of experience and skills you need to show the interviewer.

Next up, take a look at the usual avenues, quarterly reports, websites and industry or company news. This way you’ll be able to get a good idea of the kind of needs the company have, gain some insight into the focus of the business, and understand important growth areas across the industry or sector.

After this, explore their social media, blogs and general company output. This is key to preparing yourself to hit one of the most important factors in hiring nowadays; culture fit. You’ll know the kind of work environment you’re stepping into, and how to pull up old experience that is similar so that you can impress.

Once you’ve got a complete understanding, you can then start to tailor your answer to the interview. This is a chance to demonstrate that you’ve researched and care about the company, and you increase your chance that you’re saying what they want to hear.

It’s not about misrepresenting yourself in trying to plug a round hole with a square peg, but about selecting your most applicable qualities and demonstrating a particular problem you can solve.

Quality over quantity

The key things you want to get across in your answer are experience, skills, accomplishments, training or education and culture fit.

You also want to keep it concise. The chances are that you’ll lose their attention if you use more than three or four examples to cover these areas, and the quality may start to go on. Besides this, you want to keep a few things back for questions later on, even if you’re using your killer answers straight away.

Experience & Training -- To start with you want to use your experience to give a general picture of you as a candidate, and make sure it’s understood that you’ve got the knowledge to succeed. Having said that, if they’re hiring a project manager and you have project managing experience, the chances are that’s probably why they’re interviewing you in the first place. This is an opportunity to get specific, and correlate your experience to the specific industry, role or problems that you know the company has.

Accomplishments -- employers love quantifiable accomplishments as they provide proof that you can offer a strong return on investment immediately. Wherever possible, deliver relevant numbers, whether that’s that you’ve managed 24 people, driven sales by 150%, or completed 9 successful projects with client A, B and C.

Skills & Culture Fit -- Once you’ve identified the sort of soft skills that are key to the culture of your new company, provide some example of a time you’ve displayed them. Consider things like whether they want someone who is supremely organized, a great leader, or keen to come up with innovative solutions to problems.

Read the rest HERE. 

Entrepreneur, 10-10-2016 -- With expectations of rising venue, profits and employment, manufacturers appear optimistic about prospects for the industry and their companies. According to the 2016 RSM Manufacturing Monitor survey results, nearly 70 percent of manufacturers in the United States and around the world are anticipating an increase in operating profits—this comes after a year in which the average profit (as a percentage of revenue) was 17 percent. More than half of the companies surveyed expect to increase their workforce; three-quarters expect to increase revenues, many by more than 10 percent.

Forbes, 6-30-2016 -- Entrepreneurs who want to launch a new product or service are facing two problems that are continuing to grow in scale – rapidly increasing competition, and shorter life cycles in marketing.

The channels entrepreneurs and businesses were using a decade ago have changed dramatically, and the long-term effectiveness of many of them is diminishing each day as their lifespans collapse.

When Adwords launched, there were years of $0.05 and $0.10 cost-per-clicks because a lot of marketers didn’t know about the platform. And it wasn’t really that long ago that Facebook launched its ad platform, but savvy marketers jumped on board right away. Because of that, Facebook is becoming out of reach for cash-strapped and bootstrapping startups.

You can’t just launch a basic, one-feature app and expect rapid success. You have to offer something innovative – or have an unfair advantage in order to capture attention.

Read the rest of the story HERE.