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.

Entrepreneur -- My lifelong dream is to create more millionaire students than any other stock trading teacher out there. I’m lucky enough to have reached the seven-figure mark myself, and now, I’m dedicated to sharing everything I’ve learned - including the stock trading patterns that work in any market - with the students in my Millionaire Challenge.

But one thing I realized pretty early on was that, if I wanted to teach people to be millionaires, I had to study people who had already reached this level of wealth. I had to learn what they did differently so that I could help my students to not just hit this magic number, but to retain the money they earn and build generational wealth.

And today, I’m sharing a few of the things I’ve learned with you. I hope they help - no matter what financial stage you’re currently in.

1. Millionaires work hard.

A lot of people think that winning the lottery is their ticket to success, but I’ve got bad news for you. Nearly 90 percent of lottery winners go through their winnings in five years or less, leaving them back in the same situation they were in before they won.

Millionaires know that there are no shortcuts to success. There’s only hard work executed relentlessly in pursuit of a goal.

I know that, in my case, I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t been willing to work hard. I didn’t have a mentor when I started trading stocks in high school. It was up to me to put in the hours needed to become successful. There were plenty of times I would have rather gone out with friends or played video games -- anything but sit in front of the computer and study stock charts for another hour.

But I did it. I put in the work upfront because I knew the results would be worth it, they’ve paid off. I’m living my dream lifestyle because I wasn’t afraid to work hard.

Related: Sure, Work Hard, But Also Create Your Own Luck

2. Millionaires are focused.

That said, it isn’t just about working hard. You have to be working hard on the right thing.

Have you ever known somebody who’s constantly jumping from one “million dollar idea” to another? We all want to be rich, but the people who can’t choose one path to focus on simply aren’t going to achieve it. It’s the people who dedicate themselves to a single pursuit that come out on top, whether that one path is penny stock trading, company building or something else.

Read the rest here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249128

Staying solvent at your current level is the key to taking your business to the next level.

4-17-2017, Entrepreneur.com -- Your clients are not paying on time, computer problems need attention, and your most productive employee is giving signals that they need a raise.

Late paying clients can be handled. Computer issues can be fixed. An employee who deserves a raise should receive it. You just need a plan. A great receivables employee can coax the slow-paying clients to deliver. Your IT manager can figure out what to do. The employee can be rewarded, sometimes in ways that don’t require large amounts of funding.

How do you cope with all of these issues? Think about it. All of the concerns are really stemming from one problem that has multiple aspects. That’s right. You need more cash flow, but don't let urgency tempt you to consider plans that might be financially risky.

Find the backup plan you need.

What you really need is money. Money really can solve most business problems. But, you don’t want to jump into something that can ultimately cause further angst. Consider a business line of credit. Although you may have thought of it and never applied for one, a business line of credit can remove the tension. If your business has been around long enough for you to have a staff and customers buying your products, then you most likely have temporary needs that can be resolved with a temporary loan.

An online bank connection can be key to helping you quickly and securely finance your business. https://t.co/lRvalZpnbF

— BlueVine (@BluevineCapital) February 22, 2017

Here are some approaches to resolving your immediate and future money issues:

Make a list.

What are your immediate, secondary and “if only” needs? The priority is to keep the business running as smoothly as possible. Don’t leave any aspect of your concerns out. Close your eyes and think about your facility, employees, customers, products, health plan, working hours -- everything. Write down the ideas immediately. Narrow the list down to the top three to five items that must be accomplished to keep the company on track.

Related: The 4 Lines of Credit Now Available to Small Businesses

Develop your plan.

Figure out what must be done now. Payroll is critical -- losing valued personnel would impact everything else. Fixing computer issues that prevent the company from receiving funds and processing orders is just as important. If your company manufactures a product, you need to keep your suppliers paid or you’ll have nothing to sell.

Brainstorm with key staff. You may need to streamline some approaches, but think of the greater good. Staying solvent and functional is the goal.

Apply for a business line of credit.

Although there are many approaches to finding fast cash, the business line of credit is one of the most flexible. Once approved, you can receive the funds you need as you need them. Use only what you need and pay interest only on that amount for the period of time you use the funds. Pay back the funds when your clients pay you, and you have the full value of the line of credit for a cushion. You don’t need to reapply for a loan if you need funds at another time.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Forbes -- Both B2B and B2C companies can benefit greatly from devoting resources to initiatives that help develop customer loyalty. Gartner, a technology research firm, estimates that by 2018, B2B businesses that employ effective personalization techniques on their e-commerce websites will outsell competitors who lack this personalization by 30%.

On average, loyal customers are worth up to 10 times as much as their initial purchase. To increase the likelihood that your company sees, and benefits from, this repeat business, consider implementing the three measures discussed here. Each idea has been tremendously beneficial as Varsity Tutors has grown from operating in one city to several dozen.

1. Develop a positive feedback loop

One of the best ways to encourage customer loyalty is to develop a positive end-to-end user experience that makes your consumers return again and again. Your user experience begins when a potential customer first learns of your brand, and it continues through his or her use of your product or service.

Why is user experience so important? One-third of consumers cite a positive experience as a significant factor in their brand loyalty. Conversely, up to 2/3 of customers see a negative experience as a compelling reason to change brands.

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckcohn/2015/08/17/how-to-develop-customer-loyalty-for-your-product-or-service/

Entrepreneur -- Where do you see yourself in five years? Will you be a workaholic on Wall Street, living the simple life in America’s heartland or will you be a successful entrepreneur with a million-dollar business? If you are reading this article, I am guessing your answer is the latter.

While trendy strategies come and go, there is no substitute for classic goal setting. Here are a few tried-and-true tactics to propel your business to success.

Review your goals every day.

Goal setting is like getting on the scale -- you’ll see greater success if you do it every morning. As entrepreneurs, dreaming big is standard practice. The distinguishing factor between the big dreamers and the big doers is that the doers take action.

“Sometimes our biggest life goals seem so overwhelming. We rarely see them as a series of small, achievable tasks,” writes Jack Canfield in his book, The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.“But in reality, breaking down a large goal into smaller tasks -- and accomplishing them one at a time -- is exactly how any big goal gets achieved.”

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/250951