1-25-2017, Entrepreneur -- Entrepreneurs have different backgrounds and philosophies and work in a variety of industries, but what they have in common is that they each have a person whom they look up to that affects and inspires their work ethic.

Whether it is a parent, a mentor in their field, an investor, a co-founder, even someone they have never met but whose life and ideas resonate with them, you never know who will profoundly shape how you approach your work and career.

We asked these 10 entrepreneurs, "Who influences you the most in your work?" Here are their responses.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Entrepreneur, 10-19-2016 -- Everyone fails in life, and failure can be a crushing experience. The only thing that separates successful people from the rest is how they respond after they fail.

When facing obstacles, you have to decide if you’re going to let them be the excuse for your failure or if you’re going to make them the story behind your success.

“There is no failure. Only feedback.”   -- Robert Allen

When you adopt the right attitude, failure is a great teacher. Failure interrupts your routine and gives you an opportunity to explore new solutions, but only if you have the right attitude.

Psychologist Albert Bandura conducted a study that showed just how great a role our attitudes play in the face of failure. In the study, two groups of people were asked to complete an identical management task. The first group was told that the purpose of the task was to measure their management abilities. The other group was told that the skills required to complete the task were improvable and that the task was merely an opportunity to practice and improve. The trick was that the researchers made the task so difficult that all participants were bound to fail, and fail they did. The first group -- feeling like failures because their skills weren’t up to snuff -- made little or no improvement when they were given opportunities to repeat the task. The second group, however, saw each failure as a learning opportunity, and they performed at progressively higher levels each time they attempted the task. The second group even rated themselves as more confident than the first group.

Just like the participants in Bandura’s study, we can either view our failures as reflections of our abilities or as opportunities for growth. The next time you catch yourself wallowing in the self-pity that often accompanies failure, focus on what you can control: your attitude.

Some of the best lessons in life are also the toughest to accept and to adopt the right attitude toward. These are the lessons that challenge your flexibility and willingness to learn. When we don’t embrace them soon enough, the lessons we learn turn out to be harsh ones.

Related: 9 Phrases Smart People Never Use In Conversation

1. The first step is always the hardest. When you want to achieve something important, that first step is inevitably going to be daunting, even frightening. When you dare to make that first move, anxiety and fear dissipate in the name of action. People that dive headfirst into taking that brutal first step aren’t any stronger than the rest of us; they’ve simply learned that it yields great results. They know that the pain of getting started is inevitable and that procrastination only prolongs their suffering.

2. Good things take time. Success, above all, requires time and effort. Author Malcolm Gladwell suggested that mastery of anything requires 10,000 hours of tireless focus. Many successful people would agree. Consider Henry Ford, whose first two automobile businesses failed before he started Ford at the age of 45, or author Harry Bernstein, who dedicated his entire life to writing before he finally landed a best-seller at the age of 96. When you finally do succeed, you realize that the journey was the best part of it.

3. Being busy does not equal being productive. Look at everyone around you. They all seem so busy, running from meeting to meeting and firing off e-mails. Yet how many of them are really producing, really succeeding at a high level? Success doesn’t come from movement and activity; it comes from focus -- from ensuring that your time is used efficiently and productively. You get the same number of hours in the day as everyone else, so use yours wisely. After all, you’re the product of your output not your effort. Make certain your efforts are dedicated to tasks that get results.

4. You will always have less control than you want. There are too many extenuating circumstances in life to control every outcome. You can, however, control how you react to things that are out of your control. Your reaction is what transforms a mistake into a learning experience and ensures that a victory doesn’t send your ego through the roof. You can’t win every battle, but with the right attitude, you can win the war.

5. You're only as good as those you associate with. You should strive to surround yourself with people who inspire you, people who make you want to be better. And you probably do. But what about the people who drag you down? Why do you allow them to be part of your life? Anyone who makes you feel worthless, anxious or uninspired is wasting your time and, quite possibly, making you more like them. Life is too short to associate with people like this. Cut them loose.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Entrepreneur.com, 8-10-2016 -- Working as a senior vice president for a Fortune 100 company and running IT Services for 48,000 end-users on a global scale was a tough job. It was long hours, lots of pressure and difficult customers. But, even so it was nothing compared to joining the ranks of the entrepreneurs and starting my own business.

Here are 10 things I wish I had known before I started as it would have helped me be better prepared for the important first few years of my entrepreneurial life.

1. Don't create new products, solve problems.

Forty-two percent of product launches fail because there is no need for the product. That's right 42 percent fail because nobody wants the product.

So instead of trying to develop new and wonderful products to look for problems to solve. Where there's a problem, there is a need.

2. Forget about being an overnight success.

Even the companies regarded as the quickest overnight successes, Amazon and Yahoo, took at least three years to get there, and the majority of companies take up to 10 years to really make it. So if you're the goal is to be the next billionaire start-up owner then you need to be prepared for a long haul.

Related: 6 Signs You Are Not Ready for Entrepreneurship

3. Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses.

Your success is going to come from your strengths so make sure the majority of your time is focused in that area. We all have weaknesses, but either outsources those areas or hire someone to take care of it for you. Focusing on your weaknesses takes you away from what you're best at and is not a good use of your time.

4. Get the right team around you.

We can't do it all on our own; we need help, but we need to make sure we get the right help. Twenty-nine percent of start-ups that fail do so because they had the wrong team in place. So take the necessary time to evaluate the team that you need and then hire the best people you can.

5. If you're going to fail, fail quickly.

Failure is all part of the process, not only should you expect it, but you should plan for it. The best approach for failure is to fail quickly, adapt and try again. One of the worst things we can do is to fail slowly, desperately hoping that things will turn around. You need to learn quickly what's working and what's not that needs to be stopped.

Read the rest of the piece HERE.

Entrepreneur.com, June 24, 2016 -- Too many people succumb to the mistaken belief that being likeable comes from natural, unteachable traits that belong only to a lucky few -- the good looking, the fiercely social and the incredibly talented. It’s easy to fall prey to this misconception. In reality, being likeable is under your control, and it’s a matter of emotional intelligence (EQ).

In a study conducted at UCLA, subjects rated over 500 descriptions of people based on their perceived significance to likeability. The top-rated descriptors had nothing to do with being gregarious, intelligent or attractive (innate characteristics). Instead, the top descriptors were sincerity, transparency and capable of understanding (another person).

These adjectives, and others like them, describe people who are skilled in the social side of emotional intelligence. TalentSmart research data from more than a million people shows that people who possess these skills aren’t just highly likeable; they outperform those who don’t by a large margin.

Likeability is so powerful that it can completely alter your performance. A University of Massachusetts study found that managers were willing to accept an auditor’s argument with no supporting evidence if he or she was likeable, and Jack Zenger found that just 1 in 2,000 unlikeable leaders are considered effective.

I did some digging to uncover the key behaviors that hold people back when it comes to likeability. Make certain these behaviors don’t catch you by surprise.

1. Humble-bragging. We all know those people who like to brag about themselves behind the mask of self-deprecation. For example, the gal who makes fun of herself for being a nerd when she really wants to draw attention to the fact that she’s smart or the guy who makes fun of himself for having a strict diet when he really wants you to know how healthy and fit he is. While many people think that self-deprecation masks their bragging, everyone sees right through it. This makes the bragging all the more frustrating, because it isn’t just bragging; it’s also an attempt to deceive.

2. Being too serious. People gravitate toward those who are passionate. That said, it’s easy for passionate people to come across as too serious or uninterested, because they tend to get absorbed in their work. Likeable people balance their passion for their work with their ability to have fun. At work they are serious, yet friendly. They still get things done because they are socially effective in short amounts of time and they capitalize on valuable social moments. They focus on having meaningful interactions with their coworkers, remembering what people said to them yesterday or last week, which shows people that they are just as important to them as their work is.

3. Not asking enough questions. The biggest mistake people make in conversation is being so focused on what they’re going to say next or how what the other person is saying is going to affect them that they fail to hear what’s being said. The words come through loud and clear, but the meaning is lost. A simple way to avoid this is to ask a lot of questions. People like to know you’re listening, and something as simple as a clarification question shows that not only are you listening but that you also care about what they’re saying. You’ll be surprised how much respect and appreciation you gain just by asking questions.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Entrepreneur, July 22, 2016 -- T.S. Eliot was clearly onto something when he asked, “If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” The very act of stepping outside of your comfort zone is critical to your success and well-being.

Our brains are wired such that it’s difficult to take action until we feel at least some stress and discomfort. In fact, performance peaks when we’re well out of our comfort zone. If you’re too comfortable your performance suffers from inaction, and if you move too far outside of your comfort zone you melt down from stress.

Peak performance and discomfort go hand in hand. Stepping outside of your comfort zone makes you better, and it doesn’t have to be something as extreme as climbing Mount Everest. It’s the everyday challenges that push your boundaries the most, none of which require a flight to Nepal. Step out of your comfort zone and embrace these challenges.

1. Get up early. Unless you’re a morning person, getting up earlier than usual can take you way out of your comfort zone. However, if you get up well before you have to start getting ready for work, it’s worth it. It gives you an opportunity to collect your thoughts and mentally prepare yourself for the day ahead, rather than just dashing from one activity to another. It also gives you the opportunity to eat a good breakfast and exercise, both of which have well-known health benefits.

2. Accomplish an “impossible” goal. Few things compare to the exhilaration of accomplishing something that you didn’t think you were capable of. These achievements fall so far outside of your comfort zone that they seem impossible. Maybe it’s running a marathon or giving a keynote speech at a convention. These accomplishments are worth every bit of suffering you endure to achieve them because once you finally do it, you feel invincible and carry that triumph with you forever.

3. Meditate. It’s easy to get stuck in your comfort zone when you’re so busy that you don’t slow down enough to really think about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Meditation is a great way to break this cycle and also happens to be very good for your brain. Harvard neuroscientist Sara Lazar found that meditation creates important physical changes in your brain. It increases brain density in areas responsible for self-control, focus, problem-solving, flexibility and resilience. Best of all, these changes are lasting.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

The ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure has a direct link to your performance.

6-1-2017, Entrepreneur.com -- The ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure has a direct link to your performance. TalentSmart has conducted research with more than a million people, and we’ve found that 90 percent of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control.

If you follow my work, you’ve read some startling research summaries that explore the havoc stress can wreak on one’s physical and mental health (such as the Yale study, which found that prolonged stress causes degeneration in the area of the brain responsible for self-control). The tricky thing about stress (and the anxiety that comes with it) is that it’s an absolutely necessary emotion. Our brains are wired such that it’s difficult to take action until we feel at least some level of this emotional state. In fact, performance peaks under the heightened activation that comes with moderate levels of stress. As long as the stress isn’t prolonged, it’s harmless.

Research from the University of California, Berkeley, reveals an upside to experiencing moderate levels of stress. But it also reinforces how important it is to keep stress under control. The study, led by post-doctoral fellow Elizabeth Kirby, found that the onset of stress entices the brain into growing new cells responsible for improved memory. However, this effect is only seen when stress is intermittent. As soon as the stress continues beyond a few moments into a prolonged state, it suppresses the brain’s ability to develop new cells.

“I think intermittent stressful events are probably what keeps the brain more alert, and you perform better when you are alert,” Kirby says. For animals, intermittent stress is the bulk of what they experience, in the form of physical threats in their immediate environment. Long ago, this was also the case for humans. As the human brain evolved and increased in complexity, we’ve developed the ability to worry and perseverate on events, which creates frequent experiences of prolonged stress.

Besides increasing your risk of heart disease, depression and obesity, stress decreases your cognitive performance. Fortunately, though, unless a lion is chasing you, the bulk of your stress is subjective and under your control. Top performers have well-honed coping strategies that they employ under stressful circumstances. This lowers their stress levels regardless of what’s happening in their environment, ensuring that the stress they experience is intermittent and not prolonged.

While I’ve run across numerous effective strategies that smart people employ when faced with stress, what follows are ten of the best. Some of these strategies may seem obvious, but the real challenge lies in recognizing when you need to use them and having the wherewithal to actually do so in spite of your stress.

1. They appreciate what they have

Taking time to contemplate what you’re grateful for isn’t merely the “right” thing to do. It also improves your mood, because it reduces the stress hormone cortisol by 23 percent. Research conducted at the University of California, Davis found that people who worked daily to cultivate an attitude of gratitude experienced improved mood, energy and physical well-being. It’s likely that lower levels of cortisol played a major role in this.

2. They avoid asking “what if?”

“What if?” statements throw fuel on the fire of stress and worry. Things can go in a million different directions, and the more time you spend worrying about the possibilities, the less time you’ll spend focusing on taking action that will calm you down and keep your stress under control. Calm people know that asking “what if? will only take them to a place they don’t want -- or need -- to go.

3. They stay positive

Positive thoughts help make stress intermittent by focusing your brain’s attention onto something that is completely stress-free. You have to give your wandering brain a little help by consciously selecting something positive to think about. Any positive thought will do to refocus your attention. When things are going well, and your mood is good, this is relatively easy. When things are going poorly, and your mind is flooded with negative thoughts, this can be a challenge. In these moments, think about your day and identify one positive thing that happened, no matter how small. If you can't think of something from the current day, reflect on the previous day or even the previous week. Or perhaps you’re looking forward to an exciting event that you can focus your attention on. The point here is that you must have something positive that you're ready to shift your attention to when your thoughts turn negative.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

12-20-2017, Entrepreneur -- As part of my job, I regularly work with people who own and run their own businesses. Many of these people are what you might call "thought leaders," highly respected in their fields. They're movers and shakers. And starting a few years ago, they all started saying the same thing:

We're firing our millennial employees.

This troubled me. Why were they firing them? And why did they feel so strongly about the firings that they felt the need to tell me about them? I asked nearly a dozen experts, influencers and business owners why they thought millennials sometimes struggled in the workplace, and why they were getting fired.

As I investigated, trends began to emerge.

What I learned didn't change my positive opinions about my generation -- but it did give me insight into why business leaders sometimes complain. Here's what my contacts said about millennials, and why they get fired.

1. Lack of vision

Josh Steimle, CEO of MWI, told me that in his opinion, lack of vision was the biggest reason why millennial employees sometimes flare out. "A lack of empathy is hurting many millennials in the workplace, because they're not understanding the circumstances of their employment from the employer's point of view," he says.

Millennials sometimes struggle to appreciate the bigger picture and their role in it. This can hurt their workplace performance.

Being able to think like your boss -- to see the big picture -- is vital in the workplace. If you think of yourself as nothing more than a cog in a machine, you won't exactly be irreplaceable when it comes time for layoffs.

2. Miscommunication

One common complaint about millennials is that phones and computers preempted their need to learn face-to-face communication skills. They're great at Snapchat, the story goes, but they struggle to get their point across any other way. While I don't necessarily buy into this theory, it did come up a lot in my conversations with experts.

"Communication is vital in any relationship," Tayeb Malik, the founder and CEO of Glydr told me, "not least that between an employee and boss. Even in today's tech-heavy workplace, the most important communication is still done face-to-face."

Meetings, calls, interviews and sales pitches all require sharp communication and interpersonal skills. Consistently look helpless in these settings, and your boss might wonder how much value you bring to the company.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Entrepreneur -- Some people, regardless of what they lack—money, looks, or social connections—always radiate with energy and confidence. Even the most skeptical individuals find themselves enamored with these charming personalities.

These people are the life of every party. They’re the ones you turn to for help, advice, and companionship.

You just can’t get enough of them, and they leave you asking yourself, "What do they have that I don’t? What makes them so irresistible?"

The difference? Their sense of self-worth comes from within.

Irresistible people aren’t constantly searching for validation, because they’re confident enough to find it in themselves. There are certain habits they pursue every day to maintain this healthy perspective.

Related: Are You a Leader or a Follower?

Since being irresistible isn’t the result of dumb luck, it’s time to study the habits of irresistible people so that you can use them to your benefit.

Get ready to say “hello” to a new, more irresistible you.

1. They treat everyone with respect.

Whether interacting with their biggest client or a server taking their drink order, irresistible people are unfailingly polite and respectful. They understand that—no matter how nice they are to the person they’re having lunch with—it’s all for naught if that person witnesses them behaving badly toward someone else. Irresistible people treat everyone with respect because they believe they’re no better than anyone else.

2. They follow the platinum rule.

The Golden Rule—treat others as you want to be treated—has a fatal flaw: it assumes that all people want to be treated the same way. It ignores that people are motivated by vastly different things. One person loves public recognition, while another loathes being the center of attention.

The Platinum Rule—treat others as they want to be treated—corrects that flaw. Irresistible people are great at reading other people, and they adjust their behavior and style to make others feel comfortable.

3. They ditch the small talk.

There’s no surer way to prevent an emotional connection from forming during a conversation than by sticking to small talk. When you robotically approach people with small talk this puts their brains on autopilot and prevents them from having any real affinity for you. Irresistible people create connection and find depth even in short, every day conversations. Their genuine interest in other people makes it easy for them to ask good questions and relate what they’re told to other important facets of the speaker’s life.

4. They focus on people more than anything else.

Irresistible people possess an authentic interest in those around them. As a result, they don’t spend much time thinking about themselves. They don’t obsess over how well they’re liked, because they’re too busy focusing on the people they’re with. It’s what makes their irresistibility seem so effortless.

To put this habit to work for you, try putting down the smart phone and focusing on the people you’re with. Focus on what they’re saying, not what your response will be, or how what they’re saying will affect you. When people tell you something about themselves, follow up with open-ended questions to draw them out even more.

5. They don’t try too hard.

Irresistible people don’t dominate the conversation with stories about how smart and successful they are. It’s not that they’re resisting the urge to brag. The thought doesn’t even occur to them because they know how unlikeable people are who try too hard to get others to like them.

Read the rest here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/248719

Entrepreneur.com, DECEMBER 26, 2016 -- A successful career doesn’t just require great ideas and a good work ethic -- it also takes the right people. In order to work well with others, you’ll need to become a pro at leadership and management.

1-23-2017, Entrepreneur -- 

1. Focus 

“It’s been said that leadership is making important but unpopular decisions. That’s certainly a partial truth, but I think it underscores the importance of focus. To be a good leader, you cannot major in minor things, and you must be less distracted than your competition. To get the few critical things done, you must develop incredible selective ignorance. Otherwise, the trivial will drown you.”

—Tim Ferriss, bestselling author, host of The Tim Ferriss Show 

Offer: Get The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss as a free audiobook with a 30-day free trial to Audiobooks.com.

2. Confidence

“A leader instills confidence and ‘followership’ by having a clear vision, showing empathy and being a strong coach. As a female leader, to be recognized I feel I have to show up with swagger and assertiveness, yet always try to maintain my Southern upbringing, which underscores kindness and generosity. The two work well together in gaining respect.”

—Barri Rafferty, CEO, Ketchum North America

3. Transparency

“I’ve never bought into the concept of ‘wearing the mask.’ As a leader, the only way I know how to engender trust and buy-in from my team and with my colleagues is to be 100 percent authentically me—open, sometimes flawed, but always passionate about our work. It has allowed me the freedom to be fully present and consistent. They know what they’re getting at all times. No surprises.”

—Keri Potts, senior director of public relations, ESPN

4. Integrity

“Our employees are a direct reflection of the values we embody as leaders. If we’re playing from a reactive and obsolete playbook of needing to be right instead of doing what’s right, then we limit the full potential of our business and lose quality talent. If you focus on becoming authentic in all your interactions, that will rub off on your business and your culture, and the rest takes care of itself.”

—Gunnar Lovelace, co-CEO and cofounder, Thrive Market

5. Inspiration

“People always say I’m a self-made man. But there is no such thing. Leaders aren’t self-made; they are driven. I arrived in America with no money or any belongings besides my gym bag, but I can’t say I came with nothing: Others gave me great inspiration and fantastic advice, and I was fueled by my beliefs and an internal drive and passion. That’s why I’m always willing to  offer motivation—to friends or strangers on Reddit. I know the power of inspiration, and if someone can stand on my shoulders to achieve greatness, I’m more than willing to help them up.” 

—Arnold Schwarzenegger, former governor of California

Read This: Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger | Amazon | Indigo.ca | Barnes & Noble

6. Passion

“You must love what you do. In order to be truly successful at something, you must obsess over it and let it consume you. No matter how successful your business might become, you are never satisfied and constantly push to do something bigger, better and greater. You lead by example not because you feel like it’s what you should do, but because it is your way of life.”

—Joe Perez, cofounder, Tastemade

7. Innovation

“In any system with finite resources and infinite expansion of population—like your business, or like all of humanity—innovation is essential for not only success  but also survival. The innovators are our leaders. You cannot separate the two. Whether it is by thought, technology or organization, innovation is our only hope to solve our challenges.”

—Aubrey Marcus, founder, Onnit

8. Patience

“Patience is really courage that’s meant to test your commitment to your cause. The path to great things is always tough, but the best leaders understand when to abandon the cause and when to stay the course. If your vision is bold enough, there will be hundreds of reasons why it ‘can’t be done’ and plenty of doubters. A lot of things have to come together—external markets, competition, financing, consumer demand and always a little luck—to pull off something big.”

—Dan Brian, COO, WhipClip

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Forbes -- You know forming meaningful relationships with the right people has a direct impact on the success of your business. And that's great news -- if you were born with an outgoing personality.

Entrepreneur -- I’ve always viewed zero as a special number. You can add as many zeros as you want in a sequence, and the end result is still zero. You can multiply any number by zero and you get zero. If you divide a number by zero, you get a spirited debate among mathematicians. 

The concept of zero has marveled mathematicians and philosophers alike, but businesses can also take something away from its unique properties. That’s because something magical happens when a price falls to zero -- all of a sudden, demand rises to infinity.

For software companies and startups that offer their services over the Internet, zero or “free” should be a central consideration in your business model. It was for me when I founded Wattpad, and it continues to be one of the core reasons we remain so successful today. Here are a few things to zero in on when examining this model.

Related: 5 Tips for Setting Your Optimum Price

1. Rapid user adoption

When Microsoft announced in August that its new edition of Windows 10 had hit 75 million downloads in its first month, many people reacted with surprise. After all, it took Microsoft six months to hit 100 million downloads for its previous release of Windows 8.

By offering Windows 10 for free, Microsoft was able to capitalize on a wider audience of users and seed early interest for its operating system with developers. Similarly, when businesses offer something for free, they can speed up customer acquisition and build a user base much more rapidly.

Remember that there are many factors that prevent people from adopting a product or service -- price being one of them. By offering something for free, you completely eliminate a common question consumers have when deciding to try a new product -- “Should I pay for this?” 

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/253418

Love him or hate him, the Republican candidate and New Hampshire GOP victor Donald Trump can sometimes say something extremely powerful.

The above quote is an example. It sums up the kind of mindset every entrepreneur needs to have: Never set out to do something with hopes of being second best.

So, what else does Trump have to teach us? Politics aside, here are four lessons that every entrepreneur can learn from the controversial billionaire and his presidential run.

1. Winning is everything -- there are no 'participation' trophies in the real world.

The younger generation today is being set up for failure. Its members are being taught at a very early age that participation alone is acceptable, but in fact that is so far from reality.

Trump never sets out to be a participant, in anything. He’s going for the win in the election and I guarantee he never opens a Trump resort with hopes of being one of the "top" hotels in the area.

I remember an incident back when my dad was the president of our local Little League. A parent was livid that the first-place championship trophies my team received were significantly larger than the ones awarded to the other teams. And my dad? He just smiled and said, “Welcome to the real world.”

I can’t help but think how he would have loved this TV commercial from Kia. It addresses a very serious problem head-on. While most companies play the PC card, Kia says it like it is, and for that I applaud them.

Trump is going for the win, and nothing less, which is the kind of attitude that every entrepreneur should adopt.

2. Your product or service will never appeal to everyone.

Trump understands that he doesn’t appeal to everyone, and he knows that he never will.

The same could be said for any product or service. There will always be supporters, and there'll always be opponents. Take the iPhone, for example. There are those that absolutely love the device and those that absolutely despise it and will try to convince every person they come in contact with how far superior an Android device is.

What does Apple do?

The company focuses on providing its supporters the best product and service it can. Apple isn't worried about appealing to everyone, because it knows it can continue to appeal to its captive audience, and maybe pick up some new supporters along the way. The company knows it will remain on top.

So, identify the market and audience you appeal to and focus on providing those people with the best product or service you can provide. If you try to appeal to everyone, your effort is going to be a losing battle.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

3-22-2017, Entrepreneur -- Changing leadership is an adjustment process. It’s a period of excitement, growing pains and hope. While earning the trust and loyalty of an entire organization is a challenge, there are five things an incoming leader can do right away to hit the ground running and earn support:

Get to know all levels of staff.

In some situations, new leadership can mean staff changes across the board. But, in most cases, tenured staff are still in place. The new head coach of a sports team can be great, but he has to start with the players the team already has. Focus on earning their trust and respect. 

United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz is a great example of a new leader who came in and got to know people at all levels. He said that “there was a high level of distrust and disengagement with employees” when he came in. That’s not unusual. When new leadership takes over, some people may be skeptics at first. 

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Grasp these four principles in order to develop a business that has a major impact in the online world.

11-7-2016, Entrepreneur -- I'm writing this article from my apartment in Cape Town, South Africa. I'm here because a company hired me to train their staff on what it takes to create a successful digital marketing strategy in today's crowded market. The company found me through my articles here on "Entrepreneur" and some of the other large media publications I write for. They paid for my expenses and have given me a generous training fee. Five years ago, I owned a business in the vendor industry. To say that there are a lot of opportunities online would be an understatement. 

Billions of people use the Internet and social media for life, to shop and for business. Today, you have the opportunity to tell millions of potential customers how your business can help their lives and solve their biggest problems. While the opportunity, tools and access are there, too many online entrepreneurs are making very little to no money in their business. There is a ton of competition, unclear and impractical messaging and a lack of focus. If you want to build a successful online business that makes an impact and income, there are four things you need to realize about online business and money.  

1. Money isn't everything, but it is important.

As soon as there is an article like this, there will be a line of people ready to scream "money isn't everything." You're right, it's not, but you better believe it is an important part of the success of your business. It also allows you a life free of financial stress. When you're living paycheck-to-paycheck or worse, you can't focus the way you should. You are constantly worried about paying the bills or losing your foundation and that causes you to react instead of implementing a focused plan. 

You need money to pay your bills. You need money to support your family and your lifestyle. You need money to do some of the fun things in life -- like travel. It's not everything, but without it, you could end up stuck in a business and life you want to escape from. Don't make money your main motivator to start or grow your business, but respect what it can do for you and learn to use it to in a way that benefits your life and helps you accomplish your goals. 

2. Money is an important component in freedom.

At the end of the day, most of us start businesses and become entrepreneurs to create freedom. We want to live life on our terms and have control of our most important asset: our time. This freedom allows us to do the things we want to do in life like spending more time with family, travel or fun hobbies. 

Having a steady and consistent revenue stream leads to freedom and allows us to do those things that we want to do without worrying. Start or grow a business that leads to you creating freedom. Use the income to help you accomplish your biggest life goals. Don't be afraid or ashamed that you want certain things for your life. 

Read the rest of the story HERE.

4/27/2016, Entrepreneur.com -- You're likely already familiar with optimizing your site for specific keywords. You may have a list of specific keywords and phrases you're targeting, or you may be more in the "add amazing content and see what happens," camp.

However, the idea of optimizing for branded keywords may not have crossed your radar. Branded terms are words or phrases that are specific to your company. They often include your business name, but also may include certain trademarked product names or your website name. For Apple, some examples of branded terms might be:

• Apple
• Apple Computers
• Applecom
• Apple dot com
• Aple (a misspelled version)
• Apple Phone

We want to rank for these branded terms because there are three main types of search queries: informational (e.g., looking for answers to a question), transactional (e.g., looking to make a purchase), and navigational (e.g., looking for a specific company).

People who fall into the third category are specifically looking for your business or website. If your site doesn't show up in the first few spots in the SERPs, your competitors will be benefiting from these branded searches.

Fortunately, ranking for branded keywords isn't fundamentally different than ranking for more generic keywords. Here are four tips for ranking for your own branded terms.

1. Build up citations.

While it's obviously important to build up high-quality links to your site, non-linked mentions ("citations") can be just as important, particularly for locally-based businesses. When Google sees a website with many citations, it recognizes your website is an ongoing concern, active and current, and therefore worth being in the search results.

One of the best ways to build up these citations is to register your business with big data aggregators like Factual and Acxiom. Local search engines (including Google) license data from these aggregators to populate their own index with business-related data. So, if the data they have is inaccurate, your local search listings will also be inaccurate.

Other ways to gather citations include:

• Getting your business listed in local directories
• Getting mentions in local blogs
• Getting listed in Yelp, Yellow Pages and Yahoo Local

If you're currently being outranked for your own branded keywords by other local businesses, try a tool like the Local Citation Finder. After plugging in your keywords, the tool will return a list of all the citation site listings for the top-ranking pages.

Related: Position Yourself as an Authority, and Watch Business Boom

2. Keep your Google My Business listing up to date.

Considering the entire right-hand site of the SERPs is often dominated by Google maps and business listings, you'll definitely want to make sure your business name is listed here. You can enter or update your Google My Business listing here.

When adding or reviewing your listing, make sure the following elements are in place:

• Your business is properly categorized.
• Ensure your NAP (name, address, phone number) are consistent with your other listings and citations.
• Add relevant photos to jazz up your listing.
• Include business hours and methods of payment.
• Encourage customers or clients to leave reviews on your listing.

Read the rest of the story here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/272791

Entrepreneur, May 25, 2016 -- You're likely already familiar with optimizing your site for specific keywords. You may have a list of specific keywords and phrases you're targeting, or you may be more in the "add amazing content and see what happens," camp.

However, the idea of optimizing for branded keywords may not have crossed your radar. Branded terms are words or phrases that are specific to your company. They often include your business name, but also may include certain trademarked product names or your website name. For Apple, some examples of branded terms might be:

• Apple
• Apple Computers
• Applecom
• Apple dot com
• Aple (a misspelled version)
• Apple Phone

We want to rank for these branded terms because there are three main types of search queries: informational (e.g., looking for answers to a question), transactional (e.g., looking to make a purchase), and navigational (e.g., looking for a specific company).

People who fall into the third category are specifically looking for your business or website. If your site doesn't show up in the first few spots in the SERPs, your competitors will be benefiting from these branded searches.

Fortunately, ranking for branded keywords isn't fundamentally different than ranking for more generic keywords. Here are four tips for ranking for your own branded terms.

1. Build up citations.

While it's obviously important to build up high-quality links to your site, non-linked mentions ("citations") can be just as important, particularly for locally-based businesses. When Google sees a website with many citations, it recognizes your website is an ongoing concern, active and current, and therefore worth being in the search results.

One of the best ways to build up these citations is to register your business with big data aggregators like Factual and Acxiom. Local search engines (including Google) license data from these aggregators to populate their own index with business-related data. So, if the data they have is inaccurate, your local search listings will also be inaccurate.

Other ways to gather citations include:

• Getting your business listed in local directories
• Getting mentions in local blogs
• Getting listed in Yelp, Yellow Pages and Yahoo Local

If you're currently being outranked for your own branded keywords by other local businesses, try a tool like the Local Citation Finder. After plugging in your keywords, the tool will return a list of all the citation site listings for the top-ranking pages.

Related: Position Yourself as an Authority, and Watch Business Boom

2. Keep your Google My Business listing up to date.

Considering the entire right-hand site of the SERPs is often dominated by Google maps and business listings, you'll definitely want to make sure your business name is listed here. You can enter or update your Google My Business listing here.

When adding or reviewing your listing, make sure the following elements are in place:

• Your business is properly categorized.
• Ensure your NAP (name, address, phone number) are consistent with your other listings and citations.
• Add relevant photos to jazz up your listing.
• Include business hours and methods of payment.
• Encourage customers or clients to leave reviews on your listing.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

5-1-2017, Entrepreneur.com -- New eras call for new ways of thinking about leadership, and 2017 is ushering in real change in the business world.

Boston Consulting Group recently published an ebook, Transformation: Delivering and Sustaining Breakthrough Performance. The book argues that companies must operate in a state of “always-on transformation,” ready to shift tactics at a moment’s notice.

In BCG's view, transformation isn’t something that happens once every 10 years in response to a crisis. It’s the process by which leaders regularly improve their operating models, culture and business strategies.

This concept of constant transformation may seem daunting, but great leaders understand the power of this approach. Successful companies fail often, learn from their mistakes and pivot quickly. But even small transformations can create momentum. Yes, transformations are challenging and disheartening at times. But that’s where strong leadership comes into play.

When employees see executives and managers exhibit inspirational qualities, they have faith that even turbulent changes are for the best. I know, because I’ve witnessed this many times in my 20 years as a leader in the public relations industry. Despite making my share of mistakes, I’ve gained valuable insights from each of those mistakes and used that knowledge  to strengthen my company.

We've won awards and been ranked as one of the top 10 fastest-growing PR firms in the world because we were willing to transform ourselves when the circumstances demanded it. Here are four lessons I've learned about what I call the inspirational factor:

1. When in doubt, ask, "Why not now?"

Too often, leaders hesitate to take risks because they fear negative outcomes. But businesses stagnate if their decision-makers refuse to reach higher.

Author, investor and keynote speaker Amy Jo Martin encourages executives to ask themselves, “Why not now?” when they’re reluctant to take action. Her podcast focuses on this question by encouraging leaders to break down their pessimistic assumptions and spur innovation. She's spoken with business mogul Mark Cuban, #Girlboss Sophia Amoruso and visionary thinker Simon Sinek --- among many others -- to learn how they answered this "why not now?" crucial question and moved forward.

Leading with confidence can inspire people to achieve more than they ever dared. According to author and speaker Denis Waitley, the longer people remain complacent and fearful, the harder they find it to get out of their comfort zones. In short, no one levels up by continuing as they are. 

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Entrepreneur -- When an employee quits, you don’t just lose the time, money and effort you invested in that person. According to an article published by Vocoli, you also threaten to overwork the remaining staff and lower the productivity of your team. Further, you then need to allocate more funds towards interviewing potential replacements and training them.

To bypass the headache and hidden costs associated with the departure of an employee, take preventative measures by tweaking your hiring strategy, benefits packages, and culture. Here are four tips on how to reduce employee turnover and improve your company culture.

1. Be selective.

Before even thinking about how to retain your staff members, start by imagining what kind of people you want working for you in the first place. Picking the right talent for the job is imperative to facilitating long-term growth for the employee and stability for the company. But what should we look for in the screening process?

Anthony Tjan, CEO of venture capital firm Cue Ball, suggests focusing on character instead of skills or pedigree. He writes, “While skills can be learned, it is much harder to cultivate attitude and character. There is no doubt that over time, institutional character and culture is the simple by-product of individual people.”

By hiring individuals with the best chance of being happy performing their duties on the job, you increase the chances of employee retention and cultivating a positive work environment.

2. Offer stellar learning opportunities and benefits.

Once you have the best talent on your team, make sure you can add value to their careers. Offer professional development via conferences, workshops, classes and team-building excursions. Providing relevant out-of-office opportunities for growth will allow your staff to bring fresh ideas and a sense of camaraderie back to home base.

Additionally, make sure your team’s fringe benefits are fair and up-to-date. Towards this end, utilize your human resources department to its fullest capacity by making sure your employees’ benefits packages get reviewed yearly and updated as needed. Also, consider creating personalized perks for the staff to increase morale and promote better company culture.

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/248993

Entrepreneur -- Fear is natural. In a predator-versus-prey world, heightened awareness is critical to survival. In our world of business, however, most fears have little to do with survival and more to do with personal insecurities.

“Will I meet my deadline?”

“Does my boss like me?”

These doubts do little to help us achieve our goals. In fact, they often impede them. Yes, fear can serve a motivational purpose, but substituting this with confidence will provide better results. A few key strategies can help manage -- and eventually eliminate -- unnecessary fears.

Related: 50 Signs You Might Be an Entrepreneur

1. Realize you’re not alone.

Regardless of what fears you face, someone somewhere has already figured out a way to overcome them. Allow this fact alone to bring you comfort. If they can prevail, you can too.

2. Remove all visions of doubt.

In the book How Champions Think, Dr. Bob Rotella shares a story of the late world-class golfer Sam Snead. “He would get into bed at night after a tournament round and replay every shot in his imagination. But when his replay came to a shot he hadn’t played well, he edited it. He erased the memory of the poor shot and instead visualized himself playing the shot correctly.”

A big part of overcoming fear is to choose the right picture and focus on it. Sam Snead fixated on what he wanted, not on the negative. He understood that the image you allow to carry the greatest weight will be the one that manifests itself.

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/250069