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 -- 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

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.

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.

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.

6-27-2016, Entrepreneur.com -- You work hard to get traffic to your website. You pay for advertising. You optimize for the search engines. You work it on social media.

And it pays off! Traffic comes. People arrive. They look at what you have to offer. And -- they hesitate.

It takes just a moment’s hesitation to create doubt. In that moment, you can lose a customer. They find you -- but do they trust you?

In the real world, people do business face to face. They meet the waitress, the sales clerk, the serviceman. They make a judgment call instinctively as to whether they like you, whether they trust you and whether they want to do business with you.

Does your website say “Trust me!" so that a customer never doubts? Let’s consider three types of business websites:

• Local business: Your website is an extension of a real business, where you come face to face with your customers in the flesh (store, theatre, trades).
• Service business: You interact with your customers, but not always in the same city (accountant, coach, translator).
• Ecommerce: Your entire process is automated. If all your customers were pink fairy armadillos, you would never know. (Those are real animals, by the way, although rarely seen on ecommerce websites).

Whichever type of businesses you run, ask yourself the following questions.

1. Can customers visualize me?

If they can’t meet you in person, the next best thing is to see you. A picture of the business owner, with his or her name, goes a long way. A quote beneath the picture about “quality” or how you “love customers” goes even further. A video message from the owner is best.  Video is more tangible, almost like meeting you. When I redesigned my website, it's the first thing I added.

Check out the video on the home page of a local contractor's website. There is something special about this screenshot. Keep reading.

If not a video, how about photos of the whole team, as The Pike Brewing Company has. You'll see the same approach across the pages of my website. The Great Lakes Brewing Company shows the "Two Irish brothers" who founded the company, when telling their story.

Which type of website most needs a real, live person up front?  Ecommerce, of course.  The more intangible the business, the more important to show real people behind it.

2. Can customers visualize my business?

If they can’t walk up to your counter, at least they can see that you have a real address.  That boosts trust right away. A real address means that you are less likely to be a fly-by-night scammer. Even better, post a picture of your place of business 

Which type of website most needs to show a real location? You guessed it: ecommerce.  The more virtual the business is, the more important to show that it is real. This business made sure that customers can contact them in every way possible:

Read the rest of the story HERE.

12-5-2017, Entrepreneur -- For busy entrepreneurs with loaded schedules and brimming task lists, there's nothing more frustrating than having the time to work but being so unable to focus that they feel that they're getting nothing done. If it's any consolation, know that your situation is hardly unique: even in a task as simple as reading, the average mind wanders from the task at hand anywhere from 15 to 20 percent of the time, according to Canadian researcher Jonathan Schooler.

But knowing that most entrepreneurs and professionals have trouble focusing doesn't exactly help with your problem. If you want to improve your focus on a daily basis, and correct the chronic distractions you face, you'll first need to determine the root cause of the issue.

So, if focus is a major concern in your work,the reason is likely one or more of these root causes:

1. Sleep deprivation

It shouldn't surprise you to learn that missing out on sleep can make it more difficult for you to focus. You're supposed to get seven to nine hours of sleep every night, but that's a hard requirement for entrepreneurs; as a result, many end up being chronically sleep-deprived professionals unable to focus their full attention on whatever task is at hand.

2. Distractions

Your problem might also have to do with the number of distractions you surround yourself with; even the most talented professionals are prone to wasting time at work, with 89 percent of employees in a Salary.com survey admitting to wasting at least some time at work every day. The top distractions were talking or texting on the phone, gossiping, browsing the internet and playing on social media.

You can eliminate these distractions for yourself by using a browser app that disallows distracting websites, or by turning off your phone.

3. No priorities

You could also have trouble focusing simply because you aren't sure what you should be focusing on. The typical entrepreneur has dozens of tasks on his or her plate at all times. So, if you're one and unsure what to do next, you might jump among tasks frequently, leaving them half-finished, and only dedicating half your attention to any of them.

If this is your problem, you'll need to work to establish a firmer system of prioritization.

4. Stress

According to Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, stress and focus have a mutually dependent relationship. When we multitask, or focus on too many things at once, we experience more stress; and the more stressed we are, the harder it is to focus. To focus better, we all need to take time to slow down with mindfulness exercises and relaxation.

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. 

6/22/2016, Entrepreneur -- Few marketing vehicles offer the advantages live events do. They provide unmatched opportunities for customers and prospects to touch, demo and otherwise interact with a product. Events facilitate relationship- and community-building with like-minded individuals, and enable brands to create a “brain-washing chamber” where they have complete control over the environment and messaging.

Related: Online Marketing Gets All the Buzz But Check Out the ROI for Live Events

Plus, live events are custom made for photo-sharing on social networks.

It is probably no coincidence, then, that event planning is one of the fastest growing career categories in the United States, projected to grow at three times the average job growth over the next ten years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Here are some time-tested professional tips for successfully marketing your brand through live events.

1. Set clear, measurable goals.

It’s shocking how often this doesn’t happen, but without articulating event objectives, how will you know if your event was successful? If you’re having trouble with this, consider this perspective: What action(s) do you want people to take post-event? What circumstances or outcomes would lead you to absolutely not want to host the event again? What outcomes would prompt you to guarantee you'll host it again? Or, what do you want attendees to think about your brand after this event, and how does that differ from their current perception, if at all?

2. Build an easy narrative for guests to share.

Think about what you want attendees to say about your brand when they leave your event. The text should be like an elevator speech: short, easy to understand and compelling. (There’s a reason why so many startups explain their companies with references like, “We’re like Uber -- but for baby sitters": It's easy for people to grasp.)  Every element of the event should be designed to support this message. The goal is not just for on-site attendees to understand your story, but also to enable them to easily share that story with others. Likewise, avoid anything that might detract from it, or confuse people, such as a branded giveaway that doesn't clearly reinforce your narrative.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

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

Entrepreneur -- Vacation anxiety is real -- and for good reason, as anything can happen when you aren't in the office. Back in 2008, I experienced my own living nightmare when my point of sale systems’ server crashed, closing our stores indefinitely.

It’s events like these that encourage many startup and small business owners to deal with vacation anxiety by simply not taking vacation. According to OnDeck’s Small Business Owners Survey, only 9 percent of the 200 business owners who participated planned on taking a full two-week vacation. Sixty-one percent indicated that they would take a one-week vacation and 26 percent said that they'd take a few days off. Not only is it common for small-business owners to not take vacations, but they are known to worry profusely when they do take one. Of those who do take time off, 67 percent planned on checking in with work at least once per day.

With so many advances in technology, it is possible to thwart vacation anxiety -- at least partially -- and go on a relaxing getaway as things running smoothly while you're away.

Related: 5 Reasons Why Your Team Needs You to Take a Vacation

Here are five surefire tips to take the stress out of managing a small business while you’re away, drinking piña coladas and kicking back on the beach.

1. Choose the right person to step in for you.

Before even thinking about the technology that you’d like to use to help manage the shop while you’re away, the first thing that you should consider is selecting one of your trusted employees to stand in for you. Having a reliable stand-in who knows your business inside and out can help bring peace of mind while you're on vacation. Ensure a smooth transition by going over both routine and unexpected tasks along with the appropriate procedures.

2. Communicate your expectations.

A lot can happen in a day. Before relaxing by the pool, run through different scenarios and consider how involved you’ll be if they happen. You should also gauge how your departure may affect your team. Do they expect you to check in regularly? Will your stand-in have absolute authority to make decisions? What constituents an emergency?

These are all good questions to ask before committing to your getaway. Clarify your expectations in advance so that your team back home knows how and when to reach out to you.

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249720

Entrepreneur -- You don’t become an entrepreneur because it’s easy or convenient. You decide to start your own business because you want your life to be meaningful, because you want to feel like your life has a purpose, because you are trying to build something bigger than yourself.

What does that feel like? How does it feel to chase -- and achieve -- your dream? How do you know that you are heading in the right direction?

Finding your purpose doesn’t always come with a parade and a champagne celebration. Sometimes it appears as a quiet, simple moment. That’s how it was for Adrian Gradinaru, co-founder of New York City-based boat rental marketplace Sailo. The website allows people to search, compare and book boats online.

Earlier this summer, Gradinaru was heading home one night this summer, walking through New York City after a long day at work, when he realized he truly was doing work that provided him a sense of purpose. “I felt this interior calm that was sort of amazing,” says Gradinaru. “It’s not about money, it’s not about profit, I feel like we are providing a service that people are actually using and they are enjoying it.”

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/video/249691

Entrepreneur, 9/26/2016 -- Millennials tend to get a bad rap. You hear a lot of things about them. They’re entitled. They’re not loyal to their employers. They spend too much time on social media, and they don’t know how to build in-person relationships.

We’ve been led to believe that this generation, which now makes up the largest percentage of the workforce, is completely different from any other before it. As a result, employers are scratching their heads, asking questions like, “How do we hire millennials? How do we keep them engaged? An how do we keep them from leaving?”

1. Millennials are just like everyone else. No, really.

The studies that have highlighted the contrasts between millennials and other generations have been far overshadowed by studies that discredit the disparities.

According to the Harvard Business Review, to the extent that any gaps do exist, they amount to small differences that have always existed between younger and older workers throughout history and have little to do with the millennial generation per se.

We’ve found this to be true at our company. We regularly survey our people about what they like and dislike about the organization. For the most part, the same themes appear -- regardless of age.

Related: How to Motivate Millennials, By Millennials

Everyone wants his or her work to have meaning.

A study by Deloitte found that 90 percent of millennials surveyed wanted to use their skills for good. Our own surveys show that millennials want to work for a company that cares about them, and they want to feel that their work matters.

We hear that same message from all of our employees -- so frequently, in fact, that we decided to change some of our internal programs. Throughout the company, we now hold regular standup meetings, where employees can share how their work has had a positive impact on our clients or how our people have made a difference to each other.

We also offer company-paid, volunteer time off so our people can do the things that are meaningful to them outside of work. Each employee receives eight hours a year to give back to the community in whichever way he or she chooses.

Everyone wants to grow.

One of the things I love about our people is their desire to learn, and our millennials are no exception. A study from the Intelligence Groupfound that 79 percent of millennials surveyed wanted their boss to serve as a coach or mentor. To meet this need, we’ve put together formal and informal mentorship programs and upped our emphasis on training and development.

We now offer onsite classes, ranging from emotional intelligence (EI) to servant leadership, plus a dozen or so more. We believe that career development should be driven by employees and guided by leaders. Our people determine their own development path, and their leaders work to support them in achieving their career goals.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

8-21-2016 -- Everyone wants success. But are you willing to change?

Without change, there can be no growth. And in order to get what you’ve never had, you must become someone you've never been. Before you go into the woods, you'll need a map. Rest assured others have forged the route before you. Their experiences can help guide you to your own best you.

Live forward by making a life plan.

With "Living Forward: A Proven Plan To Stop Drifting And Get The Life You Want," authors Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy help you begin to become the architect of your own life. Most of us make plans for everything -- vacations, dinner, our children's school functions. But rarely does a person make a life plan. If I asked you to summarize your life plan, could you tell me? Probably not.

If you finally want to live with more intention and purpose in your life or become an entrepreneur now and not later, then your extraordinary life is on the other side of your life-planning design process.

"Living Forward" offers solid advice in several key areas:

• Understanding why you need a plan (because as humans, we drift and get distracted).
• Learning how to create your life plan beginning with the end in mind (answering, "What legacy do you want to leave behind?").
• Making it happen (triaging your calendar and scheduling your priorities). 

Many of us see change as threatening. Some even regard it as the destroyer of what is familiar and comfortable rather than the creator of what is new and exciting. Unfortunately, comfort is the enemy of excellence.

“For the timid, change is frightening, for the comfortable, change is threatening, but for the confident, change is opportunity," motivational speaker Nido Qubein writes in "Stairway to Success: The Complete Blueprint for Personal and Professional Achievement."

Decide what you'll do with your current opportunity. In order to grow and achieve new heights in your life, you must make a commitment to change. Focus your attention on growing in areas that will add personal and professional value. Don’t let your comfort zone kill the excellence within your reach. Make your life plan today.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Entrepreneur -- Last April, the city of Seattle began rolling out an incremental minimum-wage increase. Employers with 500 workers or fewer would bump hourly wages up to $15 over the course of seven years; larger businesses would have to reach the mark in three years, with an immediate raise to $11 per hour. (The federal minimum wage is $7.25.)

It has been a controversial law on many fronts, but no more so than in the franchise world. For the purposes of the law, any franchised business is considered a large employer -- even if the local franchisee has only a handful of employees -- because, the city argues, franchisees that are part of a larger system have the financial wherewithal to absorb the pay raise sooner than other small businesses can.

Seattle is not alone in putting pressure on franchisees. In June, the Los Angeles City Council voted to increase the minimum wage there to $15 per hour by 2020. In September, the state of New York raised the minimum wage for fast- food workers to $15 per hour, to be phased in over three years in New York City and six years in the rest of the state. Other municipalities, including Washington, D.C., and Portland, Ore., are looking at similar increases.

Opponents say significant minimum-wage increases will be the death knell of franchise growth, and could lead to unit closures. Proponents argue that increasing the minimum wage will lead to lower employee turnover and better customer service, and will reduce the burden on government programs like food stamps and housing assistance that many low-wage workers depend on. It’s a sticky situation, and one that economists have argued about for decades with no real consensus.

Representatives of the International Franchise Association -- which, along with five franchisees, sued and lost an appeal to amend the Seattle statute -- claim the law is part of an orchestrated effort to get fast-food employees unionized.

“The mayor and head of organized labor said as much,” says Matthew Haller, the IFA’s senior vice president of communications and public affairs, who argues that along with last year’s National Labor Relations Board ruling that franchisors can be treated as joint employers with franchisees, the wage increase is part of a multipronged attack on the franchise model. He says the IFA is working to educate other jurisdictions considering similar ordinances to Seattle’s, pointing out that most of them don’t completely understand the franchise model and don’t realize that franchisees are, in essence, small-business owner. 

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/253836

Ignore the resume, focus on problem-solving skills and offer remote options as well as performance-based incentives. A team member who feels valued will do whatever it takes to get the job done.

9-21-2016, Entrepreneur.com -- Growing a startup in today's competitive industries isn't easy -- especially for a bootstrapped solo founder building and managing a small team.

Your team is not disposable. In fact, its makeup is one of the most important things to get right. If you assemble a motivated team full of the right people doing the right things, you drastically increase your chance of success.

I know because it worked for me. In less than three years, I grew my startup more than 2,300 percent using these management hacks.

1. Don’t look at resumes.

Whether I’m hiring an employee, advisor or freelancer, I strictly follow my no-resume rule. I find resumes to be bloated and exaggerated. I don’t want to read how great applicants say they are. I want to interact with them and decide for myself if it’s true.

Instead of asking for a resume, I ask applicants to tell me about themselves. I ask follow-up questions and stress I’m not asking for a list of their accomplishments. I want to know about them. Yes, personally.

Then, like an FBI behavioral analyst, I make a judgment based on less-traditional facts. It’s not as hard as you might think. One very easy test: Ask an applicant to complete a task designed to showcase the important problem-solving skills needed for the position at hand.

I've been a Rubik's Cube freak my entire life. My fastest time isn't record-breaking, but 30 seconds isn't too shabby, either. I love handing an applicant a Rubik’s Cube and telling him or her to “do whatever it takes to solve it.” My directions are just vague enough to encourage interpretation. I hope candidates hunt down a solution online or do something other than just sit there and struggle with it. The moment they take out a smartphone to search for a resource, I'm won over.

Related: 4 Ways to Make Sure You Aren't Hiring the Wrong People for Your Startup

2. Always share the pie.

Paying people what they're worth is the baseline. Combined with consistent incentives to do more, sharing the pie has dramatically improved my company's bottom line.

Regular incentives go a long way. If all team members are getting some percentage of the upside, they'll be driven to keep working toward increased revenue. Extra performance pay is a solid start, but realize that yearly bonuses don't have the same impact as a more timely reward.

Sharing equity is another strong move. You don’t have to give away the farm -- just a few points here and there gets the job done. Avoid offering equity-only compensation to employees who are used to getting a fixed salary. Even if you can convince them to try the new model, you put them in an uncomfortable position if they need to return to a regular paycheck. They might opt to leave the company rather than initiate an awkward conversation. 

Most startups love to blame team members for failures big and small. It's easier on a founder's ego than the reality: The leader always is accountable. If you picked the wrong team members to do the wrong job or chose the wrong people to manage them, then it's still your fault. 

Assuming you made reasonably good hires to start, poor employee performance typically lies with an ineffective leader, lackluster motivation tools or both. 

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Good news, fellow marketers: Email is not dead.

Indeed, the ROI for email is more than $40 per dollar spent, a return higher than any other marketing channel, according to the Direct Marketing Association.

While email isn’t dead, one thing is clear: The email newsletter is a dinosaur. Emails that mimic print newsletters of yesteryear are bulky, lumbering and sometimes monstrous in size. But like the T-Rex’s stunted arms, the reach is tiny. These newsletters try to accomplish too much, and in the end, they do very little to drive results.

Why email marketing needs to evolve:

Our attention spans are shorter. The average adult’s attention span is down to just 8 seconds (That’s less than that of a goldfish.)

Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/232266.