What is a profit bidding strategy?

Profit bidding strategy is a type of advertising strategy used in online advertising, particularly in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, where advertisers bid on certain keywords to have their ads displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs) or other advertising platforms. This bidding strategy involves setting a maximum bid amount for each keyword or group of keywords, with the goal of generating the highest possible profit for the advertiser. If you need more information click Profitmetrics.io.

The profit bidding strategy works by taking into account the cost per click (CPC), conversion rate, and profit margin of each keyword or group of keywords. The advertiser calculates the maximum bid amount based on the expected profit per click, which is calculated by subtracting the cost per click from the expected profit margin. The expected profit margin is the profit that the advertiser expects to make from each conversion, or sale, generated by the keyword or group of keywords.
For example, let’s say an advertiser sells a product for $100, and the profit margin is 50% or $50 per sale. If the cost per click for a certain keyword is $1, the expected profit per click would be $49 ($50 profit margin – $1 cost per click). The advertiser can then set a maximum bid amount for that keyword, based on the expected profit per click.
Using a profit bidding strategy can be highly effective for advertisers because it allows them to prioritize high-profit keywords and avoid wasting money on low-profit keywords. By focusing on keywords that are more likely to generate profitable conversions, advertisers can increase their return on investment (ROI) and maximize their advertising budget.

There are several steps involved in implementing a profit bidding strategy:

Determine the profit margin for each product or service that you offer.
Calculate the expected profit per click for each keyword or group of keywords.
Set a maximum bid amount for each keyword or group of keywords, based on the expected profit per click.
Monitor and adjust your bids regularly, based on the actual conversion rate and profitability of each keyword or group of keywords.
Use analytics tools to track your ROI and make data-driven decisions about your bidding strategy.

Profit bidding strategy is an important aspect of online advertising for businesses that want to maximize their profits and return on investment (ROI).

Here are some reasons why a profit bidding strategy is important:

Prioritizes high-profit keywords: By setting maximum bids based on the expected profit per click, the profit bidding strategy allows advertisers to prioritize high-profit keywords and avoid wasting money on low-profit keywords. This can help businesses achieve their advertising goals more efficiently and cost-effectively.

Maximizes ROI: By focusing on high-profit keywords and optimizing bids based on actual conversion rates and profitability, a profit bidding strategy can help businesses maximize their ROI and get the most out of their advertising budget.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a profit bidding strategy is a powerful tool for advertisers who want to maximize their ROI in online advertising. By focusing on high-profit keywords and setting maximum bids based on the expected profit per click, advertisers can increase their profitability and optimize their advertising budget. However, it is important to monitor and adjust your bidding strategy regularly, based on the actual conversion rate and profitability of each keyword or group of keywords. By using data-driven insights and analytics tools, advertisers can make informed decisions and achieve their advertising goals.

A Recommendation List of Excellent Ecommerce Ideas

There is no denying that ecommerce ideas are one of the best methods to make money on the internet. Plenty of individuals have already established their brands and most of them started from absolute zero with no solid funds.

These success stories are a great source of inspiration and it helps a lot when you have real-life examples, not just someone spouting nonsense on the internet without any proper sources or arguments.

It is only natural that more and more people are attracted by the idea of starting a venture of their own. And it does not necessarily have to be something that is a full-time job. You can treat it as a side hustle and still make a decent amount of money.

Of course, before any of that becomes a reality, picking a method is inevitable. It all comes down to how much experience you have and whether something interests you in particular. That is not to say that you cannot try everything, but it is better to stick to something before it starts working. And to help with that, here are some great ideas.

Print on Demand

If you want to make money with print on demand, you do not have to stick to just selling t-shirts. Sure, quite a few stores started with those, but nowadays, other merchandise sells as well.

Hoodies, plates, key chains, calendars, phone cases, and pretty much anything that you can put a print on will sell. And it helps a lot if you offer customers both quality and creativity.

Print on demand project does not require a lot of funds and there is always a choice to work as a middleman rather than worry about keeping the inventory yourself and taking care of shipping and all that jazz. Finally, a lot of ecommerce entrepreneurs believe that print-on-demand is one of the most newbie-friendly methods out there.

Dropshipping

Dropshipping is more or less a synonym when it comes to ecommerce and most people definitely associate the two together.

Starting cost is similar to print-on-demand as all you need is a website and a domain name. The tricky part will be finding the right product as it is pretty competitive in virtually every niche out there. And you will want something that is evergreen and not seasonal, like ice skates or beach umbrellas.

Nevertheless, thinking about this thing is more or less useless as it will only prevent you from actually doing the work. When you have a website and something picked, look to break out and make your first sale. Once you are there, it will be that much easier and a sudden breath of motivation will help you move forward.

Online Education

Not that many individuals are completely satisfied with their education. Thankfully, there are platforms like Skillshare and Udemy that offer online courses. There are other places as well, like YouTube with its vast amount of videos.

Selling such services is obviously not for everyone, but if you have experience on a certain subject or two and would like to share it with the rest of the world, then, by all means, go for it. And the more you work on this, the higher your reputation will grow, and it will be much easier to make money.

Affiliate Marketing

Despite some claims that affiliate marketing is a dying method, there are still plenty of those who rely on it as a sole source of income. And these days, you do not have to rely on Amazon or ClickBank. Even those who have an interest in a very specific niche can find a program to sign up with.

Sure, you will have to work on stuff like search engine optimization and targeting a specific type of audience that would actually be interested in your product or service, but the whole thing can be a lot of fun and you get to learn a lot of neat things while you are at it.

Digital Goods

Courses are not the only things you can sell. No, there is a market for stuff like photography, graphic design, ebooks, music, and so on. It takes a while before everything starts to pick up but that is not a reason to give up before actually giving it a go.

Those who have a talent for such things will always be able to make money as there is a high demand for quality digital goods.

Flipping

Purchasing some stuff and reselling it for profit is not a unique method by any means, but it is still something that can work in your favor, especially if you are knowledgeable about a particular subject, like used car parts or computer hardware. A good place to start would be eBay.

Change and Adaptability Must Be Managed

Maximize diversity

Ziba, a top innovation-consulting firm in Portland, has an “Ambassador Program,” which allows employees to spend three months working in other disciplines, known as “tribes.” During that time, the ambassador team member participates as part of those teams. This helps to create an understanding of another world. That diversity of thought and perspective, in turn, fuels connection and adaptability. It also translates to better business results.

Diversity in all its shapes, colors, and flavors helps build a culture of change. Diversity of people and thought; diversity of work experiences, religions, nationalities, hobbies, political beliefs, races, sexual preferences, ages, musical tastes, and even favorite sports teams. The more diversity the better.

Start small

ITW is a diversified manufacturing company that produces a wide array of products from industrial packaging to power systems and electronics to food equipment to construction products. It is a highly profitable company nearly 100 years old. Yet this big, old company, which is nestled in a traditional industry, thinks small.

The leaders at ITW believe that being nimble, hungry, and entrepreneurial are the ingredients for business success. As a result, any time a business unit reaches $200 million in revenue, the division “mutates” into two $100 million units. Like an amoeba, the unit subdivides so it stays hungry and nimble. The company would rather have 10 independently run and innovative $100 million units than a single, bureaucratic, and clunky $1 billion unit. Guess what? It’s a great environment of change and adaptation.

Companies that can stay more curious and nimble, have a better ability to change and adapt more easily. They have a stronger sense of urgency and are not afraid to embrace change. They put their curiosity, imagination, and creativity to work

Foster risk-taking

Zappos as a company is known as much for its culture as for its innovative business model. The company has built a business that is growing rapidly by allowing individuals the freedom to take creative risks without that overwhelming sense of fear or judgment. They tell their employees to say what they think, even if it is controversial. Make tough decisions without agonizing excessively. Take smart risks. Question actions inconsistent with our values.

Another interesting example: A software company in Boston gives each team member two “corporate get-out-of-jail-free” cards each year. The cards allow the holder to take risks and suffer no repercussions for mistakes associated with them. At annual reviews, leaders question their team members if the cards are not used. It is a great way to encourage risk-taking and experimentation. Think this company comes up with amazing ideas? Absolutely.

Readily accept mistakes and failure

There is no success without failure. Ask any successful person and they will confirm that they have failed in life but that their failures made them stronger and even more determined to go on. It is perfectly OK to fail as long as we learn from our own mistakes. Your employees should not fear failure because it will kill their desire to create new and unusual ideas.

In many companies, people are so afraid of making mistakes that they don’t pursue their dreams. They simply follow the rules and keep their heads down, which drives nothing but mediocrity.

James Dyson, the inventor of the Dyson Vacuum cleaner, “failed” at more than 5,100 prototypes before getting it just right. In fact, nearly every breakthrough innovation in history came after countless setbacks, mistakes, and “failures.” The great innovators and achievers weren’t necessarily smarter or inherently more talented. They simply released their fear of failure and kept trying. They didn’t let setbacks or misfires extinguish their curiosity, imagination, and ability to change.

Failing means taking risks and increasing the rate of experimentation… and exploring. Some bets will pay off; some will fail. The key is to fail quickly. The speed of business has increased dramatically and every minute counts. The best businesses try lots of ideas and let the losers go quickly and with no remorse.

The Best Companies Don’t Adapt, Rather Prepare

In 1960, Harvard professor Theodore Levitt published a landmark paper in Harvard Business Review that urged executives to adapt by asking themselves, “What business are we really in?” He offered both the railroad companies and Hollywood studios as examples of industries that don’t adapt because they defined their business incorrectly.

Yet today, the railroads don’t seem to be doing too badly. Union Pacific, the leading railroad company has a market capitalization of over $80 billion, about 60% more than Ford or GM. Disney, the leading movie studio company, has a market capitalization of about $150 billion. That doesn’t seem too shabby either.

While nimble startups chasing the next trend are exciting, the truth is that companies rarely succeed by adapting to market events. Rather, successful firms prevail by shaping the future. That can’t be done through agility alone, but takes years of preparation to achieve. The truth is that once you find yourself in a position where you need to adapt, it’s usually too late.

How Microsoft Missed Mobile And Won The Cloud

Consider the case of Microsoft, which failed horribly to adapt to mobile computing. In fact, when the iPhone came out, CEO Steve Ballmer dismissed it, saying, “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.” Other attempts to adapt to Apple’s innovations, such as the Zune music player, didn’t gain traction either.

You would think that by so totally misreading the market Microsoft would be near bankruptcy, but actually, the opposite happened. Over the past 10 years, the company has grown revenues at an impressive annual rate of about 10% and maintains margins of nearly 30%. Those are strong numbers.

Take a look at Microsoft’s cloud business and you’ll understand why. The company recently reported that it’s growing at an annual rate of over 100%. This, however, is not a new initiative, but a direct consequence of Microsoft’s old servers and tools business that it began building more than a decade ago.

Microsoft is not a nimble company. It doesn’t impress anybody with brilliant market forecasting or slick branding. What it has done has made substantial investments in the research division it set up in 1991. When you are building capacity in your business decades ahead of time, you really don’t need to be that fast.

Google’s Social Ineptness

One company that’s become famous for its agility is Google. So when Facebook emerged as a serious rival, it was no surprise when the search giant jumped nimbly into space. It launched Google Wave, Google Buzz, and then Google+. None met with significant success. Customers don’t flock to you just because you move quickly.

Still, Google is thriving and recently passed Apple to become the world’s most valuable company. To understand how to take a look at the innovation ecosystem that it’s built. It invests heavily in research and allows promising projects to incubate at its Google X division. At the same time, its longstanding policy of 20% time gives its engineers the freedom to turn all that cutting-edge technology into products.

The company is also active in the research community, regularly publishing openly in scientific journals as well as on its own blog, and invites academics to spend sabbaticals at the company. The scientists gain access to Google’s unparalleled data sets, while they add to the firm’s knowledge and understanding of cutting-edge technologies.

Some of this new knowledge goes to creating completely new products, like self-driving cars. Yet most of it gets plowed back into the core business. That may be boring, but it’s incredibly profitable.

Slowly Reinventing the Future

There has been probably no company that’s transcended as many technology cycles as IBM. It was a leader in punch card machines, then dominated mainframes and led the charge in the PC era. Later, it built a phenomenal business around consulting services that helped design, build, and maintain sophisticated systems for enterprises.

Today, as those installed systems are moving to the cloud, IBM’s business is reeling with revenue dropping for 17 straight quarters. Many would say that the company desperately needs to become more agile and adapt. Yet IBM seems to be doing just the opposite, doubling down on bets it made decades ago.

Take the company’s cognitive computing initiative, also known as Watson, which CEO Ginni Rometty sees as central to the company’s future. IBM has been working on the technology for decades. Other long-term efforts, such as quantum computing and neuromorphic chips, are focused on powering the company long after we reach the limits of silicon chips.

These new computing architectures aren’t likely to have a measurable impact until sometime around 2020, but when it does, most firms will be struggling to adapt. IBM won’t have to.

Shaping The Future

Agility is a very positive thing, but it is often overrated. Apple didn’t create the first digital music player, the first smartphone, or the first tablet computer, yet it came to dominate each category. Amazon wasn’t the first to sell books on the internet, either. These companies succeeded not because they were faster, but because they developed products that were demonstrably better than their competitors.

Truly great companies don’t need to adapt to the future, because they create the future. Take a look at any great business and it becomes clear that what made it great wasn’t the ability to adapt, but a dedication to creating, delivering, and capturing new value in the marketplace. The truth is that we need to start focusing less on disruption and more on solving fundamental challenges.

This brings us to something else Theodore Levitt said, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole.” Clearly, it is not a particular business category that defines a company, but how it solves problems for its customers. And you can’t solve really tough problems by simply moving faster. Great companies prepare the ground long before.

And that’s really the point. A business that focuses on solving big problems and is willing to invest in them for years —or even decades — can get a lot of other things wrong.

How Can a Professional Outsourced Sales Team Help Increase Sales for Your Business

An outsourced sales team is a prevalent solution for businesses looking to increase their sales. By working with competent sales teams, many businesses can leverage the outsourcing firm’s experience, expertise, and resources to achieve their sales goals.

This article will explore how a professional outsourced sales team can help businesses grow their sales and revenue. Let’s delve into it!

Who Are a Professional Outsourced Sales Team?

A professional outsourced sales team is a group of sales experts working for a company but not employed by that company. Rather, they are hired via a third-party outsourcing firm or service provider.

The major goal of an outsourced sales team is to generate revenue for the company by selling its products or services to customers. Outsourcing a sales team may also provide access to new markets and customer segments and help the company manage fluctuations in demand for its products or services.

A professional outsourced sales team typically consists of the following:

sales representatives
account and sales managers
sales analyst
business development managers
sales consultant
field sales representatives
channels sales representative
telemarketing representatives, and many more.

The outsourced sales team is trained in the products or services they sell and equipped with the tools and resources they need to sell and support customers. A professional outsourced sales team may work remotely or in a sales office. Also, they may be dedicated to a single company or serve multiple clients simultaneously.

Businesses need to choose a reputable and proficient outsourcing firm or service provider when looking to establish an outsourced sales team. This ensures that the sales team can effectively meet the company’s sales goals.

Additionally, a business must affirm the following:

Clear goals
Targets
Performance metrics
Robust communication and reporting structure, etc.

This assures that the sales team is aligned with the company’s strategy and objectives.

Some examples of outsourced sales teams include:

Direct sales teams for products or services in a specific market or geographic region
Lead generation and appointment-setting teams
Telemarketing teams to generate sales leads and follow up on leads generated through other marketing channels
Inside sales teams to address inbound sales inquiries and support existing customers
Field sales teams for face-to-face sales presentations and client engagement
Channel sales teams to support dispersal associates and resellers
E-commerce sales teams to oversee online deals and customer relation
Business development teams to identify and seek new sales opportunities
Customer service and support teams to handle customer inquiries and resolve customer issues
Market research and intelligence teams to compile information and insights on target markets and customers

Let’s explore how outsourcing a sales team can help businesses in the next session.

How Can a Professional Outsourced Sales Team Help Increase Sales for Your Business?

A skilled outsourced sales team can help increase businesses sales in various ways, including:

Access to Skilled Sales Professionals

First, an outsourcing sales team provides access to a wide range of highly skilled and experienced sales professionals. These individuals have in-depth knowledge of sales strategies and tactics. Also, they are equipped to handle the complex and ever-changing sales landscape. Furthermore, they also possess a proven track record of success and can bring new ideas and standpoints to the table.

This can help businesses to:

identify new sales opportunities
overcome sales challenges
and ultimately, increase their sales.

Scalability

Hiring new workers can be daunting and expensive, but outsourcing a sales team provides businesses with a flexible and scalable solution that can be modified. As a business grows, its sales team needs to grow as well. This means the outsourcing firm can provide additional sales resources, allowing it to maintain its sales momentum and continue to grow its sales.

Wider Customer Network

An outsourced sales team also gives businesses access to a broader network of potential customers. The outsourcing firm can tap into its ample network of contacts and leverage its existing relationships to help businesses reach new prospects. This can help businesses extend their reach and increase their sales without investing in pricey marketing and advertising campaigns.

Streamlined Sales Processes

In addition to providing access to a broad network of customers, an outsourced sales force or team can also help businesses to streamline their sales processes. The outsourcing firm can handle multiple administrative tasks associated with sales, such as:

lead generation
appointment setting
and follow-up calls.

This allows the business’s internal sales team to concentrate on more strategic sales activities. This may include closing deals and developing relationships with major customers.

Cost Savings

Another important benefit of a professional outsourced sales team is that they provide businesses with cost savings. As mentioned in the second point, hiring a full-time sales team is expensive, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.

Outsourcing a sales team permits businesses to take the edge of the economies of scale provided by the outsourcing firm, which can help to reduce the general cost of sales.

Additionally, outsourcing a sales team puts an end to the need for businesses to invest in costly sales tools and technology, as the outsourcing firm typically provides these.

Satisfactory Results

Outsourcing a sales team also helps businesses to achieve better results by providing a high level of accountability and performance management. This confirms that the sales team focuses on delivering results. This can help businesses to achieve their sales goals more effectively and efficiently and can also help to improve the prevailing quality of their sales efforts.

Conclusion

In today’s competitive business world, businesses must maximize their sales efforts and stay ahead of the competition. Outsourcing a sales team provides businesses with myriad benefits, including access to skilled and proficient sales professionals, scalability, a wider network of customers, streamlined sales processes, cost savings, and better results.

By partnering with an experienced outsourcing firm, businesses can increase their sales, streamline their sales processes, and ultimately grow their revenue and achieve their sales goals.

Frequently Asked Questions about How a Professional Outsourced Sales Team Increases Business Sales

How Can an Outsourced Sales Team Help Increase Business Sales?

An outsourced sales team can help increase business sales by bringing fresh standpoints and ideas to the table. Also, they can provide additional resources and expertise to help the company reach its sales goals.

Can an Outsourced Sales Team Help a Business Reach New Markets or Buyers?

Yes, with their experience and expertise in sales and marketing, an outsourced sales team can identify new opportunities and develop strategies for reaching new customers.

How Do Businesses Choose the Right Outsourced Sales Team for Their Needs?

Choosing the right outsourced sales team requires thoroughly considering the company’s specific needs and goals. Companies should look for a team with a track record of success in their industry and a strong understanding of the company’s products and services. They also should consider the team’s communication and collaboration skills and their ability to work within the company’s existing sales and marketing structure.

10 Ways to Make More Productive Use of Time in Your Day

Nothing else can be managed if time is not managed. Pretty tough quote by Peter Drucker, but if you think about it carefully, you will agree. One’s success doesn’t come easy and it starts with productive use of time.

Time management is the ability to plan and control how you spend the hours in your day to effectively accomplish your goals. Poor time management is related to procrastination, as well as problems with self-control. Skills involved in managing your time include planning ahead, setting and prioritizing goals, and paying attention to where your time actually goes.

It often feels like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish all the things we want to accomplish, let alone find a moment to relax. The demands of work and social life, combined with our basic needs for sleep, food, and exercise, can quickly add up and overflow, producing the sense that time is constantly slipping away. Time may be limited, but it doesn’t have to always feel that way. New research suggests that our state of mind can change the way we perceive and experience time, and in turn, make us happier and more giving.

Have you read Stephen Covey’s book “7 Habits of Highly Successful People”? The figure below is Covey’s now quite famous “time management matrix” from this book. If you have read the book, it will be familiar to you.

His focus on the time-management matrix is part of Habit #3 – Put first things first. Here he argues that we need to spend our time and effort on the type of tasks listed in the second quadrant (Important and Not Urgent), as these are truly important to us and are not done, ineffectively, at the last minute.

Most importantly, this habit, as with many “step-like” programs, will only be successful if you first achieve the earlier habits. In this case, both Habit #1 – Be Proactive, and Habit #2 – Begin with the end in mind, must be established.

Habit 1 and Habit 2 build a base of necessity and purpose, respectively. First, by acknowledging our responsibility in life to make and own our choices, Habit #1 establishes us as responsible, active people world. With this established, Habit #2 provides the focus for this type of action. With Habit 2, we answer the question, “What is my purpose?” We establish our mission and vision for our lives.

Once these habits are established, the Time-Management Matrix becomes much easier to manage. We now know we must choose to be proactive with the type of activities listed in Quadrant #2.

It’s easy to know when we haven’t established Habits 1 & 2. If you look at the matrix and lament the fact that you’re always caught up in the activities in the other Quadrants, particularly 3 and 4, you haven’t developed your own vision of what’s important. And, you’re probably not taking responsibility for your choices.

So in addition to Covey’s time management matrix, follow these additional 10 tips to help make more productive use of your time.

Organize the night before

In order to have your priorities lined up for each workday, make a list of things that you have to do the night before and evaluate the importance of those projects. By committing your priorities to paper, you psychologically enter into a contract with yourself because it creates a greater responsibility in your mind to get these things done.

Start the day early

Coming up short on time toward the end of the day? Go into the office 30 minutes early. It will give you some breathing room in the day and start the day with important alone time. There’s nothing better than starting the day fully organized and ready to go. It could also give you some time to catch up on early morning e-mails and re-think about today’s priorities.

Know your priorities

Plan to spend at least 50 percent of your time engaged in the thoughts, activities, and conversations that produce most of your results … quadrant 2 tasks.

Take 2-3 minutes before every call and task to decide what result in you want to attain. This will help you know what success looks like before you start. And it will also slow time down. Take the same time after each call and activity to determine whether your desired result was achieved. If not, what was missing? How do you put what’s missing in your next call or activity?

Keep the focus on quadrant 2 tasks

Oftentimes, we don’t do the essential things that need to be done because we get sidetracked — in many cases by tasks we’d rather be doing. In order to avoid this trap, it’s important to keep the focus on the plan of attack on quadrant 2. If you notice more than an occasional task in quadrant 1, it is important to put better effort into planning.

Work to the plan

When you can visualize how you plan your day to go, you can cut back the downtime. Got enough work done? Put some time in the gym or talk to your family. If you can schedule and plan accordingly, you’ll never run out of time.

Any activity or conversation that’s important to your success should have time assigned to it. To-do lists get longer and longer to the point where they’re unworkable. Appointment books work. Schedule appointments with yourself and create time blocks for high-priority thoughts, conversations, and actions. Schedule when they will begin and end. Have the discipline to keep these appointments.

Be realistic

When you’ve created a plan and a schedule, it’s important to be realistic about what you can actually accomplish in a workday and prioritize accordingly. And don’t forget to leave yourself some wiggle room in your schedule in case something unexpected comes up, as it frequently will.

Stay organized

Keeping up with an organizer that holds every appointment you have will cut down on any wasted time. Most people think they can get away with just creating mental notes, but that’s not good planning. Keeping your life in order with something concrete will aid in cutting down stress. Tidying your desk and workspace can also keep your work consistent. Plan time to be pulled away from what you’re doing.

Avoid Distractions

Easily the hardest thing to do all day at work is to be able to focus at all times. We all struggle with distraction, but being able to get back on the horse and stay focused is a great talent. Especially in our world of social media and growing communication technology, it’s easy to get off the working path. Strive to stay off Facebook, Twitter, or anything else that will keep you glued to a screen. There are more important things to be done at work. Put up a “Do not disturb” sign when you absolutely have to get work done.

Practice not answering the phone just because it’s ringing and e-mails just because they show up. Disconnect instant messaging. Don’t instantly give people your attention unless it’s absolutely crucial in your business to offer an immediate human response. Instead, schedule a time to answer emails and return phone calls.

Meditate

Being able to calm yourself down when things get too hectic is the perfect way to get back into time management. If there’s too much going on, and you’re losing track of what needs to get done, just excuse yourself to a quiet place and bring yourself some peace. Use meditation and calming techniques to keep your head straight. This will in turn make you happier as well.

Rest when you’re a success

Young people seem to have boundless energy, and so must you, for your own success. Yes they are 20 years old and you’re probably not, but it is not just their youth that keeps them in constant motion, it is their sense of time and place.

They instinctively recognize that goals are a short period of time in their lives. They know they need to take advantage of every second and they do. “Don’t you ever rest?” I ask, and the answer that comes back the most is “I’ll rest after I get to the goal.”

It’s the same with your goals. Rest once you are a success. You must recognize that this is a special time in your life. You have a goal that can change things forever; so you need to find the energy and time to devote to it now. Kick your life into high gear and rest after you’re across the finish line. You won’t burn out.

Remember this: everyone in the time-management consulting business will tell you the same thing – “learn to say no.”It is very difficult to say no until you have established your own sense of priority and purpose.

Procrastination is NOT a time management problem. However, if you’re procrastinating, chances are you’re managing your time very poorly. Why? It’s because you haven’t clearly established the priorities important in your life – your purpose and meaning.

Do you want to procrastinate less? Spend time working on Covey’s first two habits. The rest will flow from this very authentic base of being in the world.

Types of Narrative Conflict You Should Be Using

If you’re in the business of content creation, consider that you are also a storyteller by default. You aren’t just whittling listicles or carving out intriguing essays for your client. At heart, you must emotionally engage narrative conflict with your audience in such a way that they want to read on or keep watching.

To do this well, you need a hero in your story. You want your audience to feel connected to that hero and, in turn, cheer for him or her. And equally as important: Heros must be challenged in the pursuit of their goals.

Your story can be effective, or it may fall flat on its face. Try this story on for size: Ethan is in a classroom. He fixates on the cute blond up front—let’s call her Claire. She glances back and smiles. When the bell rings, Ethan walks up to her and asks her out. She smiles, they date, and then it’s birds and bees and marriage and joint real-estate ownership.

Now, consider this alternate version: Ethan is a prodigy for an acne-cream ad. His bloodshot eye fixates on Claire. She glances back and smiles. When the bell rings, he takes a deep breath and stands up only to trip over Clint’s deliberately outstretched leg. Clint laughs derisively and high-fives his leather-jacketed friends.

Ethan grimaces ignore Clint and approach Claire. He sputters: “Um, hi.” He feels like an idiot.

Claire pushes our hero aside and envelopes Clint in a warm embrace. Turns out she was smiling at Clint the whole time, not Ethan.

Dejected, Ethan vows to himself: “I’m gonna get the girl, Clint be damned!” He hits the gym, and well…you figure it out.

Consider which story is more interesting for your audience, and why. The second offers numerous roadblocks: acne, social awkwardness, Claire’s jerk of a boyfriend, the list goes on. And more so, if you like Ethan—and this is important—you want him to do well, especially when the odds are stacked against him.

In the world of storytelling, that’s the power of conflict. When there’s no dragon to kill, no mountains to climb, and no Clint to push aside, then there’s no point in the story. You’ve lost the audience.

Likewise, powerful content marketing weaves a fascinating story rather than admonishing you with contrived statistics about the strength of a dish detergent. Good stories, not promotions, are the ones shared and retold. At the heart of each is a challenge, a conflict that we can relate to.

Person vs. Fate

A universal conflict is a belief in something that is not readily tangible and maintaining that belief in spite of possible evidence or insistence to the contrary. We see Luke Skywalker’s attempt to tap into the “good” Force in the Star Wars movies, Angelina Jolie’s unwavering belief that her son is not her son in The Changeling, and the classic test of faith in The Passion of the Christ.

In the advertising world, let’s consider Guinness’ “Empty Chair” as an example of this:

Why does this bartender persist in leaving a full glass of Guinness at an empty table every day? The twist is that she’s saving it for a soldier returning from war. She’s committed that this man will indeed return alive. The conflict? She doesn’t know for sure, but she sticks to her belief even when some patrons try to sit at that table. It’s inspiring stuff.

Person vs. Self

We all have flaws. That’s why we like stories about imperfect people who battle their shortcomings. Jake LaMotta struggles to contain his jealousy and temper in Raging Bull. Ed Norton battles himself in the form of Brad Pitt in Fight Club. Matt Damon’s too scared of life to embrace a good thing in Minnie Driver in Good Will Hunting.

In that latter case, the “imposter syndrome”—that nagging feeling that you don’t belong or you’ve just been faking it all along—is very real. So we can relate.

Gold-medal swimmer Michael Phelps may be some kind of superhuman robot torpedo thing with really big hands and flippers for feet, but the reality is that he still has to work hard. This short video produced by sportswear company Under Armour epitomizes that:

We see our swimmer make like a penguin underwater, working in agony at the gym, being yelled at by his coach, intercut with shots of him alone in the pool. The tagline? “It’s what you do in the dark.”

Feel those chills? Yep. Sure, Phelps has his bad days, but he persists so he can get those golds. We’re emotionally engaged, so we’ll tune in to watch him compete.

One question, though. Where’s the bong?

Person vs. Person

Many stories see a protagonist fighting for the good against some kind of adversary. John McClane versus Hans Gruber in Die Hard. James Bond against (insert evil villain #5,435 here). Arnie and his Austrian drawl against everyone in the 1980s. Harry Potter vs. Lord Voldemort. The list goes on endlessly and we cheer them on.

Not only are companies pitted against each other in the form of people as in the famous Apple vs. Microsoft ads of the late 2000s, we see a father and baby son do battle in this cheeky shaving ad from Wilkinson Sword:

Here, we are treated to males competing for the attention of the woman of the household. There’s a winner and loser in these stories, encouraging you to cheer for one over the other. After all, why do you think sports are so popular?

Person vs. Society

We also see many stories pitting heroes against societies or institutions which limit their progress. Dead Poets Society sees Robin Williams inspiring his students in the face of stultifying academia that insists on conformity. Star Wars sees Luke, Leia, Han Solo, and the company taking on the evil Empire.

Academy Award-winning Spotlight depicts investigative reporters uncovering the disturbing truths behind the curtains of a very powerful Catholic Church.

And in advertising, we again see Apple, with its iconic 1984 advertisement:

In this now-historic launch of the Macintosh, Apple depicts a woman throwing a sledgehammer through a screen seemingly showing the Great Leader, sending shock waves through a brutally conformist system. Apple’s message resonated with many and set the tone for its “Think Different” approach, which remains powerful three decades later.

An old Sudanese saying goes: “When the elephants fight, it is the grass that dies.” Ordinary folks are caught in the crossfire between rival factions, dueling countries, and battling families. We’ve seen this in Romeo and Juliet, of course.

Often lost in the barrage of Cold War propaganda films from the 1980s are thoughtful stories about the actual people, such as a Russian Sean Connery connecting with Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October and American boys befriending a shipwrecked Russian sailor in the lesser-known Russkies.

To be honest, who hasn’t felt forbidden to do something because of elements largely out of your control? Google tackled this conflict masterfully in its tear-jerking series of advertisements about a Pakistani and Indian resurrecting a long-lost friendship:

Here, we see an elderly Indian man telling his granddaughter about an old childhood friend of his from Lahore, and her response is to reunite them. Google’s service meshes nicely with the story narrative and we don’t mind because, ultimately, this very human story tugs at our heartstrings.

What about transcending social perspectives and seeing one’s inner beauty? The uncool geeky kid (yeah, Ethan!) wins the heart of the popular girl. The “monster” overcomes his lack of physical attraction in Beauty and the Beast and The Elephant Man.

Disability in our society offers a similar challenge. Samsung’s “Hearing Hands,” tells the story of a community coming together to help a hearing-impaired man feel like he belongs. [Full disclosure: Samsung is a Skyword client.]

With upwards of 13 million views, the powerful message of transcending social barriers—culminating in this man’s joyous tears—struck a chord with many.

Person vs. Nature

Hollywood has produced Oscar winners covering survival against predators and elements, i.e. battling a shark in Jaws, being inconvenienced by an iceberg in Titanic, and nowadays, Leonardo DiCaprio battling a bear and the elements in The Revenant. That Hugh Glass story has been retold in numerous forms since the 1800s, showing our fascination with the man versus the wild.

John West Salmon tapped into this with its 30-second TV spot produced in 2000 when interruptive advertising was still the norm. It proved immensely popular when it aired and became appropriately shareable once YouTube came onto the scene because of its humorous take on the conflict:

Our hero in this story schools the bear in such a way that would make DiCaprio—er, Glass—proud. In fact, I even showed it to many of my friends before realizing it was an ad myself.

Person vs. Technology

Our fascination with technology shows our love for galactic sci-fi such as Star Wars and Star Trek, and the terrifying implications of technology taking over in The Matrix, the Terminator movies, and most recently, Ex Machina.

Our collective fixation with machines means an audience at the ready for fascinating stories such as the groundbreaking victory of Deep Blue over Garry Kasparov—the latter’s first-ever loss in chess—and the very recent win of Google’s computer program over a South Korean master at the ancient game of Go.

In short, humans versus machines offer a conflict that may never go out of style, and it shows in marketing as well. Consider this advertisement for a robot firm:

OK, that robot didn’t really beat Timo Boll—a table-tennis legend in Germany—but it’s still fun to watch. With upwards of seven million views, this short film gained plenty of exposure for KUKA Robotics Corporation.

Person vs. Science

Similar in tone to technology, science-based conflicts touch on both the beneficial and nefarious possibilities of scientific progress. From Nick Nolte’s heart-wrenching efforts to save his son in Lorenzo’s Oil to Matt Damon utilizing his botany skills to survive in The Martian, we see inspiring stories of survival.

And then there’s the scary stuff: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Jeff Goldblum’s unfortunately cellular encounter with musca domestica in The Fly, genetic supremacy and segregation in Gattaca, and cloning extinct animals in the Jurassic Park movies.

At first glance, sports science may not seem to offer a conflict in itself. But perhaps it does. When athletes challenge themselves and others to be better, there is a minutia of precision in their development. They—and their trainers and coaches—watch themselves in action and in training. This also continues to be a collective fascination with sports fans, and the sports network ESPN has recognized this with their immensely popular Sport Science series. The athletic equivalents of Nick Nolte and Matt Damon would look to this series in the drive to better their own respective games.

Consider this example, where New England Patriots’ helmsman Tom Brady’s strengths are broken down scientifically to demonstrate how he maintains his peak level of performance while pushing 40:

Like him or hate him, the video is bound to impress with its precise breakdown of how Brady works game in and game out. And the series itself, an Emmy Award winner in the Outstanding New Approaches in Sports Programming category, helps you understand biomedical engineering and human injury biomechanics in an entertaining way. Ultimately, this series’ popularity positions ESPN as not just a broadcaster, but a knowledge leader in sports.

Man vs. Woman/and Vice Versa

No list of story conflicts is complete without the battle of the sexes, such as superspy lovers battling it out in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, darkly comedic spousal warfare in The War of the Roses, and entertaining balance-of-power rom-coms such as How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Even reality TV pitted men and women against each other in some of the most popular Survivor seasons.

Nike tackles this conflict head-on by encouraging men and women to fight, and run—to see which side can clock the most miles in running shoes:

Who hasn’t talked at length about the opposite sex over drinks? We all do it, and when we see the battle on screen, we’re transfixed. Nike’s message is simple and effective, and appropriately positive too: Put on your shoes and get some miles for your team. At its heart, it’s about healthy competition.

Competition. Not just against each other, at the track or in the ring, or on the field. Humans are predisposed to tackle challenges, and in turn, fascinated by stories about overcoming them. That’s the power of conflict—anything that poses a challenge to your protagonist taps into the innate desire to survive.

Next time you’re tasked with putting together a piece for the purpose of brand storytelling or content creation, in the form of video, prose, podcast, or another medium, work conflict into the package. Do it well, and your story will find a receptive and willing audience.

A Committed Businessman Needs These Essential Characteristics

We’ve all heard the old joke “In a bacon-and-egg breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed.” This quote epitomizes the true essence of commitment. We all know at least one self-professed entrepreneur who claims to be committed but seems to treat it like a part-time hobby, won’t put any personal skin in the game and is quick to give up when things are tough for the committed businessman.

There are no middle roads to real commitment, and if you are not ready to fully commit to all the rigors of a startup, you are better off sticking with your current role. For your calibration, here are some characteristics you will recognize in a truly committed entrepreneur:

Actively seeks leadership and responsibility. Many people need the comfort of following, rather than leading. When things go wrong, it’s then easier to point to someone else as the scapegoat. As an entrepreneur, the promises anyone makes on your behalf are yours. You need to be ready to accept “the buck stops here” and make it work.
Exhibits surging raw ambition. Successful entrepreneurs are generally ambitious and confident in their abilities. They may have many ideas, some of them are more workable than others. Failure is viewed as a learning opportunity, so it’s no disaster that some ideas don’t actually get done the first time.
Minimum positive feedback required. As I’ve said in previous articles, it’s lonely at the top. If your psyche is one that needs regular positive feedback, and a commensurate paycheck, to stay motivated, you need to find a real job rather than an entrepreneurial one.
Social life is not the highest priority. If you find yourself unable to clear your head of work-related thoughts at the end of the day, that’s committed. Social relationships are important, and you do need to blank out work from time to time, but if social priorities are at the top of your list, you probably won’t enjoy the role of entrepreneur.
Comfortable with unpredictable working hours. Some people need a predictable schedule, for family reasons, or just peace of mind. Entrepreneurs need to be flexible, and assume there will be long working hours. If you are annoyed rather than exhilarated at the long or unpredictable schedule at your startup, you are involved but not committed.
Vacation is an interruption. Most entrepreneurs I know can’t remember the last time they had a “real” vacation (without bringing their work along). This may not be healthy, but it illustrates the level of commitment that you are competing with in the marketplace. If you insist on vacations “without checking in,” go and work for a big company that gives you a holiday allowance.
Hasn’t even thought about retirement. Many people involved with startups are working hard, but are looking forward to retirement. The committed entrepreneurs wouldn’t think of retiring, even if they made millions from the current project. They enjoy work too much to stop, and can’t wait to start their next venture.

Making a commitment is a serious matter and one which should not be taken lightly, especially in a startup venture where the team needs to pull its weight together to achieve goals. Individuals who need structure and workload predictability won’t be able to maintain the high levels of enthusiasm and motivation of a startup team.

This isn’t a statement of right or wrong, just different strokes for different folks. The next time you have the urge to chuck your day job and live the dream of being your own boss, remember to test yourself for how committed you really are, before you jump off the cliff!

Growth Hacks Any Small Business Can Implement

In 1996, an email company named Hotmail launched with a small group of users. By the end of 1997, that company had 12 million users. True growth hacks weren’t they?

How did they grow so dramatically in just a year and a half? Well, they looked at their initial numbers and saw that approximately 80 percent of new users came by referral from current users. To make the most of referrals, Hotmail created its iconic email postscript: “PS. I love you. Get your free email at Hotmail.”

That single line, added at the end of every email sent through Hotmail, drove millions of new users in an ever-widening ripple effect. Hotmail successfully created one of the first documented growth hacks.

Growth hacking is the combination of product design, marketing, and data with the overall goal of driving customer growth. Initially popular among fast-growing startups, the principles of growth hacking have since spread to the wider business world. With a focus on understanding the customer and designing the right product, successful growth hacking drives growth in both the short- and long term.

So how can you apply a growth hack like Hotmail’s to build your own business?

Let’s explore nine innovative and data-driven growth hacks that you can adapt to your own situation.

1. The Webinar Hack

When you’re trying to find potential customers, you don’t just want to reach a massive number of people. In fact, you might not need to reach very many people at all. You just need to find the right people.

Unbounce uses a variety of content marketing techniques to reach customers. They write a popular blog, produce quality ebooks, and even offer a free email course. But when they started focusing on webinars those quickly became their number one acquisition strategy.

Because webinars offer an urgent incentive (“join before it fills up!”), you can drive significant interest. Once in the webinar, you get the opportunity to provide high-value teaching, which improves the perception of your company.

And at the end of the webinar, you get a few minutes to explain your product.

Here’s how to run a successful webinar with very little work:

1. Pick a topic or get a guest speaker.

2. Create the webinar on GoToWebinar.

3. Make your landing page where people can join.

4. Do a dry run to make sure everything works.

5. Host the event and provide epic value.

6. Follow up with an email and encourage people to become customers.

Then assess how the webinar went, make a few changes to your strategy, and do it again.

2. The Giveaway Hack

AppSumo, a daily deals website focused on digital goods, has been extremely successful at running giveaways to increase its email subscription list. In just 10 months, 147,973 new subscribers. Since each subscriber resulted in an average of $0.83 gross revenue, that’s a pretty significant marketing campaign.

So how’d he do it? Simple: He ran a steady stream of targeted giveaways.

He gave away Evernote subscriptions, in-person courses, and even MacBook Airs (the MacBooks performed worst!). Some giveaways drove a few subscribers and some drove thousands, but giveaway by giveaway the email list (and bank account) grew steadily.

So how can you run your own giveaway?

1. Find a specific product that only your target customers would like (broadly popular products attract generic leads).

2. Create your giveaway with something like KingSumo or Gleam.

3. Promote your giveaway with Facebook ads and your current email list.

4. Encourage social media shares for your giveaway participants.

5. Send a drip campaign to your new leads to convert them to customers.

If you choose the right product and audience, the money you spend on Facebook should start a chain reaction as current participants share your giveaway with their friends.

3. The Guest Post Hack

When Charlie Hoehn wanted to drive sales for his first published book, he turned to guest posting to reach potential readers. During the first month after publication, Charlie published nearly 20 guest posts and also made guest appearances on a couple of podcasts.

The result? He reached nearly a quarter of a million people and sold 2,000 copies. His self-published book landed at the top of its Amazon category.

Guest posts are a powerful tool that can drive highly targeted visitors to your website. So how can you do the same thing for your site?

Here’s how you can create guest posts to drive customers to your own website:

1. Find popular blogs with audiences that match your target customer profile.

2. Write value-packed guest posts targeting particular blogs.

3. Email the blog author with your proposed guest post.

4. Continue emailing until you find a blog that’s interested in publishing.

5. Repeat … and make your posts better each time.

To make your guest posts even more successful, put together a custom pack of bonus materials for readers who join your email list. You can use extra information like PDF checklists, case studies, and exclusive videos to convert more leads from each guest post you publish.

4. The Two-Sided Incentive Hack

Since 2009, the car service Uber has raised millions of dollars and is currently valued at $18 billion. It’s now available all over the world and is even planning to break into the lucrative mainland China market in the near future.

How have they achieved this kind of growth? While many growth tactics factor into their speedy ascent, word of mouth (a.k.a., the viral factor) has driven their growth “substantially”.

To spur word of mouth even further, Uber uses a two-sided referral program. All current customers are automatically enrolled and given their own referral codes. When they give those codes to their friends, both the referrers and the customers they refer get a nice credit to their Uber account.

This gives the new customer a chance to try the service for little or no cost, and it gives the referring customer a friendly “thanks” for sharing.

To create your own double-sided incentive:

1. Make sure your product is worth sharing.

2. Find something current customers will value. Free credit is an obvious win, but swag or VIP status might be good too.

3. Find something that will hook new customers. Free trials or credits will let them try your product without any risk.

4. Promote it to all your current users through email and in-product messaging.

If done right, two-sided incentives can drive significant word of mouth, increasing the impact of all your other marketing endeavors.

5. Exit Popup Hack

WPBeginner, a free resource site for WordPress beginners, grew their email subscription list by using an exit popup display. In less than 10 minutes, WPBeginner increased their email subscribers by 600 percent. Prior to the change, they gained 70 to 80 new subscribers each day, and after the change they gained 445 to 470 every day.

How did they drive such a significant improvement? Using a simple popover with exit intent tracking. When a visitor arrives at their website, WPBeginner starts tracking their mouse movements. If the visitor’s mouse starts moving to close the window, a non-intrusive popover invites the visitor to subscribe for more articles.

By giving the visitor time to read before offering the upsell (i.e., the subscribe box), exit popups reach potential users at a time when intent is high, thus boosting conversions. Additionally, these popovers are non-intrusive, so the user can easily close the tab without any of the annoyances of a traditional popup.

To create an exit popover of your own…

1. Install software like SumoMe or OptinMonster.

2. Add copy for a simple subscribe box.

3. Connect to your email service (MailChimp, Aweber, etc).

Bonus: Create a special ebook or email course as an incentive.

Popovers always drive significant email signups since they’re more noticeable, but popovers with exit intent take it to the next level.

Causes That Led to the Mcdonald’s Business Slump

McDonald’s is making drastic changes to save the business. Mcdonald’s business slump is the “real deal”.

The fast-food chain’s chief executive, revealed a massive turnaround strategy recently, following years of lagging sales and traffic. He also admitted to some of the chain’s blunders that led to its current slump.

Here are the weaknesses that the chief executive mentioned:

McDonald’s needs to serve higher-quality food

Customers are demanding “great-tasting, high-quality food,” and McDonald’s needs to make changes to some of its core menu items to meet that demand, Easterbrook said on a call with analysts Monday.

In a recent step in that direction, the company pledged to remove antibiotics and hard-to-pronounce ingredients from its chicken.

The corporate structure is bloated and cumbersome

The company plans to strip away layers of management to streamline operations.

“Our existing organization is inefficient and lacks clear accountability,” the executive said. “We need to execute fewer things better.”

McDonald’s has been slow to react to customers’ changing tastes and needs

Customers want a more progressive restaurant experience than what McDonald’s is currently offering.

He said the company needs to be “faster with innovation and smarter with taking risks.”

“In the last five years, the world has moved faster outside the business than inside, the business cannot ignore what customers are saying when the message is clear: We’re not on our game.”

McDonald’s menu is too big, and it’s slowing down service

The chain needs to “reduce complexity for customers and crew,” he said.

McDonald’s menu has grown 42.4% in the past seven years, from 85 items in 2007 to 121 items today, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The company has had some marketing misses

He went on to say McDonald’s has made the mistake of targeting millennials in its advertisements as if they are one homogeneous group. Going forward, the company will engage in “less sweeping talk of millennials as if they are one single group with shared attitudes.”

McDonald’s lost control of the brand message

He says the company needs to return “excitement” to the brand by engaging with more customers digitally and increasing transparency concerning the quality of its food.

“One thing we can do is make available the facts as they are today” about the food McDonald’s serves “so people can make judgments based on reality instead of misconceptions,” he said.

The company doesn’t give enough power to franchisees

The executive repeatedly emphasized the importance of franchisees to the company’s success.

“By putting more restaurants in the hands of our best owner/operators, we’re getting closer to the communities and customers we serve,” he said.