tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40854963178750061142024-02-07T18:40:34.806-08:00Nikhil KurugantiSEO, Marketing, Strategy, Management from the guy whose knows nothing about them!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-15566368633275872482013-06-10T12:21:00.000-07:002013-06-10T12:21:00.895-07:00Keyword Research Mistakes That Cost Us Money <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the reasons search marketing is so effective is that it delivers information on products and services to people who are actively seeking them out. People enter search terms into a search engine and the engine provides sites and ads that are relevant to the terms. This arrangement is beneficial for the user because they are provided what they want and it’s profitable for the company selling goods because their products are put in front of motivated buyers—so the potential for a sale is high.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The success of search marketing hinges on whether the keywords the searcher puts in the query box match the keywords the company has targeted in their online campaigns. If the company selling goods has properly identified the keywords a searcher might use to find products, then there is a good chance a conversion will occur.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The process of identifying keywords is wrought with pitfalls which can reduce the effectiveness of online campaigns. Here are eight common mistakes companies make in selecting keywords for their campaigns.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="more-14002" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1. Targeting keywords that people never use</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You don’t have to look very far on the web to find companies targeting phrases that visitors seldom enter into a search engine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are several ways this error can manifest itself. The most common is when a company selects keywords from insider jargon that they use within the company, but with which the outside world is not unfamiliar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even the most enlightened of us can fall into this trap. We use terms in our day to day vocabulary and the words are so ingrained in our mind that we overlook the fact that the rest of the world isn’t familiar with our internal corporate-speak. In many cases the company is suffering from a form of myopia: they are so close to the products that they don’t see that the rest of the world might call it by another name.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another situation where obscure keywords are targeted is more nefarious. Although most online marketing companies are honest and want only the best for clients, there are a few bad apple SEO firms that have purposely selected off-the-wall keyword phrases so they can guarantee rankings on those phrases. Obscure keywords are usually not very competitive so the SEO firm can easily win the term.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They tell a client, “We’ll get you ranking on phrase X”—often the phrase sounds good on the surface. The trusting client approves the term, not realizing that the phrase will never receive any traffic or bring conversions. Alarm bells should be going off in your head if your SEO firm is claiming guarantees. Ask for popularity numbers of the phrases they are selecting, test the phrase in PPC to get real performance data, then decide if the phrase is worth pursuing in organic marketing.</span></div>
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<b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Confusing keyword popularity with keyword appropriateness</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Professional keyword tools like <a href="http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/" style="color: #555555; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">KeywordDiscovery</a> and <a href="http://www.wordtracker.com/" style="color: #555555; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">WordTracker</a> are valuable tools for providing insight into the <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">traffic potential</i> of search phrases. This is useful information to have, but sometimes this one criterion gets blown out of proportion in importance. Other considerations like relevancy, user intent, and the competitiveness of a phrase are overlooked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Something to keep in mind is that many popular phrases are also extremely competitive, making highly popular phrases an expensive choice. PPC bid prices will be higher and winning a top organic spot will require more work because more competitors are targeting that phrase. An alternate approach, especially for a small business, would be to pursue more focused, more relevant terms that are less popular but would be better choices because they convert better.</span></div>
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<b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Not considering user intent in keyword selection</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Selecting good keywords requires the ability to get inside the mind of the user to learn what they wanted when they entered the phrase.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The phrase a user enters reveals much about the state of mind of the user and where they are in the buying process. For example, a search for “car reviews” might indicate that the searcher is in the research phase and is comparison-shopping. In contrast, a searcher entering “fast auto financing” is actively looking to buy—he wants that hot car in time for the weekend.</span></div>
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<b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Selecting single word keywords</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Only on rare occasions is a single word a good choice, and this happens mostly for big powerful sites. If you are Maytag, the single keyword “washer” might be fine. For most sites, however, single terms are just overly competitive and expensive. They tend to be overly broad, too competitive, and not perform well.</span></div>
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<b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Keyword misalignment</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One needs to be careful when selecting keywords to make sure that you select phrases that do not unintentionally conflict with unrelated industries. For example, consider the phrase “mobile marketing.” A company selling advertising on mobile billboards might unintentionally be competing with a company selling advertising on mobile devices. Careful keyword selection can help prevent this misalignment.</span></div>
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<b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. Not considering the competition</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many companies blindly select keywords and don’t stop to consider the competitive landscape of that phrase on the web. Put the candidate term into a query box at a search engine and take a look at the sites ranking for the term. Do they have .gov and .edu extensions? Examine how optimized they are. Compare the backlinks of the sites ranking to your site. If you want to rank, you’ll need to outdo what the other sites are doing. Pick your battles carefully: can you realistically afford to pursue that phrase?</span></div>
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<b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. Failing to periodically review keywords</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Language isn’t static. New words come into the vocabulary of people and other words drop from use. Scanning forums and blogs where people are discussing products like yours is a good way to watch for new terms. <a href="http://www.wordspy.com/" style="color: #555555; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Wordspy.com</a> is a favorite free tool for learning new expressions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is important to periodically review your keyword list to see if there are phrases you’ve overlooked or terms that are new or grown in popularity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another good reason to review keywords is that, upon closer inspection, you might find inappropriate keywords that are not performing well and are costing you money. Perhaps when you made your original keyword selection you only had limited data on which to base your decision. Revisiting your keywords when you’re armed with performance data can guide you to refine your choices.</span></div>
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<b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8. Not allocating enough resources and time to perform good keyword research</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Almost all online marketing has its foundation in keywords. The words you buy in pay per click, the terms you target for organic, the phrases you focus on in your images and videos, all depend on making good keyword choices up front. It takes time and resources to do keyword research properly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you were constructing a building, you would take measures to ensure your foundation was strong. It is the same with the keyword research process. Unfortunately, what happens in many companies is they rush the keyword process and do not allocate the necessary resources or time to do it right. This leads to poor keyword choices and costing the company more money in the long run.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A better strategy would be to take the time it takes to do the project right. A sound keyword process is one of the best investments a company can make. Take a few minutes today and review your keyword lists. Chances are you can save yourself and your company a lot of money and improve your return on your search campaigns by simply improving the keyword pool.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-84941075104433588252013-05-28T10:10:00.000-07:002013-05-28T10:10:00.303-07:00Spreading Love In Silicon Valley: An Infographic<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWEmyjx0hRcbck3YHDYupHodzbLRkDnc3DQJpHZwfGPL01jEaqxFg6F6ON1Pks729-DfVO7zL1zO4_eOWaajJRMerYe-ZBJchr4vc_nDRqAtghlsqq95m30qPU20GrWsgozG6ENE6J4Ao/s1600/spreading-silicon-love-valley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWEmyjx0hRcbck3YHDYupHodzbLRkDnc3DQJpHZwfGPL01jEaqxFg6F6ON1Pks729-DfVO7zL1zO4_eOWaajJRMerYe-ZBJchr4vc_nDRqAtghlsqq95m30qPU20GrWsgozG6ENE6J4Ao/s1600/spreading-silicon-love-valley.jpg" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Kondurg, Andhra Pradesh 509207, India17.0976907 78.03808819999994717.0825137 78.017918199999954 17.112867700000002 78.058258199999941tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-42991870905463605892013-05-28T03:21:00.000-07:002013-05-28T03:21:13.455-07:00Chemical Food On Our Plate ? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a presentation prepared by me for the awareness of Chemical-free food in India. Please have a look and let me have suggestions.</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/22017999" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px;" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="427"> </iframe><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong> <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/nikhilmigc/chemicals-on-our-plate" target="_blank" title="Chemical Food on Our Plate ? ">Chemical Food on Our Plate ? </a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/nikhilmigc" target="_blank">Nikhil Kuruganti</a></strong></span> </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Atlanta, GA, USA33.7489954 -84.387982433.3266004 -85.0334294 34.1713904 -83.7425354tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-53245251820852229082013-05-20T10:23:00.000-07:002013-05-27T10:23:36.478-07:00Who are US Entrepreneurs ? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnk8gyE9fkLxlAkUnRp72S2s5KH_MYrN0andxJkEXKN4oGyP3EEJ4ngeLo5zvjYTV1HsExJflH73lIIz4bWDSJC-mFdyb6L34fUxVnJdrGT4deeG7cFo3fCt5C3xtSOAsTic5ffUsVuJ8/s1600/who-are-us-entrepreneurs-in-us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnk8gyE9fkLxlAkUnRp72S2s5KH_MYrN0andxJkEXKN4oGyP3EEJ4ngeLo5zvjYTV1HsExJflH73lIIz4bWDSJC-mFdyb6L34fUxVnJdrGT4deeG7cFo3fCt5C3xtSOAsTic5ffUsVuJ8/s1600/who-are-us-entrepreneurs-in-us.jpg" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Bangalore, Karnataka, India12.9715987 77.59456269999998312.4764182 76.949115699999979 13.4667792 78.240009699999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-25301901730505519452013-04-02T05:45:00.000-07:002013-05-24T05:51:12.681-07:00A peek Into CEO's Life: Guardian Article <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Investigating the bedtimes of high achievers in hopes of divining the secret of success sounds a bit like looking to a novelist's desk placement for the key to good writing. I want my characters to be believable – should I be facing the window? But there is no doubt that once you start examining the daily schedules of CEOs, patterns emerge. Some of the routine is dictated by the job, but a lot of it is the product of outlook and approach. These folks live their lives in a very directed way. How do they manage, day in, day out? And what can we learn from the habits of seven highly effective people?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• First off – and there's no getting around this one, I'm afraid – you have to get up early. Really early: 6am is good, but 5am is better. And CEOs don't hit snooze: most of them claim to leap out of bed in the morning (even though it's basically still night) and more than one said that "life is too exciting" for <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/sleep" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Sleep">sleep</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Business and domestic life are hopelessly blurred. Leisure activities are as rigidly organised as the office diary – nobody lies in on Saturdays; they get up early and exercise – and everybody seems happy to let work follow them home. Quality time with children is timetabled, which might sound a bit ruthless, but at least they are determined to include some. For most of these company heads, the working week starts again on Sunday evening.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• It's clear that none of these people ever gets a chance to do the sudoku in the morning.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• They may be in charge of large international companies, but they are absolute slaves to email. Karen Blackett of MediaCom claims to receive 500 a day. They're emailing first thing in the morning, and last thing at night, and throughout the day. For the modern CEO, dealing with your own email seems to be some kind of touchstone of accessibility. I'm not sure what I'd do if I got 500 emails every day, but I know what I wouldn't do: I wouldn't read them.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Far from giving you a blueprint for your rise to the top, these routines will probably cause you to reconsider the whole idea of becoming CEO of a major communications conglomerate. For the most part, it sounds horrible. There is no respite at the top of the greasy pole, no finish line at the end of the rat race – it's just more of the same. What's the point of being rich and successful if you have to get up before dawn every day to answer 500 emails? There are so many other options open to you: wage slave, failed artist, cowboy plumber, petty thief, local weirdo. The money isn't good, but the hours are very attractive.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Interviews by Laura Barnett and Patrick Kingsley</span></div>
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<img alt="Tim Armstrong, chief executive officer of AOL " height="276" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/3/27/1364402927443/Tim-Armstrong-chief-execu-001.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px;" width="460" /></div>
<span class="caption" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 460px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tim Armstrong - 5-5.15am. Photograph: Jennifer S Altman/Bloomberg via Getty Images</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2013/mar/21/aol-tim-armstrong-continue-comeback-video" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Tim Armstrong">Tim Armstrong</a>, CEO, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/aol" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="More from guardian.co.uk on AOL">AOL</a></span></h2>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How and when does your morning start?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I usually get up at 5 or 5:15am. Historically, I would start sending emails when I got up. But not everyone is on my time schedule, so I have tried to wait until 7am. Before I email, I work out, read, and use our products. By 7am, I usually have questions or feedback about AOL. I am not a big sleeper and never have been. Life is too exciting to sleep. Arianna Huffington is preaching sleep to me all the time, but I will need a DNA transplant to adhere to her advice. She is right, but I just can't do it. I have three kids and my middle daughter (nine) has my sleep DNA, so she gets up and I drink coffee and she tells me about her life.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you wake up, do you leap out of bed immediately?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time are you at your desk?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My desk starts the minute I leave my house. I have a driver and my commute is a little over an hour. I am very productive in the car.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you email throughout the day?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do most emails in the morning, during the commute, and late at night. When I am at the office I try to listen and learn.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you have a secret email address?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No. Do you?</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you go home?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most days around 7pm and I get home at 8 or just after. When I get home, I try to read my two daughters a book. They usually win and get two or three books. I eat dinner with my wife; she is a gourmet cook and her food beats most of the best restaurants in New York. After dinner, I play Nerf hoops with my 11-year-old son – full contact, losers out, and no hanging on the rim.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you go to bed?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most nights around 11. Can be later if I have a dinner in the city.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much sleep do you get?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I try to get six hours. I can operate on less, but it isn't ideal.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is your weekend like?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday night is family movie night. Saturday is sports with kids. I am coaching my son's fifth grade basketball team on Saturday and Sunday, and it is my favourite thing all week. Saturday night is date night with my wife and sometimes dinner with friends. Sundays are church, basketball and work, starting at 7pm – calls and emails.</span></div>
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<img alt="Jayne-Anne Gadhia" height="276" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/3/27/1364403040086/Jayne-Anne-Gadhia-001.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px;" width="460" /></div>
<span class="caption" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 460px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jayne-Anne Gadhia – 6.20am. Photograph: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/may/26/jayne-anne-gadhia-virgin-money-interview" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Jayne-Anne Gadhia">Jayne-Anne Gadhia</a>, CEO, Virgin Money</span></h2>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How and when does your morning start?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Left to my own devices, which means assuming I don't have to travel, I get up every day at 6.20am. No alarm. That's just when I wake up every morning, weekends too. First thing I do is look at my emails and answer any outstanding. I can't stand having any not done! Then I look at the BBC news website, then Twitter. If that counts as an early start, I do it because I always like to be on top of work so I can enjoy the non-work stuff, like having breakfast with the family and talking to my daughter on the way to school, rather than being distracted by work. So it sort of helps me have a normal life.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time are you at your desk?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I'm working in my home city of Edinburgh I'm at my desk by 8.30am, having dropped Amy off at school. I email all the time. It used to drive me mad, but that's now the way I keep on top of things. Multi-tasking has become essential as far as I can see. I do have a separate private email address that fewer people know – but that gets quite busy too these days.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you go home?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I try to be home by 7pm. If I'm away I work until about 10pm – again, that's a way of not letting things encroach on normal life too much. I do work from home in the evening, but usually only in a multi-tasking sort of way. I certainly don't sit at a desk.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When is bedtime?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I try to be in bed by 10.30pm. And I always sleep like a log! I need and get about eight hours a night, unless I'm travelling, when I just get what I can. I rarely feel tired. Life's too exciting! I always get straight out of bed when I wake up. I don't lie there doing my emails.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is your weekend like?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love my weekends. I try to run both days before the rest of the family is up. Then being the normal taxi service for children kicks in. We usually have dinner with friends on a Saturday night and then more family stuff on a Sunday, until about 4pm. In the winter I like to be home then, curtains drawn, music on and getting us all ready for the week ahead – homework check, clothes check, scrubbed up – a nice tea, then settle in front of the telly.</span></div>
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<img alt="Karen Blackett
Karen Blackett" height="276" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/3/27/1364403168082/Karen-Blackett-Karen-Blac-001.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px;" width="460" /></div>
<span class="caption" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 460px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Karen Blackett – 5.45am</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/1121980/Media-Agenda-Karen-Blackett-years-threats-opportunities-sector/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Karen Blackett">Karen Blackett</a>, CEO, MediaCom UK</span></h2>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you get up?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At 5.45am three times a week to spend 45 minutes in my garage, which I have turned into a gym. Otherwise, I wake when my son comes into my room – any time between 6.30 and 7am.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you wake up, do you leap out of bed immediately?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Define "leap" – I'd say I roll out of bed.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you start sending emails?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I quickly scan my emails while my son is taking over my bed and having his milk. Urgent ones I reply to there and then. I flag others to follow up on my commute into work. My early start is due to the need to exercise more to keep fit as I get older, and due to my three-year-old kick-starting my day (literally).</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time are you at your desk?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8.30-9am — it depends on whether my son is at nursery and I do the nursery run, or at home with his nanny.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you email throughout the day, or do you have fixed times at which you send messages?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I receive an average of 500 emails a day, so I email throughout the day.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you have a secret email address that few people know?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, I'm accessible to everyone and there's no hierarchy.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you go home?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I try to be home for 6.30pm so that I can spend time with my son before he goes to sleep, read him his bedtime story and put him to bed at 7.30pm. My team know that I'll clock on again once Isaac is settled after 8pm, and reply to emails or take calls. My clients also know that.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you go to bed?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11.30pm.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much sleep do you get?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Six to seven hours. I'm the mum of a three-year-old: you survive on what you can get! I thoroughly recommend ginseng and <a href="http://davidkirschwellness.com/store/vitamins/nutrition-supplements" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="">David Kirsch</a>vitamins.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is your weekend like?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Isaac time, peppered with the odd bit of work when he's sleeping.</span></div>
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<img alt="Hans Vestberg" height="276" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/3/27/1364403273229/Hans-Vestberg-001.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px;" width="460" /></div>
<span class="caption" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 460px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hans Vestberg – "Early." Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.europeanceo.com/profiles/2010/09/hans-vestberg-ericsson/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Hans Vestberg">Hans Vestberg</a>, CEO, Ericsson</span></h2>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you get up?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It varies, but usually early.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you start sending emails?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No day is similar to another, but usually mail is part of my start of the day. Our company never sleeps: we have business in 180 countries, so there are no real mornings or nights.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you email first thing?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I often exercise (running or gym), especially when I am travelling.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time are you at your desk?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Flexible on time but seldom after 8am.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you email only at fixed times?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read mails throughout the day but answer mails more in the morning and evening.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you have a secret email address that few people know?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, my mail address is open for anyone and I read all my mails by myself.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you go home?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It depends on the day's activities. If I am in Sweden, I try to get home to be with my children. I can do work after that from home.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you go to bed?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quite late.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much sleep do you get?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It varies, but enough.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much do you need?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not too much.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you wake up, do you leap out of bed immediately?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is your weekend like?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I spend time with my family and exercise. Of course there's no such thing as a "normal day" – depending on travel schedule and customer meetings, so the answers above are all approximations.</span></div>
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<img alt="Helena Morrissey" height="276" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/3/27/1364403379788/Helena-Morrissey-001.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px;" width="460" /></div>
<span class="caption" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 460px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Helena Morrissey – 5am. Photograph: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jan/21/helena-morrissey-newton-friday-interview" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Helena Morrissey">Helena Morrissey</a>, CEO, Newton investment</span></h2>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you get up?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5am, sometimes earlier. I get out of bed straight away and go downstairs to check and send emails on computer and BlackBerry. At 6.30am my children start to get up.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much sleep do you get?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Five to six hours. This is as much to do with having nine children as having a business job, but I do end up feeling a bit sleep-deprived. There isn't a lot of slack. I put on the washing about twice before I go to work. People make resolutions to do more things, but one of my ambitions for 2013 is to do slightly less. With children, you end up adjusting, and not needing so much sleep. But every now and again, you think: oh, I could do with a proper eight hours.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time are you at your desk?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">About eight. I'm on my BlackBerry all the time.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When do you go home?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Around 6pm. The whole family tends to eat together at about 7.30pm. I work after supper– sending more emails, often to US-based colleagues, or doing two hours of prep for the morning's meetings. I try to get to bed around 10pm, and aim to be asleep by 11pm, but there's usually one child who's awake. With so many there's bound to be one.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is your weekend like?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Saturday evening, the whole family tends to sit down and watch a movie. On Sunday mornings, the children do their homework, and I do mine. I spend Sunday evenings preparing the children's schoolbags for the week ahead. It takes a little while, organising that many children, making sure the girls don't go off with the boys' stuff. I have done that occasionally.</span></div>
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<img alt="Heather Rabbatts" height="276" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/3/27/1364403449552/Heather-Rabbatts-001.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px;" width="460" /></div>
<span class="caption" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 460px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heather Rabbatts – 6am</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/8974101/Heather-Rabbatts-breaks-new-ground-in-becoming-first-woman-to-serve-on-FA-board.html" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Heather Rabbatts">Heather Rabbatts</a>, non-executive director of the Football Association</span></h2>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you get up?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am usually up by 6am, but wake earlier. I've always been an early riser. I love that sense of quiet first thing in the morning as the world (well, those of us on GMT) wakes up.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you start sending emails?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By 8am – sometimes earlier, depending on what is on my mind.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you email first thing?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I'm in London, I start the day with a cup of tea and a digestive biscuit. If I'm home in Kent, I feed my two spaniels, have a cup of tea and defend my digestive biscuits from being snaffled by my crafty dogs.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time are you at your desk?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm a bit of a wandering minstrel: my day often begins with breakfast meetings, before I head to my desk.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you email throughout the day, or do you have fixed times at which you send messages?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I usually send emails throughout the day and into the evening. My business partners are in New York and LA, so emails/calls extend my working hours.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you have a secret email address that few people know?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I did, I wouldn't say.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you go home?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It varies as I usually have evening engagements.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you work from home in the evening?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I try not to work too much from home in the evening, but it depends what's going on.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What time do you go to bed?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't have a regular bedtime.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much sleep do you get?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My sleep patterns vary. I used to be a bad sleeper – ie a virtual insomniac – but I'm getting better with age. I'm always up early, I never need an alarm and am instantly awake.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you feel tired?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who doesn't, sometimes?</span></div>
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<strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is your weekend like?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I walk the dogs; try to learn to ride my horse, who continually sees tigers lurking behind trees; spend time with my partner and friends. And smile, because life is to be lived!</span></div>
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<img alt="Vittorio Colao" height="276" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/3/27/1364403601783/Vittorio-Colao-001.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px;" width="460" /></div>
<span class="caption" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 460px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vittorio Colao – 6am. Photograph: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images</span></span><br />
<h2 style="background-color: white; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-top-style: dotted; border-top-width: 1px; clear: left; line-height: 17px; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding: 2px 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/features/1071181/MT-Interview-Vittorio-Colao-Vodafone/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Vittorio Colao">Vittorio Colao</a>, CEO, Vodafone</span></h2>
<div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He gets up at 6am, exercises for 40 minutes then works continuously through the day with constant emails and meetings ("because people need to progress with decisions and logistics, and technology today allows everybody to be always in contact"). He works through until about 10.45pm – with a brief pause for dinner with his family – before going to sleep by 11.30pm. Weekends consist of four hours of exercise, then the remainder is split between time with his wife and children and preparing for the following week's work.</span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-68449566508113319862013-02-19T21:19:00.000-08:002013-05-24T21:22:26.795-07:00Seven Simple Ways to Annoy Your Readers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you want to make a living blogging, there are a number of
things that you need to get right. Arguably, the most important being some
killer content and some savvy SEO. One other thing that you need to get right
however, is to not irritate your readers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrxyTt6rJjp1FCF6-1qAH6tCXB4jhdekTZQbi8yrGkBnI0Gq559fZEnxVQXrmPz32pynXUerAOy5bfiW8S0O1Akz8RMtIkEq_JVMqbmtmyPzSqz655R3DhOuSeuQDfiNPxr5qB1u1rxfk/s1600/How-annoy-your-readers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrxyTt6rJjp1FCF6-1qAH6tCXB4jhdekTZQbi8yrGkBnI0Gq559fZEnxVQXrmPz32pynXUerAOy5bfiW8S0O1Akz8RMtIkEq_JVMqbmtmyPzSqz655R3DhOuSeuQDfiNPxr5qB1u1rxfk/s400/How-annoy-your-readers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many bloggers make mistakes, that unbeknown to them, greatly
irritate their readers. Such mistakes result in a loss of traffic, a loss of
profit and in some cases, a loss of a blog. Here are seven simple ways to turn
loyal readers against you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Ignore Your Comment Sections</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just about every blogger is aware of the importance of blog
commenting when it comes to promoting their blog. What many bloggers don’t
realise is that how they handle their own comment sections is equally
important.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When somebody leaves a thoughtful comment on your blog, you need
to respond. When you fail to do so, it gives the impression that you do not
care what your readers think. And that’s simply not how you build a following.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Take Frequent Unannounced Holidays</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the first rules of running a profitable blog is that you
post on a regular basis. You can post daily or weekly, it doesn’t matter. What
matters is that you post to a specific schedule.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you disappear, your readers continue to check your blog for
new posts. When they do so, they get disappointed. And eventually disappointed
readers stop being readers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Cover Your Blog in Ads</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bloggers, like anybody else, deserve to earn a living. And one
of the easiest ways to turn a blog into a profitable web property is to include
a few advertisements. There’s nothing wrong with this and most of your readers
aren’t going to begrudge you for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is however a line and when you cover your blog in flashing
banners, you’ve crossed it. If you want to monetize your blog, do so with
subtlety. If your ads are the first thing that visitors see, you’re not being
subtle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Write Sneaky Sponsored Posts</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another highly effective way to monetize a blog is to write
sponsored posts. While there’s nothing wrong with sponsored posts, two
important rules must be followed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First off, sponsored posts must be honest. Don’t write a
positive review for a poor product. And secondly, the sponsored nature of a
sponsored post must be declared. Break these rules and you will lose your
readers respect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Make Navigation Impossible</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The wonder that is WordPress allows just about anyone to create
a reasonably professional looking blog. Web design expertise is therefore by no
means required to profit from blogging.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing that you do need to get right however is your blogs
navigation system. If navigating your blog is confusing, frustrating or simply
inefficient, you will lose readers. Here are a few tips to help you avoid this
faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.45in; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Categorise your posts in a clear
fashion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.45in; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Include links to said categories on
every page.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.45in; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Underline all textual links and don’t
underline any other text.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.45in; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Use breadcrumbs so that readers know
where they are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.45in; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Experiment with Cool Fonts</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many ways to express yourself in your blog but your
choice of font isn’t one of them. When deciding what font to use for a new
post, the only thing that you should be thinking about is legibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This means nice big, black letters. It doesn’t mean Comic Sans
and it certainly doesn’t mean yellow text.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Make Them Wait</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some bloggers get a little carried away when it comes to making
their blog look shiny. They add a few hundred photos, choose a textured
background and finish the effect with some nice Flash graphics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While the resulting blog often looks fantastic, it suddenly
takes forever to load. This is not a clever trade off to make. If you think
that your blog takes longer than average to load, here are a few tips for
solving the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.45in; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Limit photos to one per post.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.45in; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Optimize all photos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.45in; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remove flash completely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.45in; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">Clean up your blogs code (or pay
somebody to do it).</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-40557031667840173602013-02-12T21:07:00.000-08:002013-05-24T21:13:25.452-07:00Leveraging Social Media for Better Website Traffic<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only way to keep ourselves on top of the SEO game is to keep
ourselves updated with new techniques and strategies. Many are still coming to
terms with the new strategy of using social networks as a method of promoting
their websites. Many would even say that creating links on social networking
sites such as Facebook for example could have some effect on a website’s search
engine results.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Q0WHSuzjrdG0ggpuxRcElAXnxiKsrS9PyUU2zQk7fbTMUJkqGb6TmXQ7QM-DPRL7k5uqewxJ1kd9n1pDYnlGTwRk-OfzHwBGyMZepnUCF9zzrH7aEKz_RIe56m8Za5pAfXKhg1rOeuw/s1600/Nikhilkuruganti-website-traffic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Q0WHSuzjrdG0ggpuxRcElAXnxiKsrS9PyUU2zQk7fbTMUJkqGb6TmXQ7QM-DPRL7k5uqewxJ1kd9n1pDYnlGTwRk-OfzHwBGyMZepnUCF9zzrH7aEKz_RIe56m8Za5pAfXKhg1rOeuw/s400/Nikhilkuruganti-website-traffic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Social Networks and SEO</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before we get confused, let us first define what SEO and Social
Networking are. SEO is defined as strategies or techniques employed to improve
a website’s search engine results. It works on the principle that websites that
are prominently displayed in search engine results have a better chance of
attracting traffic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Social Networks on the other hand improves traffic to your
website thru community building and information sharing. This does not in any
way optimize a website’s search engine results. They work very differently but
are similar in their objective which is to drive more traffic to your website.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Social SEO</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m not exactly sure if this is the perfect term to describe the
process of optimizing your social network campaign for improving your website traffic
but I guess it’s clear enough to stress the point. With Social Networks gaining
more prominence, search engines like Google have included. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Great Titles</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just like your regular websites, social networking sites gives
you the option of creating titles for your articles or announcements. You could
then link these back to your website. The great thing about social sites is you
don’t have to come up with long word articles just to capture your audience
attention. A few words or killer title is all it takes to drive traffic to your
website. The rule of thumb here is to create a killer title that is difficult
to resist which is easier said than done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">People Targeted Content</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you’re going to write, write for people. This has always been
an important factor even for web content but the difference here is that no SEO
is required. Throw keywords out, no amount of keywords is needed here. Even
Google’s ever dependable spiders will not be able to crawl their way thru
social networking sites.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Build your Social Profile</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be an active member of the community. Joining other social
networking groups helps you build meaningful relationship and increases your
exposure. This is where branding and link building comes into mind in terms of
social networks. Just like link building, you are creating backlinks to your
social network sites.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Add Social Widgets</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many website owners are missing out on the benefits of social
networking by failing to install social networking widgets on their website. It
only takes a few minutes to install these but their benefits are invaluable.
People are unable to follow you simply because you have not given them the
option of doing so. Adding a share button makes its simpler for them to tweet
or share your articles at Twitter and Facebook.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Images and Videos</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Social media sites have opened new doors for promoting your
services and products. Posting a few images and videos over YouTube for example
gives you a creative way of promotion aside from writing good content. It is
said that pictures can tell a thousand words enhancing the quality of content.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Different Strokes</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SEO and Social Media Marketing are two different sides of the
coin. SEO in its strictest definition helps us get to the top of search engines
to increase traffic to our websites. Social Media can also be considered as a
tool for increasing traffic to your website but works on a different principle.
The difference is that SEO targets search engines while Social Networks is
people oriented. With the growing popularity of Social Networks it has become
another valuable tool for increasing traffic to websites.</span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0New Delhi, Delhi, India28.635308 77.2249600000000128.189414499999998 76.579513 29.0812015 77.870407000000014tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-75463801771751985862013-02-05T21:02:00.000-08:002013-05-24T21:05:29.424-07:00Linking PR with SEO: Taking Strategy to Next Level <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the aftermath of Google’s Panda and Penguin updates,
something interesting happened. SEO experts started focusing on the public
relations team. Yes, a love affair between public relations and SEO has been
brewing and we’ve got the scoop on how you can maximize your results by
encouraging this match.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlqdgY3V_B9QEif3TvCexjUjOf96pcGkZw8iaoZtBtO5R2vi-p7wtja8ejSEoSLgrLQn_zlsUlh0-kLz0PlhfqaGk_8XiRw1IYy0cDxQ5WwTAUYDupUsXLek4SclDCs5FC1tMy0gf-n4/s1600/Natoinal_PR_Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlqdgY3V_B9QEif3TvCexjUjOf96pcGkZw8iaoZtBtO5R2vi-p7wtja8ejSEoSLgrLQn_zlsUlh0-kLz0PlhfqaGk_8XiRw1IYy0cDxQ5WwTAUYDupUsXLek4SclDCs5FC1tMy0gf-n4/s320/Natoinal_PR_Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today’s SEO is being reimagined. Links are still an all
important piece of boosting your website’s rankings. But these links are now
being obtained from different sources. When directories lost their oomph, link
farms got blown out of the water, and keyword stuffing became de rigueur,
public relations remained the shiny hope to obtain new links and create a buzz
around a business’ products and services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Using PR as SEO Benefits Your Business</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the wake of the search engine algorithm shake ups, search
engines have begun trying to offer its online visitors meaningful content in
the form of social content to enhance their experience. Today’s internet
searcher is savvy and content hungry, consuming and curating content on social
media forums and discarding content that doesn’t make sense. To distinguish a
brand from the rest, a business now has to create a buzz. Gone are the days you
could simply rely on SEO tactics alone to earn those coveted top spots online.
Today’s internet users are searching for relevant and newsworthy items, so it’s
important that your business’ news is found in these searches. When businesses
use PR, they can enjoy increased benefits unavailable from SEO tactics alone.
This includes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Earned traffic, recognition, and buzz. By enhancing your PR
with SEO, a business can gain increased brand recognition, and encourage trust
and loyalty among internet users. Public relations offers brands the ability to
get their news featured across the web in forums and news sources which make a
brand appear in demand. When you enhance this with SEO tactics, you increase
the likelihood that your press will be found by internet searchers and that
your traffic will go up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• You’ll increase traffic conversion rates with organic press.
When a business releases press releases online, they are pushing this news out
to thousands of news outlets, many of whom may pick it up and republish the
news online. When consumers stumble across this organic press, it appears more
relevant and more trustworthy. Consumers who enjoyed these stories and click on
the website’s link are doing so because they genuinely want to know more about
the brand, the product, or the services. These organic visitors are easier to
convert into paying customers because they are led there by genuine interest,
not questionable links in fuzzy related sources.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Press articles encourage social shares. Internet users love
sharing news stories on their social media forums. These publications attract
much higher rates of traffic, which means that your content could be shared more
frequently, and deemed more valuable to users. The likelihood increases that
your article may be exposed to millions instead of the hundreds that your
website may attract.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Enhanced brand image from positive buzz. When a brand wants to
attract new clients, it often creates a buzz about its products to do so.
Additionally, when a brand has been slammed online, it often resorts to
creating favorable press to counter the negative stories online. Public
relations can craft and control this image with positive buzz associated with
these stories. When you add SEO to this, it increases the likelihood that your
article will be found ahead of any negative items.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Increased quality back links. Press releases are sent to
thousands of news sources and are often shown on diverse news outlets’
websites. These news sources generally have high page ranks and huge flows of
traffic. For example, a press release which is featured on the LA Times obtains
a link from a website with a high page rank, boosting your link profile. When
you accumulate these back links, your rankings will go up up up!</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India17.385044 78.48667116.9002065 77.841224 17.8698815 79.132118tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-8565225037958201832013-01-02T19:59:00.000-08:002013-05-24T20:00:39.215-07:00How To Market Your Blog at Shoe-String Budget<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s literally millions and millions of blogs on the Internet
today. Even large businesses and established brands have blogs of their own.
How can a simple blogger deal with a competition of that magnitude without
going broke?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While some people would pay big money just to get their blog’s
name out in the open; the fact is that you could very well promote your blog by
yourself, sometimes, with even better results. This way, you have better
control on the marketing aspect of your blog and save money at the same time
too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some cheap and easy blog<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>promotion
tricks include:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">1. Offering to write for somebody else’s blog
as a guest blogger.</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Great minds think together. Once you’ve established the topics
and subjects that your blog will be tackling, seek out the prominent bloggers
in your line of specialty and offer your services to them for free. This is a
win-win situation, actually. They get free content for their blogs, you get
exposure and readership for your own. This opens up a lot of opportunities for
collaboration on future project and also allows you to network with people who
matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">2. Getting your own domain name.</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">WordPress.com and the Google-owned Blogspot
are all excellent blogging solutions. While there are many bloggers who found
success using these platforms, it can’t be denied that they are bounded to the
limits and rules set by these proprietary blog hosting sites. Also, having
a.wordpress.com or.blogspot.com appended to the end of your blog’s URL looks
less professional than having a domain name of your own. For example, think
about the difference between <a href="http://www.myawesomewebsite.blogspot.com/" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">www.myawesomewebsite.blogspot.com</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>versus<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.myawesomewebsite.com/" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">www.myawesomewebsite.com</span></a>.
The second one looks more reputable, doesn’t it?</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The best thing to do here is to register your blog’s domain name
and find a reputable host like GoDaddy or HostGator (hosting services usually
come cheap, plus they will also do the domain registration for you).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">3. Being social.</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Social media networking is a very powerful marketing tool. With
just a click of a button, you can instantly connect with followers (and
potential readers) all over the globe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.05pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The best thing about social media is that it’s dirt cheap.
Setting up an account at major social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and
LinkedIn is absolutely free of charge. Meanwhile, the Google+ social network
benefits from its direct integration with some of Google’s largest services,
namely Gmail and Google Search. Google+ also allows people to establish
authorship over their content (people with author profiles can have their name
and profile picture displayed next to their content on SERPs).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-596785740983642412012-11-26T06:51:00.002-08:002012-11-26T06:51:34.269-08:0010 Rules For Startup Valuation <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 16.890625px;">Having worked with startups for over a decade, one thing i realize is that at a point or the other, the investor will ask you the question that many of the first generation </span><span style="line-height: 16.889204025268555px;">entrepreneurs</span><span style="line-height: 16.890625px;"> will have a problem in </span></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.889204025268555px;">answering</span><span style="line-height: 16.890625px;">“What is your company’s valuation?”. This is when most of them make the mistake. </span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.890625px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.890625px;">This article is taken from the blog of Startup Professionals and is written by one of my </span><span style="line-height: 16.889204025268555px;">favorite</span><span style="line-height: 16.890625px;"> startup consultants Martin Zwilling. </span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.890625px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16.890625px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve written about this before, but it’s a mysterious subject, and I’m always learning more. This time I’ll use a hypothetical health-care web site company named NewCo as an example to illustrate the points.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16.890625px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16.890625px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two founders have spent $200K of personal and family funds over a one year period to start the company, get a prototype site up and running, and have already generated some “buzz” in the Internet community. The founders now need a $1M Angel investment to do the marketing for a national NewCo rollout, build a team to manage the rollout, and maybe even pay themselves a salary.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16.890625px; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much is NewCo worth to investors at this point (pre-money valuation)? What percentage of NewCo does the investor own after the $1M infusion (post-money ownership percentage)? Well, if the parties agree to a pre-money valuation of $1M, then the post-money investor ownership is 50% (founders give up half interest, and lose control). On the other hand, if the pre-money valuation is $4M, the founders ownership remains at a healthy 80% level.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what magic can the founders use to justify a $4M valuation (or even the $1M valuation) at this early stage? Here are the components and “rules of thumb” that I recommend to every startup:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Place a fair market value on all physical assets (asset approach). </b>This is the most concrete valuation element, usually called the asset approach. New businesses normally have fewer assets, but it pays to look hard and count everything you have. NewCo might be able to pick up an initial $50K valuation on this item.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Assign real value to intellectual property. </b>The value of patents and trademarks is not certifiable, especially if you are only at the provisional stage. NewCo has filed a patent on one of their software tool algorithms, which is very positive, and puts them several steps ahead of others who may be venturing into the same area. A “rule of thumb” often used by investors is that each patent filed can justify $1M increase in valuation, so they should claim that here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>All principals and employees add value. </b>Assign value to all paid professionals, as their skills, training, and knowledge of your business technology is very valuable. Back in the “heyday of the dot.com startups,” it was not uncommon to see a valuation incremented by $1M or every paid full-time professional programmer, engineer, or designer. NewCo doesn’t have any of these yet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Early customers and contracts in progress add value. </b>Every customer contract and relationship needs to be monetized, even ones still in negotiation. Assign probabilities to active customer sales efforts, just as sales managers do in quantifying a salesman’s forecast. Particularly valuable are recurring revenues, like subscription amounts, that don’t have to be resold every period. This one doesn’t help NewCo just yet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) on projections (income approach). </b>In finance, the income approach describes a method of valuing a company using the concepts of the time value of money. The discount rate typically applied to startups may vary anywhere from 30% to 60%, depending on maturity and the level of credibility you can garner for the financial estimates. NewCo is projecting revenues of $25M in five years, even with a 40% discount rate, the NPV or current valuation comes out to about $3M.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Discretionary earnings multiple (earnings multiple approach). </b>If you are still losing money, skip ahead to the cost approach. Otherwise, multiply earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by some multiple. A target multiple can be taken from industry average tables, or derived from scoring key factors of the business. If you have no better info, use 5x as the multiple.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Calculate replacement cost for key assets (cost approach). </b>The cost approach attempts to measure the net value of the business today by calculating how much it could cost for a new effort to replace key assets. Since NewCo has developed 10 online tools and a fabulous web site over the past year, how much would it cost another company to create similar quality tools and web interfaces with a conventional software team? $500K might be a low estimate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Look at the size of the market, and the growth projections for your sector. </b>The bigger the market, and the higher the growth projections are from analysts, the more your startup is worth. For this to be a premium factor for you, your target market should be at least $500 million in potential sales if the company is asset-light, and $1 billion if it requires plenty of property, plants and equipment. Let’s not take any credit here for NewCo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Assess the number of direct competitors and barriers to entry. </b>Competitive market forces also can have a large impact on what valuation this company will garner from investors. If you can show a big lead on competitors, you should claim the “first mover” advantage. In the investment community, this premium factor is called “goodwill” (also applied for a premium management team, few competitors, high barriers to entry, etc.). Goodwill can easily account for a couple of million in valuation. For NewCo, the market is not new, but the management team is new, so I wouldn’t argue for much goodwill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Find “comparables” who have received financing (market approach). </b>Another popular method to establish valuation for any company is to search for similar companies that have recently received funding. This is often called the market approach, and is similar to the common real estate appraisal concept that values your house for sale by comparing it to similar homes recently sold in your area.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remember that all the components, except the last, are cumulative. Even if a given investor excludes some of the components from consideration in your case, your credibility will be bolstered by the fact that you understand his interests as well as yours. In any case, the analysis will prepare you for the heavy negotiation to follow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Precision is not the issue here – the task for the entrepreneur is to build a company that is worth at least $50M before thinking about an exit -- no investor wants to spend more than five minutes arguing the fine points of the last valuation dollar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what is a reasonable valuation for a company like NewCo? My advice for early-stage companies like this one is to target their valuation somewhere between $1.5M and $5M, justified from the elements above. A lower number suggests that the founders are giving away the company, while a much higher number may suggest hubris or lack of reality on the part of the owners.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, we have all read about the “new” company with $100M valuation, but I haven’t met one yet.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-40418516485304647502012-02-01T05:41:00.000-08:002013-05-27T08:24:14.282-07:00Mentors: Unrealized Weapon of an Young Entrepreneur<a href="http://cdn2.all-art.org/world_literature/images/c/34.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 384px; height: 419px;" src="http://cdn2.all-art.org/world_literature/images/c/34.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div>You need a good idea. Startup cash can make a real difference. Business experience and savvy also help, of course. But to take advantage of the most powerful weapon an entrepreneur can have, find a mentor.</div><div><br /></div><div>A good mentor helps you think through a business idea, suggests ways to generate that startup capital and provides the experience and savvy you’re missing. You’ll get praise when you deserve it and a heads-up when trouble comes -- probably long before you would have noticed it yourself.</div><div><br /></div><div>My grandfather who owned a memorabilia and antique shop in Vancouver, British Columbia, was a natural entrepreneur. He helped my brother Matthew and me launch our first successful venture: selling toy airplanes at a local festival when we were just seven and eight years old. With his help, we developed just the right marketing strategy -- putting on a show with the planes that created excitement and a "wow" impact. We sold out of planes in just two hours.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our first mentor was someone whom we trusted and who cared about our success. He had the knowledge and skills to keep us focused, and he knew a small early success would spur us on to more entrepreneurial attempts. Looking back, I realize he really engineered our first foray into business to build our confidence and help us understand what it’s like to work for ourselves. Even now, nearly 30 years later, Matthew and I find ourselves remembering his advice when we’re planning or making decisions.</div><div><br /></div><div>Although few entrepreneurs are fortunate enough to have a keen mentor in the family, it is possible to find one or two. Here are eight tips to getting the right mentor -- or group of mentors -- for you:</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Determine your needs.</b> Keeping in mind that your mentoring needs will shift as you start and build your business, take the time to determine exactly what kind of mentor you want now. Are you having trouble with the numbers, understanding your market or operations? Are you ready to ramp up production or still playing with concepts? Build a wish list for your mentor -- laying out what skills and support you need to get to the next step.</div><div> </div><div><b>Take time to network.</b> Networking isn't just important for finding customers. It’s also vital for finding a mentor. Who do you want helping you? Someone who sits in an office and thinks connecting with the business community means reading a couple of magazines a month? No, you want someone who’s out there, knows the market and can point you in the right direction.</div><div> </div><div><b>Listen more, talk less.</b> Given your youthful enthusiasm for entrepreneurship, it may be hard to stay silent. But to find a mentor, you need to listen -- a lot. Pay attention and you‘ll be able to separate the smart potential mentors from those who just use all the right words.</div><div> </div><div><b>Be "mentorable."</b> If you come off as someone who knows everything -- or thinks you do -- many people will back away. If you want to learn, be willing to consider ideas that may not match your expectations or opinions. Above all, don’t fall victim to your own hype. Your business may or may not have serious problems, but another viewpoint will help you sort things out.</div><div> </div><div><b>Remain flexible.</b> You may have mentors who stay with you over the long haul, but you will also benefit from people who provide just an afternoon of insightful ideas. If you are fortunate enough to get time with someone who is rarely available, absorb all you can and take notes. Your mentor may be skilled only in one specific area, but that’s okay. All help is good help.</div><div> </div><div><b>Don't overlook nontraditional mentors. </b>Some mentors may help you without their knowledge through books, seminars, speeches, videos on Ted, TV programs and the internet. My brother and I always looked to Richard Branson as one of our mentors. We don’t have to meet him in person to appreciate all he provides to entrepreneurs and others all over the world.</div><div> </div><div><b>Thank your mentors. </b>When people help you, intentionally or unintentionally, let them know. Mentors are not in it for the money; they just want to help others grow. Think about what you can do to let them know how much you appreciate them and their help.</div><div> </div><div><b>Pay it forward. </b>You may never be able to pay your mentors back, but you can recognize what they’ve done for you by becoming a mentor to others. That's one reason we started YoungEntrepreneur.com: to support those who share our dreams and goals.</div></span></div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br /></span></div><span><a href="http://thestartupmentor.blogspot.com/" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; ">Startup Mentor</a><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> is a place for all the </span><a href="http://thestartupmentor.blogspot.com/" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; ">Startups</a><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> to find their virtual mentors. The forum is dedicated to giving ideas to the aspiring entrepreneurs and the first generation entrepreneurs. If you fee that you can contribute to the community of entrepreneurs by providing your articles, opinions, analysis and case studies, please send an email to startupmentor@gmail.com </span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-72340810038960691292012-01-17T22:00:00.001-08:002013-05-27T08:24:14.307-07:00The State of Venture Capital in 2012<a href="http://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/venture-capital.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 352px;" src="http://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/venture-capital.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: arial; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: medium; ">While the venture capital industry enjoyed some notable exits in 2011, there isn't enough prosperity to get those VCs out of the investment basement in 2012. That's a trend which doesn't bode well for young companies looking for venture investments in the New Year.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; "><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">On balance, the VC industry is likely to end 2011 near the bottom of a decade of lousy returns for their limited partners. And with fundamental changes in the way startups operate and finance themselves, this decade of VC investment doom has created serious questions about whether venture capital can ever rise from the ashes.</p></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Taking the long view of VC investing, 2011 looks like it will end with at most a quarter of the level of capital invested compared to its all-time 2000 high. In 2000, total VC invested hit nearly $100 billion -- growing at an annual rate of 68 percent since 1995 -- the year that Netscape went public, according to the <a href="http://www.nvca.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=344&Itemid=103" target="_blank" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(54, 89, 119); text-decoration: none; ">National Venture Capital Association</a>.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Meanwhile, when you subtract out all the fees and expenses from the returns that VCs generate for their limited partners, what you get is a surprisingly lousy return on investment.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">For the decade ending June 2011, VCs earned an average of 1.3 percent for their long-suffering investors. Compared to returns from the Dow Jones Industrial Average (4.2 percent), the Nasdaq (2.5 percent) and the S&P 500 (2.7 percent), the historical statistics do not bode well for attracting new investment.</p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">What's more, if you look at the 10 year return of VC funds -- they typically hold onto client money that long -- you see that returns to limited partners were negative in the decade ending each quarter between June 2010 and March 2011.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">The one brightish spot for VC in 2011 -- that could carry over to 2012 -- was the post-IPO returns of seven prominent venture-backed start-ups. After all, by my calculations, those seven were up 2 percent on average through December 9. But that small increase masked wide variations between winners like LinkedIn, which is up 60 percent from its IPO and Demand Media, down 54 percent from its opening.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">If you happen to be working on a startup that competes in a market segment where VCs have just made big gains, then the peer VCs who missed out will be eager to invest in your company in 2012. Otherwise, you could be in for a tough sell.</p></span></span></div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " ><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br /></span></div><span><a href="http://thestartupmentor.blogspot.com/" style="line-height: 22px; ">Startup Mentor</a><span style="line-height: 22px; "> is a place for all the </span><a href="http://thestartupmentor.blogspot.com/" style="line-height: 22px; ">Startups</a><span style="line-height: 22px; "> to find their virtual mentors. The forum is dedicated to giving ideas to the aspiring entrepreneurs and the first generation entrepreneurs. If you fee that you can contribute to the community of entrepreneurs by providing your articles, opinions, analysis and case studies, please send an email to startupmentor@gmail.com </span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-16209160634831581952012-01-17T22:00:00.000-08:002013-05-27T08:24:14.300-07:00Starting a Business to Fund Your Startup Idea<span class="Apple-style-span" >Nate Casey and his business partners had a winning idea: a website that lets users correspond with celebrities and professional leaders they admire. They had a name for their venture--Blazetrak.com--and they had entertainment icons and moguls who were interested in participating. The only thing they lacked was money to build the site.<br /><br />Failing to secure investors, Casey and partner Corey Stanford instead opened a web consulting firm, Clariwebs, with the idea that they would use the profits from that venture to fund their true passion. After more than a year of bootstrapping, they dissolved Clariwebs and launched Blazetrak (along with a third partner, Ronald Harrison), bringing in revenue from day one. Two years later, the site boasts approximately 50,000 registered users from 202 countries and features commentary from 400 celebrities and experts. We asked Casey about making the transition from Clariwebs to Blazetrak.<br /><br /><b>How much of Clariwebs' revenue did you put into Blazetrak?</b><br />It wasn't a lot of money. Because we created this culture of bootstrapping, it only ended up being $10,000 or $15,000. We were using our own internal team to do a lot of the development work on Blazetrak. There was a lot of sweat that went into it.<br /><br /><b>How much time did you spend on each business?</b><br />We were probably 70 percent on the projects for Clariwebs. In the background, we were constantly building modules for Blazetrak. As we got closer to launching and it got more exciting, the amount of time we were spending on Blazetrak increased. By the final run, we were probably at 70 or 80 percent with Blazetrak.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /><br /><b>Did you tell clients about the new business?</b><br />We did--particularly the ones we had established strong relationships with and who had become dependent on us for making decisions about their online businesses. It's hard, because you're trying to sustain and take care of customers for one business while in the back of your mind you're thinking about raising money for something else that you feel passionate about.<br /><br /><b>Any tips on starting a business to finance a product launch?</b><br />If you're starting a company or you're doing consulting specifically to raise money for a bigger idea, you have to be 100 percent vested in and committed to why you're doing it. The company that you're creating or the consulting work that you're doing to raise funds could be a big temptation once it starts making a lot of money. You can get really complacent. When we switched over fully to Blazetrak, that's when we started getting all these calls about potential jobs that would have been great if we were still doing Clariwebs. We were making $2,000 our first month on Blazetrak and thinking, "Wow--we could have taken a $30,000 or $40,000 Clariwebs project this month."<br /><br /><b>What's the biggest downside of funding a startup this way?</b><br />It's painful to use your own money, especially when you'd rather spend it on groceries. But that's what makes it a good thing. You get really smart with how you spend it. You say, "We really need to buy this software solution." And then you say, "Is this the right one? Can we find a cheaper version? Can we build it ourselves?"<br /><br />You start to do a lot of research so you can spend less money or can learn a skill that will save you money over the long term. I figured out how to do our financials for Clariwebs by reading a book on QuickBooks. I use those skills even today.<br /><br />We got so much out of Clariwebs that helped us with Blazetrak. A lot of the operational stuff, the staff and the work we did morphed over to Blazetrak. The value wasn't just monetary--we gained experience and relationships, too.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span ><a href="http://thestartupmentor.blogspot.com/" style="line-height: 22px; ">Startup Mentor</a><span style="line-height: 22px; "> is a place for all the </span><a href="http://thestartupmentor.blogspot.com/" style="line-height: 22px; ">Startups</a><span style="line-height: 22px; "> to find their virtual mentors. The forum is dedicated to giving ideas to the aspiring entrepreneurs and the first generation entrepreneurs. If you fee that you can contribute to the community of entrepreneurs by providing your articles, opinions, analysis and case studies, please send an email to startupmentor@gmail.com </span></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-16974239273799854562012-01-16T10:10:00.000-08:002013-05-27T08:24:14.314-07:00Why Crowdfunding is Bad for Business<span class="Apple-style-span" ><a href="http://blog.surveymonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/start-up.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 397px;" src="http://blog.surveymonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/start-up.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://thestartupmentor.blogspot.com/" style="line-height: 22px; ">Startup Mentor</a><span style="line-height: 22px; "> is a place for all the </span><a href="http://thestartupmentor.blogspot.com/" style="line-height: 22px; ">Startups</a><span style="line-height: 22px; "> to find their virtual mentors. The forum is dedicated to giving ideas to the aspiring entrepreneurs and the first generation entrepreneurs. If you fee that you can contribute to the community of entrepreneurs by providing your articles, opinions, analysis and case studies, please send an email to startupmentor@gmail.com</span></span></span><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span><span style="line-height: 22px; " ><div><br /></div><div>Homeowners use peer lending sites such as Prosper.com to pay for a new deck, and artists use Kickstarter to pay for their next project. But so far, it's been difficult for business owners to use peer lending or crowdsourcing, as it's variously known, to fund their business.</div><div><br /></div><div>The reason is, people generally want to get a return on their investments. But federal law currently prohibits Joe Consumer from investing in a business startup. There are strict rules about who is an "accredited investor" for this type of high-risk investment. Right now you generally need at least $5 million in assets to qualify.</div><div><br /></div><div>There's been recent legislation that aims to change the qualifications required of investors in startups. Also entrepreneurs are hopeful that the law will change. Tom Szaky from Trenton, N.J., waste-management firm TerraCycle, for instance, recently opined in the New York Times that the rules should be changed to allow crowdsource funders to invest in startups.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm going to say I'm against the idea. Why?</div><div><br /></div><div>Startups don't just need money -- they need expertise. In the current scheme of things, investors often provide that expertise. They became wealthy because they know something about how to run a successful business.</div><div><br /></div><div>But in a crowdsourced model, no one investor has substantial money in the venture. So there's no one who could insist on a board seat as part of their deal, or otherwise make an entrepreneur take their ideas seriously for how to grow the business.</div><div><br /></div><div>That makes the startup a riskier venture, both for the investors and the entrepreneur. Maybe that entrepreneur will find mentors in other places. But nothing's compelling them to do so.</div><div><br /></div><div>Often, connecting with angel investors or a venture capital firm brings a business owner some high-quality expertise in the deal. It's unclear if entrepreneurs would get the help they need to be successful if their funding comes from hundreds of individuals each putting up $50.</div><div><br /></div><div>Crowdsourced funding sites thrive on successes -- being able to state the high rate of return for investors. Would a business-oriented crowdfunding site be able to make a good claim here? Perhaps, but I'm betting no.</div></span></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-36141736497695198232012-01-15T10:00:00.000-08:002013-05-27T08:24:14.320-07:00Seven Tips for Becoming a Better Boss<p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" >Is better hiring and retention high on your to-do list this year? Many people need to do more with less nowadays. A great way to start is with bettermanagement and more effective workers.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" >It’s easy to see why companies would want to start building a great workplace. Where to begin can be more difficult to discern. This lack of clarity makes it tough to take focused actions that move a company forward. In some cases, it can even discourage leader if the scope and breadth seems too large to overcome.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" >If you’re among those aspiring to build a better workplace, even a great one, here are seven tips from the leaders of companies recognized in this year's annual Best Small Workplaces list.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" ><b>1. Begin with yourself. </b>“In order to build a great workplace, you must first build yourself by gaining a deep understanding of your strengths and weaknesses as a leader, and you must completely commit to developing yourself into the best leader and person you can be. At the same time, you must hire outstanding people who are as committed as you are to build a great workplace.” – Robert Pasin, Chief Wagon Officer, Radio Flyer</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; " ><b>2. Flip the traditional management dynamic.</b> “Treat every employee as a colleague, and turn the management structure upside-down. If you are hiring well, then the management of the company is there to support the talent and aspirations of your employees, and not the reverse.” – John Saaty, CEO, Decision Lens.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" ><b>3. Hire the best. </b>“Hire people smarter than you. This is the best advice my father gave me when I was starting my business, and I believe it holds true today. In today's competitive environment, your time at work will be easier and more pleasant if you are surrounded by smart people-- those who share your values, mission, and vision and like to have FUN! Talented employees will help your business to grow, and create a great place to work. Customers value knowledgeable employees -- the smarter your new hires are, the better off your business will be in the end.” -- Lauren Dixon, CEO, Dixon Schwabl</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" ><b>4. See employees as whole people.</b> “Every employee has things in their life more important than work. If you fail to realize that, there will be a fundamental disconnect in your relationship with that employee. Realize it and embrace it, and you will be on the way to a mutually beneficial relationship. ” – Tim Storm, CEO & Founder, FatWallet</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" ><b>5. Use positive, constructive motivation. </b>“It’s said that eight out of 10 people come to work in the morning wanting to make a difference, but by lunch it’s down to four. That’s usually a result of the environment more than anything, not just the physical but the interpersonal. Lead your employees with a clear vision, support them with adequate resources, and possibly most important – reward them for treating others with respect. Motivate everyone in a positive, constructive way, and your biggest problem will be having to build more office space sooner than you thought!” – Tim Hohmann, CEO, AutomationDirect</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" ></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>6. Practice accountability to your values. </b>“Hold everyone accountable to your core beliefs and values, including you. No ‘license to kill’ is allowed no matter how much money someone brings into your business. Otherwise, a double standard develops which will derail the creation of a great workplace.” – Jim Rasche, 3EO, Kahler Slater</span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; " ><b>7. Start now.</b> “Don’t wait till you get bigger to put in place key items, such as staff surveys, peer interviewing for hiring and clear standards of behavior [developed by staff].” – Quint Studer, CEO and founder, Studer Group</span><p></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-59254896537002029702012-01-13T06:17:00.000-08:002013-05-27T08:24:14.333-07:00Innovation from Amazon, Starbucks and USPS<p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><img alt="What You Can Learn About Innovation from Amazon, Starbucks and UPS" src="http://www.entrepreneur.com/dbimages/blog/h1/amazon-starbucks-usps.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; float: left; width: 250px; " />How do the big, name-brand companies stay on top? One answer is <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/222487" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(54, 89, 119); text-decoration: none; ">innovation</a>. Besides acquiring smaller, innovative companies, most giant brands also put a lot of energy into research and development. So they're constantly testing out new ideas in every element of their business, from marketing strategy to products.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Here are three of latest and greatest ideas that recently caught my eye, which come courtesy of Starbucks, Amazon and UPS:</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Starbucks recently <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2017000998_starbucks13.html" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(54, 89, 119); text-decoration: none; ">opened a portable store</a> in the Seattle area that's made from four stackable shipping containers. The store offers many possibilities. It's moveable like a <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220017" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(54, 89, 119); text-decoration: none; ">food truck</a>, but offers a different look and feel. Maybe they could plop it down in different cities, or as a test store in a prospective market. If customers don't come, they could try again a few blocks away.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">At the same time, the store makes a statement about Starbucks' commitment to the environment. It's essentially a recycled store. On the exterior reads the company's motto: "regenerate, reuse, recycle, renew, reclaim." It also has a tiny footprint, under 500 square feet.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The company says it may use them in the parking lot while stores are being remodeled or constructed. What a great way to start building your audience before you open.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">For its part, Amazon is testing out a <a href="http://www.stores.org/STORES%20Magazine%20January%202012/20-ideas-worth-stealing?adid=ST_Weekly" target="_blank" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(54, 89, 119); text-decoration: none; ">new delivery method</a> for its many packages -- PIN-based, self-service lockers they place at a nearby 7-Eleven or other 24/7 convenience store. If you're not home much, you could pop by your locker when it's convenient and keep your packages secure in the meanwhile. They're trying out these lockers in Seattle, New York and London.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">UPS likes this idea, too -- they're <a href="http://cepobserver.com/2011/12/a-close-up-look-at-gopost/" target="_blank" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(54, 89, 119); text-decoration: none; ">testing "gopost" parcel lockers</a> outside post offices in Northern Virginia. The lockers enable customers to receive high-value items such as smartphones in a secure way, then retrieve them anytime.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">These news twists show how valuable it is to rethink every aspect of your business. Not all new initiatives should be about products or services. It'll be interesting to see how these innovations are received by customers.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-88836515572794655082012-01-13T06:13:00.000-08:002013-05-27T08:24:14.341-07:00Mark Cuban's 12 Rules for Startups<a href="http://www.intelligentspeculator.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/mark_cuban_08.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 211px;" src="http://www.intelligentspeculator.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/mark_cuban_08.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Anyone who has started a business has his or her own rules and guidelines, so I thought I would add to the memo with my own. My "rules" below aren't just for those founding the companies, but for those who are considering going to work for them, as well.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">1. Don't start a company unless</strong> it's an obsession and something you love.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">2. If you have an exit strategy, it's not an obsession.</strong></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">3. Hire people </strong>who you think will love working there.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">4. Sales Cure All.</strong> Know how your company will make money and how you will actually make sales.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">5. Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them.</strong> Pay up for people in your core competencies. Get the best. Outside the core competencies, hire people that fit your culture but aren't as expensive to pay.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Related: <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222501" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(54, 89, 119); text-decoration: none; ">Mark Cuban on Why You Should Never Listen to Your Customers</a> </strong></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">6. An espresso machine?</strong> Are you kidding me? Coffee is for closers. Sodas are free. Lunch is a chance to get out of the office and talk. There are 24 hours in a day, and if people like their jobs, they will find ways to use as much of it as possible to do their jobs.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">7. No offices.</strong> Open offices keep everyone in tune with what is going on and keep the energy up. If an employee is about privacy, show him or her how to use the lock on the bathroom. There is nothing private in a startup. This is also a good way to keep from hiring executives who cannot operate successfully in a startup. My biggest fear was always hiring someone who wanted to build an empire. If the person demands to fly first class or to bring over a personal secretary, run away. If an exec won't go on sales calls, run away. They are empire builders and will pollute your company.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">8. As far as technology, go with what you know. </strong>That is always the most inexpensive way. If you know Apple, use it. If you know Vista, ask yourself why, then use it. It's a startup so there are just a few employees. Let people use what they know.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-16332469697609768102012-01-11T06:22:00.000-08:002013-05-27T08:24:14.348-07:00How to Raise Money for Your Startup<p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Raising capital for a startup venture during these difficult economic times has been a major obstacle for many aspiring entrepreneurs. But it's not impossible.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">There are several steps budding business owners can take to get in front of prospective investors and to help make sure they pony over the cash you need, says Asheesh Advani, author and co-founder of CircleLending, a peer-to-peer lending service that was acquired by Virgin Money USA in 2007. He now serves as CEO of asset management services company Covestor. Advani was a speaker at Entrepreneur's Growth Conference here on Jan. 11, 2012.Raising capital for a startup venture during these difficult economic times has been a major obstacle for many aspiring entrepreneurs. But it's not impossible.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Here are Advani's best tips for landing the money you'll need to get your business off the ground:</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Know the different types of investors.</strong> There are three types of people who might invest their money in your business idea: friendly investors, hobby angels and professional investors. Friendly investors are the people you know personally, namely friends and family. Hobby angels are individual investors who are most likely professionals themselves who have some money to spare. Professional investors, of course, include venture capitalists, angels and banks. "Professional investors care most about the economics of your business," Advani says. "Whether they understand your business or not, they're required to consider your business idea, as well as countless others."</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Make a list of prospects.</strong> Scour your industry and your professional network to put together a first group of people and test your business pitch, he says. If the people in this initial group appear to be interested, expand your list of prospects from there.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"When I started my businesses, I wound up raising money from 75 different investors," Advani says. "Not because I wanted to. I needed to."<b><br /></b></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">He suggests keeping track of your contacts, your meetings and your goals for each of the meetings. Keep in touch with the contacts throughout the pitching process.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Set a closing date.</strong> Determine a specific, official date for when interested professional investors need to get you the money they promised -- and hold them to it. When dealing with friendly and hobby angels, Advani suggests a "rolling closing date," meaning that you'll accept the investment money as soon as they're willing to give it. Also, be sure to be clear with friendly investors about what happens if the money they invest isn't paid back on time or at all.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"These are people who are close to you, so do everything you can to maintain a good relationship," Advani says.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Use middle men carefully. </strong><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Third-party groups can be great for two things, Advani says. They can help connect entrepreneurs to individual investors they didn't otherwise know. Examples include peer lending and investing sites Lending Club and Prosper.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Crowd funding sites are another option. These services -- including Pro Founder andPeerbackers -- can help entrepreneurs collect numerous investments from people via social networks.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">But be careful about sharing your business idea online, Advani warns. "Before you post a profile on any of these sites, remember that everyone will know what you're planning to do," he says.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-61418062650509510492011-12-28T06:58:00.000-08:002013-05-27T08:24:14.355-07:00Protect Your Business from a Rogue Employee<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e8/UncannyXmen504.jpg/250px-UncannyXmen504.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 355px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e8/UncannyXmen504.jpg/250px-UncannyXmen504.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" >Days before Christmas, a New York glass installer who admitted he uploaded an unfinished copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine to the Internet, received a one-year sentence in federal prison from a U.S. District Court judge who termed his actions "extremely serious."<br /><br />It's a sad story for Gilbert Sanchez, the glass installer, but what, you ask, does this have to do with my company or start-up? Let's suppose for a moment that instead of installing glass, Sanchez worked for you and, rather than uploading the movie from his home, he did so using his work computer and your company's Internet connection. This circumstance may carry implications for businesses.<br /><br />Recently, a raft of lawsuits have appeared accusing thousands of individuals of illegally uploading and downloading materials in violation of U.S. copyright laws. Attorneys for film companies -- including one Los Angeles plaintiff that sued more than 5,800 individuals for downloading one particular adult film -- file many of these suits.<br /><br />OK, so you probably won't see many of these films at the Academy Awards celebration in February, but the plaintiffs in these lawsuits are hell-bent on collecting settlements from a large number of individual defendants. They're in the process of issuing subpoenas to Internet service providers to obtain the name and address of individual subscribers -- including businesses -- to pursue mass settlements.<br /><br />The question is, what do you do if your company is subpoenaed as a result of a mass filing? TheElectronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1990 to defend digital rights, says that because these cases are unique you should immediately contact an attorney in either the state where the lawsuit was filed or in the state where your business is incorporated.<br /><br />Stewart Kellar of the San Francisco-based E-ttorney at Law agrees, but says business owners slapped with a mass file-sharing lawsuit also need to have an Internet Usage/Copyright Infringement policy in place to avoid such legal actions in the first place. He says that policy "should state in no uncertain terms that the Internet is to be used for business and (maybe) personal email use only and for no other purpose."<br /><br />Kellar suggests that if your business does receive a subpoena from its ISP, it should first be determined if the infringement occurred on a work computer by an employee. If so, the company can offer up the employee to the plaintiff, pay the settlement fee and seek reimbursement from the employee. Or a company can just ignore the demand letter and see if the plaintiff will proceed and make good on its threats.<br /><br />"A business that provides an Internet connection to its employees or the public is itself an ISP," says Keller. "Unless it knew about the infringing activity and then induced or facilitated that infringement, contributory liability is very unlikely."</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-6046419457969678312011-12-12T06:39:00.000-08:002013-05-27T08:24:14.452-07:00What Your Business Can Learn From Apple's Battle with Samsung?<span class="Apple-style-span" ><a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/04/11x0419nsgs.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 190px;" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/04/11x0419nsgs.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />If you haven't been paying attention to the ongoing court battle between Apple and Samsung, you're missing an epic conflict over patents and trademarks, both of which are often overlooked by entrepreneurs when attempting to launch a new product or service.<br /><br />The dispute centers on Apple's claims that Samsung's products infringe upon its design patents. Per the latest in the conflict, a U.S. District judge ruled last Friday that Apple failed to meet its burden of showing a likelihood of irreparable harm in the injunction it sought against Samsung. As a result, Samsung, the world's largest consumer electronics company, now has the go ahead to continue selling its Galaxy S 4G, Infuse 4G, and Droid Charge phones and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the U.S.<br /><br />It's an early Christmas gift for Samsung, but winning a battle does not the war win, according toChristopher V. Carani, a partner in the intellectual property law firm of McAndrews, Held & Malloy and chair of the American Bar Association's Design Rights Committee. Here's what Carani has to say about this seven-month-old court fight and why business owners should pay attention to future skirmishes:<br /><br />Preliminary injunctions are hard to win but do have impact. Apple had an uphill battle in persuading a judge to pull Samsung's targeted products off the shelves prior to the fact-finding discovery process and full trial based on the merits of Apple's claims. In this case, even though Samsung prevailed on the preliminary injunction, the motion created delay and uncertainty in Samsung's U.S. launch.<br /><br />Apple's design patents strategy proved effective. Apple's strategy of applying for multiple design patents for the iPhone enabled it to protect itself and was effective in ensnaring Samsung's tablet and smartphone products.<br /><br />Prior art searches to invalidate patents are critical. When someone claims your product violates their patent, you conduct a search for "prior art" -- that is, anything proving that a product or service existed prior to a given date. Samsung's saving grace in this latest round was that its litigation team located prior art references that undermined the validity of one of Apple's iPad design patents. What Samsung discovered was a 1994 Knight-Ridder video depicting a tablet newspaper of the future, which looks very similar to the iPad and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.<br /><br />While Samsung doesn't have to take its products off store shelves, the judge found in Apple's favor with respect to one of Apple's iPhone design patents. As a result, Apple has an excellent chance of obtaining a large damages award for that patent infringement as well as for lost profits from Samsung's sales of the Galaxy S 4G and Infuse 4.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-17837631812902058032011-11-13T07:02:00.000-08:002013-05-27T08:24:14.550-07:00How to Start New Hires on the Right Track<a href="http://www.runninggroup.net/wp-content/uploads/20_6_orig.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://www.runninggroup.net/wp-content/uploads/20_6_orig.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></span></a><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Assessing employees starts on Day One. Your hiring process shouldn't be complete until you have a fully-oriented employee with their own development plan -- a clear plan of action that will engage and hold your new hire accountable.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Because the sooner you set expectations for your employees, the more likely you are to have a productive team that supports and grows your business. And that isn't the only benefit. There are three primary reasons to create individual development plans for managing performance. A development plan will:</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">1. Set expectations for performance.</strong> It gives employees clear expectations for their results. Statements in writing mean there is a greater likelihood of meeting or exceeding expectations. Having clear goals makes them more achievable.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">2. Create a coaching document and put a process in place</strong> with a road map for advancement and a schedule to review progress, which holds managers accountable for providing feedback.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">3. Create a benchmark that shows growth and improvement or the lack of progress against goals. </strong>This benchmark will assist you in developing your team members at all levels. Creating a record of improvement will make it easier to adjust the job fit for the employees and to make decisions in a more timely way about where you want to invest in developing employees.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Development plans show what employees can do to grow and develop, to advance, to become more valued, and to be more satisfied in their work. They also point out what kind of support and assistance they will need to get where they are going faster.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Components of the Plan</strong></span><br />One mistake many managers make, often because they use poorly designed development plan templates, is to take on too many challenges at once. Keep the plan as simple as possible. Identify a combined total of two or three measurable objectives within the following three job-related categories:</span></p><ul style="overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Focus on the employee's career growth.</strong> Examples include attending classes, seminars or workshops, or participating in on-the-job training or self-study programs (e.g., books, DVDs or web-based training).<br /></span></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Help the employee improve personal aspects of his or her performance, behavior or conduct.</strong> Examples of task-oriented performance goals are improving computer proficiency, time management or presentation skills. Or the employee can focus on correcting behavioral problems that negatively impact group morale, job performance or job satisfaction. Examples of such goals are developing conflict resolution or stress reduction techniques and building collaborative coworker relationships. As with professional development goals, effective performance objectives are well defined, are measurable, and are clearly linked to specific job-related outcomes.<br /></span></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Provide specific assignments to participate in or manage ongoing or future projects.</strong> When setting project-oriented goals, outline the scope of the role the employee is to play, list resources and completion time frame, and define the desired result.</span></li></ul><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Components of an Effective Objective</strong></span><br />Objectives must be ones the employee has agreed to accomplish within a specified time. The goals should be specific and challenging but attainable. Identify everything that both the employee and manager need to provide to accomplish the goals as an objective. Each objective should have four parts:</span></p><ol style="overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >State the desired achievement for task mastery or improved behavior.</span></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Define the applicability of each goal to the function.</span></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Specify the method of learning.</span></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >State the time frame for achievement.</span></li></ol><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">When to Assess</strong></span><br />Many companies tie development to performance appraisal. While it's true you need to set expectations before you can identify areas for growth, employee development is an ongoing process. Reviews should be scheduled as often as needed according to the support, advancement, and abilities of each employee.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Each job and organization will evaluate and measure its employees using a variety of tools. Some of the most common include:</span></p><ul style="overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Biannual or annual performance standards/reviews/appraisals:</strong> These usually include quantitative and qualitative sections where both the employee and manager have opportunities to make remarks. They state expectations and goals. The employee's performance is measured against these goals at the end of the time period. Traditionally, these appraisals are directly tied to annual bonuses or pay increases.<br /></span></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Budget and quota measurements:</strong> These include measuring a person's performance against budget expectations and quotas. Employees are evaluated based on how well they perform, and rewards are directly tied to performance.</span></li></ul><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Regardless of how you choose to evaluate employees, using a development plan customized for each individual will make the performance evaluation process easier and fairer and offer ongoing opportunities to provide coaching and feedback throughout the year, not just at performance review time. It also reduces the risk of surprise in the results for the employees.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >The manager and employee will work on the development plan together, but the more involved the employee is in determining the areas to work on, the more committed that individual will be to accomplishing the goals. The objective is to create an environment that encourages continuous feedback from managers, which will help employees advance more quickly, achieve more, and avoid unnecessary problems and setbacks.</span></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-10999063410427284522011-11-13T06:38:00.000-08:002013-05-27T08:24:14.649-07:00How Steve Jobs Saved Apple<a href="http://edudemic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/steve-jobs-apple.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 494px; height: 373px;" src="http://edudemic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/steve-jobs-apple.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, the tech company he co-founded more than two decades earlier was on the brink of failure. During the final quarter of 1996, Apple's sales plummeted by 30 percent. Microsoft was the dominant computer company in the market.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >As Isaacson recalls in his biography on Jobs, a <em style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Fortune</em> magazine story from that time said this of the company: "Apple Computer, Silicon Valley's paragon of dysfunctional management and fumbled techno-dreams, is back in crisis mode, scrambling lugubriously in slow motion to deal with imploding sales, a floundering technology strategy, and a hemorrhaging brand name." </span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Fresh off a partnership deal with Microsoft that injected Apple with $150 million, one of Jobs' first goals as CEO was to review the company's sprawling product line. What he found out was that Apple had been producing multiple versions of the same product to satisfy requests from retailers. For instance, the company was selling a dozen varied versions of the Macintosh computer.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Unable to explain why so many products were necessary, Jobs asked his team of top managers, "Which ones do I tell my friends to buy?" When he didn't get a simple answer, Jobs got to work reducing the number of Apple products by 70 percent. Among the casualties was the Newton digital personal assistant. Unfortunately, the cut-backs also resulted, in part, in a workforce reduction of about 3,000 employees.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >"Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do," Jobs says in the book. "It's true for companies, and it's true for products."</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Moving forward, Jobs' strategy was to produce only four products: one desktop and one portable device aimed at both consumers and professionals. For professionals, Apple created the Power Macintosh G3 desktop and the PowerBook G3 portable computer. For consumers, there was the iMac desktop and iBook portable computer. (According to Jobs, the "i" emphasized that the devices were directly integrated with the internet.)</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >The move to a smaller product line and a greater focus on quality and innovation paid off. During Jobs' first fiscal year after his return, ending in September 1997, Apple lost $1.04 billion and was "90 days from being insolvent," Jobs says in the book. One year later, the company turned a $309 million profit.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Jobs' plan also laid the groundwork for Apple's continued innovation. The company introduced revolutionary products including the iPod portable digital audio player in 2001, an online marketplace called the Apple iTunes Store in 2003, the iPhone handset in 2007 and the iPad tablet computer in 2010.</span><br /></p><p></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-62227297157411290922011-10-06T06:46:00.000-07:002013-05-27T08:24:14.748-07:00RIP Steve Jobs<a href="http://www.nationalconfidential.com/images/2011/10/steve-jobs-death.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 425px; height: 267px;" src="http://www.nationalconfidential.com/images/2011/10/steve-jobs-death.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Entrepreneur Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer Inc., died Wednesday. He was 56.<br /><br />Jobs' vision for a "computer for the rest of us" yielded a host of products and services that have revolutionized the tech industry, among numerous others. During his reign at the top of Apple, the company introduced the iPod portable digital audio player in 2001, an online marketplace called the Apple iTunes Store in 2003, the iPhone handset in 2007 and the iPad tablet computer in 2010.<br /><br />While Jobs struggled with health issues including a pancreatic tumor and a liver transplant, Apple's products continued to resonate with consumers, driving mind-boggling profits for the company. Apple says it has sold more than 300 million iPods, over 100 million iPhones and more than 15 million iPad devices. The company has sold billions of songs from its iTunes Store.<br /><br />Here's a collection of reactions of Jobs' death from fellow entrepreneurs, tech personalities and other notable figures:<br /><br /><b>Bill Gates, founder of Apple rival Microsoft:</b><br /><br />"I'm truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs' death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work.<br /><br />"Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives.<br /><br />"The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.<br /><br />"For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely."<br /><br /><b>Guy Kawasaki, entrepreneur, venture capitalist and former Apple chief evangelist</b><br /><br />"May Steve rest in peace. My deepest sympathy to his loved ones. No CEO has done more for his customers, employees, and shareholders than Steve.<br /><br />"He changed the world -- my world, your world, the entire world. His words to live by: 'There must be a better way.'<br /><br />"You changed our lives, Steve, and you showed us that there is a better way. . .we will miss you."<br /><br /><b>Mark Cuban, Internet entrepreneur and billionaire:</b><br /><br />"He was a once-in-a-generation mind. His ability to understand and translate pop culture was second to none. He will be missed."<br /><br /><b>Google co-founder Sergey Brin:</b><br /><br />"From the earliest days of Google, whenever Larry and I sought inspiration for vision and leadership, we needed to look no farther than Cupertino. Steve, your passion for excellence is felt by anyone who has ever touched an Apple product (including the Macbook I am writing this on right now). And I have witnessed it in person the few times we have met."<br /><br /><b>AOL co-founder Steve Case:</b><br />"I feel honored to have known Steve Jobs. He was the most innovative entrepreneur of our generation. His legacy will live on for the ages."<br /><br /><b>Apple Board of Directors:</b><br /><br />"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."<br /><br /><b>U.S. President Barack Obama:</b><br /><br />"By building one of the planet's most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity. By making computers personal and putting the Internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun. And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last. Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: He changed the way each of us sees the world.<br /><br />"The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented."<br /><br />The overwhelming outcry of sadness, wrapped in accolades, for Jobs also flooded the Twittersphere.<br /><br /><b>Michael Dell, founder of Dell Inc.</b><br />@MichaelDell Today the world lost a visionary leader, the technology industry lost an iconic legend and I lost a friend and fellow founder. The legacy of Steve Jobs will be remembered for generations to come. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and to the Apple team.<br /><br /><b>Richard Branson, Virgin Founder</b><br />@richardbranson RIP Steve Jobs. A truly great businessman. Inspiration to so many. A real Family man. He will be sorely missed.<br /><br /><b>Kevin Rose, founder of Digg.com</b><br />@kevinrose damn.. damn.. damn.. RIP Steve Jobs<br /><br /><b>Ben Kaufman, founder of Quirky</b><br />@benkaufman "Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.". Thanks Steve. Your products started me on this path.<br /><br /><b>Gurbaksh Chahal, serial entrepreneur</b><br />@gchahal Thank You, Steve Jobs.<br /><br /><b>Robert Scoble, tech evangelist and blogger</b><br />@Scobleizer Rainbow over Silicon Valley. Steve Jobs RIP. @ Sunnyvale<br /><br /><b>Scott Heiferman, founder of Meetup.com</b><br />@heif Sad sad sad sad sad sad sad<br /><br /><b>Ashton Kutcher, actor, investor and entrepreneur</b><br />@aplusk We have all surfed on the wake of Steve Jobs ship. Now we must learn to sail, but we will never forget our skipper.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-53148923696232104532011-09-10T22:23:00.000-07:002013-05-27T08:24:14.847-07:00How to Get Funding From Friends and Family<span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://motherjones.com/files/legacy/mojoblog/Romney-Family-Photo.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 414px; height: 279px;" src="http://motherjones.com/files/legacy/mojoblog/Romney-Family-Photo.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; "><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Most entrepreneurs have learned that it's almost always quicker and easier to get cash from someone you know, rather than angel investors or professional investors (VCs). In fact, most investors "require" that you already have some investment from friends and family before they will even step up to the plate.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">You see, investors invest in people, before they invest in ideas or products. Since they don't know you (yet), their first integrity check on you as a person is whether your friends and family believe in you strongly enough to give you seed money for your new idea. If they won't do it, they why would I as stranger invest in you?</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Friends and family will likely not expect the same level of sophistication on the business model and financials as a professional investor, but they do expect to see certain things. Here is a summary of some key items to think about as an entrepreneur before approaching friends, family, or even fools:</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">1. Don't be afraid to ask, carefully</strong><br />If you set around quietly waiting for someone you know to offer you money to fund a startup, you will probably have a long wait.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">On the other hand, if you open every conversation with "I need money," you won't have any friends or any money. Practice your "elevator pitch," and end it by asking for the order.</p></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">2. Be upbeat and respectful</strong><br />Nothing kills everyone's optimism and desire to help quicker than a negative or arrogant attitude.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">If they are going to put cash into your company, chances are that they will expect to spend a fair amount of time together, either helping you or certainly discussing progress. Nobody likes a downer.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">3. Be passionate about the idea</strong><br />Friends and family will quickly detect your level of sincerity and thought behind the idea.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">You need to convince them that you have been working on this vision for a long time, and have done the "due diligence" on all the potential knockoffs. Daydreams and "the idea of the moment" won't get much respect.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">4. Demonstrate progress and your own "skin in the game"</strong><br />Saying that you need money to start is not nearly as convincing as saying that you have built a prototype on your own dime, but need more to roll it out.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">We all know people who can talk a good game, but never get around to building anything.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">5. Ask for the minimum rather than the maximum</strong><br />We would all love to have a million dollars of funding to "do it right" and build the company of our dreams. But your chances are minimal of finding someone who will give you that much to start.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Set some milestones for three or four months out, and show what you can do, then ask for more.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">6. Communicate the risks, and write down the agreement</strong><br />Be honest with naïve family members and friends about the inherent risks of a startup – at least 70 percent fail in the first five years.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Don't take money from family or friends who can't afford to lose it. Think hard about the consequences of a possible startup failure and the loss of their funding.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">7. Show some incremental value along the way</strong><br />Look for ways to get some traction with a minimal product, while you are still developing the main event.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">In high technology, this is called "release early and iterate," which allows you to make corrections as you go, as well as adjust for the market changes. It also shows progress to early backers.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">8. Network to build investor relationships before you ask for money</strong><br />Having a real project, rather than just an idea, is a strong positive when networking for angels or VCs. Now you really have something to discuss, and real credibility as an entrepreneur.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Build the relationship first, ask for advice on a real project, then maybe money later.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">9. Don't think of friends and family funding only as a last resort</strong><br />Overall, don't think of friends and family funding only as a last resort. There are massive advantages, like sharing profits with friends and family, as well as the strategic credibility than can be gained from funding from someone you know, rather than from a professional investor.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">I hope all of these points seem like common sense to you, and you wouldn't think of handling it any other way. Yet, I'm continually amazed at how often I am approached as a professional investor by strangers asking for a million dollars to fund an idea, without hitting even one of the above points.</p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">We can all recount horror stories of families and friendships torn apart by money lost on someone else's speculative dream. In these cases both the entrepreneur and the funding partner are the fools. Don't be one.</p></span></span></div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://thestartupmentor.blogspot.com/" style="line-height: 22px; ">Startup Mentor</a><span style="line-height: 22px; "> is a place for all the </span><a href="http://thestartupmentor.blogspot.com/" style="line-height: 22px; ">Startups</a><span style="line-height: 22px; "> to find their virtual mentors. The forum is dedicated to giving ideas to the aspiring entrepreneurs and the first generation entrepreneurs. If you fee that you can contribute to the community of entrepreneurs by providing your articles, opinions, analysis and case studies, please send an email to startupmentor@gmail.com </span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085496317875006114.post-31226333898847642202011-08-14T06:27:00.000-07:002013-05-27T08:24:14.945-07:00How to Hire Positive Employees for Your Business<p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><img alt="How to Hire Positive Employees for Your Business" src="http://www.entrepreneur.com/dbimages/article/h1/hire-positive-employees.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 20px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; float: left; width: 250px; " /><span class="Apple-style-span" >No entrepreneur is an island. You were created to work with others in a positive environment.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Your business success depends on you attracting customers and employees with whom you work well together. Such cooperation challenges the familiar notions of achieving success by becoming a self-made person and pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. Despite its familiarity, such a notion is simply a myth. You’ve been the beneficiary of working with others since before you can remember.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Do you remember your mother and father getting up at two o’clock in the morning to feed you? Of course not. Even though it happened night after night for months, depriving your parents of much-needed sleep, these gracious acts of compassionate kindness your parents offered just because they loved you slip through your memory.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >There are other gracious acts of cooperation others have done for you that similarly slip through. All of these cooperative acts combine to make you who you are today -- a unique human being capable of a positive workstyle.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Cooperating completely with others presupposes that you are incomplete alone, but complete with others. Sometimes, our ego gets in the way of understanding this concept. Part of the challenge for entrepreneurs is that we are really good at so many and varied tasks that we buy the lie that we can truly do it all. The truth is if we really want to make our dreams come true, we must redefine our egotistical reality of "I can do it all" to "There is something I missed."</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >One of the most essential ingredients of working positively and cooperatively with others is that how much you think you accurately perceive in life, there is something you miss -- or some subject that someone else knows more about than you do.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >No matter which direction your business is going -- up or down -- you can use some help. The good news is you have it. The universe is designed to partner with you, to provide resources beyond your control for your business’s well-being, including relationships with others who can help you.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >The key to leveraging these relationships is to become the kind of person that you want to attract into your business life. You should be someone you would want to do business with.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Consider these questions in shaping yourself to attract positive business partners and clients:</span></p><ol style="overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">What are my core values,</strong> i.e., those character traits that I want to exhibit in my business relationships? What would my family members say are my core values?<br /></span></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">What are my life priorities-</strong>-those matters in life that I consider most important not just in word, but in work behavior as well? How do my calendar and bank statement reflect these priorities?<br /></span></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">What is my unique contribution</strong> to make in the world through my business and how do I live into it daily?</span></li></ol><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Just as "birds of a feather flock together," you literally attract people with whom you share core values and life priorities. For example, if you conceive your business more positively, you will attract similar people with whom you can grow your business--and whom you can also help in their lives and businesses. Those who resonate on this frequency are drawn to you because of your common business life pitch.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Conversely, if your business life is more negatively grounded, you find people coming into your business--whether as customers/clients, employees/suppliers--who are more of a negative persuasion.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Do you ever find yourself complaining about your customers? They don’t pay their bills on time, or maybe they’re constantly trying to get something for nothing. Who attracted them to your business?</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >What about your employees? Ever hear yourself saying, "You just can’t find good help these days" or "Nobody wants to want work anymore"? Who hired these employees?</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Now stop, and ask yourself: "How am I attracting these people? What is there about me that attracts them, that pitches them in my direction?"</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >One of the greatest challenges in creating a positive workstyle is understanding that like attracts like. These people onto whom you shift responsibility for your challenges are in your work life because you chose them. You attracted them by way of your business’s core values, your business priorities, and your business’s unique contribution.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Once you perceive your work life in a positive light, then, because you are created to cooperate completely, you begin to attract others to your team who share your positive direction. Those who choose to work positive will find their way to you.</span></p><p></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >The people around you--customers/clients, employees/employers, family/friends, and vendors/suppliers -- are there for you to lean on when the weight of doing business is too much for you to stand alone . . . and when isn’t it? These people are your team.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >The article is taken from <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222548">http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222548</a></span> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0