5 Tips to Becoming an Epic Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship can stem from any creative idea. Regardless of how small or big the idea is, when pursued mindfully, it can lead to a successful business venture.

If you have wanted to become an epic entrepreneur, there are some things that you need to keep in mind. Even though these tips may not be exciting and inspiring, they are essential if you want to ensure that your business is successful, as well as sustainable, for the long haul.

Scribe a Clear Business Plan

What most aspiring entrepreneurs overlook is writing out a clear business plan. You must mention your mission, goals and overall purpose of the enterprise in this business plan. Try to fit in details about financing, employment, marketing and investments because this information will serve as the framework for your future business.

If you need guidance, consulting a business adviser or coach is a good idea as he will be able to pinpoint the important aspects of your business plan and suggest ways in which you can organize it.

Forecast Your Expenses and Cash Flow

When planning an entrepreneurial setup, not only do you have to know everything about the overall scheme of financing, but you also have to be wary of the cash flow. Financing should be your primary concern since that will drive your business for the first few months but at the same time you should plan out the cash flow for future needs.

It is best that you over-estimate the expenditures during the planning stage so that the extra money can serve as cushion cost in case some aspects require more investment than you had anticipated.

Determine Costs for Land, Labor and Other Essential Resources

Parallel to the latter tip, you will have to determine the number of employees that will support the operations in your company. Land is also a crucial factor since most businesses need a place to sell products and serve customers. The better the location, the higher your chances of reaping profits. But before you can make profits, you will have to invest. Thus you must be able to determine certain estimates regarding the same.

The third aspect to consider is consulting services like accountants, lawyers, marketing professionals and IT experts that you have to maintain in order to ensure that your business operates successfully. Since it is quite impossible to be specific, it is a good idea to observe a comparable business and make your estimates.

Learn the Basics of Taxation

If you know how to plan taxes, you will be saved a lot of stress in the future. The kind of business and its location determine the taxes you have to pay so find out what the tax requirements are for your business model in the area you wish to operate. If you need help, you could consult an accountant or a financial planner who will be equipped to offer you great solutions.

Pinpoint the Optimal Business Insurance

Not only do you need insurance to start a business, but it also helps to ward-off risk that can potentially damage your entrepreneurial venture in the future. There is a wide variety of insurances that you can choose from so pick one that protects all aspects of your business. Even though it may pinch your pocket to invest in business insurance, look at it as a necessity that will help keep your business afloat.

What's All Hype About Search Engine Optimization "SEO"?

Search engine optimization (or "SEO") is exploding with hype as the new, cutting-edge marketing manuever for businesses.

The truth is, SEO has been around since the late 90's when Overture, Yahoo, and other blooming search engines were viewed as quality sources to get information.

Only in the last 5 years or so has SEO become a popular facet to a company's marketing plan. This grow has been fertilized by the ever-powerful Google (which accounts for over 70% of activity on the Internet.)

If you're interested in knowing more about the history and basics of the SEO, this Wiki page is a pretty good resources.

The focus of this post is to enlighten you, the Epic Entreprenuer, on how to leverage SEO for your business's marketing plan.

The Purpose of SEO

The purpose of SEO is to get your website as high in the search rankings as possible for keyword phrases that reflect what you have to offer. Individuals are actively searching these terms, so the website traffic is typically good. As a result, businesses can capture pre-qualified leads from web traffic via search.

Understanding Your Business's Unique SEO Strategy

Just like a marketing plan, the SEO strategy for your business will be unique. Certain keyword phrases trigger special search results that demand a unique approach.

For instance, if your business model is a(n):

• local business - you'll want to be aware of Google's localized search results (accompanied by the Google map with little pins.) These results are influenced by Google+ local pages (also formerly known as Google Places pages,) so you'll want to ensure you create one of these. Additionally, you'll want to modify your keywords to be geo-specific (e.g. "wine shops in Traverse City" or "computer repair shops in Peoria IL")
• online store or ecommerce website - you'll want to consider implementing the products of your ecommerce store on Google Shopping. These product listings are a huge sources of search traffic and can help be the ideal supplement to any ecommerce SEO strategy.
• advertiser, blogger, or publisher - if your business model centers on regular online publishing (or time sensitive information) see if you website or blog qualifies for Google News results. This is popular platform for search that can provide a wealth of traffic.

Get a Free SEO Audit

There are tons of SEO companies that offer free SEO/website audits. It's important to note that the best practices of SEO have drastically changed over the last year. Some SEO techniques are obsolete; however some providers still claim they're effective (loser denial, maybe.)

Unfortunately, this sketchy behavior has given the SEO profession a bad name over the years. Just be sure to do your homework and inquire to multiple SEO providers when scouting for services or consulting programs. Getting the opinion of multiple "SEO specialists" is key to weeding-out the amatuers and theives.


About the Author:
This article was contributed by Tyler Tafelsky, an Internet marketing manager at the Web Presence Group, a Yogi, a triathlete and an overall righteous dude. To learn more about Tyler, connect with him on Twitter or Google+.

Key Questions to Ask When Interviewing Prospective Business IT Consultants

When seeking help on how to utilize information technology (IT) for your business, there are thousands of IT consultants who can offer their wisdom and insights.

However like most consulting professionals, each IT consultant has a unique style and approach as to how they operate.

Below we have compiled a list of questions to ask when interviewing your prospective business IT consultants.

What types and brands of computer and IT systems do you specialize in? Understanding the technology that your prospective IT consultant uses is imperative in knowing how their "go-to solutions" match up with the goals of you business.

What was your professional experience before you became an IT consultant? Getting an idea of the individual's professional experience can help you gauge how extensive of an industry track record they have to offer.

Do have experience working on similar projects or providing consulting services with other groups encountering challenges similar to ours? This question can put a lot out on the table in terms of how proficient the consultant will be in addressing the specific problems your company is faced with.

What prior experience do you have with clients related to that of our business's size? Similar to the last question, this allows you to grasp the IT consultant background experience. Additionally, inquiring about the types of issues the consultant has handled can uncover his or her degree of business domain knowledge. This can help minimize the expense of billable hours spent on getting up to speed.

Are there additional members of your IT consulting team who work with? Some IT consultants work individually and others work as a team. This will help you understand the expectations regarding the timeliness of support request, for team-based providers are sometimes more efficient.

Have you written any publications or documents that underscore issues that our company is facing? Professional IT consultants will often times document or write about issues that they troubleshoot and solve. In short, this separates the quality IT consultants from the mediocre.

What companies or professionals have you personally worked with before? If the prospect is able to release this information to you, then ask the follow-up question: Can we call them to ask about your services? Getting feedback from a source other than the IT consultant is a great supplement to your prospecting efforts and selecting the right individual.

This article was written by the advocates of Facet Technologies, a professional team of IT consultants in Peoria, IL. Facet Tech can help advise your business on ways to leverage IT for more efficient operations and productivity.

Organizational Psychology: The Power of Reinforcement

One of my favorite courses as business student was Organizational Psychology. That favor stemmed from having such an awesome professor who made a mundane subject rather inspiring.

Organizational psychology is a scientific study of the behaviors and attitudes of people within a working environment. And if you're working to become an epic entrepreneur, you'll definitely want to understand a few things about organization psychology.

Reinforcement is perhaps the most powerful and influential aspect of psychology. Receiving feedback from your boss can alter your level of productivity, as well as your mood and mindset. For this reason, you'll want to leverage the power of reinforcement with righteous intentions.

As an epic entrepreneur, how exactly do you do that?

Providing quality reinforcement, whether positive or negative, requires a strong sense of empathy. That is, you must somewhat understand your recipient's perspective and feelings (or the ability to put yourself in their shoes.)

This is particularly important when giving negative reinforcement - or feedback focused on on stopping an individual from behaving in such a way.

How to Give Quality Reinforcement

Below I share with you just a few tips on how to give quality reinforcement in the workplace.

• Know the exact purpose of your reinforcement and what the projected outcome will be. Meaningless reinforcement is definitely not righteous, and ain't no body got time for that.
• Offer incentives or rewards for performance. Regardless of how big or small, an incentive can be a highly effective form of positive reinforcement.
• Practice empathy by listening more and speaking less. An epic entrepreneur knows his audience by asking questions, engaging with people, and learning about them. As a result, purposeful reinforcement can be delivered

With respect to the last point, I leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

        "It does not take many words to the speak the truth." - Native American, Chief Joseph


About the Author: This article was contributed by Tyler Tafelsky, a marketing manager, Yogi, triathlete  and overall righteous dude. To learn more about Tyler, connect with him on Twitter or Google+.

Leverage the Efficiencies of IT to Optimize Your Business

Whether you have an already established company or a business plan in the works, leveraging IT (information technology) can help make your operations much more efficient.

When most of us think of "IT" we think of bulky computer hardware, such as servers and computer networks. However now, IT spans across many different technologies and applications, such as mobile.

Below are some tips to help the epic entrepreneur leverage IT to optimize his or her business.

Target Operational or Service Inefficiencies

Internal operations and the delivery of customer service are typically areas that can improve with the help of IT. Every business model is unique, so you'll have to do some internal soul-searching to determine the areas of your company that could use technology to more effective or productive. In short, pinpoint the bottlenecks, areas of customer complaints, or employee overuse/dissatisfaction and assess whether or not technology can help.

Get Customer & Employee Feedback

The more you can learn from both your customers and your employees the better. Gather feedback from these parties to determine areas for improvement. Once you have pinpointed specific components of your business that can be enhanced, you can then think about how IT can be of use. Integrating cutting edge IT and computer information systems on both the customer-level and production level and help to streamline your operations

Speak with Your Local IT Consultant

A industry professional can help enlighten you and your team about opportunities using technology. Set-up a meeting with your local IT consultant to explore various ways in which technology can empower your business. Depending on the type of company you operate, there are usually ways to optimize certain functions of your business with the support of IT.

Research New Technologies

Staying abreast emerging technologies can help you gauge whether or not investments are worth the money and effort. Especially with more mobile technologies coming out on the market, the versatility in IT goes far beyond what many people imagine. The use of tablets and other personal gadgets has revolutionized how some business operate. As a result, some companies have positioned themselves has more creative and cutting edge than their competitors.

Again, many of insights can be gathered by speaking with a professional IT consulting company or individual IT expert. If you do not operate your business in a metropolitan area, you can receive IT consulting services over the web as well.

Is your company leveraging any unique or cutting-edge technologies or IT solutions? Let us know in the comments section below.

Yogi Words of Wisdom That Apply to Entrepreneurship

Every week I look forward to Yoga class. My instructors will share some interesting words of wisdom that I often think about long after the class is over. Some of their words I can apply to business and entrepreneurship.

Below I share with you a few words of wisdom from my Yoga instructors, and how they translate to aspects of starting and operating a successful business.

"You might not get there today, but perhaps you will tomorrow, or next week, or next month." - Be patient with the growth of your business. Progress will come with diligence and mindful, righteous effort.

"Respect your limits" - When business is on the up-swing and the leads come pouring in, don't bite off more than you can chew. This is important for consultants and service providers. Know your limits and avoid taking on too much too soon.

"It's all mental" - Everything in this world is truly is a mental schema. In an entrepreneurial context, your brand is the mental image that defines your business. You can shape it however you want. View your brand from the viewpoint of your audience, and try to position your business from a outside perspective.

"It's not what it looks like, it's what it feels like" - Don't obsess about aesthetics, such as your web design's color scheme or your company's logo. It's the quality of your work that's most meaningful. It's all about what you can do and what you can prove, not looks.

"Be mindful" - Whether toward your employees, your vendors, or your clients/customers, it's important to be mindful of all parties that surround your business. Exercise your sense of empathy and put yourself in others' shoes.

This article was contributed by Yogi and Internet marketing expert Tyler Tafelsky. To learn more about Tyler, connect with him on Twitter or Google+.