As a college student constantly looking for ways to make some extra money online I know how difficult it can be to come across scam after scam. You spend countless hours reading about 19 year olds and their success stories in making money online yet you managed to make $0.39 the past 5 days. Trust me, Ive been there done that. What most websites wont tell you is that there is no magic program that allows you to make thousands of dollars with little to no effort. If there was, then the world would be filled with teenage millionaires. The reality of this story is that you probably wont be making thousands of dollars online this week, let alone this year. However, what if I could promise you that there is a way to possibly make upwards of $100 a day, if not more in the next few years? Well I can, and the answer is blogging.
Chances are that you are passionate about something in your life. Whether it is basketball, video games, 13th century historical figures or even food, there is money to be made in it. The nice thing about blogging, especially as a college student or teenager, is that there isnt much effort that you need to put into it. If you can come up with 2-3 interesting articles on your niche that are well written a week then you are well on your way to getting an established following which translates into cold hard cash. Ive always loved blogging as a source of income because I am writing about something that I thoroughly enjoy, while being paid at the same time. Got a favorite sports team? Blog about them. Technology geek? Blog about the latest tech gear. The list truly is endless.
How to Start a Blog? Teensmakemoneyonline.com is a blog based on Googles Blogger platform. I pay $10 a year for hosting and receive a load of benefits that really make things easier for myself when managing this blog. In the past, blogger was the go to platform in terms of where to begin when starting a blog. However, times have changed and while blogger is still phenomenal I highly recommend you check out Wordpress. Just like blogger you can start a free blog, or receive your own .com domain name for a fairly low cost. The reason that Wordpress is so highly coveted is that it is so easily designable. Basically every big website on the internet now days is made using Wordpress and I think that just goes to show how high of a reputation it has. However, Blogger is definitely more user friendly and if you have little to no design expertise then you will struggle on Wordpress, so chose your host website wisely. Once you go to Blogger.com or Wordpress.com the process to start your blog is as easy as 1-2-3.
How to Get an Established Audience? Its one thing to write a few articles and own your own blog, but its quite another thing to actually receive traffic and readers to your blog. As I have stated numerous times in previous posts, you need to know "how" to write for SEO (search engine optimization). Keywords and Backlinks play a huge role in how successful your blog will be and I highly suggest you check out those posts before you begin.
How to Make Money With Your Blog? Advertising. Now youre probably thinking to yourself, Im only a teenager looking to make some money and I just started off, how in the world am I going to get people to advertise on my website? 1 word answer for that, Adsense. Google Adsense is a program that allows you to monetize your blogs traffic and is very easy to implement. All it takes is a google account, a website/blog and traffic. But before you get excited, Adsense like all other programs on the internet, is not a get rich scheme. You have to have an established blog with consistent traffic before you can expect to earn decent income on the side. However, Im not trying to scare you off, I know many college students on the internet that have their own websites and earn close to 6 figures a year. All it takes is a plan and ambition to realize that anything is possible.
Advertisers pay google to have people like me and you advertise their ads on our websites. Every time some one clicks on an ad on your blog you receive roughly 68% of what the advertiser paid google, and google receives the rest. Page views without traffic are irrelevant in terms of generating revenue, commissions are only applicable when users actually click on the ad, so ad placement is very important.
Summary There you go, those are the basic guidelines to follow when you begin your blog. Its important to keep in mind that you should spend about 20% of your time writing articles and 80% generating backlinks and increasing traffic. It may seem like your blog is going no where when you first start out, however if you keep to it and put a solid effort in then you will be heavily rewarded. It may take some time, but I can guarantee that if you have a well written blog on a good niche then you can make hundreds of dollars a day in the future. Just implement a plan and stick to it! Good luck everyone!
TIPS for completing offers/surveys - Use REAL information. Using fake names, addresses etc. will result in companies picking up on this and not providing credit for the offer/survey you completed. -Make a seperate email for survey sites. When you complete offers the advertisers will probably send you junk emails. You wouldnt want this junk to clog up your real email address, so just make a seperate address. -- Use different, valid e-mail addresses. In some companies they wont credit you for more than 1 of their surveys unless you have used a different e-mail address for each of their offers/surveys. You can use the same e-mail if youre doing offers from several different companies, but if you do more than 1 from a specific company, it is good to use different e-mails. An easy way to get around this is by doing this. Create a general e-mail such as jboi993@gmail.com When filling out different surveys you can use this same e-mail with periods added. j.boi993@gmail.com jb.oi993@gmail.com jbo.i993@gmail.com etc etc. All messages will be sent to jboi993@gmail.com Pretty neat little trick. - Clear your cookies between offers/surveys. To do this, in IE go to Tools ---> Internet Options ---> Delete ---> Delete cookies. In Firefox, go to Tools ---> Options ---> Cookies ---> Clear Cookies. Or you can just download CCleaner which clears your cookies. - Complete the offer/survey in FULL. You cannot just open up the survey and fill out 1 page and then submit it for approval. You must complete it in its entirety. It should be pretty obvious when the survey has ended. There might be a page that says "Thank you for participating", "Congratulations", "Thank you, your information has been received", or it may ask to confirm your email adress. - Check your email for confirmation emails. Some companies, send you an email to validate your email address. The offer you completed will not credit unless you confirm your email. Completing offers quickly - Download Roboform. This progam is very VERY useful. It fills out all your information (name, adress, email, gender, age, etc) with the click of a button. -Another neat trick with Roboform is bubbling in all of the "Nos" in a survey. Sometimes you are presented with a long list of yes/no questions and to simply bubble in all "Nos" hold Alt and press +. Saves you a lot of time on offers. If you are still having difficulty or have any questions, please feel free to contact me at the following: mailto:gppbro@yahoo.com
‘Small businesses fail because they run out of cash’ is just as helpful a statement as a doctor saying ‘The patient died because they stopped breathing’. According to the latest Bloomberg research, 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs who start businesses fail within the first 18 months. A whopping 80% crash and burn. But why? Why do small businesses fail?
Here are five of the most common mistakes Ive seen small business make that inevitably cost them their success.
Poor Management
Poor management is often cited as the number one reason for failure. Business owners frequently lack relevant business and management expertise in areas such as finance, purchasing, selling, production, and hiring, marketing and managing employees.
Dysfunctional leadership trickles down and affects every aspect of a business’ operation, from financial management to employee morale, and once productivity and morale are hindered, failure becomes inevitable.
When it comes to this issue, the first step to solving the problem, is admitting there is a problem. None of us wants to admit that we suck at managing our own businesses and teams, but unless we do, our businesses are doomed. Learn, study, find a mentor, enroll in training, conduct personal research – these are all things that can be done to improve vital leadership skills.
There must be a strong investment in leadership skills. And of course, this is something even people who have been in business for many years, need to work on. Management and leadership techniques are always evolving. So just because a single management style has been implemented for the last 40 years, it doesn’t necessarily mean that leadership is efficient.
No Website
In an age when ‘Google’ is a verb, having a website is a must. Simply put, if you have a business, you need a website. There is no discussion around that. In 2015 every company should have a professional looking website that enables visitors to easily find out what you business is about, what you offer and how to get hold of your products or services.
Businesses who don’t have websites are likely to be losing clients to those that do. And having a website isn’t enough- it has to look good, create a good impression for the business.
Failure to understand customers and prospects
Many jump into business ventures with the idea of what they want to sell rather than what people need or any specific problems they are solving. In my experience, this is the worst move an entrepreneur can make because complete understanding of the customer is imperative to a business’ success.
Just because a business has an amazing idea for a new service or product, it doesnt necessarily mean that people will be interested or willing to pay for it. Customers hold the key to success and unless they are asked the right questions, success will never be found. What is it that they want? What is it that they need? What pain do they experience that you can lessen?
The key to understanding customers and prospects is in the dialogue a business has with them. A good business will ask them questions, carry out surveys and take their feedback on board.
Failure to differentiate between customers
Unless a business has a single service or product, it will have different groups of people interested in different offerings. And even if it does only have 1 product to sell or only 1 service, chances are that people who buy it are still quite different from one another.
A fitness instructor for instance, technically only offers 1 service. However there are people interested in weight loss, others who need an instructor’s services to help them build muscle mass, a third group interested in getting in shape for a specific event. These are all people who use the instructor’s service, but their needs and preferences vary so the way the instructor communicates with them should be tailored to their specific needs.
This is where segmentation comes into the picture. Segmenting customers into groups according to their needs has a number of advantages. Amongst other things, it can help a business to:
* identify its most and least profitable customers * focus its marketing on the customers who will be most likely to buy its products or services * avoid the markets which will not be profitable * build loyal relationships with customers by developing and offering them the products and services they want * offer more targeted and personalized messages that are likely to deliver better results
A business will think closely about client base and try to separate them in groups. The criteria could be how they use its services, how often they use them, which particular services they are interested in etc.
To find out more about segmentation (and other awesome marketing techniques), check out our Small Business Growth Formula.
Failure to communicate with customers and prospects
Failure to communicate value propositions in clear, concise and compelling fashion is a sure-fire way to bankrupt a business.
Customers can’t do business with an enterprise if they don’t know it’s there. The business must reach out and communicate the benefits of its service. And it’s not just about communication itself either, the mediums chosen and the content of the messages are just as important.
Print media is slowly dying. Radio and TV? Not particularly practical unless you have a huge marketing budget. Those used to be the ways, now social media and internet advertising and the way. Think social, email, mobile, search marketing.
As for the content, well it really boils down to how well a business knows its customers. What do they want to hear about? What do they want to know? What information would be of value to them etc. Content is a huge topic, so head over to our Content Section of InTouch CRM to see how compelling copy can be written, what to write about and what are the most common mistakes people commit with regards to content.
By eliminating these risk factors, a business is well on its way to success without falling victim to the intimidating 80% fail rate of small businesses in their first year of operation.
Do you run a business? What issues did you face that could have cost you your business? How did you resolve them? Id love to get your comments and hear about your experiences.
About the author: Didi Zheleva is the Content and Digital Marketing Executive for InTouch CRM- the leading sales and marketing automation provider for small and medium-sized companies.
Things are hotting up now in the MMWMAP camp! Make Money With My Advertising Pays.
My Myadvertisingpays dashboard is sitting at 765 Active Credit Packs and at my current rate of re-purchase, around 10 plus a day I should be on target to add about 120 Packs (minus around 2 expiring packs a day = 24), therefore about 96 added to my 765. So, all being well I should get to something like 861 Credit Packs. However, I do have a block of 50 due to expire by that time comes. This is not a problem as it will still leave me on or above 800 packs anyway! Happy days ! Again, it starts to get very tempting to start withdrawing money and just sit at 800 packs...but, for now, I will carry on building my account. 1200 by Christmas ?
YouTube has established itself as one of the most popular websites in the world since its introduction in 2005. Ranking in at number 3 according to the Alexa Top 500 Global Sites, YouTube receives millions of unique visitors every single day. People watch a staggering 2 billion videos each day and according to YouTube, 24 hours of video is uploaded to the video website every minute. These statistics are absolutely incredible and YouTube has limitless potential in terms of generating traffic to your website or blog.
YouTube is no longer used by kids who are solely looking to watch a funny cat video or various sports highlights. It now serves as a great resource filled with thousands of hours of informational videos. YouTube not only functions as an amazing way to generate ad revenue from people directly watching your videos, but also as a great way to generate traffic to your blog or website. Here are 5 helpful hints to use when you are looking to use YouTube to drive traffic to your blog or website.
1.) Create a High Quality Video
Possibly the most important step in using YouTube to drive traffic to your blog is to create a great video. You don’t need a high budget to create a great video, rather a plan of action, knowledge on your topic and some sort of video editing software. Examples of different kinds or effective videos are DIY (do it yourself) or top 10 list videos. These will encourage people to not only click on your video, but also watch the video in its entirety. Nothing is worse than having someone click on your video only to exit out after 10 seconds due to boredom.
2.) Link in the Video Description
This one seems pretty obvious, but I see people forget to add their URL in their video description more often than not. If you make a popular video, why miss out on potential targeted traffic by forgetting to add a silly thing like your website’s URL? Make sure you add it to the beginning of the video description as it will be the first thing that stands out to the viewer. Also make sure you include some information on your video and be descriptive. You want to make sure you do this, because the more YouTube knows about your video, the more confidently it can rank it for a specific keyword.
3.) Get Traffic to Your Video
If you spend hours in creating an informational video only to receive no traffic to it, you’ll be pretty disappointed in your efforts. Unless you already have a solid subscriber base, you will need to promote your video in order to get some traffic to it. Just like search engine optimization for a website, you can use the same methods to promote your video. This includes adding good tags and keywords to your video description, posting it to social sites like Facebook/Twitter/Google+/etc, or sending your new video out to a mailing list. You can also post your video, granted it is helpful, to online communities like LinkedIn or Ouora. Getting targeted traffic from online communities will also help your video and ultimately your website rank better on search engines. If you can generate solid traffic to your well-made video and then tell viewers to click on your link to your website, more often than not they will. This leads us to our next tip.
4.) Tell Them to Click Your Link!
What’s the point of creating a video, putting your link in the description and then not taking the time to tell the viewers that you want them to view your website? Put emphasis on the fact that there is a link to your website in the description and you want them to click on it. If you can create a high-quality, informational video that people want to watch, chances are that your website contains a ton more material that the viewer may be looking for. You can also encourage your viewers to like and subscribe to your video and channel so they will be informed when you come out with additional videos in the future.
5.) Put Your Website URL in Your Actual Video
When using simple video editing software, you should always put your websites URL into the actual video if your main goal is to generate traffic. You should remember that often times videos are shared and embedded onto different websites. This means that your link is being shared and viewed all over the internet and not just on YouTube. Maybe add it as a watermark in the corner of the video, so as not to obstruct the viewers view, but so that they know that it is there. This will also help prevent others from stealing your video and taking credit for it.
There you have it. Make sure you apply all 5 ideas from above when using YouTube to generate traffic to your blog. As a teen it can seen overwhelming when trying to get traffic to your blog, yet these simple, yet effective tips can work wonders for you and your website and help you produce more traffic then you have ever received before creating YouTube videos.
This is a relatively new concept where people fund loans for other people, essentially cutting out the bank. I have experimented with this a bit myself without much success, though I have seen reports from other trustworthy people who are showcasing 5%+ returns on their loans.
Ways to Make Money Online by Peer-to-Peer Money Lending
· Community Lend – Similar to Lending Club, but for Canada residents.
· Lending Club – (U.S. Residents Only) Peer to peer lending, which starts in increments $25. I have used lending club myself and frankly have not seen exciting returns (currently around 2%) on account of a few defaults on several loans.
I also feel that in order to properly diversify (spread out over a bunch of different loans) it takes a fair amount of time to research the loans and find the right ones for your strategy.
Of course a lot of finance is conducted primarily online, however, one should approach this with an added degree of caution, since this is one of the few parts of this post where you can actually lose money by attempting it.
In this Ways to Make Money Online by Peer-to-Peer Money Lending, you have learnt:
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Online surveys are the easiest way to make money online. In the online surveys, you have to answer for a set of questions that are related to their products and services. The questions are very simple and you can answer easily.
Online surveys are forms which consist of questions and fields to enter your answer and these answers are stored in the database and statistical software to provide analytics. Many companies are using these online surveys for understanding deeply about their customers taste and their opinions about the particular product.
Ways to Make Money Online on Online Paid Surveys
Types of Online Surveys:
Online surveys are two types. In the first type of online survey, the customers are requested to fill their personal information such as their age, education level, activities etc.
In another type, the customers are requested to fill about their opinions regarding the particular product in order to find that whether their product satisfies the need of the customers or whether it requires some change.
Paid surveys are one of the ways you can earn real money online. So, how does this thing work? Companies worldwide are paying you money for your opinion. Your feedback as a customer is important to them so they can develop products and services that sell. That is the way, they measure customer satisfaction in order to improve their products or services and increase their market share. Thats why they pay for your opinion.
Anyone can take paid surveys and make some money online: retired, students, moms, disabled, unemployed, anyone with a computer and internet connection can really make money online through paid surveys.
Warning about Making Money Online on Paid Surveys:
It must be said that you will not get filthy rich taking paid surveys, so avoid joining sites that promise you. You will earn hundreds and thousands of dollars a day taking surveys, and offering you access to high paying surveys for a onetime fee of let’s say $30, $40, $50 etc. These sites are all probably scams. You should never pay money for joining paid surveys website. There are a lot of legitimate survey sites and all are free to join.
WEBSITES FOR ONLINE SURVEY:
dollarsurvey - provides multiple surveys, paid opinions and make money online for every survey offer you take and payouts are made by the paypal.
myview - provides online surveys.
cashcrate - One of the easiest and most lucrative ways to make money online with cashcrate is to complete the free offers found in the members area.
i-say - provides both the kinds of surveys.
clearvoicesurveys - provides many online surveys.
ipoll - one of the best online survey website.
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Since Ive started to make money with my advertising pays, Ive noticed a lot of comments, positive and negative, in Facebook groups, the MLM, Work from Home, Internet Business ones, etc, etc.
And, although I am no internet marketer, I would like to get some referrals in M.A.P.s to build a bigger team, just as my sponsor "Bill" is doing with myself and others.
But I often see the quote, "No start up fees", followed by comments that you have to work so hard for very little gain. (I dont know by the way, its just what I see).
On the other hand, a lot of people looking for an opportunity to make money, extra money or even "LOADS OF MONEY!", dont seem prepared to pay out any start up costs. They always look for a negative as to why should they pay any money out in case it, "all goes wrong".
On the one hand, that is a fairly valid point.
On the other hand, I Iost £3000 in perfectly legitimate, FSA protected ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts - a UK thing). Also, any business has start up costs, that you may, or may not recoup. This all depends on you, hard work, maybe some luck and the will to see it through.
You cant become a white van man without buying the white van first!
And so it is that in any business there is an element of the, "Speculate to accumulate", approach. This is why My Advertising Pays members see through this and realise you have to make your money work for you. Youre going to have to put something in, to get something out.
And its fair to say that because of this, M.A.P.s members maybe work (I use the term loosley), harder to make sure they get results, even if they are not actively seeking referrals or doing any advertising themselves. There is no such thing as free lunch!
If any of this sounds like common sense and yous like to know more, or get involved
then take action now, however small it is. It may take longer to but youll get there in the end, just the same!
Stefan van der Fluit is a man whose experience in startups and entrepreneurship defies his age. A Dutchman raised in Silicon Valley, Stefan started his first business at just 15- a web design company Nafets Solutions, that he ran alongside his studies. During his 4 years studying Management at The University of Warwick, he continued his entrepreneurial activity with a campus discovery tool, Unibubble.
Having been recognised by the likes of HRH The Duke of York, and now being a TEDx speaker, I caught up with Stefan after his recent talk at The University of Bath, to discuss his latest project- Nuklius- and get his opinion on wider entrepreneurial and business issues.
Your relatively new startup Nuklius is a service aimed towards other budding entrepreneurs. What was your initial vision for Nuklius, and what does it do?
Nuklius is a talent-mapping app connecting people & their skills to projects or startup ideas, within a given network. We help people with ideas find their collaborators and team members; if you haven’t got an idea, we find you projects for you to get involved with which are looking for people with your particular skills.
The initial concept for Nuklius came to me whilst giving a guest talk at Warwick, around my previous startup experiences. The main question asked during the Q&A was where I found my (brilliant) cofounder and close friend, Alex Dobinson. Lots of people there had the issue of having ideas, however none of them had the necessary skill set to act on them. This is when it occurred to me that a big reason why people don’t get involved with startups isn’t because they aren’t motivated, or haven’t got good ideas of their own, etc. Its the very simple fact that, alone, they haven’t got all the skills needed. And this is a very normal problem: no one has all of the skills needed to create a successful startup. If you look at all the fantastic companies now, they all have one thing in common and that is that they were founded by teams.
I fundamentally believe that startups drive true social and economic innovation, so to me, the more people we could help act on their ideas, the better. This was the initial vision for Nuklius - now it has evolved into something a bit larger; we want to become the platform for the future of work, where we see the future to be moving from “I’ve had x amount of jobs” to “I’ve been involved with x amount of projects”. Now knowing what you are an expert in, how can we find you projects for you to work on, whether they are in your organisation you work for or external to it, which match your personal interests and passion. This helps employees create a more motivating and stimulating career for themselves, essentially empowering them to steer their own careers, internally. For the organisation, their benefits include increased talent retention, quicker access to talent which speeds up their innovation processes, cross-departmental collaboration which is key when it comes to innovating, etc.
50% of our time on this planet is spent working. We believe you should enjoy every minute of it and have a say in what it is. Having been an active entrepreneur from such a young age, you must have learnt a lot of lessons about entrepreneurship- which one lesson would you say is the most important, and how did you learn it?
I would say the most important lesson I have learnt is to not be afraid of sharing your idea with others. There seems to be a sense of paranoia amongst many starting entrepreneurs where they believe that their idea is the next big thing, and therefore defacto, is worth millions already. After having been through the ring a couple of times, its safe to say that ideas on their own, are absolutely valueless. It is all about the execution of your ideas.
In order to successfully execute, you need to share your idea, to first of all see if it is something people are looking for - will what you are intending to create resonate with those you are creating it for. This is impossible to do, if you are not willing to open up about your idea.
Other reasons why this is so important:
how will you find a cofounder if you can’t tell them what they will be working on with you
how will you create key partnerships / relationships if you can’t tell them who and what they are partnering with
how will you undergo the crucial customer development process if you can’t talk about what it is you want to create
and the list goes on…
To address the paranoia of “stealing ideas” I wanted to share this anecdote. A professor of mine at Cambridge, Simon Stockley has been in the startup sector for 15+ years, and not once has he seen an idea be stolen. Why? Because there are two types of people in this world. One, those who are too lazy to act, and the second; those who are not lazy and therefore are already working on their own things (and don’t have the time, even if they wanted to, to copy yours).
Ideas are unique to the person they came from; you cannot copy this. I may give you an idea where you can probably make out steps 1,2 and 3 but I, because its my idea see step 1-100. So if you have an idea, the best thing you can do is act on it, get it out there and see if its worth pursuing.
One small addition to this: just because it is your idea, do not expect this to be a valid reason to retain 80+% equity within your startup. Your cofounders are key to the success of your business, so they should feel adequately motivated and have the representative ownership position to validate their risk, etc. Technical cofounders are not ‘resources’ as many business people see them as, they are incredibly talented, creative and hardworking individuals who add just as much value as the sales/marketing/business development cofounder. I guarantee you, that if you consider technical talent to be a resource to “go build this for me” - you won’t get very far. How do you think your childhood in Silicon Valley has influenced your mindset and outlook on business?
Great question and to be honest I think it doesn’t really have to do with where I grew up, rather who raised me (Also I was quite young during my time in the Valley). My parents have always encouraged us as children to not be bound by what we perceive our ‘limitations’ to be, or what others “tell” you are your limitations. This really helped when I decided to found my first company at 15, rather than being told that its daft, or impossible, etc. they simply said, sounds good - go do it.
Since both of my parents have spent their careers in the technology space, all of our dinner conversations were always evolving the latest and greatest within the industry, from this I developed a deep love and respect for technology as I saw first hand how it was created, who was behind its creation, etc.
I must admit, it is a bit surreal growing up in an area where you have so many ‘idols’ in one place. When I was a kid we used to trick or treat in Steve Jobs’ neighbourhood (his wife was the one to open the door and pass the candy), my sister was best friends with one of the daughters of an ORACLE cofounder, so we would regularly spend time with his family, etc. Which companies or individuals inspire you as an entrepreneur, and why?
I have a lot of respect for anyone who takes a concept from nothing and grows it out to something for others to benefit from. Having been involved with this process for a couple of years now, you never can truly realise and respect how tough and challenging this journey is, until you yourself try it as well.
I am very much inspired by companies whom are design driven; design not purely in its aesthetic meaning but also how a product or service gets created, around and for the individual they are targeted for. Good design, with all these elements combined is incredibly difficult and hard to pull off. Apple, Square and IDEO are companies that I take a lot of learnings from as well as their respective founders, Jobs, Dorsey and Kelly and Jony Ive (not an Apple founder, but a lot of their current success lies with his genius).
One entrepreneur I deeply respect and admire is John Mackey, the founder of Whole Foods. Reason being is his deep respect and understanding for the social responsibilities of business (he also coined the phrase conscious capitalism) as this is something which resonates deeply with myself. I think that for a long time, since WW2 the majority of organisations have been focused around maximising profits and seeing this as the primary metric of a successful business (Friedman Doctrine) whereas I think its quite clear that in order to be a successful business you also need to consider social contributions and your responsibilities to the communities in which you operate, your supply chain, employees, etc. Not only is it the right thing to do from a moral perspective; its actually proven to make good business sense too. One of your most popular talks has been the one you gave on the topic of ‘Conscious Entrepreneurs’. Could you summarise what a ‘Conscious Entrepreneur’ is, and why the world needs them?
Great question- and Im glad you enjoyed the talk! To me, a conscious entrepreneur is someone who has a certain perspective of what a business and its purpose is. Rather than seeing it as a profit machine a conscious entrepreneur sees a problem they are passionate about and seeks to address it through setting up a business/venture. The conscious entrepreneurs vehicle of driving change is through a company, as you can have significantly more impact as an organisation than you ever could on your own.
Conscious Entrepreneurs set off to create value, not only for themselves but for everyone involved in their business operation; from their suppliers, to the end user. They see a business with a more holistic perspective and incorporate values and a culture of openness, transparency, do-good, sense of belonging for this working in the organisation, etc.
One key thing to remember is that conscious entrepreneurs are no different than any other business person, meaning they are most definitely in it to make money - however the purpose or meaning of money is perceived as not the end goal, rather a tool to build more value with. According to Fortune Magazine, for every start up that succeeds, there are 9 that fail- what do you think are the most notable differences between a startup that fails and one that succeeds?
There are unfortunately way too many factors involved with the success of a venture (speaking to the right people, timing, the founding team, raising capital, the product, the marketing, etc.) that its not all too easy to pinpoint the main differences - though one thing I have noticed and something you probably hear all the time, is the importance of the founding team.
Having the right people, people who are not only skilled and passionate about what it is they are doing but are also flexible in their ways of working, meaning that they don’t bend at the first sight of setbacks, that they are willing to make changes to their approach if need be, that they are stubborn in the sense that they keep pursuing no matter how many times you are told it won’t work. I’d actually like to stop and focus on this point as this is an important lessons I have recently learnt; there is no universal truth. What I mean by this is that no one in the world can tell you whether you idea is a good or bad one with absolute certainty. Its no one’s place to tell you whether its worth pursuing or not; only you can, the founders. All else is just peoples’ opinion, that’s it (some opinions are backed up by experience, but they stay opinions none the less).
The only way you can find out if something isn’t worth pursuing, is through trial and error. Thats what entrepreneurship is all about. Lots of trial and error. This is why it is so crucial to truly believe in what it is you are doing as otherwise, with all the nay-sayers out there, you will most likely give up. Believe in yourself and what you know, don’t be afraid to call yourself an expert (as honestly, if you work 13-14 hours a day for two years straight in a particular field, you wouldn’t be wrong to do so) and don’t be afraid to kick back and tell people, who might be older and more experienced than you, that they are wrong. It is not uncommon to hear every once in a while that this whole startup movement is just a bubble about to pop (รก la dot com bubble). Do you think the future is bright for startups like yours?
Honestly I do not think about these things. Sure there might be a lot of “first world problem” solutions out there which after a period of time people might turn around and think do we really need this in our life…but as long as you are creating something which solves a true problem, you will always be needed.
This is why our team focusses on building something which addresses a true pain point. As an entrepreneur, always try to be a pain killer rather than a vitamin. Stefans latest startup Nuklius is open for investment for a limited time on Seedrs. Click here to find out more about how you can become a part of his journey.
Continuing from yesterdays post featuring Ton Robbins, speaking about how and why some people say theyre going to to do "something", but never follow through.
It was in the video that I heard the phrase,
"To be skeptical is to be gutless. It takes no guts to be skeptical. You dont have to have any capacity of knowledge to be a critic. It takes GUTS to believe. And if you think someone or something is going to do it for you without you putting your guts on the line, you might as well never even try. Its your fear talking. Fear of being disappointed. Your biggest disappointments will lead to your biggest appointments in your life if you get rid of the fear and believe".
Theres probably more than a hint of truth in that saying. A lot of times when youre trying to show possible new leads, how they can make money with my advertising pays, they often sit on the fence and make excuses.
Despite ALL the results and evidence that clearly proves this could be a life changing moment!
How many sceptics, will gladly throw their money away in the pub, at the bookmakers, on an average fast food/take away meal with the kids?
Or even like myself, (not so) gladly, trust my money to the men in suits to invest my money wisely in stocks, shares and ISAs , only for them to loose it!
Another old saying is, "Its better to have tried and failed, than never tried at all."
One of Britains biggest political victors of 2014 have certainly been UKIP. Farages men have risen from sharing the BNPs status as the nations political laughing stock, to... well, still laughing stock (as any casual viewer of BBCs Mock The Week will certainly have observed), but a party that is now genuinely feared by the Big Three- Camerons Conservatives, Millibands Labour and Cleggs Liberal Democrats. Its difficult to believe, but a recent Observer/Opinium poll suggested that presented with a genuine chance of a UKIP victory in their constituency, 31% of British voters would vote UKIP.
Their spectacular rise in popularity has been no accident- if Farage was a surfer, hed be a darn talented one. He has ridden the massive waves of Euroscepticism, Immigrascepticism, Welfarescepticism, many of the scepticisms you could think about that have grown in the frustrated hearts of many voters not just on the right, but much of the centre also. Oh, and perhaps we have the BBC to thank as well for their rise.
Anyway, back to UKIP policy- perhaps their most significant manifesto promise is the swift exit of Britain from the European Union, the EU.
The EU is both a politically and economically binding union that, according to the organisers itself, "has delivered half a century of peace, stability and prosperity, helped raise living standards, and launched a single European currency, the euro". If the EU could be considered a single economy, which it often is, it would be the largest economy in the world- perhaps unsurprising however when one considers it is an amalgamation of 28 economies.
The Euro currency is perhaps the most prominent factors binding European nations- but it affects the British public little in a direct sense- for Britain is outside of this Eurozone, the union of nations sharing the Euro as its currency. Of course, we have the pound.
But what does directly affect Britain with regards to the EU are unifying policies such as free inter-EU movement of labour, inter-EU tariff-free trade, and the power to implement these measures in itself. Lets discuss these three and see just what UKIP and its supporters see as the problem.
Free Inter-EU Movement of Labour
Ah, well this has been a controversial issue for sure. Immigration has been constantly featured in the news outlets of Britain for the past decade- debates have erupted over whether there should be more, whether there should be less, whether there shouldnt be any at all. Farage and his crew have frequently blasted the unconditional open door to EU immigrants that is enforced upon Britain, like all EU states, by the Union. Article 45 of the EU treaty entitles EU citizens to rights such as that to seek employment in an EU country with no need for a work permit, enjoy equal treatment with nationals in access to employment, working conditions and all other social and tax advantages. It also rules that EU countries must acknowledge an EU citizens qualifications- so if a doctor has achieved his qualifications in Britain, he must be also acknowledged as a doctor if he wants to move to Belgium for example, without having to take further education.
UKIPs line has been very clear on this issue- that immigrants are coming to Britain seeking better pay (Britains minimum wage is nine times that of Bulgarias for example) and standard of living (the NHS, better education, better infrastructure). These are surely natural desires- a father will naturally do his best to provide a better life for his family.
But Farage and co. believe this is bleeding Britain economically. UKIP have frequently criticised immigrants for coming to leech off Britains divisive social welfare system, that can provide residents with benefits such as free healthcare and unemployment allowance. UKIP argue this is draining the economy as EU citizens from Eastern Europe in particular take residence in the UK, and benefit from social welfare without contributing a fair amount to the economy. They are certainly correct that many people have chosen to move to Britain from Eastern Europe- Polish is the most commonly-spoken non-native language in Britain - but whether they are not contributing a fair amount is not so certain. Chef Jamie Oliver, owner of over 30 branches of his Jamies Italian restaurants throughout the UK, claims "if we didn’t have any (European immigrants), all of my restaurants would close tomorrow. There wouldn’t be any Brits to replace them"- he cites the improved work ethic of many immigrants, suggesting strongly that they do contribute a fair amount. Perhaps what he forgot to note was also that many immigrants from Eastern Europe demand lower salaries than their British equivalents- the building industry has been particularly indicative of this- you can see via a quick google search of Polish builders that they are in high demand due to their cheap rates and work ethic.
UKIPs solution? Farage has suggested that he upon victory in an election, he would enforce a five-year ban on immigration- he strangely admits he would even pursue this policy if it would have a negative impact on Britains economy; telling BBC Radio 4s Today programme "If you said to me do you want to see another five million people come to Britain, and if that happened we would all be slightly richer, I would say, do you know what, I would rather we were not slightly richer." He believes this ban would return employment back to the British youth rather than immigrants, and thus boost employment rates among the natives. Hmm, this may perhaps slightly smell of racism.
Farage believes a work permit system should also be enforced, via which checks would be made about a potential immigrants suitability to work in Britain.
Inter-EU Tariff Free Trade
This is an interesting issue because it is one that UKIP have not really vocally opposed- in fact it is seen as the best bit of EU membership, allowing Britain to trade with other countries such as France and Germany without many of the extra trans-national fees that non-EU countries like the USA or Brazil may have to cough up.
This is perhaps where UKIPs proposal to leave the EU falls, however. This free trade agreement benefits British businesses and if we were to leave the Union the tariffs would return- harming not only British businesses wishing to trade outwards but also European businesses looking to invest in Britain, who would similarly be faced by non-EU tariffs.
A solution proposed by some would be the formation of treaties with EU nations to restore free trade, simply on an individual nation basis. However, as well as the time and diplomatic issues this would entail, it may just be impossible. Some EU member states may see Britain as betraying the Union (Angela Merkel has already suggested Britain is doing so within it) and may as a result refuse to sign agreements, resulting in real losses for Britains economy.
EU Legislation
A widespread worry over the European Union is its undemocratic, centralised nature.
What is called the democratic deficit has become frustrating to many EU citizens- a Pew Research poll found the majorities of seven major European countries believe their votes for EU representatives have no effect- including a staggering 81% of Italians. As a result of voter disenchantment at the complex, bureaucratic nature of EU decision making, voter turnout has falling dramatically in recent decades- by almost 20% between 1979 and 2009.
The EU lacks the very democratic values that it has set as a prerequisite for its member nations. According to The Atlantic, the European Parliament is the only one of seven EU institutions that is directly elected by EU citizens- and clearly even that is not satisfying much of the public.
The EU have meddled in national affairs- for example as a result of the recent Eurocrisis they took control of Greeces financial policy (though at the cost of a huge financial bailout), and more recently they have slapped a £1.7 billion bill on Britain for underestimating its economic growth.
Eurosceptics believe leaving the EU would remove the EUs power over Britain in terms of policy and also discipline. They say too many decisions are being made in Brussels (a phrase youll often hear in the EU debate, Brussels being the EUs base city) rather than in Westminster- and they argue more powers would be transferred to the British government, and therefore the British people, who hold the government responsible.
The EU debate will certainly continue to be a major talking point for the forthcoming 2015 UK General Election. The major parties have all promised referendums on EU membership should they come to power, and they have certainly been shaken by UKIPs growth from a protest vote into a potential candidate for power in Downing St- David Cameron and more shockingly Labours Ed Milliband have set immigration at the top of their agendas in search to sway potential UKIP voters towards them. The high-profile defections of two Tory MPs earlier this year to Farages party, and rumours of even Labour MPs following suit show truly how close in policy the political parties in Britain have become.
The next decade is key for Britain- whoever wins the next General Election, membership of the EU will be a primary focus and whether the disenchanted among the public will sway government policy, we shall see.
As a college student constantly looking for ways to make some extra money online I know how difficult it can be to come across scam after scam. You spend countless hours reading about 19 year olds and their success stories in making money online yet you managed to make $0.39 the past 5 days. Trust me, Ive been there done that. What most websites wont tell you is that there is no magic program that allows you to make thousands of dollars with little to no effort. If there was, then the world would be filled with teenage millionaires. The reality of this story is that you probably wont be making thousands of dollars online this week, let alone this year. However, what if I could promise you that there is a way to possibly make upwards of $100 a day, if not more in the next few years? Well I can, and the answer is blogging.
YouTube has established itself as one of the most popular websites in the world since its introduction in 2005. Ranking in at number 3 according to the Alexa Top 500 Global Sites, YouTube receives millions of unique visitors every single day. People watch a staggering 2 billion videos each day and according to YouTube, 24 hours of video is uploaded to the video website every minute. These statistics are absolutely incredible and YouTube has limitless potential in terms of generating traffic to your website or blog.
