[Build Great Backlinks] 25 Lessons, Quotes, and Productivity Tips from WordPress Founder Matthew Mullenweg

Build Great Backlinks

You know about Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and John Dorsey (Twitter). But what about the guy who’s in charge of the platform that powers “18.9% of the top 10 million websites”?

That would be Matt Mullenweg, the 29-year-old at the heart of WordPress. With 60 million websites built with WordPress (including this one), it is by far the most popular blogging platform in the world.

From the beginning, Mullenweg has done business differently:  WordPress was open-sourced , which means that the code was free to be developed by anybody who wanted to contribute. Mullenweg is also a vocal advocate of distributed work and 130 of Automattic’s 150 employees work outside of their San Francisco headquarters.

Let’s dig in and find out who Matt Mullenweg is, with an eye for learning from his innovative business strategies, productive work habits, and his best quotes.

Who is Matthew Mullenweg?

• Born January 11, 1984
• Studied Political Science at The University of Houston before dropping out in 2004
• Founded Automattic in 2005, the company behind WordPress
• Matthew lives in San Francisco, CA but he travels as many as 200 days a year
• Hobbies include photography and music
• Mullenweg maintains his own blog, Ma.tt

Photo Credit:  : kwightca via cc

5 Business Lessons from Matthew Mullenweg

#1  Occupy the Space Left Open by Competition

Mullenweg would have never started WordPress if another platform hadn’t disappeared overnight. Back in 2003, Mullenweg was a teenager volunteering some of his time coding for B2/cafelog — an open source blogging platform that was employed on about 2,000 blogs [wikipedia].

One day the leader developer disappeared, leaving Mullenweg and the rest of the volunteer programmers without a project. Matt decided to step up to fill the void. He wrote a blog post to the community, rallying them to join him in starting a new open source blogging platform. Mike Little commented on the post, “You serious about this? Let’s work on it together.” The two had never met. Mike was in the UK and Matt was in Houston, Texas. But the partnership worked. “We just started collaborating over the Internet,” Mullenweg explained. WordPress was born.

WordPress caught it’s big break the following year, when one of its leading competitors — Movable Type — decided to start charging its users. Hordes of thrifty bloggers abandoned Movable Type for the best free content management system available:  WordPress.

 

#2  Seek to Better Understand Your Users

"It’s my responsibility to meet as many users as possible and direct the software project in a way that reflects their interests. Last year, I probably met 2,000 or 3,000 people who make their living from WordPress."

Matt Mullenweg

Knowing your end user is the first step to being able to give them what they want. Mullenweg is one of most well-informed founders in the world when it comes to understanding his audience. His robust travel schedule brings him to scores of WordPress conferences every year.

 

#3  Know Your Creed

“If you're building a startup or any sort of organization, take a few moments to reflect on the qualities that the people you most enjoy working with embody and the user experience of new people joining your organization, from the offer letter to their first day.”

Matt Mullenweg, from ‘Why Your Company Should Have a Creed’

According to Mullenweg, a creed is “basically a statement of things important to us, written in the first person.” And Matt’s such a big believer in creed’s and their influence on company culture that he’s put Automattic’s creed above the signature on every new employee’s contract. He described the move as “an easy change that had a big impact on the company.”

In case you’re curious, I’ve included the entire Automattic creed at the bottom of the page.

 

#4  There’s Always Room to Grow

“There’s 6.999 billion people who don’t have a blog yet, don’t have a website yet, don’t have WordPress yet.”

Matthew Mullenweg, from Unreasonable.is

Matt is a mild-mannered Texas native, but his ambition is anything but mild. When asked how he felt about his platform serving 17% of the web, he said, “I obsess over that other 83% of the web that we don’t have yet.” Matt said in an interview, “There’s a much longer road ahead of us than what we’ve done so far.”

 

#5  Eat, Breathe, and Sleep Your Business

“WordPress is a part of who I am. Like eating, breathing, music, I can't not work on WordPress.”

Matthew Mullenweg, from Ma.tt

We work best on the projects that are aligned with the core of who we are. That’s what Mullenweg has with WordPress. He has said, “I go to sleep and I wake up thinking about WordPress,” and “I consider myself very lucky to be able to work on something I love so much.”

 

10 Productivity Tips from Mullenweg

Back in June 2009, Matthew Mullenweg told Liz Welch about his day-to-day habits running WordPress in a piece called, "The Way I Work." The next ten productivity tips have been culled from Mullenberg’s account of his highly-effective work habits.

 Photo Credit:  Khalid Almasoud cc

#1 Wake Naturally

Waking with the daylight instead to a screeching alarm helps you go to work with a calm and focused mind. It’s also linked to higher blood pressure (ABC News, 2011)

Mullenweg says he tries to "avoid alarm clocks as much as possible."

 

#2 Have an Unplugged Morning

Mullenweg told Inc. that one of us his goals was "to avoid looking at the computer or checking email for at least an hour after I wake up." Starting your day unplugged gives you time for reflection and calm at the beginning of your day.

 

#3 Ditch the Coffee

To many, caffeine is a prerequisite for productivity. Not for Mullenweg. "I’ve got enough stimulating things in my life already," he says.

Going without caffeine has been linked to increased calmness, less anxiety, and better sleep. But I must confess, I took a sip of green tea before writing this sentence.

 

#4 Know Your Prime Times

Mullenweg has noticed that he’s more productive at particular times of the day. Matt has said, "I do my best stuff midmorning and superlate at night. Even though midmorning is prime working time, Matt doesn’t do meetings in the mornings. "The earliest I’ll do a meeting is 11 am," he told Inc.

Everybody has times of the day (or night) during which they can be particularly productive. Try to make sure you’re working during the times when you do your best work.

 

#5 Respect Flow

Mullenweg on flow:  "When you’re coding, you really have to be in the zone… if you are taken out of the flow, if that little toaster pops up that says you’ve got mail – and you look at it, you’ve lost it."

To me, being in a state of ‘flow’ means being totally immersed in the task at hand. When I’m flowing – whether I’m writing, editing a video, or making music – I find that my work comes easily, happily, and inspired.

You can increase your chances of achieving flow by turning off your cell phone and your computer’s Internet connection. One of Mullenweg’s methods is listening to music.

 

#6 Music is a Focus Tool

"Music helps me when I’m coding… I’ll listen to a single song, over and over on repeat, like a hundred times."

Matthew Mullenweg, The Way I Work

Mullenweg’s favorite musicians include Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, Jay-Z, and Beyonce.

 

#7 Rescue Your Time

A couple years ago, I recommended adopting Rescue Time as a great New Years resolution for entrepreneurs.

Turns out Mullenweg is also a big fan of the productivity app. He called Rescue Time, "one of my favorite programs that I didn’t make."

 

#8 Cut Back on Email

Reports suggest that the average office worker spends a quarter of their day in their inbox (about two and a half hours). Mullenweg has made a concerted effort to avoid the great email time-suck:

"I realized that even though I was doing e-mail only a couple of minutes at at time, it was adding up to a couple of hours a day. So I’m trying to reduce that."

 

#9 Multiple Monitors, Multiple Devices

"In my home office, I have two large, 30-inch computer monitors — a Mac and a PC. They share the same mouse and keyboard, so I can type or copy and paste between them. I’ll typically do Web stuff on the Mac and e-mail and chat stuff on the PC. I also have a laptop, which I have with me all the time, whether I’m going overseas or to the doctor’s office."

Matt Mullenweg, The Way I Work

Notice the way that Matt talks about his various digital tools: each one has different responsibilities and roles. If you can afford it, try boosting productivity by using specific devices for specific tasks.

 

#10 Hire Well, Manage Sparingly

Sometimes the key to productivity is setting things up so that they require less work. That’s how Mullenweg has turned management into something that takes very little time out of his workweek.

"My management strategy is to find extremely self-motivated and talented people and then let them go." Mullenweg explained.

Note:  for more, see our list of 7 Surprising Productivity Tips for Self-Employed Entrepreneurs

 

10 Best Matt Mullenweg Quotes

Photo Credit:  Kris Krug cc

#10  “If you’re not embarrassed when you ship your first version, you waited too long.”

#9 “I don’t have big ideas. I sometimes I have small ideas, which seem to work out.”

#8 “Technology is best when it brings people together.”

#7 “As the web becomes more and more of a part of our everyday lives, it would be a horrible tragedy if it was looked up inside of companies and proprietary software.”

#6 “Do what you love and don’t focus on the money. Life is too short.”

#5 “For me, it always comes back to the blogger, the author, the designer, the developer. You build software for that core individual person, and then smart organizations adopt it and dumb organizations die.”

#4 “You can’t teach taste.”

#3  “My own personal dream is that a majority of the web runs on open source software.”

#2  “I am an optimist, and I believe that people are inherently good and that if you give everyone a voice and freedom of expression, the truth and the good will outweigh the bad. So, on the whole, I think the power that online distribution confers is a positive thing for society. Online we can act as a fifth estate.”

#1  “We are much better at writing code than haikus.”

Note:  if you like quotes, take a look at our list of the Top 40 Blogging Quotes.

The Automattic Creed

As promised, I’ve included Automattic’s official creed (posted by Mullenweg in September 2011):

I will never stop learning. I won't just work on things that are assigned to me. I know there's no such thing as a status quo. I will build our business sustainably through passionate and loyal customers. I will never pass up an opportunity to help out a colleague, and I'll remember the days before I knew everything. I am more motivated by impact than money, and I know that Open Source is one of the most powerful ideas of our generation. I will communicate as much as possible, because it's the oxygen of a distributed company. I am in a marathon, not a sprint, and no matter how far away the goal is, the only way to get there is by putting one foot in front of another every day. Given time, there is no problem that's insurmountable.

This is a robust set of values that lays out not just how to be a good employee at Automattic, but how to build a successful business or achieve any great goal. I hope that you’ve found these lessons, productivity tips, and quotes from Mullenweg instructive and inspirational.

If you like learning from the founders of the top Internet startups, you may enjoy our 21 Lessons from the Life of Steve Jobs.

The post 25 Lessons, Quotes, and Productivity Tips from WordPress Founder Matthew Mullenweg appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

You may view the latest post at
http://www.incomediary.com/productivity-tips-mullenweg-wordpress

Build Great Backlinks
Nick Scheidies
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com

[Build Great Backlinks] 10 Different Ways I Use PopUp Domination At Once

Build Great Backlinks

Share

I’ve been using PopUp Domination since I first started online, in early 2011, and since then, I’ve amassed a list of over 20,000 subscribers, most of whom signed up using PopUp Domination.

Since the early versions of PopUp Domination, the plugin has grown to include more themes, as well as shortcodes so that we can enter subscription forms about our website, such as in the footer and sidebar.

I use various themes from the premium theme pack at once, so that I can convert the most amount of visitors possible, while keeping the offers relevant.

It’s helped me to build multiple lists, so I’ve written this post to show you the different ways I use PopUp Domination.

It may be more powerful than you realise – I use 6 different popups at once.

Exit OptIn PopUp

This is my go-to pop up, and where most of my opt ins come from. I’m constantly updating this with one of the 25+ themes available, to see which provides me with the best conversion rate.

It’s set so that when you leave my page, the pop up appears, asking for your email address in return for a free ebook.

I A/B tested it earlier this year, and I found that I got a better conversion rate by asking for people’s email addresses as they were leaving, rather than when they land on the page.

It makes sense really because when they’re arriving on the page, they’re looking for something, and when you display a pop up straight away, they’re more likely to get rid of it and find what they came for.

A/B Testing

Always be testing.

There’s always unlocked potential in your opt in pages and pop ups, but you never know what’s going to convert best until you test it.

I initially tested a few different themes against each other, but when I found one I liked, that seemed to convert well, I then switched by making adjustments to one theme.

I test colour, heading, length of bullet point, and my favourite point of all; button text.

Sidebar & Footer OptIn

With version 3 of PopUp Domination, you can now do in-post opt ins, by taking a shortcode, and inserting it wherever you like.

I use a sidebar opt in, using PopUp Domination, as I find that they convert well and they’re well designed, especially in comparison to Aweber‘s templates.

I also use a free plugin called Q2W3 Fixed Widget, to allow my sidebar items to scroll with the page.

Again, this helps to remind people that there’s a free gift waiting for them, and encourage opt ins. My income comes from my list, so I prefer to advertise that, rather than an affiliate product.

I also use the shortcode to enter a form at the bottom of every post, like so:

Exit PopUp Notification for Sales Pages

People leave your sales pages for a variety of reasons, but whatever that reason may be, don’t you want a final chance to display a message to them and entice them back into your page?

That’s what I do on my sales pages.

It’s just a really simple popup with a list of benefits that they may have missed. If you present this to them in a really easy to read manner, there’s a good chance they’ll come back and have another look.

Instead of collecting email addresses, we just have a link to the page, or the cart, depending on the product.

This has been a proven method to make more sales for us.

(Premium theme below)

Video PopUp

Sometimes, video just works best.

I have various video sales letters, from the short and sweet, to the 15 minute long informational videos, and it’s good to be able to display these videos on relevant pages.

For example, I recently created a 7-day video course, for free, to help promote my paid course. I had a video popup appear to visitors on the pages where the topics were mentioned, asking them to opt in.

This way, I can talk to them through the medium they will expect to see me though, and I’m only targeting relevant content.

It also means that I can use my regular pop ups on the other pages.

(Premium theme below)

Redirection Pop Up for Posts Related to Products

My front-end video course for amateur photographers covers about 25 different posts on my website. They were simply adapted into videos and sold as a package.

Because I already have written versions of these videos, I can then go back and target those posts with my popup.

I do this by adding them all to a single category, and then making the popup appear on pages from that category.

There’s already an ad inside each post, but the popup appears as they enter each page, which helps to encourage them to view my paid product.

I find this kind of popup works best on page load because I can show my visitors the alternative, before they’ve even started reading.

For Establishing Interest in a New Product Idea

This is an awesome trick, if I may say so myself.

I’m testing the market for a new course on composition, because it’s not worth me creating the course until I know whether there’s interest or not. Otherwise I’ll do months of work, for very little return.

I create a popup with a similar offer to the product that I’m going to create.

For me, I’m thinking about creating a photography composition product. So I created a popup, offering a free composition video I’d made, in return for their email address. Then I go into the Analytics in PopUp Domination and look at the conversion rate. If it’s good enough, I will create the course.

And if I do launch the course, I have a list of potential buyers.

I only make this popup appear on the composition category.

Earning Money with An Affiliate Link

If you have a Clickbank account, you can start earning an affiliate commission on PopUp Domination with about 15 seconds worth of work.

You simply go into the affiliate settings, and enter your Clickbank username.

Now, not only are you collecting emails with PopUp Domination, but you’re advertising an affiliate product too.

You can view the affiliate information here.

(Premium theme below)

Affiliate Contact Form PopUp

I use this pop up as an exit popup on my contact page, and an entrance popup on my affiliate page.

I’m always happy to have other people promote my products for me, and if I’ve managed to get them to go to a page where they might sign up, I want to do everything I can to get their contact.

My pop up is really simple, and looks like the image below, only with a couple changes.

I ask for their name, email address, website, and online following.

In the bullet area I include demographic information, earnings per click, and information on promotional material, such as banners and email copy.

I also have PopUp Domination notify me whenever anyone signs up to the list, so that I can go and check it out, and get in contact with them.

The reason I use a list, rather than a regular contact form, is that I then have a list of email addresses I can easily send information about product launches, special offers, etc.

(Premium theme below)

Analytics

If you work online, and you don’t know your data, then you’re just lazy.

One of the key ways to earn more money is to improve your conversion rate for more leads, or sales.

So for that reason, every page that could potentially lead to a conversion of some kind, is always being tested, and I’m always looking at the analytics.

PopUps are an incredibly powerful too, but you’ll never know how much powerful it could be, without the use of analytics.

Conclusion

The business’ main source of income comes from my list, so it makes sense for me to do everything I can to build on this list.

You may consider me to be bias, as the product was created by my brother, but I can say for certain that my business would not be where it is now without the use of PopUp Domination, and the premium theme pack.

I think that the majority of people do not realise the true potential of this plugin, and hopefully I’ve shown you some of the features you can unlock with the premium theme pack.

Along with OptimizePress, this is just one of the plugins that are essential to my business.

The post 10 Different Ways I Use PopUp Domination At Once appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

You may view the latest post at
http://www.incomediary.com/10-different-ways-use-popup-domination

Build Great Backlinks
Josh Dunlop
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com

[Build Great Backlinks] Why Entrepreneurs Are Unhealthy & What To Do About It

Build Great Backlinks

Share

It's no coincidence that a lot of entrepreneurs have health related problems.

As entrepreneurs, we often treat our bodies terribly in exchange for success.

We work long, unsociable hours, on little sleep, fueling our bodies with crap food – just so we can get back to what we were doing.

This isn’t healthy, nor is this is my idea of success.

During the last four years, I've dedicated a lot of my time to understanding how the body works and what it needs to thrive at an optimum level.

I've tested hundreds of supplements, talked to dozens of doctors and spent a small fortune educating myself before writing this post.

I’m not a doctor and you should always do your own research, but this article does outline what works for me – everybody is different.

What Does The Body Want?

Simply put, the body wants every internal process to function in harmony.

In order to accomplish this, we need to provide our bodies with clean, sustainable nutrition and habitual physical activity. This goes a long way towards being successful in both health and business.

Health & Entrepreneurship Can Literally Go Together

The story of Jordan Rubin, CEO of Garden of Life, is a great example of the power of health & entrepreneurship working together.

This man was on his last leg, thin as a rail and suffering from numerous health conditions.

He decided he was going to take his health back into his own hands; ate a completely natural diet, returned to nature and started exercising the "right" way.

He re-gained a lot of weight, and eventually wrote a book about his story; It was called Patient, Heal Thyself.

He then went on to start a supplement company based on the experience and research he went through during his journey back to health.

To sum it up, he's now a multi-millionaire, and it never would’ve happened if he hadn’t merged entrepreneurship and health.

Granted, Jordan’s story is unique, but it puts into perspective how focus and attention to detail with your health can translate into the same attention to detail and work ethic required to be successful as an entrepreneur.

Change What You Eat & Drink

Without a doubt, the most important thing you can do to start feeling better and instantly improve your health is change what you eat and drink!

Enhancing the quality and variety of food that goes into your body ensures that your immune system, metabolism and mental processes function at an optimum level. This is imperative if you’re going to have the mental capacity or physical energy required to run your own business for the long term.

CronoMeter is a free, user-friendly resource that I use to track all of my nutrition. With that said, it's very rare that I don't eat like a king – this is what I stick to:

• 100% organic.
• Local grown and shipped.
• Whole unprocessed foods.
• No added sugar.
• No soy.
• Get off the dairy.
• Balanced macro nutrients (carbs, protein & fat) and micro nutrients (vitamins & minerals).
  
• Drink plenty of water.
• Drink kombucha.

Improve The Way You Eat & Drink

It's not just what you eat, but how you eat that can make a big difference.

There are a few solid eating tips I've picked up over the years that have helped keep my health bulletproof – I've listed them here:

• Eat soon after waking up.
• Set eating times (ex: 9, 12, 5 & 8).
• Chew your food thoroughly (ex: 36 times, once for each tooth).
• Don’t drink during and for up to an hour after a meal – it slows digestion. This is an interesting article on drinking & digestion - http://foodbabe.com/2012/02/19/be-unconventional-stop-drinking-with-your-meals
  
• Eat food fresh and immediately after it's prepared to optimize nutritional value.
• Hydrate yourself – Mental processes are affected by as little as 2% dehydration. Not to mention, the most common cause of afternoon fatigue is dehydration (drink plenty of water, herbal teas, stock, broths & fresh homemade juice).

Improve Your Sleep

As an entrepreneur, I go to bed most nights, excited to find out what tomorrow brings.

The thing is, the more I think, the more I toss and turn and the longer it takes me to fall asleep. The way I see it, we have to sleep every day, for the rest of our lives; might as well be good at it.

Here’s what's been working for me:

• Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day (typically 11pm – 8am).
• Sleep in complete darkness; make sure to black out your windows. This great article by Dr. Mercola talks about it here – http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/01/02/sleep-in-darkness.aspx
• Sleep in complete silence.
• Reduce blue light in the evening (install f.lux app, dim your lights, burn beeswax candles, turn off electronics).
• Get an adequate amount of sleep each night. Sleeping less than 7 hours per night can double the chance of coming down with an infection (deep sleep increases your body’s production of natural killer cells).
• Wake up to sunlight. I use a wake up to light alarm clock, at 7:30 it begins brightening up the room until 8am when bird noises begin.
• Eat two kiwi fruit before bed. Studies show that eating two kiwi fruit every day will improve the quality of one's sleep by 40% and help you fall asleep 35% quicker.
• Drink a chamomile, passion-flower or peppermint tea before you sleep.
• Don't eat dinner within 3 hours of going to bed.
• Sleep with socks on. A recent study has shown that cold feet are often a cause of interrupted sleep.

Improve Your Air

The quality of our air has a huge impact on our health. As humans we’re meant to live outside, breathing that lovely fresh air.

Not only is this a great opportunity to absorb some vitamin D3, but also it helps improve our immune system by enhancing our human micro-biome (the "good bugs" living inside us).

Here are some air quality habits that I live by:

• Keep a window open. This cool article explains the surprising benefits – http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-7936/why-you-need-to-open-a-window…
• Use natural cleaning products.
• Burn beeswax candles to purify air. Beeswax is a fantastic medium for candles and produces negative ions when burned, which pulls positively charged particles out of the air (providing many benefits especially for allergy sufferers).
• Learn how to breathe properly (deep and consciously).
• Buy some house plants. A NASA study proved they’re great air filters and this video explains the benefits – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmn7tjSNyAA

Sitting Is The New Smoking – Even If You Exercise

Thomas Jefferson would get regular exercise amidst his several hours of daily study at his estate. He was one of the brightest minds to have ever graced history book pages, but he still made sure to get out and exercise each day.

There's no getting around the fact that the more you sit, the worse health you're going to have, the earlier you're going to die, and it doesn't matter how fit you are.

As Internet entrepreneurs, we spend A LOT of our time sitting in front of the computer. We run websites, write articles, and check stats for hours on end…

But what does all this sitting for extended periods of time do?

Well, for starters, sitting in front of a computer for such long hours increases our risk of depression, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

Plus, all that time spent at the computer expending mental energy without any physical activity just makes it harder to sleep at night. Combine that with the fact that most Internet entrepreneurs drink a lot of caffeine – which in itself creates a recipe for throwing everything out of whack.

You have to live an active lifestyle if you're going to be healthy and successful as an entrepreneur.

The Life We Lead

Our daily habits can make or break our health and our business in the long run.

Creating a daily schedule that incorporates both health conscious activities and entrepreneurial tasks is a great way to remain productive and achieve success.

For example, as entrepreneurs we're prone to sit for long hours while working, which in many cases translates into unsociable behavior.

Having a positive sense of community is nearly as important to our health as exercise because the division of work, feeling of association and togetherness all help establish a healthy atmosphere and mindset.

One of the most important things we can to do to maximize our health and productivity as entrepreneurs is to create a daily schedule and stick to it.

Now, you don't want to feel like you're a slave to your schedule so you must be productive and create time for fun.

Besides your eating times, some of the most important aspects to keep in mind when creating your daily schedule is to make time for breaks and utilize them to get up, move around and interact with other human life.

I’ve adopted a great method from master copywriter Eugene Schwartz that allows me to remain productive yet active and involved throughout my day.

What I do is set my timer to exactly 33 minutes and 33 seconds (33.33) – this seems to be the magic number for me.

From after breakfast until about lunch I work in 33.33-minute chunks with 10-15 minute breaks between "sessions." I take advantage of these breaks by walking around the park, practicing yoga, meditating, watching funny videos or simply starting conversations with strangers.

By becoming aware of a few of the more common reasons why entrepreneurs and business owners are unhealthy you can avoid them and excel; here they are:

• Sitting long hours.
• Bad posture from sitting down all day.
• Working long hours.
• No "me time.”
• Don't take breaks.
• Unsociable / lack of community.
• Eating food on the go.
• They eat sugar, dairy, gluten, yeast, processed food or soya.
• Bad sleep.
• Often burn candle at both ends of the stick (party hard).
• Travel all over the world, at times exposing us to infectious diseases.
• Little exercise.
• Mental exhaustion.

Are You, As An Entrepreneur, Doomed To Be Unhealthier?

You, as an entrepreneur, are actually poised to be a lot healthier than the regular working class folk, who unfortunately don't really have much of a choice about their lifestyles.

They have to go into work every day, spend X amount of hours there, often under poor working conditions, and have to be cramped up in an office all day without taking any breaks outside.

The good news for you and I is that there was a recent study that showed entrepreneurs were actually healthier. They tended to eat more fruits and vegetables, exercise more, and take more self-responsibility.

The same traits that have made you such a great entrepreneur can be carried over to living a healthy lifestyle. If you put as much work into your body, as you do your business, you’ll be flying high.

Remember, a lot of people who live sedentary and unhealthy lifestyles don't have a choice about their lives. They’re forced to work inside all day for a set number of hours and can't even spend their days outside when it's bright and sunny.

The idea of trying to be healthy, while being an entrepreneur, has to be taken to heart. The most successful entrepreneurs combine great health with great business!

Health by choice, not by chance.

-David Aston

By the way… if you’re an entrepreneur suffering from health issues like gut problems, high body fat %, chronic fatigue, allergies or poor sleep, you will definitely appreciate my new book – it’ll change your life.

If you follow what I say in this book and don’t see an improvement within 5 days, I’ll give you your money back, no questions asked.

The post Why Entrepreneurs Are Unhealthy & What To Do About It appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

You may view the latest post at
http://www.incomediary.com/entrepreneurs-unhealthy

Build Great Backlinks
David Aston
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com

[Build Great Backlinks] “How Popup Domination became my first million dollar product…”

Build Great Backlinks

The true story behind Popup Domination is one of of those stories you go '…What" with a look of disbelief.

It was so simple.

I was a blogger, looking to play catch up on my competition. I needed a way to build a bigger list fast!

I asked my designer to create a lightbox popup and put it up on IncomeDiary.com

Over night, I went from getting 20 something subscribers to over 100 new subscribers daily. I couldn't believe how easy it made getting email subscribers. And it seriously kicked ass for me because I was making the majority of my income from email marketing.

So I rang him up and said something like, 'this is awesome!!'.

He had just got an office in Aberdeen and had hired 2 in house coders and another who worked from home. It just made sense to go into business together, low risk for me & a great opportunity for him. He would build it and I would sell it.

We officially launched 11 days later. Yes, 11 short days!

We had originally set a launch deadline of 25 days. However, after the second day of work, I heard that someone may be launching something similar and it was coming out in 18 days. So we just decided 11 days would be enough time.

It wasn't. Nowhere near enough time but like I said, we went with it and began selling.

In three years, we have sold over 23,000 copies and generated over a million dollars in sales.

Millions of people see our popup plugin in action every day.

So what happened to that guy launching something similar? Nothing.

It's funny looking back, we always put so much pressure on ourselves and took things really seriously.

Being in business wasn't simple though, such as I never expected so many people would try to rip off what we have done. I've even had friends ring me up pretending to offer advice, just to get some inside information so that they could launch a competitor.

In the beginning, we took it to heart, every time someone wanted to steal our ideas. But over time, we learned that these people cause us no harm. Yes, what they are doing is illegal and immoral, but they educate the market and bring us more customers.

It's also easier to accept, knowing that none of them stick around very long because, well, to put it simply, they copy our ideas, do a worse job and charge you more for it.

Two months ago, my business partner sold his company to an investor, including his share of Popup Domination. Then I went to the new owners and bought their share of Popup Domination from them.

Now here I am. 100% owner of Popup Domination with an unbelievable, time sensitive offer.

Because it cost me so much money to buy his share of Popup Domination, I’m having a one off fire sale. What that means is for one time only, you get to have all of my best-selling products for a fraction of what they normally cost.

We have no upsells, no hidden catches & if you don't like the product, let me know within 60 days and I will give you a refund, no questions asked.

Click Here For The Fire Sale… It Won’t Last Long!

Thanks,

Michael Dunlop

Click Here For The Fire Sale

The post “How Popup Domination became my first million dollar product…” appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

You may view the latest post at
http://www.incomediary.com/popup-domination-became-first-million-dollar-product

Build Great Backlinks
Michael Dunlop
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com

[Build Great Backlinks] Twitter Goes Public: 21 Things You Should Know

Build Great Backlinks

Share

Twitter’s going public today, November 7th, 2013.

There’s been a lot of excitement leading up to the biggest Internet IPO since May 2012, when Facebook went public. That day was a nightmare for Zuckerberg and Co., as widespread demand caused glitches that left investors unsure whether or not their transaction went through. Facebook’s stock suffered, but has been skyrocketing for the last 12 months.

Will Twitter follow suit? Nobody knows for sure – but the financial world has been abuzz with speculation ever since Twitter’s IPO filing last month. The SEC filing revealed previously secret information, like exact revenue and growth numbers. Twitter excitement has reached a frenzied level in the last few days. Investor interest has spurred last minute price hikes up to $26 per share and it’s been reported that banks underwriting the IPO have received so much interest they’ve had to close their books.

All this for a company that hasn’t ever turned a profit? I get into the juicy details of Twitter’s highly anticipated IPO below.

What You’ll Learn:

• How Much Twitter Earns Per Tweet
• How Twitter’s value compares to Facebook and LinkedIn
• How Much Co-Founder Jack Dorsey Stands to Gain
• How Twitter’s IPO will be Different than Facebook’s
• Whether or Not to Invest

21 Things to Know as Twitter Goes Public

#1 Revenue is Real and Growing

Twitter revealed that they’ve already earned $422 million in the first nine months of 2013. That’s more than double their revenue from the same period the year before. They’re on pace to make over $600 dollars in 2013.

Twitter’s sales are projected to rise 53% next year to $950 million according to an estimate from the company’s bankers.

 

#2 But Twitter has Never Seen Profit

In 2011, Twitter lost $128.3 million dollars. In 2012, they cut that number down to $79.4 million. Since it’s inception in 2006, Twitter has lost a whopping $418.6 million.

The good news is that revenue growth is outpacing expenses by a factor of three. According to the Wall Street Journal, between 2010 and 2012 Twitter’s revenue rose 1,021% and expenses rose only 311.5%. Still, they aren’t expected to see a profit until 2015.

 

#3 Almost All that Money is Coming from Ads

"We generated 85% and 87% of our revenue from advertising in 2012 and the six months ended June 30, 2013, respectively."

- Twitter, in IPO Filing

As of now, "substantially all" of those advertising dollars come from three sources: promoted tweets, promoted trends, and promoted accounts.

In the future, more of that money may come from inline advertisements. Twitter is also looking to boost their ad revenue in the coming years by becoming more visual and more mobile.

 

#4 75% of Active Twitter Users are Mobile

According to the IPO, three out of four Twitter accounts are accessed through a smart phone or tablet.

This bodes well for Twitter, given the rise of mobile web. According to Salon, global mobile advertising revenue nearly doubled from $5.3 billion to $8.9 billion from 2011 to 2012.

 

#5 But Only 65% of Ad Revenue comes from Mobile

Twitter makes less money from their mobile users and that’s something they’ll be looking to improve upon as they make a push for profitability in the coming years.

 

#6 Twitter has 230 Million Active Monthly Users

If Twitter’s users were a country, it would be the fifth most populous in the entire world – between Indonesia and Brazil.

 

#7 About 25% of Twitter Users are American

Twitter was founded in San Francisco, but today the vast majority of Twitter users live outside the States. 49.2 million Americans use the service compared to over 169 million internationally.

Of those international users, about 15 million live in the UK. With a population of about 63 million, that means almost one in every four people in the United Kingdom use Twitter. In the US, that figure is lower (about 1/6).

 

#8 They’re Sending 500,000,000 Tweets Each Day

That amounts to 5,787 tweets per second.

 

#9 For Every 1000 Tweets, Twitter earns about 75 cents

The numbers are higher in the US, where Twitter gets $2.17 per 1,000 tweets. Internationally, it’s a paltry $0.30 for 1,000 tweets.

This an important lesson in online business. All people are created equal, but some web visitors are worth more advertising dollars than others. Targeting an audience in the United States or other affluent nations will result in higher earnings per visitor.

 

#10 There are More Tweets than People

Since 2006, there have been over 300 billion tweets. That makes the world population of 7.12 billion people look pretty measly in comparison.

 

#11 Twitter is Growing Faster Internationally

According to Twitter’s IPO filing, they’re growing at a rate of 35% in the US and 47% globally. This trend is expected to continue, as global markets are significantly less saturated.

 

#12 Twitter’s Stock Ticker will be TWTR

Simple and to the point, this ticker is reminiscent of the company’s original name: twttr.

 

#13 Twitter’s IPO Values the Company at $18.3 Billion

That may seem like a lot for a company that’s never turned a profit – and it is. But it’s still about quite a bit less than the value of LinkedIn ($26 Billion) and Facebook ($120 billion).

 

#14 Demand for Twitter Stock has been High

“Banks underwriting the IPO told investors that the order book closed Tuesday morning, earlier than expected." USA Today describes this as "a bullish sign."

Initially, Twitter was going to be selling its shares at $17-$20. But after receiving a warm pre-IPO response from investors, that on Monday, November 4^th Twitter raised the price to $23-26 per share. Finally, the night before their market debut, Twitter settled on the high-end:  $26/share. That means they stand to raise about $2.1 billion from the sale.

 

#15 Twitter’s Selling Less of Itself than Facebook

Twitter’s IPO is the biggest Internet IPO since Facebook, but it’s still much smaller than it’s social media rival. Facebook sold 421 million shares at $38 each. Twitter is selling only 70 million shares.

Fewer public shares means that the IPO will not raise as much money, but it’s also safer and ensures a higher degree of control for the existing owners.

 

#16 Former CEO Williams Stands to Gain Over $1 Billion

Here are some notable Twitter stockholders:

• Evan Williams, Founder and Former CEO – holds 12%
• Peter Fenton, Board Member – holds 6.7%
• Jack Dorsey, Founder and Chairman – holds 4.9%
• Richard Costolo, Current CEO – holds 1.6%

Jack Dorsey ownership of Twitter will be worth well over a half billion dollars.

 

#17 Current CEO Richard Costolo’s Salary is Just $14,000

Don’t shed any tears for the guy: he made $11.5 million in 2012 and his stock is estimated to be worth about $200 million.

 

#18 Twitter will be Traded on NYSE

Nasdaq is "technology focused" stock exchange, home of Apple, Google, and Facebook. But Twitter decided to be listed with the larger New York Stock Exchange.

The New York Post’s Mark DeCambre attributes the move to NYSE’s long courtship of Twitter – along with the fact that NYSE has more Twitter follower’s than the Nasdaq.

But the biggest reason may have to do with Twitter’s biggest competitor. According to Reuters, "many analysts said the trading disruptions that occurred on Facebook’s Nasdaq debut likely played to NYSE’s favor."

 

#19 And NYSE isn’t Taking Any Chances

On Saturday, October 26, 2013, NYSE performed an unprecedented system’s check in order to avoid any technical difficulties on opening day. Investors can rest easy knowing that the tests went well.

 

#20 It has been a Strong Year for IPO’s

Reuters reports that, “Both NYSE and Nasdaq have said 2013 is shaping up to be their best IPO year in more than half a decade.”

 

#21 It’s a Bull Market

The markets have been soaring in the last year, particularly for online companies. Facebook and LinkedIn have both doubled their share prices in the last year. Bloomberg says, “The climate for Web stocks is particularly hot, with the 77-member Bloomberg U.S. Internet Index trading near the highest valuation relative to the S&P 500 since 2007.”

In other words, the time is right for Twitter’s IPO.

 

Should You Invest in Twitter?

Anybody who tells you they know what’s going to happen with Twitter is either a liar or a psychic. Of course, that doesn’t stop analysts from chiming in. Predictions run the gamut, from the dire…1

"When you look at valuations and look at the lack of earnings and revenue, it seems to me much like the dot-com bubble. This market looks a little frothy and Twitter is the personification of a risky trade."

– Matt McCormick, to Bloomberg

…to the exuberant…

"Our own view on management is very favorable given our observations of decisions they have made to date. We have a high degree of confidence that Twitter can continue producing sales growth for many quarters to come."

– Matt Weiler, to Wall Street Journal

…and everything in between.

Ultimately, it comes down to whether or not you believe in Twitter. It’s valuation at over $10 Billion is based on assumptions that it will continue to grow and increase revenue for decades to come.

My Opinion:

I believe in Twitter and think that it’s a unique platform that’s well-managed and well-positioned to mature along with mobile. But I’m a low-risk investor and no matter how you slice it, Twitter is a high-risk stock. For that reason, I won’t be buying Twitter stock any time soon. That said, I bet Twitter’s opening day will go off without a hitch and its price will finish higher than $30.

A Message from Twitter to Investors

Included in the filing was this message for investors from founder Jack Dorsey:

Twitter was born on March 21, 2006, with just 24 characters.

We started with a simple idea: share what you're doing, 140 characters at a time. People took that idea and strengthened it by using @names to have public conversations, #hashtags to organize movements, and Retweets to spread news around the world. Twitter represents a service shaped by the people, for the people.

The mission we serve as Twitter, Inc. is to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly without barriers. Our business and revenue will always follow that mission in ways that improve–and do not detract from–a free and global conversation.

Thank you for supporting us through your Tweets, your business, and now, your potential ownership of this service we continue to build with you.

Yours,

@twitter

Jack’s also the founder of Square and a pretty interesting guy. If you want to learn more from the man behind Twitter, I’ve compiled 9 business lessons from his amazing life.

The post Twitter Goes Public: 21 Things You Should Know appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

You may view the latest post at
http://www.incomediary.com/twitter-goes-public-things-know

Build Great Backlinks
Nick Scheidies
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com

[Build Great Backlinks] 10 Practical Productivity Hacks of Successful Bloggers

Build Great Backlinks

Share

We all have a million things going on and the world is busier than ever.

Bloggers and Entrepeneurs have to be weary of where to spend their time in order to cut through the clutter and reach their goals.

Today we'll cover some of the hacks that come in handy for many of the worlds best bloggers and entrepeneurs and will greatly increase you productivity as well.

1. Journaling & Planning

"If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions." – Albert Einstein

Journaling is one of the most effective ways to get thoughts out of your head and transform them into definite plans of action. It was used by many great achievers as a tool to get both inspiration and perspective on their thoughts and actions.
among them are:

• Richard Branson
• Albert Einstein
• Thomas Edison
• Leonardo Davinci
• Andrew Carnegie
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Winston Churchill
• Napoleon hill

just to name a few. Since our time on this planet is limited, it comes to no surprise that successful people and those seeking success value their time as their most precious asset. So should you! Planning and reflecting on your actions and the Problem at hand, even just for a 5 minutes a day, will definitely give you more clarity. It makes sure that you spend your valuable time doing things that give you joy and have a positive impact.
Also, successful Bloggers get into the habit of taking notes of their ideas, plans and knowledge in order to stay on top of things. The faster you establish the habit of writing things down when they come to mind, taking notes on the books and courses you read, the more you will be able to stay on top of things when times get busy and stressful.

Practical steps to get started:

• Grab a Journal or Post-it and write down at least 7 Things you want to do tomorrow and Put/Post it somewhere where you will definitely see it tomorrow morning (i.e. your screen, office etc.)
• Get into the habit of performing this task every day before going to bed.
• Train your idea-muscle (especially helpful if you don’t have a website yet or are short on ideas) Use a timer, set it for 5 minutes. and write down as many ideas as possible. Do not judge or evaluate anything, just write as much as you can. This can include everything, from exporting Grizzlies to zoos in India to creating a new iPhone app. Go Nuts! The aim of this exercise is to train your creative idea muscle and get ideas out without being limited by reason. If you do this every morning you will be amazed at the amount of ideas that pop into your mind.
• Apply the idea-muscle idea from above to any specific project you like. Got a website? Create a to-do list for your website! What needs to be done. What could be done, what would be awesome.
• Go through your list and limit it to 5 things.
• Prioritize them by ease of implementation.
• Then do it!

2. Working in short bursts

“Getting your shoes on is the hardest part of any workout.” – Kathrine Switzer

For most people including myself, the most difficult thing is do take action consistently. I believe that the main sources for this are fear and the feeling of overwhelm. We dont take action because we fear that its not gonna work, that we will look stupid once we fail and we can’t see the end result yet.

Sounds familiar?

We try to estimate what it would take and conclude that its not really worth the effort and i dont have the time now.

Think of jogging.
Most people start running and love the feeling. They run for 30 minutes and the next day their muscles are sore The problem is that they think they need to run for another 30 minutes, otherwise whats the point. That is hard to commit to when your muscles are sore. I will go tomorrow they say, but tomorrow never comes.
The solution. Instead of aiming for 30 minutes, they should make it a habit to put their running shoes on and walk for 20 meters before jogging back. Everything more is up to them, but that is 20 m is all that’s necessary. Sounds stupid? Try it out and see how it works. The beauty of this is that very soon people will want to run, because 20 m become too simple. When you take this approach with any endeavor, your whiny voice will shut up much more often, because it can’t tell you that you don’t have the time to put shoes on for 20 meters. And that’s great, because on some days you’ll run just that, and on others you’ll do much more.

I have used this strategy successfully for several goals of mine.
2 Years ago I wanted to create the habit of meditating daily, since I really enjoyed the feeling whenever i did it. So I set myself the goal to meditate for at least 1 min each day (5 deep breaths). That's it! I have meditated daily ever since and I will continue to do so, because even though now I always do 15 minutes, even on the busiest day i will find time for 5 deep breaths.

Another thing is writing. Be it for University or Business, we have to write a lot. Therefore, I often set myself the goal of writing at least 4 x 15 minutes, which makes it easy to get myself going because the anxious part of my brain knows that I could come back any time later and finish it. Of course I rarely need this but it’s easier to convince the lazy/anxious part of my brain of 4 x 15 min sessions than 1 h each day. It's all a matter of perspective.

Practical steps to implement this:

• What is something you need to work or a habit you'd like to create? Is it a blog post? A study paper? Phonecalls? Running daily?
• Whatever it is, give yourself a limited time between 1 – 15 minutes depending on your task and skill
• Remember. it's better to jog 50 meters each day than for 30 minutes once every blue moon.
• Get stayfocusd for online tasks and use the nuclear function to assure you won't cheat yourself.
• Use a timer like focus booster for your 15 min increments or productivity.

3. Batching

"Batch meetings or calls in one or two set days, with 15 minutes between appointments. Scattering them throughout the week at odd times just interrupts everything else." – Tim Ferriss

Batching describes the principle of grouping similar actions together to be done in one "batch" of time in order to enhance productivity. This approach is highly practical and has been adopted by many successful online entrepreneurs.

By organizing your week in batches you'll not only know when is what but have more clarity of what to do in between batches, since these batches can provide a productive framework to schedule your days.

For example, Derek Halpern from socialtriggers.com has a determined day for shooting his YouTube videos. Instead of filming each video individually and posting it, he writes up the scripts during the weeks and has one day where the camera is rolling for hours. This way he creates a backlog of Videos and posts that will be released automatically over the coming weeks, during which he can take care of marketing, researching and living a great life.

Probably the biggest drain on our attention online is everything regarding to communication, be it emails, twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp or any of the others.
While it may seem scary, try to limit your email to certain times to check. I personally allow myself only 10 min of distraction sites (FB, News, etc) each day using a chrome extension called stayfocusd! I also aim to check mail only twice daily (12.15 & 18.15) That may seem extreme, but it has worked wonders for me. I get more stuff done and have clear goals for using those 10 minutes.

Obviously you want to adapt this to your preferences and sites, but lets be honest. We all have sites that we use as outlets for wasting time and chilling around. And there is nothing wrong with these sites. Just make sure you use them in moderation and focus on the things that will actually give you energy (working out, quality times with friends and loved ones etc.) This will not only get you faster towards your goals, but make you happier too.

4. Pulling content into resource pages

"There are tons of different factors that go into ranking well, but the biggest is high-quality content." – David Sinick

What's the lifeblood of successful Blogs? Great Content and Promotion of that content.

If you find yourself in an evergreen niche (where your published content will always remain relevant), you may benefit greatly from pulling your already created articles into even better Resource pages. A great example of this is Josh Dunlops Beginners guide to photography, which provides a great content overview and links out to many of his own articles.

The beauty of this is that these sites have natural advantages:

• High SEO potential, since they they tend to be long in nature
• Get shared a lot, since they provide a concise overview over a specific topic
• Provides a hub for people entering your page
• Great monetization potential since you're providing great value and your CTA is highly relevant (i.e. if you want to do X, I recommend Y/sign up for more via email)

5. Engaging users to generate content

Other ways to get great content without having to come up with ideas is asking questions to your audience and answer them as in show format. Marie Forleo does an excellent job at this. While this format is especially great for YouTube shows, podcasts and Webinars it can also be done in text format, especially when using polls or contests to get participants. If you make it a habit to engage your audience in this way, getting new content should be the least of your worries. Most followers enjoy personalized content since they often can relate to it. And if you give your fans the chance to be run part of the show, the are likely to take you up on the offer.

It can also make introductions much easier, since you have a crowd to back up demand.
Example: If you ask your audience whom to interview next and get 20 votes for Michael Dunlop, you'll have both an easier time following through (because you pretty much have to at this point ) and also have a reason for contacting Michael and presenting yourself more or less as the Ambassador of your audience (i.e. these people want you and have these questions!). Furthermore, if you follow through on your audience tips, they will be more open to reciprocate if you give them the chance to (i.e. "Let's get to 25 shares in order to get a second round interview etc.)

6. Outsource writing or research

"Do what you do best and outsource the rest." – Julian Hall

While successful bloggers always add their personality in their texts to make sure their content is consistent, it can be a great investment to pay for research or Blogposts themselves. If you find it easier to edit existing content than writing something from scratch:

Research your keywords and topics of interest
Pay for someone to write on them (a detailed sophisticated process of this including actual scripts can be found at Module 3 of the Mastersblueprint)
Edit the content to fit your needs and make it pretty.

That way you can make progress much faster, especially if you don't have many posts yet, since the base structure is already written and you have something tangible to work with. Also, you will find that the more you invest in good research and base structure, the more interest you will have in getting the post out there! It gives you a feeling of control and consistency to know that other people deliver while you sleep.

7. Allow guestbloggers with caution

Guestblogging is seen on Blogs like this one, problogger, fourhourblog and many more. Guestblogging can be great because you can get great Content for free or very little money while have others work for you.

Whether to use guestblogging depends on your strategy and goals:

Positive:
If you plan to build a business that becomes less about your but about your brand. By enabling guestposts you not only have more content to share, but your Blog also becomes easier to sell since your audience is used to guestposts and the business could potentially be operated without your involvement. Furthermore, if you find relevant content and make it an exclusivity to write for you you can attract great relationships and offers. For an example of this look at Tim Ferriss' Blog: By leveraging high quality guest posts that attract a lot of reach he not only boosts his own credibility (He's the guy giving all these people a stage and is affiliated with them), but also becomes a desirable platform to be on for many top notch entrepreneurs.

Negative:
If you want to build a great personal brand that relies only on your appearance and thoughts, than opening your blog for guestauthors may harm your personal brand and upset your audience. People usually don't like it when their favorite author suddenly is replaced by another, even just temporarily (this is particularly true for domains with your name in it (imagine guestposts on sethgodin.com).

In any case: you have to be very conscious about what type of guestposts you allow –> don’t drop quality for quantity!

8. Distraction free environments

"Deleting 200 spams a day is a drag. And I was checking my email constantly, rather than getting on with my real work, which is reading and writing. Email was becoming a distraction, a burden rather than a liberation." – Tom Hodgkinson

One of the biggest win for any blogger is the setup of distraction free environments! Creating a place of order, structure and clarity is not only helpful for your productivity, but will make your day more satisfactory by allowing for maximum output in a short period of time. There is definitely a reason why Steve Jobs demanded every Wall and Ceiling to be painted in pure white, without anything hanging on the walls. But creating your own distraction free zone can be had more quickly.

Here are some hacks I found helpful in setting it up:

• Clean up! No-brainer, but a messy environment leaves a messy mind. Go pick up your stuff and either store it or throw it away entirely. The time will be well invested.
• Open the window for fresh air and get a glass of water.
• Give yourself a time-frame (i.e. 4 x 15 minutes, see point 2.) You mind enjoys clarity!
• Write down all the things you need to take care of later and put it somewhere behind you so that you can act on it later.
• Turn your phone into airplane mode and put it aside so you can't see it (behind you or in another room.
• Use good headphones (I personally use these Headphones model from AKG, but others will do as well) and just put them on. I often don't listen to anything, but it helps me shut out any noise.
• If you do listen to something or feel your mind wandering too much, put on one of these two tracks. (XX-Intro 10h & ambient Rain 10h) to neutralize auditory sensations until you get into flow (usually takes around 10-20 min. for me)
• Get F.Lux! This free little software runs in the background and shifts your screen colors to reflect the state of the sun at your location. No more eye strain or headaches from working in the evening! Must have.
• Use the Nuklear option of stayfocusd to only allow the websites you need to work effectively!
• Maximize your browser window to go full screen (F11 on Chrome). More Space, less distraction!

9. Get a life outside of the internet

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." – John Lennon

Last but not least, it is important to get a break and take care of life. The most important business decisions happen offline!

While your blog, your community and all the other goodness are all great fun and a big part of your life, don’t be foolish to think that a successful blog will solve all your problems.

Example: Lets say that your constantly online, only focused on your blog. You publish new content daily
and your community is growing. You hustle and post on Facebook, YouTube and all the other things that are
out there. You build great relationships with other bloggers, which enable you access to an entirely new level online. Your audience loves it and wants more of you and your voice online. That’s when you discover that you feel burned out and the enjoyment that you got in the beginning from a new comment has veined to something annoying. You may have lost relationships along the way because you never spent time with friends and only wanted to talk about business, you may have gotten in bad shape or even become ill in the process.

In short, you have become unbalanced! But the problem is, your audience has become so used to your presence that they riot about why you’re not posting or responding to comments like you used to. We as humans get used to things very quickly and usually don’t like it when things change.

Be aware of your commitments in the beginning and maintain a life outside of Business as well, so your Business can become and stay a sustainable pillar of joy, service and wealth for you and your audience.

10. Learn less, do more

“Knowledge doesn’t pay for anything, it’s what you do with that knowledge that pays.” – Napoleon Hill

If you want to get ahead in life, this is definitely the biggest piece of the puzzle. Spend less time looking and more time doing! Simple advice that you'll find hard to follow! It is something that I personally struggle with constantly! I love learning and see how others got to where they are and how I can do the same. However, it has become my comfort-zone.

Learning is great joy and should be a definite part of your life, however, too much learning can cause you too never take action and stay in the belief that there is something else you need to learn before you can get started!

Sounds familiar? I have spent 1000+ hours just learning stuff about computer graphics and online marketing. I have had great successes in many areas, but still have no successful blog!

Learning has become my comfort-zone and that needs to change!

The reason is simple. it is easy to stay where we are and comfortable to know a lot and talk a great deal but never acting on it. This is also the quality I admire most about Michael.
When he’s got an idea he acts on it, IMMEDIATELY!

As Noah Kagan from Appsumo says: “Getting real Feedback from potential customers is more valuable than any book you’ll ever read.”

So let's stop right there and get going!

To sum up, here are the 10 areas to improve your Productivity:

1. Journal on your goals & ideas to gain clarity over the lifestyle you want to live. (The best books providing self assessments are: Click millionaires and Think and Grow Rich)
2. Use a timer to work on one task for 1-15 minutes, than see if you are in for another round.
3. Batch your Tasks, especially mail and social media.
4. Combine your existing articles into resource pages.
5. Try outsourcing your blogpost drafts! For more info on how to do this effectively, check out MastersBlueprint.
6. Experiment with allowing Guestposts! Choose Quality over Quantity!
7. Get your users to contribute content (Q&A, contests, polls, desired interviews etc.)
8. Schedule time for your offline life.
9. Create distraction free environments where you can get to work without loosing focus.
10. Learn less, do more! No one will pay you for what you know, but only for what you do with what you know!

If you found this article helpful, share with your ambitious friends. Also tell us your experience! Which tools and techniques help you to get the most out of your day! We'd love to hear it!

The post 10 Practical Productivity Hacks of Successful Bloggers appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

You may view the latest post at
http://www.incomediary.com/10-practical-productivity-hacks-successful-bloggers

Build Great Backlinks
Mattis Weiler
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com

[Build Great Backlinks] 50 Wise Thoughts on Business

Build Great Backlinks

Share

Every day, we get a little bit older and a little bit wiser. But what if there was a way to skip ahead and get years worth of wisdom in a single day?

Confucius once said that there are three ways to become wise:  the noble way to get wiser is through self-reflection; the bitter way to get wiser is through experience; and the easy way to get wiser is through imitation.

Personally, I’d rather wise up the easy way — and that’s why I’ve made the following resource.

To imitate the wisdom of the world’s most successful CEO’s and Founders, I’ve spent the last week sifting through the vastness of the Internet for the most wise thoughts on business. The wise thoughts below come people like Steve Jobs, Andrew Carnegie, Richard Branson, and PayPal founder Elon Musk (who I recently profiled for startup advice).

I’ve organized this post into six sections which you can skip to with the table of contents on the right. I’ll start off with my five favorite business proverbs, which I found here. Then I’ll share business leaders’ wisdom on what really matters, the importance of customers, metaphors for business, business tips, and conclude with my top ten most wise thoughts on business.

 

5 Wise Business Proverbs

#1  On Planting Trees

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

– Chinese Proverb

#2  On Focus

“He who begins many things finishes but few.”

– German Proverb

#3  On Castles

“Building a castle is difficult. Defending and maintaining it is harder still.”

– Asian Proverb

#4  On Perseverance

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”

– Japanese Proverb

#5  On Your Calling

“Everyone should observe carefully which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all his strength.”

– Hasidic Proverb

Photo Courtesy of Skoeber

10 Thoughts on What Really Matters in Business

#1  Vision

“Capital isn’t scarce; vision is.”

– Sam Walton, Founder of Walmart

#2  Service

“He profits most who serves best.”

– Arthur F. Sheldon, Early Rotary Club Leader

#3  Knowledge

“To succeed in business, to reach the top, an individual must know all it is possible to know about that business.”

– J. Paul Getty, Founder of the Getty Oil Company

#4  People

“Take away my people, but leave my factories, and soon grass will grow on the factory floors. Take away my factories, but leave my people, and soon we will have a new and better factory."

– Andrew Carnegie, Founder of the Carnegie Steel Company

As Mary Kay once said, “A company is only as good as the people it keeps.”

#5  Experience

“In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins:  cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.”

– Harold Geneen, Former President of the ITT Corporation

#6  Peers

 "It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction."

– Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

#7  Character

“Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.” -

– Norman Schwarzkopf, US General

#8  Time

“Your greatest resource is your time.”

– Brian Tracy, Motivational Speaker and Author

#9  Your Network

“Your network is your net worth.”

– Tim Sanders (and many others), former Yahoo! Director

#10  Your Customers

“Revolve your world around your customers and more customers will revolve around you.”

– Heather Williams

 

10 Thoughts on The Importance of Happy Customers

I found so much wisdom on customers, I had no choice but to give customer wisdom its very own segment. Great business minds just seem to get that “the result of a business is a satisfied customer” (Peter Drucker).

#1  Think of The Customer as Your Boss

“There is only one boss:  the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

– Sam Walton, Founder of Walmart

#2  Let them Design Your Products

“Who decides what’s in Windows?  The customers who buy it.”

– Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft

#3  …Or Don’t 

"You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new."

– Steve Jobs, Founder of Apple Inc.

More on Jobs:  21 Life Lessons from Steve Jobs

#4  Talk to Your Customers

“The more you engage with customers, the easier it is to determine what you should be doing.”

– John Russell, President of Harley Davidson

#5  Learn from Your Customers

“Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.”

– Zig Ziglar, Founder of Zig Ziglar Corporation

More on Ziglar:  11 Life-Changing Business Lessons from Zig Ziglar

#6  Happy Customers are Your Greatest Marketing Tool

“If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.”

– Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon

There’s simply no more effective, more persuasive marketing tool than word of mouth. Bezos has talked about word of mouth is particularly important for online businesses:  ”If you make your customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.”  I would argue that the same is true today regardless of whether the business is online or off.

More on Bezos:  15 Business Lessons from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos

#7  Good Customer Service Never Quits

“Customer service is just a day in, day out, ongoing, never-ending, unremitting, persevering, compassionate type of activity.”

–  Leon Gorman, CEO of L.L. Bean

#8  Like and Respect Your Customers  On liking:

“If you don’t genuinely like your customers, chances are they won’t buy.”

– Thomas Watson, Former CEO of IBM

And respecting:

“It all starts with respect. If you respect the customer as a human being, and truly honor their right to be treated fairly and honestly, everything else is much easier.”

– Doug Smith

#9  Focus on Maintaining Customers

“Every client you keep is one less that you need to find.”

– Nigel Sanders

 #10  The Customer is Always Right

 ”Right or wrong, the customer is always right.”

– Marshall Field, Founder of Marshall Feed and Company

Photo Courtesy of Donna Cymek

5 Deep Metaphors for Business

#1  Business is Art

“Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”

– Andy Warhol, Pop Artist

#2  Business is War + Sport

“Business is a combination of war and sport.”

– Andre Maurois, French Author

#3  Business is a Seafaring

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.”

– William G.T. Shedd, American Theologian

#4  Business is a Game

“Business is more exciting than any game.”

– Lord Beaverbrook, Anglo-Canadian Business Tycoon

#5  Business is a Struggle

“Business is always a struggle. There are always obstacles and competitors. There is never an open road, except the wide road that leads to failure. Every great success has always been achieved by fight. Every winner has scars.”

– Herbert N. Casson, Canadian Author

 

10 Wise Business Tips

  #1  Have Fun…

“A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.”

– Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group, Ltd.

More on Branson:  15 Business Lessons from Richard Branson

#2  …But Not Too Much Fun

“I don’t like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do the things that cause the company to succeed. I don’t spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities.”

– Michael Dell

#3  Be Decisive

“The first one gets the oyster; the second gets the shell.”

– Andrew Carnegie, Founder of the Carnegie Steel Company

The first person to identify and capitalize on a new business model has a huge advantage over the competition. Act decisively and quickly to benefit. Act slowly and you end up chewing on oyster shells.

#4  Take Risks

“You cannot avoid risk, you just need to manage it.”

– Dr. Neal W. Pollock

#5  Think Positive

“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.”

– Henry Ford, Founder of Ford

#6  Work Hard

“Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were.”

–  David Rockefeller

And another:

“No legitimate business man ever got started on the road to permanent success by any other means than that of hard, intelligent work, coupled with an earned credit, plus character.”

– F.D. Van Amburgh, Author of The Mental Spark Plug

#7  Have a Heart

“To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business and your business in your heart.”

– Thomas Watson, Sr., former CEO of IBM

#8 Mess Up

“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not making decisions.”

– Catherine Cook, Founder of MeetMe

#9  Make it Personal

“All good businesses are personal. The best businesses are very personal.”

– Mark Cuban

More on Cuban:  10 Winning Business Lesson from Mark Cuban

 #10  Solve Big Problems

“Solving big problems is easier than solving little problems.”

– Sergey Brin, Founder of Google

More on Brin:  Google’s 8 Simple Rules

10 Most Wise Thoughts on Business

#1  Change = Opportunity

“The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.”

– Peter F. Drucker, Management Consultant and Author

#2  Fast is the New Big

“The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.”

– Rupert Murdoch, Founder of News Corporation

#3  Lead through Innovation

“Innovation distinguishes between being a leader and a follower.”

– Steve Jobs, Founder of Apple Inc.

#4  Automate (Carefully)

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

– Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft

More on Gates:  Top 10 Business Lessons from Bill Gates

#5  Figure Out How to Provide More For Less

“The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.”

– Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company

#6  Good Business Benefits All

“I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain, those you deal with should gain as well.”

– Alan Greenspan, American Economist and Federal Reserve Chairman

#7  Elevate the Product

"I'd say stay very focused on the quality of the product.   People get really  wrapped up in all sorts of esoteric notions of how to manage etc., [but]  I think people should get much more focused on the product itself – how do you make the product incredibly compelling to a customer – just become maniacally focused on building it better.  I think people get distracted from that."

– Elon Musk, Founder of Tesla Motors

#8  Pay Well

“I don't pay good wages because I have a lot of money; I have a lot of money because I pay good wages.”

– Robert Bosch, German Industrialist

#9  Don’t Seek Perfection

“Business is complicated and imperfect. Every business everywhere is staffed with imperfect human beings and exists by providing a product or service to other imperfect human beings.”

– Bob Parsons, Founder of GoDaddy.com

#10  There’s No Limit 

“We are currently not planning on conquering the world.”

– Sergey Brin, Founder of Google

 Photo Courtesy of C@rljones

 

Want More Wise Thoughts?

I hope you’re feeling more than just one day wiser after reading these 50 thoughts on business. But if you’re still hungry for more wisdom, you can check out the inspiration for this article, 50 Great Thoughts on Success. Here’s one of my favorites:

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”

–  Winston Churchill

Before I go I want to leave you with one wise thought, from one of the wisest people to have ever lived, Socrates:  ”The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing.”

The post 50 Wise Thoughts on Business appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

You may view the latest post at
http://www.incomediary.com/wise-thoughts-on-business

Build Great Backlinks
Nick Scheidies
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com