Big Manta » Entrepreneurship

Using the 80-20 Rule to Maximize Your Productivity & Income

BigManta — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:35:49 +0000

Working on things that produce the highest returns in terms of productivity and income is vital to the rate at which you grow online. You may have heard of the “Pareto Principle” (often referred to as the 80-20 rule) and why you should be applying it to the way you tackle projects and your overall business.

What is the 80-20 rule?

The 80-20 rule as it applies to being successful - simply states that 80% of the results arise from 20% of the effort. It’s not exact, but you will find your numbers to very often correlate with the 80-20 rule.

80% of your income will come from 20% of your work
80% of your complaints are from 20% of your customers
80% of your time is spent on 20% of your projects

As you can see, many of these numbers will probably ring true for you in several facets of your work. Whether you’re writing, selling, marketing, or providing customer service, understanding this principle and applying it to achieve maximum results is crucial to your success.

How can the 80-20 rule help me?

You can maximize both your income and productivity by understanding how the principle affects your everyday actions and results. We often get caught in the trap of spending the majority of our time on things that tend to have very little impact overall on the results we get – when we should be spending our time on the 20% of things that produce 80% of our income or the headway we make.

Once you have identified your core/key areas that provide the most return, you need to then start focusing on those as much as possible. In addition to simply revenue or income numbers – you can look at:

Customer service
Income and revenue
Marketing and advertising
Content creation
Promotion of your services
Time spent on graphic design

The list can really go on and on. When you are working, think about whether or not it’s worth the time and effort to spend 3-4 hours working on a footer design that really won’t enhance or build upon your current offerings. However, it may be worth it to spend a week on product pricing because it can have a huge impact on your business.

I tend to focus on the things that can provide immediate or long-term results relative to their time commitments. The key is to identify the most profitable and results-producing parts of what you do and pour your energy into those things.

Adapting the mindset

Probably the hardest thing about integrating the 80-20 Rule into your daily routine is making it a habit to continuously focus on the things that provide the largest return. While there will be some aspects that you may not enjoy about some of the things that you know you need to focus on (but you don’t really want to) – it will help propel your business, productivity, and income – very rapidly.

Creating The Perfect Business Card: The Essential Elements

BigManta — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:43:13 +0000

I’m sure there have been times when you have given (or been given) a business card and had to scratch out the old phone number, scribble a new email address, or add your website address because you forgot to include it. I know – I’ve been there and it’s frustrating and a tad embarrassing to have to take a minute to update your information on your card.

Sometimes, we simply overlook something or forget to add something that we wanted. In these instances you then have to go reprint your business cards with the updated information, spend more of your money to have them printed, and sometimes (aaarrgghh) something changes on the brand new cards you just printed… and you’re off to the printer again. It can be a vicious process, but if you plan ahead – you can sidestep some of the major problems that arise.

To help any of you getting ready to print your first (or next) set of business cards, I’ve put together a quick checklist so you can be sure to include all of the ways someone can contact you if they need to and the information you might want on your business cards. I want to note that you should only include information or contact methods that you actually use and try to keep it simple as the goal of a business card is to give people a way to easily contact you.

The Essential Elements of a Business Card

Below are a list of the things that you may want to include on your business cards:

Your logo
Your name
Your company
Your title
Tagline or slogan
Physical address
Website address
Email address
Phone number (local)
Phone number (toll-free)
Fax number
Social Networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)
Brief description of what you offer, sell, or do

As you can see, there’s not a whole lot of information that you should (or can) include on your business card. It’s not meant to be a report or brochure and you shouldn’t include everything listed above. Your goal is to give a brief overview of your company and provide someone with the necessary information you would need if they needed to contact you.

Don’t overdo it and stuff every possible bit of information on your card – keep it clean, simple, and professional.

Capitalizing on Successes

BigManta — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:00:53 +0000

Whether you’re an affiliate marketer, blogger, or business owner, one of the keys to growing your income is by capitalizing on the successes that you have. If you find something that is working for you, try to make it better and build off of that success. The idea is very similar to business models built around scalability that allow you to expand rapidly to gain more visitors, revenue, or business.

There’s no success too small

When attempting to capitalize on your successes, there is nothing that is too small. If there is even a glint of hope or promise shown in something that you are doing – you can build upon that to reap larger rewards.

Imagine you ran a promotion that gained you only 5 new RSS subscribers, newsletter signups, or customers. While you might think that this might be too low of a number to spend your time trying to improve – it is exactly these instances that can propel you towards success.

There is one product in particular that I was promoting on one of my sites, that was making a few sales a month. After forcing myself to sit down and put some effort into scaling that success, I now sell 1-5 products every single day with a commission payout of about $20. This isn’t a boat load of money, but it now adds up to an extra $500 – $1,000 per month in passive income.

Even a glimmer of hope can be successful

Sometimes even the tiniest glimmer of something that shows hope is worth trying out. The top affiliate marketers will tell you that with many campaigns, you will lose money in the beginning promoting an offer. However, after tweaking and testing you can turn that offer into a cash-making machine that almost feels like you’re printing money.

You simply need to capitalize on any successes you have – no matter how big or small.

The 5 Keys to Success – A Free Guide to Succeeding Online

BigManta — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:57:10 +0000

I’m very proud to announce my free guide entitled “The 5 Keys to Success.”

There are several essential components that I believe every business owner, marketer, entrepreneur, and aspiring online money-maker should be aware of in order to really be successful online. This guide outlines those elements and explains the reasoning behind why some people do very well online, and others end up with mediocre or disappointing results.

It’s a great guide even for those outside of the internet marketing and making money online world, so please feel free to pass this page on so other people you know might be able to benefit from it.

While the guide is completely free, all you need to do is join my newsletter and you will receive instant access to the free guide in a link via email.

In addition to the guide, with the free newsletter you’ll also receive exclusive content, free tips and tutorials, and a bunch of other really cool stuff to make your journey to making it big on the internet – easier and more profitable. Simply enter your name and email below to sign up and gain instant access to the guide:

Success is Cumulative: Take Things One Step at a Time

BigManta — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:59:55 +0000

A recurring theme that seems to appear frequently with those trying to either make money online or build their business, is the desire for instant gratification or immediate results. Becoming successful online (like most things in life) requires a methodical process that you must go through to achieve the results or goals you are aiming for.

The allure of the internet has given many people the belief that you can simply launch a website or blog – and it will immediately become popular and become a money-printing machine. While it would be great if that were the case (and in rare instances it is), to be successful you must continually work and put energy into your endeavors. Just as babies crawl before they walk – building your online empire requires taking baby steps before you eventually start running.

What is great with the internet, is that your work is cumulative and everything helps contribute to your goals. With each new post you create, tweet you send, or person you befriend on Facebook, these steps are all helping you move in a positive direction with your site or blog and laying the stepping stones for future success.

Laying a foundation

You must have a solid foundation that you plan to grow your business, site, or blog around – a foundation to build upon. Your foundation can be everything from your idea or business model to the technology you use to run your site or blog. These things are the fundamental aspects that you must have in place so you can start the building process. Taking the time to ensure you have a strong base will help you distribute your content and allows your message to reach more people with less efffort.

Taking your first steps

Once you have everything set up and a plan of attack, you can start taking your first steps. Write articles, connect with other people in your topic or industry, be useful and informative, and try all of the various ways to distribute your message – social networks, video, tutorials, the list goes on and on. Each piece of content you create moves you one step further towards success.

The power of compounding

Just like compounding is one of the most powerful ways to build personal wealth – the same principle can be applied to being successful and making money online. With each new piece of content or connection you make, you are increasing the chances of being successful. If you write just one blog post a week, you will have accumulated 52 pages of content at the end of one year – do one each day and you can see how quickly things can add up. The more outlets and content you create – the more places people will be able to find you and the more likely you are to succeed.

America’s 10 Richest People

BigManta — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:54:19 +0000

I have always been fascinated by Forbes’ ranking of the wealthiest people in the world. Recently they produced their list of the 400 richest Americans and claimed that the net worth of these individuals collectively fell over $300 billion over the past year. It just goes to show you that even billionaires face tough times every once in a while.

These lists have always been a source of inspiration to me and given me a sense that making ridiculous amounts of money is actually possible. Even if it’s only a dream, it really helps to motivate me to work harder, be more ambitious, and strive to continually better myself. Many of the top 10 richest Americans you will recognize, while there may be a few names that you haven’t heard before. Either way, here’s some people that can hopefully inspire and motivate you when trying to become successful online or offline:

Bill Gates – $50 billion (software)
Warren Buffett – $40 billion (investments)
Larry Ellison – $27 billion (software)
Christy Walton - $21.5 billion (Wal-Mart)
Jim C. Walton – $19.6 billion (Wal-Mart)
Alice Walton – $19.3 billion (Wal-Mart)
S. Robson Walton – $19 billion (Wal-Mart)
Michael Bloomberg – $17.5 billion (Media)
Charles Koch – $16 billion (Manufacturing & Energy)
David Koch – $16 billion (Manufacturing & Energy)

The 4 Qualities That Every Offline Business’ Domain Name Should Possess

Leverage Your Strengths to Increase Productivity

BigManta — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:55:59 +0000

We as business owners, internet marketers, and bloggers often fall into the trap of trying to do everything when we are trying to succeed online. There are very few people who are good at design, marketing, programming, and all of the other skill sets that you will need to use when building a successful site or blog. You might be excellent at writing and design – but know nothing about marketing and programming (and vice versa). Too often we get caught in the trap of trying to learn all of these different skills and I find that focusing on those few things you are really good at (and getting help with the rest) will not only help you grow faster, but will also give you more satisfaction and increase your chances of being successful on the internet.

Leverage your own strengths

You first need to determine what it is that you enjoy and what you’re good at so you can spend most of your time working on those projects that gratify you. If you love what you are doing, you will be much more likely to be successful because you have a passion for what you’re doing.

If you’re a lousy designer, there’s no reason why you should work 2 days trying to create a new design when you could have easily purchased one and ultimately saved time and money. With the extra time that you have on your hands (because you’re not a designer), you can work on the things that you do enjoy – whether it’s writing, marketing, or whatever.

Leverage the strengths of others

Adapting a mindset of relying on others to help you, can further your success immensely. While the end result may not be what you had in mind – you will find that other people’s work often surprises and exceeds your own expectations. You want to leverage the strengths of other people so you can do what you enjoy, they do what they are good at, and the finished product is often much better than what you might have created on your own.

It will take some time to adapt

Reteaching yourself to use other people’s skills and services will take some time to get use to. However, it can make your days far more productive and far more enjoyable as a result.

Diversify Your Revenue Streams to Protect Your Income

BigManta — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:11:05 +0000

Just as financial planning experts recommend you diversify your investments, as someone trying to be successful online you need to diversify your sources of revenue. I know of too many people whose ability to generate money online collapsed when the methods they were using – suddenly changed dramatically or stopped altogether.

You should constantly be testing various programs and methods of generating revenue with your site or blog. Relying totally on one or two strategies has been the downfall of many once-successful internet entrepreneurs. Time and again marketers have been hit by a sudden change in the terms of use of a particular program they are using, or some algorithm has been tweaked that drastically affects their earnings.

How do you diversify your income?

The easiest way to start diversifying is to start implementing and trying different programs and methods of monetizing your site. Some ideas to start with are:

CPM advertising – You get paid by the number of impressions on your site
Affiliate programs – Test different networks and products
Services - Offer specific services that you have knowledge and expertise in
Products - If you haven’t done so, try creating your own product and marketing it

These are just a few ways to start diversifying. If you concentrate all of your money-making endeavors on one revenue stream and something happens that makes you unable to make money with that source, you are pretty much out of luck. This is why it is so important to always be testing. The upside to all of this is that you will often come across something that makes significantly more money than your current methods.

Whatever you do, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.

7 Business & Money-Making Lessons You Can Learn from Richard Branson

BigManta — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:43:09 +0000

Richard Branson is synonymous with the spirit of entrepreneurship. Starting in the late 1960’s, Richard has built an empire out of his Virgin brand and built a personal net worth estimated to be around $2.5 billion. With a company that spans the globe and a very charismatic personality, Mr. Branson has transformed himself (and his company) into one of the most admired and innovative icons in the world.

What are the secrets to how he does it? It’s a combination of several distinct characteristics that have allowed him to achieve enormous success.

Business & Money-Making Lessons You Can Learn from Richard Branson

Be bold

From showing up in dresses to promote his products to trying to break world records, Richard is always pushing the enveloped when promoting his products and companies.
Diversify

Over the years he has built, acquired, and still owns over 360 companies in various industries.
Give Back

Not only does Richard Branson make a lot of money each year, but he gives a lot of it back to humanitarian causes. He has pledged to reinvest all profits from Virgin Trains & Virgin Atlantic into research for developing environmentally-friendly fuels.
Challenge the status quo

Many of the industries that Mr. Branson competes in, are transformed when he enters the market. Not only does he put a twist on the way that his company operates – he redefines what we come to expect (as is the case with Virgin Air)
Be visible

You can see Richard Branson just about everywhere: in movies, on television, in newspapers, he is constantly taking part in things that will gain him media exposure. Often, he is sought because of his bold actions in business and his playful attitude.
Have mass appeal

Although a billionaire several times over, Richard can come across as someone people can relate to. He seems like a really fun guy you would want to hand out with, and people can live somewhat vicariously through him because he does things that many of us only dream of (flying spaceships, owning an islands, traveling the world).
Work hard and play hard

Richard structures his companies (and personal life from what he has shared) with a mentality that places fun and enjoyment right alongside work and productivity. Not only does this allow him to have fun, but it makes his employees love what they do and where they work.

Image Credit: riz94107

The 4 Qualities That Every Offline Business’ Domain Name Should Possess

BigManta — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:41:10 +0000

When choosing a domain name for your bricks and mortar business you want to ensure that you make it as easy as possible for someone trying to visit your website. While many internet-based businesses can rely on search engine rankings alone – with an offline business you will likely be interacting with people much more often (over the phone, in person, etc.). Because of this difference in how an offline business communicates with customers, there are several qualities that you will want your domain name to possess:

Easy to pronounce – When talking to people in person or over the phone you want your domain name to be easily understood. This is why I recommend staying away from dashes and numbers as they can cause a lot of confusion.
Easy to spell – Many times when you will want to give your website address over the phone so having a domain name that is easy to spell will avoid confusion and save you a lot of time.
Easy to remember – My first suggestion would be to register a domain name that is the same as your business name. This will make it very easy for your customers and potential customers to remember how to get to your site. If the name of your business has already been registered you should try and see if you can acquire the domain name from the current owner, or your other option is to find a name that is similar or a variation of your business name.
Choose a “.com” extension – This is one of the most important factors in making your offline business’ domain name successful. I have been in countless meetings and dealt with numerous businesses who register their name in a “.net” or some other extension, and they loose a lot of business because so many people visit the “.com” version.

These are the 4 qualities that I believe every offline business’ domain name should have. Not only will it save you a lot of time when getting people to your site – but it has side effects like ensuring that you receive all of the emails you are supposed to be getting… that might be going to your competitors.