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Showing posts with the label Entrepreneur

The Top 4 Social Media Tools for Your Business—In Order

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Are you hoping to launch a successful social media campaign? The process can be overwhelming: between producing content on a multitude of platforms, publishing at the right times, interacting with followers, and more, it can seem like a full-time job in itself. Aren’t there tools to make it easier? Absolutely—but now the question is, which tools do what?  Some tools are channel-specific, and others can help you manage multiple accounts from one platform (don’t you think it would be convenient to be able to tweet and respond to Facebook comments all in the same place?). Because executing a social media campaign is not an overnight process, the order in which you take your steps matters, too; and some tools are best for helping you with particular milestones. Here are some of the best social media tools, in order from campaign launch to completion:  Hootsuite  Hootsuite is known as a scheduling tool, but it also offers social listening capabilities. If you are a fledgling ...
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The $10 Digital Media Startup Prologue

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Click Here to Buy on Amazon My Simple 10 Part System Create a lucrative and versatile digital media business for only $10 with this simple 10 Part System. You will also learn how to create incredible new professional opportunities for yourself and take your career to the next level!          Starting a business is always a very challenging endeavor. You take major financial risks, remove the safety net of a steady job, open yourself up to criticism, and sacrifice your personal life… without any guarantee of success. Around half of all entrepreneurs and startups will fail and many of those that remain standing will not make much of a profit. Despite the daunting risks and odds, more people than ever before are starting their own business in hopes of escaping the 9-5 workplace. The enormous costs associated with starting a business can be a huge barrier to entry though, which prevents many from taking the plunge. If only there was a business model that was afforda...
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Leverage Your Social Media Network For Lean Digital Startups

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How do you get the word out about your new website or digital business? Once you've identified the niche of your digital media business, you'll need to get the ball rolling. In addition to being able to create high quality and unique content that adds value for your audience (a tall order on its own), you need to build an initial content distribution system. You can create the best articles, videos, ebooks, presentations, etc but if nobody views them they are essentially worthless. Most larger businesses will get a new media property going by paying for traditional advertising, spending lavishly on digital advertising , paying Influencers with enormous existing followings, or leveraging plentiful existing assets they already own. If you're frugal like me and don't plan on spending much or any money you'll obviously need a different game plan.  In the beginning a frugal entrepreneur really needs to use every free resource you have available. People don't know abo...
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5 Crucial Characteristics for Startup Survival

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Driven individuals are taking the startup route much more frequently now than ever before. No longer are we seeing the same trend of people working for companies for decades at a time. Competition is fierce as 90% of startups fail within the first year. There is a growing need to be as economical as you can in order to survive.  What sets that last 10% apart from the rest? How can your business be successful without having to take such extreme measures? Here are 5 crucial characteristics of savvy startups : 1. Be Economical  Sometimes there is very little funding for startups but that does not mean that they are destined to fail. It's important to look for free tools and resources that can help your business grow. In a new series I've begun discussing how you can start a digital media startup for only $10. In a very recent article I also went over a helpful list of  5 fantastic free image editing programs .  Another amazing new tool to add to that list of great imag...
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Key Steps In Developing a Long Term Growth Strategy

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One of the best definitions of startup businesses was coined by Paul Graham. He said that startups are companies designed to grow fast, and that’s the only characteristic that makes them different from other newly incorporated businesses.  Fast growth requires a clever growth strategy. Creating a viable strategy is not easy, but it is still the only way to avoid ending up in the 92% of startups that fail in the first three years of their existence. That’s why I've taken the business lessons I've learned and made this step-by-step guide that will make growth planning much less complicated and .  Step 1: Company & Market Evaluation  Before you start with growth planning, you need to do a lot of homework. Read about new market trends and study growth plans of rival companies that turn out successful . Although each growth plan is company-specific and unique, you should make use of all and applicable ideas you find during this research.  Researching your own busine...
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8 Great Gary Vaynerchuk Motivational Entrepreneur Quotes

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Gary Vaynerchuk is a very successful entrepreneur and digital marketer that is getting a lot of attention these days. He has built businesses and taken them to the next level with his hustle, passion, insight, and incredible work ethic. He's a best-selling author, social media influencer , speaker, podcast host, marketing consultant, and pretty much every other multimedia marketing role you can come up with. Vaynerchuk is basically a walking Shark Tank on steroids, mixed with Tony Robbins . Make sure to drink a lot of coffee and try to keep up with him. He was recently featured on the new TV show "Follow The Leader" and he'll even be speaking at this past year's Inbound16 from marketing software company  HubSpot . He preaches the gospel of business  hustle and inspires millions online of marketers and entrepreneurs. Here are some of my favorite inspirational startup quotes from Gary Vaynerchuk: 1)  "Without hustle, talent will only carry you so far." ...
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5 Steps To Starting Your Entrepreneur Journey

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So you want to be an entrepreneur?  Congratulations on deciding to join the hundreds of thousands of people who take that leap every year! You didn’t think you were one of the few, did you? Clearly there are a lot of experienced professionals talking about online entrepreneurship nowadays and are qualified enough to give you solid startup advice on how to be successful.  So here is what you need to pack in your business brain bag before you set off on your  entrepreneurial journey . These are just a few tips on how to get started.  1) Know The Odds The downside to businesses being so easy (relatively speaking) to start is that you’ve got a massive amount of competition. The majority of entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses fail in their first year and even more in their second. The odds are against you even if you have a unique, well-executed, and resilient business. We don’t mean to scare you! But knowing this fact is important, so that you know exactly how...
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How To Overcome Your Fear of Starting A Business

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We’re not going to lie to you; starting your own business is very challenging. One might even go as far as to say that it is a hectic and daunting task as well. You may have excelled in the business courses you took, but you probably lack the real world experience.  There is usually a lot of money that goes into beginning your own business as well.  There is also the task of knowing your target audience and getting the right crew to back you up. Not to mention the demands of a payroll, accounting, IT management, workplace compliance, and human resources responsibilities. This is what throws rookie entrepreneurs off their game. But this is not the end of the road. Just because you feel anxious doesn’t mean you let it take you over.  Even the most successful businessmen had their share of fear when they were starting out. The point is that they eventually overcame their fears and took the plunge. You can do it as well. Make the following steps a part of your life from now ...
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8 Great Jim Koch Entrepreneur Quotes

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Jim Koch is an inspirational figure that left a lucrative consulting career to start the world's most successful microbrewery: Sam Adams. Here are some of my favorite motivational entrepreneur quotes from Jim Koch, founder and CEO of Boston Beer Company aka Sam Adams: 1)  "The value of a company depends on elements that contribute to the creation of real value—things like providing superior products at fair prices." 2)  "Selling is applied communication and vastly underrated in business education. If you want to know how viable your business is, go try to sell your product to some potential customers." 3)  "I love disruption. To me, disruption means that you see the way things are, and you're able to see a better way and see a path from where we are now to this better way." 4)  "I try not to manage, because most people know how to do their job better than I know." 5)  "You need to be learning and innovating, giving your people inte...
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Leadership Within Entrepreneurship & Success

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There is a common misconception that Leadership and Entrepreneurship can be separated. Entrepreneurs are leaders . Not all leaders are entrepreneurs but every entrepreneur is a leader.  Entrepreneurship is about selling. Selling is about influence . An entrepreneur must have sway. Once you have influenced someone to the point of action such as making a purchase. You have become a leader in some way. Some may choose to follow your advice.  So what makes people decide to buy ? Benefits. How do they benefit from your product or service? If the reward does not outweigh the price then people will not buy. In other words: What is the overall value of what you are selling?  Entrepreneurs are masters at adding value. This is what propels businesses from start-ups to multi-million dollar enterprises. Value. The more you can add value to someone else's life the easier they will part with their money for you. A true leader is someone that can add value to your life, while saving you...
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