Startup Tips Archives - Page 43 of 66

How To Build Your Startup’s Social Media Brand

When it comes to a successfully marketed business, a consistent brand is key. If you don’t have a distinct brand and brand voice that distinguishes you from others around you, you are just another face in the crowd. Social media brand building doesn’t have to be hard if you know what you’re doing, and we’re here to help! Here are some tips to help you with your own social media brand building.

Develop a Brand Voice

In order to implement a strong brand image in your online marketing, it is important to determine the voice that your brand will convey and establish a tone across all of your online channels. This will help others to really get to know your brand and what it stands for. In order to develop a brand voice, you will need to keep several things in mind. First things first- you should consider the qualities and attributes that you want to be associated with your brand as well as words that you would like consumers to associate with your brand. For example, here at Tailwind, some of the qualities that we consider important include ease of use, affordability and specialization. The next thing that you will want to consider is what your goal on social media is. Is it to drive trial? To increase sales? Gain feedback? All of the above? The way you communicate online should reflect your goals, and different goals call for different sorts of communication.

Other items to keep in mind when developing your brand voice include the strengths of your product or service as well as what your followers and customer base already have to say about your offerings. Once you have a complete idea of all these factors, you can develop your brand voice by considering all of these aspects and speaking in a voice that reflects them with consistency.

Be Authentic

Staying true to your brand means being honest about who you are at all times. Do not post anything that would be deceiving or misrepresent your brand just to grow a following or get likes. Post relevant items that your brand truly cares and knows about. This way, people remain clear on what they should associate with your brand and look to you for help with. Anything that does not remain true to your brand will just muddy up others’ ideas of your brand and what value it has to them.

In addition, if your brand has made a mistake that it needs to own up to, don’t be afraid to apologize or right the wrong publicly. This lets your public know that you are conscientious, willing to improve and willing to be transparent with them about all items of interest, and in turn, improves your brand image.

Persistency is Key

A strong brand will remain active on social media over time and stay prevalent on their social media channels to stay on top of their consumers’ minds. It is easy to develop a brand voice, curate content and get really excited about your online presence in the beginning. The more difficult part comes when you realize that you have to actually maintain and upkeep your brand online and constantly put out fresh, new content as well as respond to those interacting with your brand online.

The good news is, if you have a strategy, remaining active online isn’t too hard to manage. Take the time to develop a calendar for content that you would like to post in the future. Schedule Facebook and Google+ posts, tweets, blogs, etc. ahead of time, so that you are not overwhelmed with having to come up with something on the spot. If you are always one step ahead, your brand will maintain an active and ever ready online presence. In addition, set aside a designated time several times a week that is strictly devoted to interacting with your followers and likers, as another aspect of your brand is the amount of attention paid to its consumers.

While social media branding can seem like a complicated and overwhelming experience, it just takes some care and thought. By utilizing these tips, you are on your way to your own strong online branding experience.

This post originally appeared on the Tailwind blog.

4 Principles of High Productivity

productivity In a time of constant movement, constant communication, continual achievement and an ongoing list of to-dos, at the end of the day we feel we’ll never get ahead. It seems like our days are controlling us, rather than us controlling them. This constant busyness can actually take you off course from your high-value goals; hurt your physical, psychological and emotional system; and even damage or destroy relationships. I have been studying some of the top executives, CEOs, authors, and millionaires in the past couple of years and wanted to share a couple thoughts that might help you work at your productive best.

80/20 EVERYTHING

This is called Pareto’s law. It can be summarized as follows: 80 percent of the outputs result from 20 percent of the inputs. Out of 10 tasks and activities you want to accomplish, two of them will produce more results than the other eight combined. This is a proven fact. Sometimes when we get busy we feel we must get more done rather than focusing on the tasks that create bigger results. I’m often challenged to really think intelligently about what 20 percent of my work I can do with absolute focus that will yield huge results.

MOST THINGS DON’T MATTER

I remember Tim Ferriss stating that “most things make no difference.” Being busy is a form of laziness, lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being overwhelmed is often as unproductive as doing nothing, and is far more unpleasant. Being selective and taking more intelligent action is really the path to high productivity. Focus on the important few and ignore or delegate the rest.

DOING SOMETHING UNIMPORTANT WELL DOESN’T MAKE IT ANY MORE IMPORTANT

Activities that are not connected to an outcome or purpose are the drain of all fortune. Understand that what you do is a lot more important than how you do it. Effectiveness is still important, but it is useless unless applied to the right things. There are a handful of things you could be focusing on that will create exceptional outcomes for your goals. It’s easy to get caught in a flood of trivial matters.

The key to not feeling rushed is remembering that lack of time actually means lack of priorities. Take time to stop and re-focus your priorities as often as needed. Intelligent thinking, combined with the right action will get your productivity to a level few attain. Remember what Jim Collins stated in his best seller Good To Great: “If you have more than three priorities, you don’t have any.”

OBEY PARKINSON’S LAW

Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will become of larger importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion. I have personally found high value in deadlines. If I give you 12 hours to complete a project, the time pressure forces you to focus on execution, and you have no choice but to do only the essentials. If I give you a week to complete the same task, it will most likely be six days of validation, excuses, and procrastination and one day of rushed work. If I give you a month, it usually becomes a mental monster. The results of deadlines are always of equal or higher quality due to greater focus.

Identify the few critical tasks that contribute most to income and schedule them with very short and clear deadlines. If you haven’t identified your critical tasks and set aggressive start and end times for their completion, the unimportant becomes important. Even if you know what’s critical, without deadlines that create focus, the minor tasks forced upon you will raise to consume time until another minuscule task jumps in to replace it, leaving you at the end of the day with nothing accomplished.

I spent months jumping from one interruption to the next, feeling run by my business instead of the other way around. Don’t make the same mistake — instead, adopt these four strategies in your life and business today.

A version of this post originally appeared on the author’s blog.

Peter Voogd (of RealVipSuccess) is an entrepreneur dedicating himself to excellence in every area of life so he can better serve others. He strongly believes the more people you help to succeed, the most successful you become. His mission is to inspire 1,000,000 people through his movement, and has a deep understanding of what it takes to inspire, motivate, and train at the highest level.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

5 Quick Ways To Repurpose Your Content

writing

Smart content marketers know great content — whether it be a blog post, infographic or video. Recycle it, repurpose it and reuse it for different channels and mediums.

Why? Simply because you want to maximize the exposure your content gets, thus extending the reach of your brand and effectively, improving your ROI. You’ve already done the research and crafted the story. It often takes minimal effort to turn one of your best blog posts into a neat SlideShare presentation.

Not only is this useful for getting more eyeballs, it’s an easier way to engage different readers, since some prefer text while others enjoy visual content.

Here are five ways to redistribute and repurpose your content:

Microblog It

One of the beauties of excellent content is you don’t necessarily have to keep it in its original form. In fact, you can play around with your content to suit different mediums while still ensuring your message still adds value to readers. Here are two ways you can microblog your existing content:

To start, you can simply tweet out parts of your content that your audience might enjoy most. For example, if you have a list post, tweet some of its best points.
Or, you can chop up the post into its individual tips and turn each tip into a funny picture or gif for a post on Tumblr.

Repost It

There’s no shame in reposting your work onto other sites. Doing so may actually help you reach a lot of new readers who have not yet visited your site before. Here are three ways to you can easily repost your content.

Medium is one place you can easily republish your content. Simply paste your content and add an interesting featured image, and there ya go. Your content is now available to other Medium readers (and if you’re lucky, the editors might recommend it in their weekly newsletter).
Examiner.com is another place you can repost your stuff. Unlike Medium though (which is now open to everyone), you have to apply to become an Examiner. Fortunately, becoming one is easy. Apply here.
Of course, if you manage columns on other websites, you can always review their “contributor guidelines” to see if they’ll accept republished content (but always make sure to disclose that the post originally appeared on your site and link to the original article so everyone knows the content’s source). For example, I am a contributor to The Huffington Post and republish my best articles on my column.

Syndicate Your Blog

One of the easiest ways to get your content seen by more people is by syndicating your blog’s feed with content aggregators. You set it once and then forget it because your posts are automatically delivered to sites that syndicate your feed, and if the post meets contribution requirements, it’ll go live as soon as it is approved. Two noteworthy examples are:

Business 2 Community (which accepts contributors and blog syndication for content that would be relevant for their readers who are business professionals).
Social Media Today (which accepts contributions and blog feeds related to social media).

Visualize It

Some, among us, are visual learners. Therefore, an 800-word blog post with one or two images probably isn’t going to cut it.

Instead, highlight the article’s key points and add several engaging images to turn it into a fun SlideShare presentation.
Better yet, create an awesome video and publish that on either Vimeo orYouTube.
Or turn your content into a shareworthy infographic. If you’re not a designer, but would still love a sweet infographic, start a project on Visual.ly.

Make It Downloadable

Finally, make it downloadable. Convert your content into PDF form with an attractive design and engaging images (oh, and capture some emails while you’re at it). Two ways to make your content downloadable include:

Creating a whitepaper.
Writing an e-book (here’s one we’ve published about related content).

What are other creative ways you are getting your content seen through different channels?

This post originally appeared on the Shareaholic Content Marketing blog.

Danny Wong is the co-founder of Blank Label (and an Inc. 30 under 30 alum), marketer at Shareaholic, and an occasional writer.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

5 Tips For Getting Started In A New Industry

dreamjob Five years ago, my first tech company was acquired. Two years ago, the acquirer IPO’d. As the Chief Strategy Officer, I ended my time at the company with a signatory bell ringing at the NASDAQ. Until that point, my life had moved quite swiftly without much vacation, only letting up to marry my high school sweetheart and raise my son.

After a failed attempt at a vacation, I dove right back into the startup world. I love the energy of startup life. But more importantly, I love the promise of solving a real problem and improving the world in some way. So this time around, I want to build something truly great and enduring – not just a billion-dollar business, but a household brand that delights customers, creates beautiful experiences, and employs an inspired, world-class team who’s in it for the long haul.

When building a company, you want to work for long term, the first decision to make is what market to attack. Opportunity cost is incredibly high, so it’s important — no, critical — to select an industry ripe to support what you want to build. Here are five tips for selecting a market for your startup:

Pick the pursuit of happiness. Attack a problem that you are passionate about solving. When you make the decision to move forward, building a company is a massive commitment and something you live and breathe. Without passion to carry you through the long, lonely nights, you don’t stand a chance.
Don’t reinvent the wheel. There’s no need to focus on inventing a new market. Instead, try looking for an environment where established competitors have shown the space can be monetized and operate in a model that allows new entrants to do things differently, if not better.
Consider social, local and mobile. There are many reasons why a startup should fail. I want the wind at my back, and finding an opportunity where the trends support your efforts helps. Look for macro trends – for us, it was clear that the housing market would rebound, providing more “free” growth as we scaled.
Look for inorganic growth. Organic growth is imperative for almost every startup these days. As a company matures, though, it is important to look at inorganic ways to accelerate growth. A good indication of this is when a market has both fragmented competitors and a fragmented customer base. Consolidation is a great platform to have as an asset.
Maximize your superpowers. Focus on what you are uniquely great at so you can sustain a competitive advantage. For me, I knew I could deploy a business model in topics I know well: providing value to businesses, gaining deep insights through these relationships, and providing an exclusive solution to consumers that solves a big problem. I knew I liked business models that include both businesses and consumers, and models where an opportunity to build a virtuous circle exists (where more businesses provides us with consumers and consumers attract more business customers).

These five steps led us to create Porch, a social home improvement marketplace. It’s a space I’m incredibly passionate about, since it affects every household in the United States and touches the home, where life’s great memories happen. With a few competitors at scale, we are taking an extremely personal, relevant and trusted approach to disrupt the industry. It’s a massive market ($500B in spend) where consolidation opportunities are endless, and has a virtuous cycle of value by nature.

Where will they lead you?

Matt Ehrlichman is the CEO of Porch, where you can get inspired by the best home projects your neighbors have completed, see what any home project will cost, and find the best service professional your neighbors and friends recommend. Previous to Porch, Matt was a founder and CEO of Thriva (acquired by Active Network) and Chief Strategy Officer of Active Network (2011 IPO). Matt lives in Seattle, WA.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

14 Quick Tips For Talking To Reporters

QUESTION: WHAT IS YOUR #1 TIP FOR A NERVOUS ENTREPRENEUR ABOUT TO TALK TO A REPORTER FOR THE FIRST TIME?

LEAVE THE “UMS” AT HOME

“Using “filler words” — ah, um, like, so — will hurt your credibility as an expert in your field. Try to become more aware of the situations in which you use these filler words, and try to replace them with pauses. So many people are uncomfortable with pauses, but used correctly, they make you sound more confident and credible.”

– Justin Beck | Co-Founder and CEO, PerBlue

STAY ON MESSAGE

“Before I started my company, as a business journalist, I regularly interviewed top entrepreneurs and CEOs. To avoid being nervous or providing a bad quote, be sure to create bullets of your talking points and the story you want to tell. “Winging it” leaves far too much room for error. If you don’t have a good answer for a question, don’t feel compelled to answer it. ”

– Antonio Neves | Founder, THINQACTION

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

“Know your business and industry inside and out. Come up with some canned responses for likely questions. Practice saying them so they don’t sound canned. Pretty soon you’ll realize most reporters ask the same things, and you won’t be nervous anymore.”

– Wade Foster | Co-founder and CEO, Zapier

AVOID SARCASM

“Until you are comfortable talking “on the record,” it’s best to avoid sarcasm. You may think the reporter understood what you “really” meant, only to be horrified by what a jerk you sound like when the story comes out. Keep it straightforward until you get a feel for what reporters pick up on and can ensure you can get your meaning across.”

– Matt Peters | Co-Founder & Creative Director, Pandemic Labs

BE DISCIPLINED

“Remember that the reporter is after a story, not trying to tell your narrative the way you think it should be communicated. Be judicious and thoughtful in how you answer questions, and be wary of how things you say might be taken out of context. Stick to your key points, and remember that it’s better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

– Erik Severinghaus | Founder & CEO, Simple Relevance

ADMIT YOUR STAGE FRIGHT

“Most of the time, reporters want an interview to go well — they want great quotes and information for the pieces they’re working on. If they know you’re nervous, they can make things a little easier to ensure they’ll get what they need. You can’t always use this approach — if you’re being interviewed about something the reporter thinks has gone wrong, it won’t fly — but it usually helps.”

– Thursday Bram | Consultant, Hyper Modern Consulting

GENUINELY LIKE THEM

“It’s Psych 101, but if you like someone, they’ll probably like you back. Obviously, this is easier said than done (it depends on the reporter), but if an entrepreneur goes in expecting a battle, it’ll be tough to win the reporter over.”

– Derek Flanzraich | CEO and Founder, Greatist

KNOW YOUR NUMBERS!

“The media loves stats and numbers, so know your industry statistics and trends. However, reporters many times are strapped for time and may have not have done the homework. So if you start off with some strong numbers to support your position, this will reinforce your stance as an industry expert, as well as be impressive and set the tone for the conversation.”

– Marcos Cordero | Chief Gradsaver, GradSave, LLC

SPEAK IN SOUND BITES

“It is easy to stray from your messaging goals when a reporter gets you chatting. A common mistake is to water down great news with other updates. Try to loop conversations back to messaging goals whenever possible so your feature doesn’t become a back story in your own article. You can think of speaking in sound bites: everything printable should still fit your message, even out of context.”

– John Harthorne | Founder and CEO, MassChallenge

JOIN TOASTMASTERS TO PRACTICE YOUR SPEAKING SKILLS

“The more you practice speaking in front of others, the more comfortable you’ll be when it comes time to speak to reporters or other important groups. I highly recommend joining a local Toastmasters club to improve your speaking skills.”

– Allie Siarto | Co-Founder, Director of Insights, Loudpixel

TALK TO SOMEONE

“The biggest trouble inexperienced interviewees tend to have is that they try to answer questions from a reporter as if they are talking to “everyone.” The outcome tends to dilute their answers and leave them sounding insecure, unsure or uncertain. Instead, imagine talking to one reader (even a past version of yourself) who wants to learn about what you have to say.”

– Dave Ursillo | Founder & CEO, The Literati Writers

PRACTICE FOR VCS

“If you’re prepared enough to take questions from a venture capitalist, you’re prepared enough to talk to a reporter. As the interviewee, you can control the interview by knowing the facts about your business and providing the most interesting things to write about. ”

– Matt Wilson | Adventurer in Residence , Under30Experiences

UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY’RE AFTER (IT’S NOT YOU)

“A reporter is not interviewing you to catch you in a “gotcha” moment — he wants to write a story about a topic on which you have expertise that his readership will find interesting. The better the quotes and information he gets from you, the better his story will be.”

– Peter Minton | Founder & President, Minton Law Group, P.C.

BE DIRECT

“Be prepared, prepared, prepared. Know the topics that the interview is going to cover like the back of your hand. Be truthful, professional, direct and interesting and have something meaningful to say. If you accomplish that, you’ll be amazed at the benefits of PR. Being recognized as a leader in your field by the media can easily impact the amount of incoming leads you generate.”

– Jamail Larkins | President & CEO, Ascension Air

How To Get Your Content Shared

Tailwind

What’s one of the best parts about marketing and sharing content online? This content has the potential to go viral, which means you have a chance at some free publicity plus the chance at reaching users that you wouldn’t normally reach.

While that sounds great, it’s a lot easier said than done. You may find yourself wondering why the awesome content you’re creating isn’t getting as many shares as you would have hoped. Obviously, having solid content that is worth sharing is important, but there is more to it than that. We’ve provided a few tips that you can follow in order to get a kick-start on getting your content shared. Keep reading to get the ball rolling!

Draw Them in With Your Visuals

There’s a reason you keep hearing that people are drawn to visual content online. Time after time, it’s been proven that people interact most with posts that include great visuals. So go ahead and add big, high quality photographs, infographics, and other great images to your work. Even if your company isn’t a part of the most visual industry, you can still easily pull quotes from your content to create graphics for users to pin, tweet or share. Just make sure to combine the right amount of text and graphics so that your audience is drawn in, while knowing what the content has in store for them. If something is able to catch your audience’s eyes, they’ll believe that it will catch their friends’ eyes as well.

Encourage Feedback

Any time that you share something, encourage feedback from your fans on what they liked, what they think you could do differently or any other comments they might have. Not only will this encourage more buzz and conversation centered on you and your topic, but also it will make your fans feel like they have helped you and been a part of your thought process, as if they have a stake in your brand. This makes it much more likely that they will want to share the things that you generate in the future with their own audiences.

Volunteer to Write Guest Blogs

A great way to introduce yourself to a new audience, is by creating content for other sites. Reach out to other companies, create alliances and offer to produce a guest blog here and there. This will be a great chance to network with other brands and create connections that can lead to more helping and shares in the future. Plus, as we said earlier, it will get your information out to a broader audience, while providing the potential for even more people to see and share it.

Show Appreciation

So, someone has interacted with your content… your job with them must be done right? Wrong. Marketing online is about more than getting one share or like. It’s about fostering long-term relationships with your audience. One share is great, but developing a relationship with your audience members that compels them to share even more of your content is better. You’d be surprised how far a simple, well thought out comment or thank you goes with someone who has interacted with your brand. It provides them with the incentive to interact more and more. Another great way to show appreciation? Check out their website or profile to see if you can share anything of theirs to return the favor.

Remember, all of these items are important, but don’t ever sacrifice the quality of your work. Whatever information you put out there should be correct, helpful, and consistent with your brand voice. That (along with the tips above) will give your content a great shot at reaching all types of people.

*This post originally appeared on the Tailwind blog.

14 Hot Gifts For Your Co-founder

We don’t demand much in the startup world. Pizza. Coffee. $1 billion exit. Really, we’re very easy to please.

But come Christmas you might want to find a little something special for your ~~ever-present pain-in-the-ass~~. Er, co-founder. I mean, you’ve put them through a lot in the last year. Late night meltdowns, last minute product changes, schizophrenic phone calls that are both wildly jubilant and overwhelmingly depressed. (I know, y’all are feeling a little sorry for Nick right now, aren’t ya?)

Anyway, here are a few things to consider when picking a gift for the people who got you here:

Is it cheap? The exception, of course, is if you just closed a huge funding round. Then it’s time to pony up, cheapskate.
Is it personal? You know these people as well as–or better than?–their spouses do. Generic gifts won’t cut it.
Is it funny? A few laughs will always lighten the mood, and funny gifts will keep giving throughout the year.

Okay, with those guidelines in mind, here are our 12 gift ideas for your co-founders:

1. Coupons–Real, actual coupons or the homemade “good for a bottle of Scotch when we hit it big” variety. Cheap, and you can make them as personal or funny as you like!

2. Startup t-shirts from weBRAND—My personal favorite is here. They have lots of pithy sayings about startup life that will have you all nodding your heads.

3. Access to Vooza—Yeah, this is totally free, but remove the hassle by putting in your co-founder’s email address for them. They’ll thank you, I promise.

4. Everywhere Else Memphis tickets–Sign up for our newsletter to get first dibs on discounted tickets. It’ll be the best thing you do for your startup in 2014.

5. A flask–These vary in price, but they’re easily personalized and made funny. And, what better accessory for ~~spring break~~ SXSW?

6. A good bottle of bourbon–For that flask, y’all. Alternately, you can just have a company party and finish off the bourbon. That’ll make some memories.

7. iTunes gift cards–While gift cards may not seem personal, they can often be the best gifts. If you have some spare cash, throw in a new pair of ear buds so you don’t have to listen to their crappy music anymore.

8. A new whiteboard–This one’s obvious, right?

9. Equity

10. Or a paycheck might be nice.

11. A surprise meeting with Fred Wilson–You’ll be the favorite co-founder for all eternity.

12. Forget your co-founder and give a lavish gift to their significant other. Let’s face it. You kinda owe them, don’t you?

13. Your favorite startup audiobook they’ve been refusing to listen to. It probably won’t come off as passive-aggressive…

14. Therapy–So, this ain’t cheap, but let’s face it. It’s one of those gifts they really need and won’t get for themselves.

The actual gift doesn’t really matter, though. The most important thing this time of year is to let your co-founders know how awesome you think they are and how you couldn’t do this without them. That way, hopefully, they’ll stick around next year, too!

While y’all are at it, can someone please let Nick know he can’t go wrong with jewelry or bourbon? Thanks!

How To Kick Your Email Addiction

Hello. My name is Chris, and I’m an email addict.

Email addiction is taking a serious toll on both our personal lives and work productivity. Long gone are the days of handwritten letters, snail mail and faxes. Why use those outdated practices when you can simply type a message from anywhere and instantly send it to anyone in the world?

The problem starts when we abuse email and it begins to replace other, more personal forms of communication. A co-worker once said to me, “It’s easy to be mean over email.” In order to be effective, email needs to be used correctly. Yes, it’s a phenomenal way to send a non-urgent message, a great use of recapping a meeting or telephone call, and possibly the best method for updating multiple people on a project. But it is very ineffective at conducting a discussion, carrying on a conversation, getting to know someone, or addressing a serious matter.

For many entrepreneurs, email has become a crutch. Below is a five-step program to kick the habit for good:

SAY NO TO THE ‘PUSH’

This is the first and most difficult step. The key here is to remove temptation: You can’t kick the email habit if your phone is constantly alerting you that a new email is waiting to be checked. Go into your settings, click on the ‘Fetch new data’ button, and turn off the push notification. Doing this will put you back in control and allow you to check emails when you want, not when the sender sends them. If you are feeling adventurous, take it one step further and set your fetch data to ‘manual.’ This simple change will give you your personal life back.

DISCONNECT FROM YOUR INBOX

Timothy Ferris of “The 4-Hour Work Week” recommends setting up an autoresponse to incoming emails that announces that you are only checking emails twice a day. I’ve tried this approach, but it only pissed off my colleagues.

Instead of announcing to the world when you will or won’t be checking emails, start more subtly. Just do it. Check and respond to your emails only three times a day. The first thing that I do when I get to my office is download my emails. That sounds like an email addict move, right? But as soon my emails are downloaded, I disconnect from the Internet. This allows me to read and respond to emails without getting an instant reply, which could start an unproductive email conversation. I can then review, reread, and edit emails before I go back online — reducing redundant messages and more importantly, allowing me to delete heated messages that shouldn’t be sent in the first place.

When you actually connect again, you can take 15 or 20 minutes to quickly reply to any time-sensitive emails you received.

PRIORITIZE URGENT MATTERS

Efficiency experts in fields ranging from business to coaching agree that time blocking is a very productive habit. Finish one task before moving to another.

As I mentioned, when I get into the office, I immediately download my emails. I scan those emails for any urgent matters first. If there are urgent emails, I pick up the phone and address those issues immediately. Once that is out of the way, I start working on the day’s top priorities.

By dealing with urgent issues in person or over the phone, you can keep the inefficient email conversations out of your day.

SET EXPECTATIONS

The key is to be consistent and train others to expect it. If you always address major matters in person or over the phone, people will begin to call you with anything urgent instead of using email. They will also start to think through what or when they email you, knowing that you will not respond immediately.

Bonus: You won’t have to worry that you are missing something by not always being connected to the Internet.

DEAL WITH RELAPSE

You will relapse. You will carry on an unproductive email conversation with someone and spend hours glued to your computer screen and email account, and you will become angry with yourself for doing it. This will happen. I guarantee it.

When you do, simply start over and get back into the groove of only connecting to emails three times a day, calling or meeting with people instead of emailing them, and blocking your time, including the time spent on emails.

Rinse and repeat until you get your life — and your productivity — back on track.

Chris Hunter is Co-Founder of Phusion Projects, LLC, a Chicago-based alcoholic beverage company that sells its products (including Four Loko, Island Squeeze and Moskato Life) nationwide. He’s also a father, husband, traveler and triathlete.

5 Predictions For Equity Crowdfunding In 2014

Equity crowdfunding (ECF) will change considerably by the end of 2014. The introduction of Title II of the JOBS Act on September 23, 2013 gave entrepreneurs the ability to publicly advertise their need for funding. Title III is expected to become law in the spring of 2014 and will provide entrepreneurs with a much greater investor pool, as unaccredited investors will then be able to participate in ECF.

Once the JOBS Act is passed in its entirety, ECF will become the predominate method entrepreneurs use to raise capital for their endeavors. With these major shifts in the financial markets, some important occurrences are predicted to emerge throughout the year, with the top five being listed below.

2014 Predictions in Crowdfunding

1) Up to $1 billion in equity transactions will occur worldwide in 2014 based on industry trends from the past two years.

The 2013 crowdfunding report by Massolution stated that around $5.1 billion in transactions occurred globally in 2013. That’s around a 100 percent increase from 2012 when $2.6 billion was raised. The report also stated that $204 million was from ECF. Assuming that the global crowdfunding market will again experience a 100 percent growth rate next year, and regulations will allow for more people to participate in ECF, ECF could produce between $500 million to $1 billion transactions in 2014. This is especially true as more investors realize the potential ROI in ECF.

2) Equity crowdfunding will become a global phenomenon as countries begin to utilize it to maintain their economic competitiveness.

In some countries such as Finland, the United Kingdom, and Italy, ECF is already legal. The United States is also well on its way to legalizing ECF by adopting Title III of the JOBS Act. This law will allow almost any investor to participate in ECF sometime next year. Global participation in ECF will eventually occur as more countries develop laws to deal with the legal matters revolving around ECF.

A new report produced by Richard Schwartz for the World Bank estimates that the annual total market potential of the entire crowdfunding industry would average around $300 billion by 2025. China’s potential could reach $47.6 billion, while Europe and central Asia could reach $13.8 billion.

3) Title III of the JOBS Act will be implemented by the SEC by mid-year in the US, but will be slowly embraced by the industry due to its complexities for platforms and users.

The SEC proposed rules for Title III of the JOBS act on October 23rd. Once approved, it will allow non-accredited investors to participate in equity crowdfunding. Title III will introduce a new crowd to ECF; however, due to regulations and limits on how much an entrepreneur can raise, it will not be used as much as Title II in 2014. For example, it is likely that entrepreneurs who use Title III will only be able to raise $1 million in funding, and crowdfunding platforms will be required to register with the SEC. Title III will eventually be noted as a major milestone for the crowdfunding industry, just not in 2014.

4) In North America, more than half of companies using equity crowdfunding platforms will use the new Title II rule to advertise their need for funding.

Title II of the JOBS Act was introduced earlier this year on September 23, 2013. It lifted the 80-year-old ban on general solicitation, allowing business owners to publicly advertise their need for funding. According to EquityNet’s data, about half of the new companies listed on the site are utilizing Title II to reach a broader audience of investors. More entrepreneurs will likely begin to adopt this rule in 2014.

5) Many ECF platforms will no longer be in operation by the end of 2014.

The market share will eventually gravitate to the leading platforms with the largest populations and most advanced crowdfunding tools. This means that as 2014 progresses, the industry will experience a shakeout. Some sites may have difficulty complying with new regulations. Other sites may decide may wait for regulations to become finalized. Either way, situations like these are challenging for any company operating in the crowdfunding industry. In fact, sites like fimbex and crowddiligence are already no longer in operation. More will follow by the end of 2014.

Judd Hollas is a pioneer in the field of crowdfunding with multiple patents granted for web-based capital marketplace systems. He is the founder and chief inventor of EquityNet and continues to lead the Company’s efforts to create and introduce innovative new products and services.

From Twitter To Kleiner Perkins, Michael Abbott Knows About Culture

*Editor’s Note: This is the final installment of a mini-series featuring talks with Michael Abbott. See the previous posts here and here.

Company culture matters because companies are made up of people, and people are social creatures. The nature of the workspace environment is going to have an indelible impact on how an organization functions. By fostering the right culture you will be able to promote actions and interactions that will be beneficial to your end goals. At the same time you have to be wary of some subtle pitfalls that can cause unexpected problems down the line.

A small number of up and coming industry directors were recently able to sit down and have a chat with Michael Abbott about some of these issues. Abbott is an expert resource on enterprise infrastructure, who is well known for taking Twitter from about 45 engineers up to 200 in two years. The group chatted about company culture, how it evolves, why it is important, and how it should be directed to the benefit of the organization. He noted that company culture is generally set by the time the tenth employee is hired.

That means that it is very important to implement the routines and procedures that you want in place from the very beginning. These will naturally permeate the business as it expands over time. However, he also stressed that company culture can be difficult to maintain through periods of rapid growth and hiring.

An interesting takeaway from the conversation was the idea of heroics. Great feats of dedication, investments of time, and moments of genius may be able to keep a site alive despite underlying issues. The problem is that heroics don’t scale, and you can’t count on them in future situations. It will be easier to scale when a product is built with a solid stable infrastructure that can support dramatic spikes in a company’s popularity.

Company culture is what defines the way a business works. It consists of the social norms of the team you are creating, and thus is a very subtle, but powerful tool for directing the way a startup grows. It is generally defined within the first 10 employees but should be designed to scale as the company grows, with value placed on quality coding and products.

Written by Alaina Percival, Head of Developer Outreach for Riviera Partners, a leading technical recruiting firm in Silicon Valley.

The “Must-Attend Conference for Entrepreneurs” Everywhere Else Tennessee is headed back to Memphis this Spring. We’re releasing the first 50 tickets for 50% off exclusively to our newsletter subscribers on Jan 13th. Don’t miss your shot by signing up here!

Michael Abbott On The Fine Art Of Firing

This is part 2 of a 3 part series on hiring and firing wisdom gleaned from Michael Abbott. Find part 1 here.

Firing people is one of the most difficult things that an employer has to do. You are dealing with real human beings who have families and lives that are going to be affected by the decision that you make. However, it is an unavoidable part of building a successful business and maintaining a team of top quality employees who operate with skill and efficiency.

A small group of up and coming industry directors recently had the pleasure of attending a fireside chat with Michael Abbott, an expert on enterprise infrastructure. Abbott is well known for scaling Twitter’s engineering talent team by a factor of five, to over 200 engineers in two years’ time. They discussed a variety of topics, including some of the pitfalls that can beset companies when it comes time to clean house.

One of the most interesting points that came up was how difficult it is to get rid of employees who are almost good enough to keep their job. If someone never shows up or does generally lousy work then it’s a lot easier to let them go, because the reasons are obvious. The quandary lies in firing people who are doing alright, but aren’t excelling.

The problem that many companies have is that they hold on to employees who are doing moderately well, tying up positions that could be held by super stars. This can be due to a sense of loyalty, or a fear of being unable to replace talent, but it leads to the creation of a B team that can’t work with the kind of efficiency that a company needs to succeed.

The consensus that the group came to is that the process of firing can be just as important as the process of hiring. Of course, these are real people, and you can’t help but have empathy for these team members. However, if they aren’t reaching their full potential in the position then your company and the employee will never reach its full potential, and nobody is doing anyone a service there.

Alaina Percival is Head of Developer Outreach for Riviera Partners, a leading technical recruiting firm in Silicon Valley.

The “Must-Attend Conference for Entrepreneurs” Everywhere Else Tennessee is headed back to Memphis this Spring. We’re releasing the first 50 tickets for 50% off exclusively to our newsletter subscribers on Jan 13th. Don’t miss your shot by signing up here!

Your Year-End Startup Accounting Checklist

accounting-checklist

As we find ourselves hurtling towards the end of the year, there are a number of things you should be staying on top of in order to best manage your company finances and position your startup for greater success in the new year.

Your year-end thought process should take into consideration the following:

Payroll. Make sure that you’re filing all of your forms and making payments. It’s important to make sure you’re in good shape to get your employees their W2 forms on time. Also take into account accrued bonuses or special gifts on the books that may not be paid until next year.
AR collections. You want to be able to close out all outstanding receivables before year-end so do what you can to collect on unpaid bills. Improving your collection process and expediting payments will help you to maintain better control over your cash flow.
GAAP compliance. If your financials are not already GAAP compliant — that is, in line with generally accepted accounting principles — then now is the time to move in that direction. If seeking a funding round or selling your business is on the horizon, you’ll need clean books to satisfy investors and/or acquiring companies.
1099s. It’s best to stay on top of the 1099 process throughout the year. After all, employees are going to claim income whether you get them a 1099 or not, so you might as well save yourself the hassle and get it to them. You should collect W9s along the way, as you go. It’s easier that way rather than waiting until the end of the year to figure out who you need to file for and trying to chase them down before the year’s end. If you find yourself behind the eight ball in terms of 1099s, keep in mind the due dates for filing: 1099s to recipients on or before 1/31/2014 and to IRS on or before 2/28 (or 3/31 if you’re filing electronically).
Reconcile transactions and cash checks. Reissue checks as needed and void as needed. You want to make sure that all of the transactions in your register are reconciled so that you have a clean tax return.
Income tax planning. Now’s the time to start identifying your tax needs, thinking about potential tax savings, and engaging with your tax professional who will help identify ways to minimize your taxes.Starting your estimates now will save you from unwelcome surprises come tax time.
Valuations. End-of-the-year isn’t necessarily the best time for you to get a valuation. If it’s been less than 12 months since your last one and you haven’t had any events to trigger needing a new one, then you can take this off of your to do list. But keep in mind that a 409a valuation refresh is required annually. You’ll also need a valuation if you are trying to value the common stock of your company, planning to issue stock options, have raised a new round of funding, had a material event, or are looking to sell IP from your company to another.
Assess internal controls. Check to see that you have internal controls in place, and that they are working properly. Keep your eyes peeled for weak spots where the potential for fraud or errors runs high.
Cut expenses. Examine your business processes to see if and where you can find any opportunities to cut expenses for savings in the new year.
Big picture thinking. As you reflect back over the past year, it’s nice to take a moment to dig yourself out from under the minutiae of running a business and think big picture. Refine your vision. Map out your next milestones. What have you been doing well? Where does your company need work? Is it time to pivot?

The end of the year is a great time to reflect, to informally audit your startup, and to make plans for next year, which include financial forecasts and budgets. Checking off all of the items on this list will help you to start the new year with clean financials and a good reading on where your company is currently and where it’s heading.

This post originally appeared on the author’s blog.

David Ehrenberg is the founder and CEO of Early Growth Financial Services, an outsourced financial services firm that provides early-stage companies with three platforms of financial support: day-to-day transactional accounting, CFO service, and tax and valuation compliance. He’s a financial expert and startup mentor whose passion is helping businesses focus on what they do best. Follow David @EarlyGrowthFS.

5 Commitments To Make In 2014 Instead Of Resolutions

For business owners, every new year is an opportunity to change. But how many of us actually keep our resolutions when the daily grind catches up to us? This year, I suggest you dump those resolutions — and make commitments to yourself instead.

I read a great article about commitments by Chris Freyteg. My favorite line was, “A resolution may be the act of resolving or deciding on a course of action, but a commitment can be far stronger, because it’s a specific pledge, promise or obligation.” The bottom line: Keep it simple and you’ll actually be able to add it your busy daily life.

Below are my top 5 commitments to myself and my business this year. What will yours be?

Be and stay healthy. Let’s face it — there is only one you and you are needed. Eat clean, exercise often and get plenty of rest. Try to pack healthy snacks and lunches for your busy day. I bring a protein shake along with bananas and carrots to munch on throughout the work day. Make time in your schedule to get out on a run or even a walk during a break from work. Just a 30-minute walk can help relieve stress and tension. After all, a one-hour workout is only 4 percent of our day. In business, we are walking billboards for our company. It’s important that we look and feel good.
Put it on the calendar. Start using a calendar to pencil in your daily, weekly and monthly schedule. Make sure to add personal time as well, including exercise (see: number 1), to your daily regimen. By putting it on the calendar, it is more likely to get done. And prioritize your work day the night before.
Stop worrying. You can only control you — the way you think and act. Be the best person you can be, and forget about what others think and do. Don’t sweat the small stuff. We spend too much time worrying over small issues or other’s people issues that it takes away from time we could have spent on ourselves and on our companies. So your business partner took credit for your idea. Is it really the end of the world? No, it’s not. In the full picture, it matters that the work was accomplished, not whose idea it was. I always ask myself, “In a month, will I remember this? In a year, will I be thinking about this very moment?” It’s fascinating how many times the answer is no.
Connect. Connect. Connect. Make time to network — and I don’t mean social-on-the-computer networking. Nothing beats live face-to-face interaction. It’s important to build long lasting relationships; relationships are the bread and butter of success. The more people you connect with, the more opportunities you have. Start by attending chamber mixers and events — there is an event for everything. You can find events through Meetup.com or through your local chamber of commerce. Ask local business professionals where they go to network and join them.
Continue to grow. Why not stay away from the TV this year and substitute it with a book? We are fortunate to have the luxury of reading books from self-made millionaires and entrepreneurs we admire. They are giving us their tools and resources so we can accomplish what we want. Get started by working on yourself — only YOU can make yourself successful. By learning more about your industry and business skills, you become an expert and continue to grow with new ideas and solutions. You also have more knowledge to use for conversation between clients and diverse people you meet. Growth and development are instrumental to one’s success.

Put in the work — make the commitment — and it will pay, trust me. Don’t be afraid to start with baby steps, either. I have found that true excellence is achieved by doing many, many small things extremely well (and I’m not the first to observe that!). Be a person who does what you say you are going to do. Make a year-round commitment to your health, your relationships, your growth and being a better you — and business success will follow.

Nicole Smartt is the Vice President and co-owner of Star Staffing. She was awarded the Forty Under 40 award, recognizing business leaders under the age of 40. In addition, Nicole co-founded the Petaluma Young Professionals Network, an organization dedicated to helping young professionals strive in the business world. Nicole can be found on twitter; @StaffingqueenN.

Hiring Wisdom From Kleiner Perkins’ Michael Abbott

*Editor’s Note: This is part 1 of a 3 part series on a recent fireside chat with former Twitter head of engineering and current Kleiner Perkins partner Michael Abbott.

Finding and hiring the right people is fundamental to the success of a business. Your employees are the lifeblood of your organization, and their abilities and dispositions are going to shape the way your company lives and grows. The challenge is sifting through the vast sea of talent in order to identify the right person for each position. This can involve a complicated set of value judgments that are not always easy to make.

Riviera Partners recently invited a group of up and coming industry directors to an intimate fireside chat with Michael Abbott about this very subject. Abbott is an expert on rapidly scaling teams for high tech ventures, who was able to take Twitter from just 45 engineers up to 200 in two years’ time. He has a lot of wisdom to share about the hiring process and advice for maintaining a high bar of excellence when forced to deal with rapid growth.

A key takeaway from the talk was that consistency is key. Standardizing the interview process allows you to accurately compare and evaluate the candidate. This might mean having a training program, or guidelines that the people conducting the interviews can follow. A consistent process ensures that the information you are using to evaluate a candidate is scalable, allowing you to make faster and better hiring decisions.

Abbott also discussed how important it is to understand your own career goals when considering a career opportunity. Some people are going to be happier, and more efficient at managing large teams. Others are just better suited to handling smaller, more personal groups. It’s all about finding your niche rather than comparing yourself to others in the field.

It was an enlightening conversation that brought up a lot of questions about the challenges that companies face when dealing with rapid growth and team scaling.

It’s important to get the right people in, but at the same time you have to understand that you will make mistakes along the way. A consistent process undertaken by trained interviewers will help to cut down on these mistakes, and ensure that your company grows the right way.

Alaina Percival is the Head of Developer Outreach for Riviera Partners, a leading technical recruiting firm in Silicon Valley.

The “Must-Attend Conference for Entrepreneurs” Everywhere Else Tennessee is headed back to Memphis this Spring. We’re releasing the first 50 tickets for 50% off exclusively to our newsletter subscribers on Jan 13th. Don’t miss your shot by signing up here!