Start Your Own Online Business- Top Reasons Why You Should
It isn't easy to start an online business. Some people may lie to you and say it is the easiest thing they have ever done, but they are being at best unrealistic. Running an online business is as the name implies, "a business that is online". So there are certain rules you must follow in order to earn cash online (and do it the right way).
Even though there are challenges to running a business online there are benefits to it as well. In my view it is better to start a business online. Below I have listed some of the top reasons I believe this to be true.
The Traditional Way To Get Cash Is Becoming Outdated
There are a lot of people who have great ideas, but can never seem to the get them off of the ground. Many times this is due to lack of resources or the ability to properly fund their business. With the traditional business model there is normally a substantial investment. An internet business does not require this major investment (though there could be a small one).
Using the example of a brick and mortar store an owner must invest in their business only to have their money at times locked in the business itself for years. Many times it takes years for the store owner to recuperate their entire investment. With an online business model you would have less overhead and other means to store your inventory (such as drop shipping or as an affiliate). This means that inventory is not a requirement allowing you to ship product upon demand versus investing in the goods upfront.
Each Industry Dictates It's Threshold To Make Money
Certain industries require you to invest money to make money. Depending upon the industry itself starting small may be out of the question. The reason? In order to compete you must be competitive. To be competitive in the traditional sense may require a significant investment of funds from the beginning. This is not even mentioning physical location(s), staff and security issues.
However, a home based business that exists on the internet can grow as you grow. We all want to grow. With a smaller investment you can leverage your advantage for greater profits. If staff is required, the positions are minimal and physical security becomes one less thing for you to worry about (especially if you are an affiliate or you don't house your products in-house).
The Internet Is Becoming The Standard For Communicating A Business
The day is coming where if you're not online you don't exist. Even traditional brick and mortar organizations are now vying for a presence on the web.
The level of innovation new technologies are providing the entrepreneur online are endless. You are limited by your imagination and ambition.
With the internet you can make as much or as little as you want. This is determined by your willingness and effort to take your business to the next level. Will you press forward the wheel of innovation a success and become the next internet millionaire (or billionaire)? Or maybe you're not as ambitious and are only looking to take care of your needs (and maybe your families too)? An online business can provide you with this ability.
If you are serious about taking the next step and take the quick path to getting your online business off the ground (and making you money), get my new quick start guide here now!
I am serious about my internet business, and thankful for the time you have taken to read this article. If you are serious about beginning an online business then I recommend my Internet Business Quick Start Guide. Get your kit here now.
It is well known that as things stand, the majority of South Africans will not have enough money to sustain their current standard of living in retirement.
Recent increases to value-added tax and the fuel levy, among other things, have worsened the outlook for many.
Retirement savers would do well to avoid fairly common investment mistakes, according to chief executive officer at 10X Investments, Steven Nathan.
Here are the 10 mistakes retirement savers frequently make, and how to avoid them:
Mistake #1: Saving too little
The number one reason most people miss their retirement goal is because they don’t save enough.
“No rocket science here,” says Nathan. “You can’t save like a pauper and then expect to live like a prince in retirement.”
The basics of a successful model for retirement is that people should save 15% of their gross salary throughout their working life (an average of 40 years) and invest in a balanced high equity fund that charges low fees.
Mistake #2: Paying high fees
Fees matter a lot more than most people imagine, says Nathan. In the context of a 6.5% real return (that is after inflation), every 1% paid in fees reduces the return by more than 15%.
If investors are paying 3% in fees the return will be reduced by 45%, which means that more than half of the real annual return is lost to fees.
When the effect of compounding, where you earn a return on your return, is included the negative impact can be devastating.
Nathan urges investors to understand the fees they are paying, and to look for a low-cost provider that charges no more than 1% in total annual fees.
Mistake #3: The wrong asset mix
Choosing an asset mix that mirrors personal risk tolerance, such as conservative or risk averse, but is not appropriate for the investment time horizon can dramatically damage a retirement outcome.
"It is critical to grow your savings at a high rate for the majority of your savings period, which is why you should be invested in a high equity fund," said Nathan.
"A lower growth portfolio would be insufficient in the context of a 40-year savings plan, based on a 15% savings rate."
A life-stage solution, where one can automatically be switched to the appropriate portfolio as the time horizon changes, is a simple and effective solution.
Mistake #4: Investing in an underperforming fund
Nathan said that, when it comes to retirement investing, it is more important to eliminate the downside risk and reach the minimum savings goal than to entertain upside risk in the hope of overshooting the savings goal.
"No one should be gambling with something as important as their retirement savings," says Nathan.
Mistake #5: Emotional switching
Chopping and changing funds or asset classes, especially during periods of market turbulence, often leads to buying high and selling low.
Investors should rather stick to their plan and avoid the temptation to switch or try to time the market.
Mistake #6: Inadequate diversification
If you are over-invested in one asset class or security, you assume concentration risk, the risk that one investment will have a disproportionate impact on your savings outcome. As a retirement investor, you cannot afford the downside risk as it may ruin your pension.
Nathan says: “Remember, it’s about reaching your goal with the lowest possible risk; it is not about speculating your way to a dream existence.”
Savers should invest in various asset classes (equities, bonds, property and cash), each providing exposure to many different underlying securities, held across different currencies (local and international) and regions (for example, developed and emerging countries).
Mistake #7: Saving outside retirement funds
Tax-free deductions and investment returns can potentially increase the value of your retirement savings by up to 30%.
And you score again because your retirement income is almost always taxed at a lower average rate than the marginal tax you saved on your contributions.
Mistake #8: Starting to save too late
Few people in their 20s worry about retirement but, ideally, we should start saving towards retirement from our first pay cheque. We should keep it up throughout our working life (around 40 years on average).
Nathan says it is important to remember that contributions are only one source of your future retirement income. The other is the net investment return you earn on your contributions.
“The sooner you start contributing to your retirement fund, the longer your money has to grow.”
Initially, Nathan adds, the returns add only a little to your total pot, but once compounding (earning a return on your return) kicks in, the growth will pick up and continue building momentum.
“The effect is much like a snowball rolling down a mountain, until the compounded investment return totally overwhelms your contributions.”
Mistake #9: Cashing in savings on changing jobs
Not preserving what has already been saved is a very common mistake in South Africa: up to 80% of fund members have at some point cashed out their savings when they changed jobs.
Not preserving is like starting late: people lose not just the accumulated savings, but the return on those savings for the remainder of the savings term.
The foregone return becomes a big number when a fund is cashed in 30 years ahead of time.
Mistake #10: Underestimating how much money is required
Using a quality retirement calculator (based on accurate inputs and assumptions) provides a good sense of where savers stand relative to their goal, and what they could do to improve their savings outcome.
“When it comes to retirement planning, various factors are beyond your control, such as the macroeconomic environment and stock market performance, which makes it even more important to understand and control the many factors that you can,” says Nathan.
Steven Nathan is the chief executive officer at 10X Investments.
Are you one of the many that tried starting an online business but stopped before generating any sales or income? Every new business will have its own opportunities as well as challenges and difficulties. One of the hardest things to decide for many is actually the very first step, choosing a product(s). This is one reason that many quit before they ever really begin.
There are any number of ways to search for good product ideas within a chosen niche and I'll give several good ones here. Keep those listed here in mind when selecting products to promote. Studying the different avenues for finding great product ideas can be beneficial in helping uncover opportunities to promote and sell online.
1. What do You know - your own experience can give you a strong competitive advantage. Many enter into the online marketing world at an older age, as an encore career, with lots of knowledge from their previous career. One can start a website with career knowledge and promote related or relevant products and do quite well.
2. Research the common problems within your chosen niche and have solutions available, for those seeking the answers. It's great to have as many of the problem solutions as possible in order to be an authority within your niche. Recommend and have available a product(s) to promote, an affiliated item or your own, that will help the seeker out.
3. Follow customer passions - people spend a lot of money on their passions and habits. If you are passionate about something, chances are that there are millions of others with the same passion and will purchase relevant products within that niche. Following your own heart and compassion is one of the best ways to make money online.
When you build a business around your own personal passion and sell products within your niche, you'll have the strength and tenacity to overcome all hurdles and problems during occasional difficult time periods. Staying motivated is essential to online business success.
4. Create your own brand - get a really good understanding of who your potential audience and customers are. Also, understand the process of creating your own brand and where to find the best sources of each product to brand as your own.
Many hot-selling items are made in China and can be re-branded with your own product name. These items can be purchased on sites like Alibaba dotcom for less than half of the cost of purchasing in the US, then shipped to Amazon or another storage facility and sold.
5. Trends - taking advantage at the start of a trend allows you to establish the product and your authority early on and you can really capitalize on the trend. Capitalizing early on a new trend will make you one of the first websites being indexed by the search engines and can help you climb to the top of the rankings quickly.
Each opportunity will require its own mindset and strategy to reach the largest audience and peak sales.
For more info visit Pete @ http://www.newcareerat40.com. If you would like to learn more about making websites and starting an internet business, it would be a great idea to take advantage of an absolutely FREE opportunity to take 10 Free Certification Course Lessons and get 2 Free WordPress websites to create, step by step your own sites. There is No Card Required - Nothing to lose.
According to the IRS there are three categories of income: Active, passive, and portfolio.
Active is what it sounds like. You do income-producing activities that you get income.
Portfolio is also what it sounds like. You invest money into things like stocks, real estate funds, or other investment vehicles and - in the best of times - your investment yields gains, or income.
The sacred cow of network marketing companies and continuity/membership site experts.
The goal of every over-worked, under-earning, praying-for-a-miracle self-employed type.
Passive intimates no work. You, on the beach, cocktail in hand, checking your PayPal account for the sales every few hours. Or, better yet, you, on your couch, in your jammies, binge watching GOT or House. Again.
I googled a ton of content on passive income and although there are some sound possibilities out there - lend money for interest for instance - many take a sound idea and run it right off the rails, like this one that admits you must frontload the work to get to passive: "first you need to haul ass and do something crazy, e.g. write a quality 20,000-word eBook (insane, not passive hahahah)", but here is where it runs wild -"but then you get to sit back and enjoy seeing PayPal sale messages pop up on your iPhone each morning as sale after sale after sale is made... on an ongoing basis and without any additional work. That's some seriously Pina Colada flavored passive goodness!"
There's some seriously delusional-flavored thinking.
Let's look at digital products. You write or create it once, set it up on a landing page, hook up the cart, drive traffic and you are off to the beach to collect your moolah.
A well done e-book or virtual program takes hours of research, writing, producing, formatting, etc. Those hours cost your time, and during those hours you are not making money. But OK, we can all agree, there has to be work on the front end right?
Right, but it doesn't end there.
Now we have marketing. If your landing page is optimized, your copy is killer, and your ads are spot on - something by the way that takes daily monitoring - and your e-book/product/program is targeted to the right audience, you could see recurring revenue from this evergreen type product.
Phew. We've done quite a bit of work so far and there are lots of "ifs" from a marketing perspective. (If your landing page converts because you've got conversion copy and the page is optimized for SEO, and you are targeting an audience that wants what you've got from you, and on and on.)
And marketing doesn't end if you want to keep the sales coming.
What about managing affiliate partners, returns, customer service? Even outsourced, there is still some active participation.
This type of income, as you see, is far from passive but it is leveraged.
Leveraged is good. It's how businesses grow and in our case, entrepreneurs, how we get out of the income-capping trap in the fee-for-service-only model.
I don't want to be Debbie downer, but part of my commitment to my clients and you, my readers, is to bring the truth; shine a light on traps, false gods, and naked emperors.
Am I suggesting not to do an e-book, a virtual program, or a continuity program? NO! (Well, I might in the case of the membership/continuity program, and I'm getting a few experts together to parse the good and bad and who should and shouldn't and when. I'll have details next week here.)
I am suggesting that you examine your attraction to a marketing idea before jumping in. No one idea will "save" a shaky business - sales is the exception here - and one idea that promises to "change everything" in your business is likely to fall short of its promise. What it really requires will only be found in the mice type - that tiny print at the bottom of webpages and print ads that gives you the disclaimer.
Always read the mice type.
And start researching leveraged income streams. Find out what it will really take to set one up and get started. It may not be passive, but it's income that requires less of you one-on-one or one-to-many. And that means more time to work on your portfolio or pina coladas.
Gregory Anne Cox is a free spirited entrepreneur who offers marketing in a fashion without using tired and boring content but a new fresh approach getting away from "Squishy Language" From becoming a freelance writer in NYC, to opening her own restaurant in San Diego, she is also a world renown author. Her most recent publications are "Everything is Food Journal" & "Your Genes Do Not Determine The Size of Your Jeans". Gregory now specializes in Online copy assessment, Done-For-You and Speaker and Engagement Services.
When you sell other people's products online, you don't have to devote time to creating the products, but you get a percentage of the sales that you make. This well established and popular business model is known as affiliate marketing and being a successful affiliate marketer can be very lucrative.
Here are some the key issues to concentrate on when you sell other people's products online.
Find The Right Audience
It's important to determine what type of audience you want to sell products to. By knowing the audience, you'll be able to find the right type of products or services for them. You'll know what their problems are and find a way to offer them products that solve them.
Find The Right Products and Services
Choose who your audience is first, then find products for them. Doing it the opposite way round can include the risk that there isn't an audience for that product in the first place. Once you know your audience, you can choose the right products and services to recommend to them. It's best that you test out the products or services that you plan to recommend. Any product you choose should offer a solution to a problem that your audience has.
Create the Right Type of Content
Knowing your audience, and the products and services that you're going to promote, will help you create the right type of content that attracts your audience to take your recommendations. Always aim to provide value above all else. If your content doesn't make your audience feel like they're getting great value, they're not going to feel motivated to buy from you.
Maintain Your Reputation
When you're marketing and selling other people's products or services, you're putting a lot of trust in the creators of the product. Even if you didn't create the product, if someone buys something on your recommendation that turns out to be rubbish, they'll blame you. That's why you should only promote products that you have bought yourself or that you truly believe in.
Communicate With Your Audience
Communicate regularly with your audience via email, social media, blog posts, video or any other channel where you can reach out. Talk about their problems and the solutions that you know about and why you know they're the right ones. The best thing you can give your audience is a look into who you are. That's what makes you unique and special. Your audience will appreciate getting to know you, and that will make them trust you more.
Companies are happy to pay commissions to people just like you, in return for selling their products and services. You have the potential to make a great income when you choose the right niche, stay committed, and understand your audience. For a no-nonsense, kick-start guide to getting started, download my free checklist, Affiliate Marketing For Beginners at https://jonallo.com/affiliatechecklist
How would you react if I say that you will be able to earn a minimum of $100 a day online? Your immediate reaction would be something like this. "Are you out of your mind?" In fact, there are ways by which you can earn money online. With a little bit of hard work and perseverance, you can touch the magical figure of $100 per day. It is definitely not beyond the reach of a dedicated individual. Let us look at some ways by which you can achieve this objective.
Have you heard the word, Affiliate Marketing? You must have because this has become a very common method of earning money online today.
What is affiliate marketing and what do you do in this type of marketing?
This is a type of a performance-based marketing rewarding its customers for referring other prospective customers to its fold. This is how the system works.
This method of marketing is an overlapping of various types of internet marketing methods. There are four players in this kind of industry. The first category is the merchant or the retailer. The second category is the network through which the affiliates work. This takes care of the payment aspects too. The affiliate is the third link of the chain. He is the one who publishes the advertisements and brings in the customers. The customer forms the final link to the chain.
The affiliates use a variety of methods to market the produce. This is also a type of referral marketing. However, there is a major difference between the two. Affiliate marketing focuses on the financial aspects and motivations. Referral marketing uses the trust and personal relationships as a base to improve the sales.
The affiliate marketer uses all the internet-marketing methods to some degree such as email marketing, search engine marketing, pay per click advertising methods, and even display marketing techniques too. He also relies of product reviews by customers or professional bloggers on the internet.
What are the advantages of affiliate marketing?
We shall look at three simple advantages.
Cost-effective for the merchant because he saves on advertising costs thereby passing on the benefits to the final user.
The affiliate marketer eliminates the entire middle chain and links the customer directly to the merchant. He derives a decent commission out of the sales proceeds.
The customer can get his product at a much lower price than the retail market cost.
Hence, you can see that affiliate marketing provides a great opportunity for the individual to earn extra money online. You have to do the hard work in the initial stages. However, after you set up the chain beautifully, making $100 a day would be very easy. You can have a great team working for you.
This is one of the time-tested methods of earning money online. There are other methods whereby you can earn handsomely, but affiliate marketing ensures a steady stream of income once you are able to establish the chain properly. Of course, you need to maintain excellent rapport with the people in the chain below you.
Trevor Browne is the author of this article on earn money online. Find more information, about earn extra money online.
I came across this wonderful analogy on time while researching for one of my events:
"Think about the airline industry. Their target is to have a full cabin in every flight. They don't really like empty seats. So, the prices are high. And dynamic. As the day of the flight nears, the prices keep on increasing. Good luck to anyone with a tight budget - if they want a seat on a flight at the last moment! It becomes a mad house then, the same seat which would have initially cost you probably 30-40% less.
But once the plane takes off, an empty seat has no value. That's a loss for the airline. There is no way they can get any money for it. However expensive the seat had been, once it's gone, it becomes valueless.
The same can be said about 'time'. A very expensive commodity indeed. While the clock ticks away, it keeps becoming more and more precious. You would kill to save those precious moments right before something has to be done. Do anything to have little more time at your disposal! Unfortunately, you cannot stop the clock.
And once it is gone, it ceases to be expensive. It ceases to be anything!"
There is a very simple thing I like to say,
Time pass = Time Fail
Let me give you some stats. The average person gets 1 interruption every 8 minutes, or approximately 7 an hour, or 50-60 per day. The average interruption takes 5 minutes, totaling about 4 hours or 50% of the average workday. 80% of those interruptions are typically rated as "little value" or "no value" creating approximately 3 hours of wasted time per day.
By taking 1 hour per day for independent study, 7 hours per week, 365 hours in a year, one can learn at the rate of a full-time student. In 3-5 years, the average person can become an expert in the topic of their choice, by spending only one hour per day.
If only we had that one hour we could take out from our crucial time (kept aside to be wasted)
I know it is difficult. The habit of wasting time if hard to beat, especially the blissful joy of doing nothing. And then running around in mindless panic at the 11th hour - that's not much fun though. Here are a few things you could do that have proved to work well for me, if you are looking to managing your time better: 1. Put a price on your time
Yes, make a guesstimate of the cost of your time. You may not make it comparable to some industry stalwart but consider yourself as someone who is fairly successful when you do so.
Depending on how much you earn (or spend, if you are a student) each year, you can count the number of productive days in a year and number of working hours in a day. Get you own hourly rate;)... If you do not know the value of your time, who will? I do this exercise every time I revise my compensation rates for clients.
Once you have that estimate, next time you have the urge to splurge your time on something, you can compare whether it is worth your time or not. The concept of value in marketing is defined as benefits/cost. (Some even consider it as benefits minus cost). Find out your own version of benefits upon cost for your time i.e. time value.
Now, I am not saying that you do everything according to this method. But a lot of your trivial activities could go through this simple test before you decide to undertake them. This will simply give you an idea of how much valuable time you generally waste doing stuff that you need not do really.
2. SWOT Analysis
You must have heard of SWOT right? It's an analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Generally it is done on an organization level vis a vis competitors to understand the road that has been traveled so far and what lies ahead.
But whoever said you couldn't do it for your own self?
SWOT can be helpful in prioritizing your time and to-dos. Between all the elements of your SWOT, I would suggest that you focus on your strengths. Give more time to things you are good at and play to your strengths. This will ensure you enjoy your productive hours more. But it will also help you figure out which of your weaknesses can you spend how much time on, so that you could turn them into your opportunities and subsequently, into your strengths. It is very much doable, should you put your heart on to the pursuit of 'better-ness'.
If you cannot picture a long term situation, don't panic. Take one day at a time. I would say, devote some time each day to your SWOT elements. Some will of high priority and some will be of low. But ensure that you take some time out. As mentioned in the very beginning of the post, merely taking out 1hour everyday can get you to gain expertise in a particular field (condition applied - dedicated one hour). Just find out time first for your priorities.
You will be amazed at how much buffer time will remain each day for you to decide how much of it to spend or trivials and non-essentials. SWOT has always come to my rescue. It will do the same for you - I guarantee! 3. Wake up early
This does not seem like a time management tip but trust me it is. When I started waking up early and tried to get done with 50% of my To-dos even before the rest of the world woke up, it gave me a very beautiful delusion of having more than 24hrs in my day. I had more time for myself, my family, my work - everything. This habit just does wonders.
Most important things get done early on, leaving time for leisure and fun and most importantly - getting more important things done than you had planned! That's a welcome delusion I would say. Here are a few early morning activities that can prime your day.
4. Creating To-Do lists
Creating to-do lists is a classic time management tool. I keep a white board right above my workstation where all the to-dos go. It is the simplest way to tackle your list of never ending works. Keep striking off what got done and keep writing what needs to be done further.
Place it strategically at a position where your eyes keep going from time to time. If you are a more organized person, you can even color code your white board of to-dos. The essence is to make you feel ashamed if the list of struck out items is smaller.
And don't be ashamed of jotting down to-dos. Once you have an exhaustive list, you can do your SWOT and prioritizing too! Find out what's more important and what needs to be done right away.
5. Right here Right now
If it takes 2 minutes to do a thing, do it now. Don't procrastinate even for very small things. It is often the 2 minute tasks, that when piled up - look like an Everest that you have to conquer. It is this pile of 2minute noodles that gets perceived as crisis often. And believe me, a major part of crisis management is dealing with these simple things efficiently. It is not that big a deal. We just turn it into one.
It would also be advisable that you do the things you fear most first. Or abhor. That inertia of having put good effort gets carried forward to the rest of the day (or sitting). You may not succeed initially. But slowly, you will get into the habit of facing your fears and getting things done in time - that's two things nailed!
6. Kill your Distractors
Have you heard of Pareto's principle? The 80-20 rule by Pareto, when applied to time management, says - 80% of your half-hearted time generates only 20% of the results.
And it is no rocket science that your 80% unfocused time is a result of too much distraction. Kill those distractors. Free, high speed internet, YouTube streaming without buffer, endless social media networks and their apps, so many relationship issues to worry about, numerous trivial things to think about, useless people issues to get into - a lot of work, a modern living is!
It is possible to keep these distractions at bay. A little will power is all you need. And what starts as will power, soon becomes a habit. Progressively remove your distractions if you want to reach somewhere in life. Because what doesn't take you towards your goals, takes you away from them!
There are many more ways to manage your time better. But the first step to all of them is - your sheer, infallible determination to make use of these non-renewable, very important resource - in a better, more judicious way.
Remember,
The difference between a Steve Jobs and a normal job is - how one utilizes their 24hrs!
Akash Gautam a Motivational Speaker for Youth & Corporate Events in India. He has more than 16yrs of experience as a Public Speaker, Writer & Career Counsellor. He is known for his comic & sarcastic style as a speaker. He believes that he still is an ardent student of life and learning. He writes regularly on his blog answering questions that his audiences mostly ask. You may know more about him and his work at: http://akashgautam.com/motivational-speakers-in-india/
Have you ever wondered why some people achieve so much more than others?
Our research of high achievers (HAs as we call them), regardless of their chosen field of endeavor, show shared characteristics. Here are 6 of the most important; all of which speak directly to the issue of harvesting time to achieve their dreams.
1. They know what they want.
2. They know why they want it.
3. They have set goals to achieve it.
4. They have a clearly defined plan to get them there.
5. They take action.
6. They commit their time and resources to its accomplishment.
While only a part of the total formula for Time Harvesting these 6 factors are important, contributing elements. In Part 1 we will look at the first element: they know what they want.
Envisioning the outcome.
HAs know exactly what they want. There is no ambiguity about their dream. They are totally focused on the outcome. They can describe it in vivid detail. They're convinced it can and will happen. It's not about "if," it's about "when."
The "what" defines the priorities.
Because the outcome is both crystal clear and expected, there is singleness of purpose. Thus, dedicating time to accomplish the goal becomes top priority understanding that the sooner the plan is executed, the sooner the dream is realized.
Competing priorities.
Unfortunately, like everyone else, HAs don't have the luxury of only dealing with the dream. Life gets in the way and HAs must deal with other issues, as well. But, just like the consistency of the compass needle, after the fires are put out; HAs return to accomplishing the dream.
The lesson.
The lesson is clear. To get the absolute benefit out of every moment of your time you must have a compelling, desired outcome. Otherwise, your time is just dissipated as you wander about aimlessly. Unfortunately, too many people do not have a clearly defined, realistic, defined outcome for their life. That is why they waste so much time and feel unfulfilled.
Remember, if you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there.
Going forward, the compelling question is, "Where will you be, and is that where you really want to be?" What a terrible shame to live an unfulfilling life because you aren't doing what you really want.
The critical issue.
The critical issue is the necessity to define your dream. Take the time to figure that out. You simply must. Then, each day you can devote your time to getting there.
In Part 2, we will look at your "why;" what drives you to accomplish the "what."
Would you, too, as so many other have, like to effectively have a 13th month or more every year to achieve your dreams? Author Jan Schrader shares the secrets of Time Harvesting in the book, The Secret of the Thirteenth Month - Harvesting the Time to Achieve Your Life's Dreams. To learn more, just go to http://www.JanSchrader.com, and discover the power of Time Harvesting.
When you pause and listen, you may be surprised at how much 'chatter' is going on in your head. You're actually conversing with yourself almost constantly. And this isn't just idle chatter.
Indeed, the stories you tell yourself, to a surprising extent, define your reality.
So, when it comes to meaningful conversations, the silent ones you have with yourself may be the most important ones to pay attention to.
And what better time than the start of a New Year to think about that? Maybe it's time to consider telling yourself some new stories.
What you tell yourself is your choice...
Here's a scenario that a client told me about not long ago:
Joan had invited a few of her friends to join her family for their holiday meal. She was really looking forward to it, had cooked up a storm, and had created a centerpiece that she was really proud of. Just before the guests started arriving, her cat jumped up on the table and started tearing the centerpiece apart.
Upset, Joan sprang into action to shoo the cat away. In the process, she knocked over a pitcher of water. It soaked the tablecloth and was starting to puddle on the floor as the doorbell rang.
Telling the story, Joan smiled proudly and said that in that moment she made a really important choice. She decided to laugh as she opened the door to her first guests. And that decision powerfully defined her present reality and had a ripple effect that changed the shape of her day.
What our stories tell us...
So Joan told herself quite a bit with her laughter. She indicated that there was no need to feel ashamed or to panic. Her laughter meant that what had just happened was something she accepted. It became part of the unfolding story of her day and was a source of humor, not horror.
And I'm sure you can imagine how differently this would all have felt had she chosen differently. Picture her face as she opens the door. How does it look if she is furious with the cat or self-critical about knocking over the pitcher?
Choose your stories well.
So, as we move into a new year, I invite you to consider the power of the choices you make. And especially, think about the stories you tell yourself about your life. You can make such a big difference for yourself.
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Procrastination is the number one dream killer ever known to mankind. Many people think that interruptions have something to do with procrastination. This would be the furthest thing from the truth. Procrastination is the action of delaying or postponing something of great importance for something of less importance. Let's face it, we all have procrastinated at one point in our lives. I get it, no one is perfect, but when procrastination begins to have a major impact on your life it may be time to do some soul searching to correct the problem.
So why do people procrastinate? This is a great question. Let's see if we can find out why and find out how to overcome it. First, let's identify the two variations of procrastination. For many years I have been fascinated by people who consistently procrastinate. You know the kind of people I am talking about. People that put everything off. These types of people will be late for their funeral.
In my line of work, I have come to the conclusion that procrastination stems from two areas of the human mind. The first area in question would be the conscious mind. This is the part of the mind that is active when you are awake and aware of what you are doing. The second area would be the unconscious mind. This would be the area of your mind where you are totally unaware of what you are doing. Conscious procrastination is the easiest to identify and also the easiest to negate. Unconscious procrastination is not that easy to recognize due to it having something to do with deep formed mental habits. We have to catch ourselves doing it before we actually know that we are doing.
Putting things off has destroyed so many dreams since the beginning of time. It has also caused more heartache and failure than all other time management issues combined. The procrastinator does not understand that the winds of opportunity blow upon us all, but the procrastinator never seems to notice due to not taking care of the things they should have taken care of.
Now, getting back to why people procrastinate. Why do people allow things that matter most to fall by the waste side to address things of lesser importance? Conceivably it could be due to the task being unpleasant. Some people unquestionably dislike washing their clothes, while other people dislike taking out the trash. Whatever the case, being productive and successful often requires people to get out of their comfort zones. The natural response to unpleasant tasks is to put them off. In short, we let events control us and our productivity. The only way to escape this vicious cycle is to become cognizant of our thoughts and behaviors.
Discipline is the key to negating procrastination. You will want to create urgency by setting deadlines for everything you do. This can be accomplished by setting goals and breaking those goals down into smaller tasks to be completed. You may want to address the unpleasant parts of those tasks first leaving the more enjoyable tasks for last. You may want to turn your tasks into a game, this will turn the drudgery into fun. You will also want to reward yourself for meeting your deadlines no matter how large or small they are.
Another reason we procrastinate would be due to over-committing, pursuing non-obtainable goals, fear of failure, being disorganized, and plain bad timing. The last reason I can come up with would be that we just don't care about if it gets done or not. The bottom line would be, we cannot do anything personally about procrastination until we are cognizant of its' existence.
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The idea of being an "entrepreneur" is the new "rock star" - millions of young people going off the beaten track in order to try and secure a better future for themselves or their families.
Fuelled partly by the Internet and partly by a changing economic landscape, the young of today are more focused on themselves than ever, unwilling to take "menial" jobs at the likes of McDonald's; instead taking on large amounts of student debt in order to secure as lucrative career as possible.
It's in the midst of this tectonic shift (where barriers-to-entry have been eroded massively, and the world opened up for business) that many have placed "entrepreneurship"... the idea of "working for yourself". Unfortunately, it's most a lie.
If you're interested in this type of thing, the first thing you need to realize is that entrepreneurship is a lifestyle, not a vocation. Most people are not "entrepreneurs", they're merchants (buy and sell products).
REAL entrepreneurship is about doing / building something that's NEVER been done before. This might be something simple (a new flavour of soft drink), or something as difficult as getting humanity to Mars. It is NOT about "selling" products for the sake of it.
What many see as a "choice" between a Dystopic future of student debt, mortgages, auto loans and 40+ years of 9-5, is in fact fraught with the utmost danger and risk. The biggest problem is that no one will help you. You're 100% on your own.
In other words, don't become an "entrepreneur"... you have to either be "born" one (which isn't strictly true), or be so utterly determined to see your ideas come to fruition that you're willing to risk your life on making it work.
This is what most people don't see. They see the accolades, cars, success - they don't see what goes on behind the scenes. It's because of this that I wanted to write this article.
Angela Lee Duckworth called it "grit", Elon Musk called it "chewing glass and looking into the abyss of death"... the one thing that anyone looking to bring their ideas to life is survivability - the ability to persist even when everyone else has either quit or been killed.
Every time you look back through history, at the *true* entrepreneurs... the Galileo's of the world; Magellan's; Sir Francis Drakes... we see the same pattern every time. A world-defining event that THEY survived. This was then brought to the market in some form or another, transforming the way that people live and are able to operate.
What most people think of as "entrepreneurship"... starting a "blog", running a "social media" account or some other menial achievement... is nothing worthy of note.
It doesn't *do* anything. It's paper pushing.
To "become" an entrepreneur is very simple.
Shut up and get to work. Most make the error of telling everybody what they're doing. Not only is this a mistake, but kills and chances of actually completing the task you set out to perform. Move in silence.
In terms of what you "do", this is also simple - focus on completing a task that pays you money. Don't worry about changing the world or anything up front, that comes later. Just get your head down and focus on making more money than the other guy, by producing the *best quality work* you can.
Imbue EVERYTHING you do with excellence - reaching to your highest possible potential to pull it off. This is what it takes to become successful.
What's interesting is if you do this, you end up finding opportunities that come out of the blue. They just appear without actually being forced in any way, allowing you to then develop "systems" which can be used to elevate your work to a new level.
It's these systems which end up being the hallmark of an entrepreneur - having the insight to create *new* systems gives you the ability to continue on your upwards spiral. It's also where the "best" entrepreneurs begin to shine - they typically are dogged enough to understand that putting a "system" out into the world is - by far - the most important aspect to achieving growth in life. This is where the "grit" element comes from.
Being an entrepreneur is no easy task by far. You have to wear a lot of hats, especially when your business is just starting out and you are solely taking care of every aspect involved in managing your business.
Mastering the skills necessary to start and maintain a new business can be time-consuming and exhausting. Getting your business started and off the ground can be expensive as well. You want to advertise in every way you can. Selling tools can be costly. I suggest you do your homework before hand and attend workshops and expos so you can obtain as much information as you can so you will know how to market your brand and capture your target customers.
Fortunately there are a lot of educational resources online for those who might not be able to get out as much as they would like to or be able to link up with others to learn about business management and or marketing.
If you want to be the best Entrepreneur you can you need to know certain things when seeking to start and develop a business. You need to know about building websites and blogs, marketing your products, money management, how to attract customers, etc.
Google and YouTube can be informational if you have access to a computer. There are even Podcasts via iTunes that available to help with your research on certain subjects involved with the type of business you are seeking to start and some how to tips.
Think it over for a while and make sure you are ready for the task of becoming an Entrepreneur. It will involve many long days and nights. You will go to bed late and rise up early in the morning with a full plate in front of you in conjunction with managing your business. It is truly a full-time job especially if you are working solo with no one else to delegate certain responsibilities to that would shorten your daily to do list.
Being an Entrepreneur definitely requires patience. There will be highs and lows in your journey to get where you want to be in your business. There will also be some mistakes made along the way but it will teach you what not to do the next time. There will be times of frustration but you can't let quitting be your way to opt out because you can't reach your goals quick enough.
When in business we have to make wise decisions not rushed ones because we are anxious for faster results. Time can be our friend or our worst enemy.
Entrepreneurs seek to master the skills needed to be successful. Patience gives us the ability to work steadfast toward our goals. Let your mindset be one of consistency and perseverance, giving up is not an option. Think positive, crush defeat under your feet.
The life of your business is what you yourself invest into it. You get back results based on your efforts put in building, managing and marketing your brand. Good Customer Service is a must. Mix and mingle with your potential customers, be informational, not too much and not too little. In most cases we market ourselves through social media before we even decide to market something that we are passionate about. This is actually beneficial for you because friends can turn into potential buyers. They are already familiar with your personality which in most cases is a plus when people are choosing who they can do good business with.
Bottom line you have to be content with the pace your business is progressing until it arrives at the pace you desire it to be. When you operate in a non anxious state of mind it is easier to handle your business and it allows you to stay grounded in times of lack as well as times of increase.
Maintaining ones own business will present its challenges. You have to be prepared to encounter obstacles and be able to roll with the punches. You have to be willing as I have said before to stay committed and dedicated and trust in the possibility of a rewarding outcome.
Building a business takes time. Nothing grows to its full potential overnight it takes months of planning and nurturing and often reinventing your brand until it grows into what you want it to be. Remember think things through before making rash decisions which could lead to the decline or demise of your business.
Keep in mind all you have invested and how far you have come before you just give up, you might be closer than you think to a breakthrough in reaching your target audience who want what you are selling. This could lead to more doors opening with bigger and better things waiting for you and your business. Have Faith and continue to work diligently with humility and patience.
Never try to take on too much, plan, take steps at a pace you can handle without stressing yourself out. keep your brand visible so much that it begins to intrigue people to the point where they will keep coming back to get a glimpse of what you are doing and what new things you have to offer.
Think Big, Reach Big, Believe in yourself and keep working to make your dreams or plans a reality.
It may seem like starting young is the best way to build a successful business, today more than ever. After all, when you're young you have nothing to lose and a lot of energy to spend, and since your whole life is ahead of you, you can afford to make mistakes and learn from them. But starting older isn't bad either. In fact, it turns out that for many people, starting at 50+ years is even better than starting young. Yep, you read that correctly.
A Few Illustrious Examples
Some of the world's best-known and most profitable businesses were started by entrepreneurs past 50. Raymond Kroc was 52 and driving around the US selling milkshake machines when he started McDonald's. Pharmacist and physician John Pemberton was 55 when, in an effort to create an alternative to morphine, removed the "French Wine" from his French Wine Coca recipe and founded the famous Cola company. Colonel Harland David Sanders was 65 when he opened a small service station and started working with franchises, establishing what would later become one of the world's best-known brands: KFC.
You could say "that was then, but things have changed." To some extent things have changed, in that it's now easier than ever for anyone to become an entrepreneur and start a business, which is why so many entrepreneurs are starting young. But here are some present-day facts that can inspire anyone past 50 to start a business.
Entrepreneurs over 55 are almost twice as likely to build successful businesses than entrepreneurs aged 20 to 34. This is true even for the highly competitive tech industry, where young entrepreneurs are thought to have a head start because they grew up with the Internet and 21st century technology.
The highest rate of entrepreneurial activity in the United States in the last 10 years was dominated by entrepreneurs aged 55 to 64. There are many reasons for this, including a new approach to retirement that technology and modern life makes possible, strong professional connections, and the ease with each almost anyone can start a business.
Startups that survive are more likely to be led by owners over 45 years of age, according to a 2004 to 2008 study based on 5,000 startups carried out by the Kauffman Ewing Institute. No less than 64% of the surviving startups were headed by older entrepreneurs.
People over 50 years of age have a greater potential to create innovative companies, products, and solutions. This may sound a bit surprising, but innovators do get better with age. Whether you want to create a startup in an industry you've worked in before or start afresh pursuing a passion in a new industry, the experience that comes with being 50+ can be a big advantage.
People over 55 years are more likely to launch a high-growth startup than those under 35. What's more, this doesn't seem to be localized to specific industries, but can be noticed across the board. Older entrepreneurs have the experience, skills, and insight necessary for them to guide their venture to success. They can better manage fears and expectations and have the balance and determinate to persist in spite of obstacles. When 50 Is Just Right
Put together all these interesting findings and the message is simple: age is not only not an obstacle to becoming an entrepreneur, but being 50 or older increases your chances of meeting with success. While this insight won't make the creation of your startup any less easy, nor will it eliminate challenges, it can be a wonderful incentive for you to finally create the business you always wanted to have.
Pamela Wigglesworth CSP, is an International Speaker, entrepreneurship & marketing consultant and Managing Director of Experiential Hands-on Learning. She is the author of The 50-60 Something Start-up Entrepreneur: How to Quickly Start and Run a Successful Small Business.
