Better Business Blog

The Power of Helping Someone Else (and you too!)

Wonder what it would be like to go from two clients a year to over $40K a month without buying leads or working yourself to death?

Check this out: 

Debi Berndt, founder of Attract Love Coach.com and author of the best seller Let Love In, did just this…

She went from two clients to over $40K a month (with the same list and the same marketing) just by getting out of her own way and shifting her focus!

Even though she had a background in marketing, Debi was “lucky” enough to be stuck at 100K a year. It was a painful seven years, and she felt powerless to shatter her income ceiling. She decided to take a stand and raise her rates, only to watch her business crumble.

All but TWO clients abandoned her. 

Debi says, “I was ready to give it all up.” 

That’s when Million Dollar Income Acceleration Mentor, David Neagle, showed her how to get her ego out of her own way and “serve her clients.” 

What does “Get Out of Your Own Way” mean? Check out David’s video series More Than enough and find out for yourself.

 

Check out the video by clicking here: 
 

Some of the biggest names in our industry pay David the big bucks to help them break through the five-or-six-figure income ceiling into seven easy figures (and often in as little as twelve months). 

Here’s your chance to get coached by Million Dollar Income Acceleration Mentor David Neagle (for free).

P.S. If you desire more freedom than you have now—more cash flow, more clients, more opportunities— these More Than Enough videos will show you how to open the floodgates of abundance into your life.

Check out the video by clicking here: 

 

Are You Missing This Critical Piece?

Do you ever look sideways at really successful people and think to yourself:  

“I’m as smart as they are. I’m working as hard as they are. I’m doing everything I should be doing. I’m checking every box…and I’m still not getting the results and success I see them enjoying! Why?!?”

You are not alone. 

Master Money Mentor, David Neagle used to wonder that himself. Eventually he realized that 99% of what he “knew” was wrong – and that his current level of thinking and believing was never going to get him the success and abundance he dreamed of. 

Then one day David says he discovered “The Confidence to Be Who I Really Am”, and he embraced the universal principle, “Success is not OUTSIDE of you. Success is an effect of who you are being.” 

David made an excellent video exercise to show you how you can make the same shift he did.

Check out the video by clicking here: 

Not only did David make the shift for himself, he helps his clients and students make them too! One client is Angelique Rewers, the founder of The Corporate Agent. She was trapped in the same mind set. Angelique was most-often the smartest person in the room. But she was suffering from “intelligent with the wrong information.”

Angelique’s business was stuck at 10,000 bucks a month. And she was working really hard to make that money. With David’s help she finally discovered “The Confidence to Be Who She Really Is”. In a few months she went from $10K in thirty days to $10,000 a one-day! 

BUT what does it really take to own who you are?!? 

In David’s video exercise The Confidence to Be Who I Really Am he shows you the same secret principle of the universe that he showed Angelique. 

Check out the video by clicking here:

Announcing David Neagle's Free "More Than Enough" Video Series

For every entrepreneur wanting to ramp up their life and their business.

Enjoy Free access to The Law of Polarity case study and video exercise; video #1 in the four-part prelaunch video series.

This case study and exercise video tells the story of RJon Robins, the founder of HowToManageASmallLawFirm.com, and how he transformed his business from struggling at 7,000 to 10,000 dollars a month to over a million dollars a year.

WATCH THE FREE VIDEO AT: https://lifeisnow.infusionsoft.com/go/mtev/b3biz/

WHY WATCH? This More Than Enough video series is about BEING, DOING, and HAVING so much more than “just enough;” it’s about BEING and HAVING exceptional abundance. 

So often people are just getting by...Or stretching themselves only far enough to just pay their bills, with nothing left over. 

If you desire so much more freedom than you have now—more cash flow, more clients, more opportunities— these More Than Enough videos will show you how to pry open the floodgates of abundance into your life.

PRESENTER: David Neagle, Million Dollar Income Acceleration Mentor. Mentored / Mentoring Suzanne Evans, Baeth Davis, Blue Melnick, Fabienne Fredrickson, Bernadette Doyle, Christine Kloser, and Kendall Summerhawk, among others!

WATCH THE FREE VIDEO AT: https://lifeisnow.infusionsoft.com/go/mtev/b3biz/

 

QS World MBA Tour New York

To become a leader of tomorrow you continuously need to be ahead of the game, be creative, dynamic and innovative. Pursuing an MBA will definitely give you leverage to become a leader of tomorrow.

The QS World MBA Tour brings you over 120 of the world’s top business schools to New York on the February 2nd. This provides a fantastic opportunity to meet face-to-face with admissions officers and get the answers to all of your MBA questions in one day.

NOTE: Please RSVP on the TopMBA site. RSVPing Yes on our event page does not ensure your place at the event.


REGISTER HERE FOR NEW YORK MBA EVENT:
http://goo.gl/BGMGq


CLICK HERE FOR THE SCHEDULE OF THE DAY:

Attending B-Schools Include:

NYU Stern, Cornell, George Washington, London Business School, Cambridge Univ, Boston, Imperial College, Hult, IE, Northeastern, Univ. of Toronto - Rotman, Johns Hopkins Univ and many more...

During this one day event you can:

• Meet face-to-face with admission directors from top international and local B-Schools
• Attend a free GMAT seminar hosted by GMAC, the creators of the exam
• Meet with Ivy League MBA Alumni from Harvard, Stanford and Wharton
• Apply for $1.2M of exclusive MBA scholarships to help finance your MBA
• Get one to one advice on your MBA essay, application and MBA interview
• Executive MBA forum to find out suitable study options for professionals with six or more years of work experience
• Connect 1-2-1 forum to arrange personal interviews with a range of top business schools
• Inspirational Women in Leadership forum

CLICK HERE FOR THE SCHEDULE OF THE DAY:

REGISTER HERE FOR NEW YORK MBA EVENT:
http://goo.gl/BGMGq

We look forward to seeing you at the New York MBA event

 

How To Master Content Marketing in a Month

Do you want to attract a steady stream of new customers?

Are you looking to create better content, but you need fresh ideas?

A lot of marketers are still unclear about what content marketing means.

This article will explore the benefits of content marketing and preview an exciting new opportunity from Social Media Examiner to help take your content marketing to the next level.

Smart Content, Big Rewards: An Example

Today, businesses of all sizes are using content marketing to slay the competition, attract large followings of loyal customers and explode their business’ growth.

But when tiny Magnolia Hi-Fi started using content, the Internet wasn’t even around. Did that stop them? Heck no!

Magnolia used content marketing to grow from a small audio store to an $87 million brand.

Back then, they had just transitioned from a neighborhood greeting card and photography store to an audio specialty store. Competition was fierce and they didn’t even have a marketing plan. So they hired a salesman (who knew a lot about educating prospects with great information) to develop a solid profitable marketing plan.

The plan was to give prospective buyers something to focus on other than price – content.

They created a series of stereo buyer’s guides, which offered educational content that answered prospects’ questions about buying audio equipment. These were distributed as newspaper inserts (remember there was no Internet at the time!).

But the guides were quarterly and Magnolia needed to nurture their audience by keeping the story alive throughout the year. So they invested in weekly distribution channels and different content formats. As resources grew, they scaled content velocity to achieve broader distribution and broadcast frequency.

Within 18 months, the small, out-of-the-way store was joined by a huge store in Seattle’s high-traffic University District, followed by two more stores and finally expanding to Washington, Oregon and California.

In 2000, the father-son business sold to Best Buy for $87 million! Today, there are over 350 Magnolia Home Theater Locations in Best Buy stores throughout the U.S.

Here’s a question for you. You have all the advantages of the Internet, right? What’s stopping you from growing your business?

Content marketing is simply creating and sharing information that solves buyers’ problems or makes their lives easier. The result is that you build a platform that draws in ideal customers, increases your exposure and achieves sales growth for your business.

Content Marketing Use and Adoption Statistics

Want to know how successful B2B marketers are using content marketing?

Here’s some research from Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs with the latest findings:

• 91% of B2B marketers are now using content marketing
• 79% use content marketing for brand awareness, 74% for customer acquisition and 71% for lead generation
• On average, B2B marketers are spending 33% of their marketing budgets on content marketing, which is up from 26% last year
• 54% plan to increase their content marketing spending in 2013
• Large companies use an average of 18 content marketing tactics while small companies use an average of 11 tactics

These numbers demonstrate the huge investment B2B marketers are making in content marketing.

Don’t you think you should invest a little to learn more about content marketing this coming year?

Are you interested in learning how to create awesome blogs, podcasts, video, webinars and other forms of content to keep customers focused on your brand?

Social Media Examiner Announces Content Success Summit 2013

One of the biggest challenges marketers face is not knowing if their tactics are effective (according to Content Marketing Institute).

In response to this challenge, Social Media Examiner is bringing together 22 of the world’s leading content marketing experts to present at the first-annual online Content Success Summit 2013.

It’s an online conference spread over an entire month to meet your busy schedule.

This conference is designed to help you build your own platform, market your products and grow your business.

“Content is what makes social work, and it is at the core of all that we do here at Social Media Examiner,” says Michael Stelzner, CEO and founder of Social Media Examiner. “We have one of the largest business blogs in the world and a successful podcast. This summit is about teaching people how to do exactly what Social Media Examiner has always been doing.”

Why a Content Marketing Summit?

Unlike the early days of Magnolia Hi-Fi, we live in an era where everyone has the opportunity to build any kind of platform they want.

Business owners can develop and use their own platforms to publish great content for marketing the products or services they’re trying to sell.

Content Success Summit is the first virtual conference created to help marketers figure out exactly how to build their platform. By attending this conference you will:

• See how successful content producers operate and how you can achieve similar results
• Learn how to grow a loyal following via blogging, video, podcasting, email marketing and webinars
• Discover how to sell your products and services using content
• Gain a leg up on your competitors, helping you stand out
• Pick up new content marketing strategies that will bring you more exposure

Designed to accommodate your schedule, the conference will be conveniently spread over a four-week period starting February 5, 2013.

You will receive recordings and transcripts of all live sessions. And because it is fully online, you can attend right from your home or office, thus eliminating long-distance travel expenses and hotel bills.

Meet Your Presenters

Our first Content Success Summit features the most experienced leaders in the industry. Many of them have written a book about content marketing or are founders of successful businesses fueled by content. Among them are:

• Joe Pulizzi – founder of Content Marketing Institute and co-author of Get Content Get Customers
• Ann Handley – chief content officer of MarketingProfs and co-author of Content Rules
• Michael Hyatt – chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and author of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
• Michael Stelzner – founder of Social Media Examiner and author of Launch
• Amy Porterfield – co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies
• David Siteman Garland – founder of Rise to the Top and author of Smarter, Faster, Cheaper
• Gini Dietrich – co-author of Marketing in the Round
• Heidi Cohen – president of Riverside Marketing Strategies
• Pat Flynn – founder of Smart Passive Income
• Marcus Sheridan – founder of the popular blog, The Sales Lion
• Mark Schaefer – author of Return on Influence
• And many others!

Is This Summit Right for You?

Perhaps you’ve been focusing a lot on social media, but not much on content marketing. You’re wondering if you could learn something new that might be a game-changer for your business. Ask yourself the following:

• Do I have a content marketing plan for 2013?
• Are there some content tactics that I’m not aware of that could be useful for my business?
• Could I use some advice to build my platform, market my products and grow my business using content?

If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of these questions, then sign up and learn from the leading content marketing authorities in the industry.

Want to Save Money?

If you reserve your spot right now, you will save 50%. Click here for details.

Over to You. Are you interested in learning how to create a content platform that will successfully grow your business? Please share your thoughts and comments in the box below.

Click Here to Read More or Sign Up:

10 Practical Tips for Surviving and Thriving at Tech Events

Tech events can be lots of fun, very interesting and bring great business outcomes. Other times, they can be exhausting, overwhelming and result in negative ROI. Many times we choose to blame the venue, organizer, fellow participants and such, but the truth is that most times the reason for the difference between these two scenarios is in ourselves – the way we prepare and the attitude we bring to the event. Here are some tips to make sure you do make the most out of every tech event you attend. 

10. Wear comfortable sneakers and clothes, even if they're ugly. If you use your time like you’re supposed to, you’ll be standing all day.

9. Carry a portable charger. Even if you won’t need it, you might be able to help out an investor, a journalist or someone else attending the event . “Do you need a charger?” is a winning pick-up line in many cases ;-)

8. Wear something unique so people will easily identify and remember you.

7. Buy a local SIM card with a data plan. Don't count on the conference WiFi. Ever.

6. Don't be the first to arrive or the last to leave. Don't worry, you won't miss anything important and you should use the time for some good rest.

5. Use the time to meet and connect with interesting people. Most stage talks can be viewed online after the event is over, and usually are not the main reason you chose to attend in the first place.

4. Go out at night with the people whom you really want to connect with. This is where the real relationships are built.

3. Reach out to people without hesitation; you might not get a second chance. Like our motto in Bizzabo: Don't be shy - be social! Use Twitter, LinkedIn, Bizzabo or your own interpersonal charm.

2. Remember to follow up, preferably in less than 48 hours, when everything is still fresh in your mind.

1. Enjoy, relax, and project positive energy. It’s addictive! 

Do you have other event tips that create miracles? Do share in the comments – we’d love to hear them. Make sure you join the Bizzabo community on Twitter and Facebook for more events tips and best practices. 

Post by Alon Alroy, Co-Founder & CMO, Bizzabo

Visit Bizzabo Online by Clicking Here: 

 

Quickbooks Tip from QB Training Solutions: Year End Adjustments QuickBooks Make Automatically

 

Blog post by Danielle Hajen

QuickBooks adjusts your income and expense accounts at year-end to zero. Your new fiscal year will start with a zero net income. 

QuickBooks makes an adjusting entry to your net income. Say your profit for the year was $9,000, you will see this balance in the equity section of your Balance Sheet as net income of $9,000. 

QuickBooks increases your Retained Earnings equity account on the first day of the next fiscal year by the previous year's net income ($9,000 in this example) and decreases your net income by the same amount. This way, you start the fiscal year with a net income of zero.

QB TRAINING SOLUTIONS:

QB Training Solutions LLC offers QuickBooks training classes to small businesses and individuals that need to enhance their skills.  These classes are small in size and hands on to make sure you get the most out of it.  We offer a variety of different locations throughout the Tri State area, as well as weekday and weekend courses.  Our mission is to serve small businesses and individuals that are in need of QuickBooks training, and exceed their expectations.  Our attendees leave our classes with the confidence and knowledge of QuickBooks for thier business. 

Visit QB Training Solutions for Quickbooks Seminars 

http://www.QBTrainingSolutions.com

 

 

An Alternative to Raising VC Funding

I graduated from Columbia Business School with a business degree in 2006.  At the time, most of my friends headed south toWall Street to plummy jobs in investment banking and venture capital. And me?  I was launching a start-up.  Given the times, I felt like I wasn’t creating something real if I didn’t raise VC funding. I definitely embarked on a road less travelled by trying to self-fund.

I launched Ivy Exec in 2007, while I was able to bootstrap the company through the first few years, we paid a “price” for our dogged commitment to organic growth.  It was painstakingly slow.  And, survival was a matter of frugality.  The late 2008 market plunge and ensuing financial market disarray changed everything.  Suddenly the F-word —  “F-rugality” — was on everyone’s lips and minds.  Somehow it had become “cool” to be frugal. Respectable.

Read More:

 

 

Quickbooks Tip from QB Training Solutions: Accounts Receivable Payment Incorrect

 

Today's quick from QB Training Solutions help you with:

Accounts Receivable Payment Incorrect

I recorded a payment from a customer through Accounts Recievable but it wasnt for Invoices it was for something else, how do I get it out of AR?

 

1) Go to Receive Payment screen for the payment that is incorrect

2) Uncheck the checkmark next to the statement charge it was applied to (unapply pymt)

3) Click on History and see date of when the Deposit was actually made

4) Go to bank register and find the deposit on that date

5) Open up the Deposit- Find the check that is incorrect- Take notice of total deposit amount

6) Click on the line of the incorrect check and hit edit- Delete Line

7) Click Edit and insert a line (if needed)

8) Enter Account Name for whichever revenue account it should have been and deposit amount

9) The deposit amount should be the same prior to any adjustments

10) Go back to customer center and the payment that is being corrected

11) Edit- Delete Payment

12) As long as deposit amount is the same you should not have to clear the deposit again in the bank rec module

QB Training Solutions LLC offers QuickBooks training classes to small businesses and individuals that need to enhance their skills.  These classes are small in size and hands on to make sure you get the most out of it.  We offer a variety of different locations throughout the Tri State area, as well as weekday and weekend courses.  Our mission is to serve small businesses and individuals that are in need of QuickBooks training, and exceed their expectations.  Our attendees leave our classes with the confidence and knowledge of QuickBooks for thier business. 

Visit QB Training Solutions for Quickbooks Seminars 

http://www.QBTrainingSolutions.com

 

QB Training Solution's QuickBooks Tip: Close Out the Year in QuickBooks

 

By Danielle Hajen

Close Out the Year in QuickBooks

In QuickBooks there is nothing that you have to do in order to "close out" the year.  QuickBooks will automatically post profit and loss to the retained earnings account.  There is one thing that you should do once you are done with the year and your file is either given to your accountant or you file your tax return.  This one step is to set a "closing date".  After the tax return is finished or your accountant has your file, the information for that year should not change.  This closing date will prevent transactions with dates in the year that was closed out.  You will receive a warning that you are trying to create a transaction for a year prior to the closing date.  You will be required to enter a password in order to proceed.  In order to set the "closing date" follow the steps below.

1) Click Edit on the toolbar

2) Select Preferences

3) Choose Accounting

4) Click Company Preferences Tab

5) At the bottom you will see "Set Date/Password"- click on it

6) In Closing Date box enter the date of the year that ended  (Ex.  12/31/10)

7) Enter a Password

8) Confirm Password

9) Click OK

After the closing date is set, QuickBooks will not allow you to enter a transaction prior to this date without entering the password. 

After a tear is closed out there are a few entries that should be done on the first day of the next year. 

 

QB Training Solutions presents a variety of QuickBooks classes in the NY/NJ area.  We have a course for every skill level. Visit their website by clicking here. 

 

Quickbooks Tip From QB Training Solutions: Incorrect Amounts on 1099’s

 

With QuickBooks you have to map accounts to a certain box on the 1099. Once these accounts are mapped QuickBooks looks for the vendors eligible for 1099's that have transactions in these accounts. If you run the 1099 report and see that the amounts are incorrect you can try to troubleshoot and see if there are transactions for these vendors in different accounts that you have not mapped to the 1099 box. However if the amounts are wrong and you just need to enter a certain amount for this 1099 you can follow the following steps. There are also instances when you will just use QuickBooks in order to print 1099's since you did not use the 1099 set up correctly and it will take you longer to try to change vendor's eligibility and map the accounts. These steps can be used for this purpose too.

1) Create 3 new expense accounts: 1099's, 1099 expenses, & 1099 Clearing, make the last 2 accounts sub-accounts of the 1099's account.

2) Map the 1099 box to the 1099 expenses account only.

3) Create a journal entry debiting the 1099 expenses account for the correct amount that should on the 1099, and crediting the 1099 clearing account for the same amount. (This will cause the expenses to net to zero, therefore not affecting the profit & loss statement)

4) The 1099 report will show a total of zero for the vendor, there will be a debit in the 1099 box column and a credit in the uncategorized column, this is OK, the 1099 will print correctly.

If these steps are taken and the amounts are not coming up correct, check the following:

1) Make sure vendor is 1099 eligible

2) Check any other accounts that are mapped to 1099 boxes that might have transactions for this vendor, you might have to adjust the amount of the journal entry by the amount in these other accounts or you can just create a new vendor with 1099 after the name, use this vendor in the journal entry and uncheck the box to make the original vendor eligible for 1099 so it does not show up on the report.

Visit QB Training Solutions for Quickbooks Seminars http://www.QBTrainingSolutions.com

 

US Real Estate Buyers Forum Sydney. June 28, 2012 in CBD (Free)

Upcoming Event Opportunity:

• Buy - Purchase turnkey cash flowing properties in one of four prime US markets - Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, and Arizona.

• Partner - Become a paid sales affiliate of our company. Or joint venture with us on a larger scale development like, an apartment complex, broken strata or condo project.

• Learn - The information presented will be interesting and well articulated. Enhance your knowledge about a much talked about subject.


EVENT DETAILS

WHEN: Thursday, June 28, 2012 at 6:00 PM
WHERE: The Westin, Sydney, 1 Martin Place, Level 6 of Heritage Building, Barnet Room 
COST: Free Event, Drinks will be served
RSVP: http://www.precise-properties.com/ 


PRESENTERS

Gideon Pfeffer is a successful real estate developer and is fortunate to spend his time helping others make money through buying in the distressed US real estate market. He will be holding a small presentation intended for real estate investors, real estate brokers and professionals, and private equity networks this month in Sydney and would like to encourage you to attend.

Gideon will be joined by guest speaker Jon McInnes from Sydney based accounting firm Harvest Accounting, as they explore the benefits of investing in property through Self Managed Super Funds! Whether you are interested in buying property yourself, becoming a paid sales affiliate of our company, or learning about the market opportunities at hand, you are sure to find this forum enlightening and interesting!

TO REGISTER: http://www.precise-properties.com/ 

If you are interested but cannot attend the above sessions, feel free to contact Gideon directly with any questions you may have.
Gideon Pfeffer
(313) 515-5626
Gideon.Pfeffer@preciseassociates.com

 

How Sephora Used Facebook to ‘Thrill’ Its Fan Base

There are a lot of beauty junkies out there, and they’ve taken to social media networks to fuel their obsession. A list of themost-followed Pinterest accounts is dominated by beauty brands, and some of Instagram’s most engaging accountsoffer beauty and fashion tips. There’s a huge market for beauty lovers, and Sephora plans to own it.

The brand has proven itself to be incredibly savvy when it comes to digital and social. Its website redesign in April was a “multi-year project to rebuild the whole shopping experience,” says Julie Bornstein, Sephora’s SVP of digital, and it offered more targeted product search and a smarter shopping experience. Bornstein says the website updates lie at the intersection “where beauty meets intelligence.”

Read More: 

 

US Real Estate Buyers Forum Sydney 2012

US Real Estate Buyers Forum Sydney 2012

Upcoming Opportunities:

• Buy - Purchase turnkey cash flowing properties in one of four prime US markets - Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, and Arizona.
• Partner - Become a paid sales affiliate of our company. Or joint venture with us on a larger scale development like, an apartment complex, broken strata or condo project.
• Learn - The information presented will be interesting and well articulated. Enhance your knowledge about a much talked about subject.
  
  

EVENT DETAILS

WHEN:   Thursday, June 28, 2012 at 6:00 PM
WHERE: The Westin, Sydney, 1 Martin Place, Level 6 of Heritage Building, Barnet Room
COST:    Free Event, Drinks will be served
RSVP:    CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

PRESENTERS

Gideon Pfeffer is a successful real estate developer and is fortunate to spend his time helping others make money through buying in the distressed US real estate market. He will be holding a small presentation intended for real estate investors, real estate brokers and professionals, and private equity networks this month in Sydney and would like to encourage you to attend.

Gideon will be joined by guest speaker Jon McInnes from Sydney based accounting firm Harvest Accounting, as they explore the benefits of investing in property through Self Managed Super Funds! Whether you are interested in buying property yourself, becoming a paid sales affiliate of our company, or learning about the market opportunities at hand, you are sure to find this forum enlightening and interesting!

TO REGISTER VISIT:  https://gk998.infusionsoft.com/app/form/9faa2451ed1ece97af0978b000fcacbd

If you are interested but cannot attend the above sessions, feel free to contact Gideon directly with any questions you may have.

Gideon Pfeffer
(313) 515-5626
Gideon.Pfeffer@preciseassociates.com

The Right Compensation Plan To Ignite A Business

How can you prepare your company to scale? An excellent product and the right initial talent is key. But when those are in place, here’s a novel idea—how about designing a compensation strategy that empowers and motivates everybody in your business to help the company grow?

The structure I’m about to describe has been instrumental in helping my own company, Fishbowl, achieve rapid growth of 70% per year since 2007 with less than a 10% per year addition of staff, even through difficult economic times.

Here’s how it works: every member of the company (and I do mean everyone—from development to marketing; from finance to customer support; from administration to sales) receives compensation that is configured as a base plus commission. And the commission is paid every month.

Read More:

 

The Start-Up Gap

Johnson & Johnson was founded in 1886. 

Walgreens was founded in 1901.

McDonald was founded in 1955.

Walmart was founded in 1962.

Fedex was founded in 1969.

Amazon was founded in 1994.

Google was founded in 1998.

Twitter was founded in 2006.

Now, the big question? Why does that matter? What does a date have to do with anything? Well, my fellow entrepreneurs I want you to take a second and consider the facts below and I will tell you.

Read More

 

How To Make A Splash In A Sea Of Startups: Tips From Chicago's Top Accelerator and VC

Chicago has transformed into a prime hub for digital business thanks to a host of new ventures seeded by the success of Groupon, Orbitz, and Feedburner. As the tech landscape grows more crowded, here's some expert advice on standing out.

Though Chicago has spawned such Internet giants as Groupon and Orbitz, its local business leaders agree that Silicon Valley has a 30-year head start on building the critical mass needed to engender widespread innovation.That doesn’t mean the Windy City isn't a thriving tech center. Troy Henikoff, CEO of Excelerate Labs, says Chicago is building a strong startup cluster, especially for businesses that enable commerce. The challenge for new entrepreneurs now is how to stand out. 

Kevin Willer, CEO of the two-month-old coworking space1871 (the year after the Great Fire, get it?), believes Chicago has all the ingredients needed to take the local tech scene to the next level including several top universities and a group of established corporations that can power the next generation of startups, both as partners and investors.

Read More:

US Real Estate Buyers Forum Sydney 2012

Upcoming Opportunities:

• Buy - Purchase turnkey cash flowing properties in one of four prime US markets - Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, and Arizona.
  
  
• Partner - Become a paid sales affiliate of our company. Or joint venture with us on a larger scale development like, an apartment complex, broken strata or condo project.
  
  
• Learn - The information presented will be interesting and well articulated. Enhance your knowledge about a much talked about subject.
  
  

EVENT DETAILS

WHEN:   Thursday, June 28, 2012 at 6:00 PM

WHERE: The Westin, Sydney, 1 Martin Place, Level 6 of Heritage Building, Barnet Room

COST:    Free Event, Drinks will be served

RSVP:    https://gk998.infusionsoft.com/app/form/9faa2451ed1ece97af0978b000fcacbd

PRESENTERS

Gideon Pfeffer is a successful real estate developer and is fortunate to spend his time helping others make money through buying in the distressed US real estate market. He will be holding a small presentation intended for real estate investors, real estate brokers and professionals, and private equity networks this month in Sydney and would like to encourage you to attend.

Gideon will be joined by guest speaker Jon McInnes from Sydney based accounting firm Harvest Accounting, as they explore the benefits of investing in property through Self Managed Super Funds! Whether you are interested in buying property yourself, becoming a paid sales affiliate of our company, or learning about the market opportunities at hand, you are sure to find this forum enlightening and interesting!

REGISTER FOR THE EVENT AT https://gk998.infusionsoft.com/app/form/9faa2451ed1ece97af0978b000fcacbd  

If you are interested but cannot attend the above sessions, feel free to contact Gideon directly with any questions you may have.

Gideon Pfeffer
(313) 515-5626
Gideon.Pfeffer@preciseassociates.com

 

 

How Big Can a Small Business Be? (And Why It Matters)

There is an age-old debate about what constitutes a small business. Most likely, we think about the question differently depending upon our vantage point in life. I’ve met corporate folks before who think a business with 500 employees or less is small. And I’ve met self-employed massage therapists who think they’re too “small” to be considered a small business.

I’m hot on this topic because I am in the middle of attending the Clinton Global Initiative America conference in Chicago. It is organized by the Clinton Foundation, and there are about 900 folks in attendance trying to come up with commitments to action to address important issues facing our nation.

I’m participating in the small business track along with about 60 colleagues across the country from various non-profit, government, and business entities. All of the participants are passionate about helping small business – but there is no consensus about precisely what a small business is. And that’s a problem: When we hear and read statistics about small businesses and how important they are to the economy, how can we make sense of them?

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How To Close Big Business Deals

You don't climb the biggest hill in your neighborhood the same way you would tackle Mount Everest. Changes in scale require a big shift in tactics.

Let's start with the seven things that make your big sale different than your average size sale:

1. Size: Obvious, sure, but worth the mention. Adding a couple of zeros to the deal can change more than just the sweatiness of your palms.
2. Complexity: The bigger the deal, the more moving parts. Moving from 100 loaves to 100,000 loaves may not change the recipe–but it increases the logistical complexity of getting the bread to the market.

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Ever gone through PayPal reports hell? You will love SlowPal

 

PayPal claims over 100 million active user accounts, but a lot of people hate the company, for a variety of reasons. Love or despise it, it has become hard to ignore and avoid the e-payments juggernaut whether you are an online seller or buyer.

Enter Shoply, which aims to democratize online retailing of goods and services for small businesses worldwide. They hate PayPal too, but they realize that it’s become too big and powerful for them to sidestep the online payments giant.

One particular frustration of the Shoply team with PayPal is its slow and tedious transaction reports system. If you’ve ever used PayPal to peruse though and search for transactions in your account history, you will know that it is prone to crash and is often as slow as molasses in January.

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There's No Need To Hire A Lawyer When These Sites Let You Do It Yourself

Four years ago, Michele Ellson created an online community newspaper,The Island, in Alameda, Calif., under a limited partnership. But she didn't hire an attorney to form the LLC or file the paperwork.

Instead, Ellson turned to LegalZoom, where she spent $552 to gain access to the forms and have attorneys review the paperwork and file it with the state. "I was looking for something easy to use and one where I knew what to pay up front," Ellson says.

Ellson is one of an increasing number of consumers trying their hands at being do-it-yourself lawyers. Last year, Google Ventures poured $18.5 million into Rocket Lawyer, which boasted 70,000 users a day and doubled its revenue for four years running, according to a Forbes report. And LegalZoom, according to its website, has served more than a million customers.

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12 Essential Tools for the Content Marketer

 

One of the questions marketers get asked most often starts like this. “I think I get content marketing, but what kind of content works best?” The short answer is that there are at least twelve types of content you can utilize as part of any content marketing plan.

In this case, the focus is on content that can extend your brand’s reach, beyond your website or blog. There’s no single type that works best for all companies. In fact, diversification and having a portfolio of content you can pull from is key. Here are the twelve types of content to focus on, and how they can be used.

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5 Ways to Build a Solid Email Marketing List

Email marketing is a powerful tool that can extend your reach beyond your website and create new salesopportunities. If you simply sell to customers when they happen to visit your site, you have an all-or-nothing chance of making a sale. Should they leave without making a purchase, there's no guarantee they'll return later.

But when you build an email list of current and potential customers, you can reach out repeatedly to your prospects with targeted messages.

Here are five ways to integrate email marketing into your website and stay in touch with your best prospects:

1. Build an opt-in form on your home page.
Perhaps the easiest and most common way to create a list is to integrate an email opt-in form into your home page. To get attention, place your form "above the fold," so visitors can see it immediately and don't have to scroll down.

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A Company With No Hierarchy Makes More Money Per Employee Than Google, Amazon Or Microsoft

Seattle-based game company Valve was the topic of much discussion on BoingBoing yesterday.  

The 16-year old company has no corporate hierarchy whatsoever, and yet - according to its employee manual - their profitability per employee is "higher than that of Google or Amazon or Microsoft". 

The company's team page proclaims at the top "We've been boss-free since 1996", and then proceeds to list every single employee (a bit over 100) in alphabetical order.  About the founder, Gabe Newell, the manual says, "Of all the people at this company who aren't your boss, Gabe is the MOST not your boss, if you get what we're saying."

How does this madness work?  Leaving alone the claim of incredible profitability, how do they manage to get anything done at all?  Is this not a recipe for corporate disaster? 

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