6 TED Talks Every Business Owner Should Watch

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Best TED Talks for Business Owners - David Lee-Schneider MarketingDavid Lee-Schneider Marketing

TED Talks are geared towards spreading ideas using short, powerful talks. The talks last no more than 18 minutes each, are factual and entertaining. Initially, they revolved around Technology, Entertainment, and Design (hence the name TED) when they started out in 1984.

Today, the talks touch on almost all areas of life and business.

As business owners, we can learn a lot from watching many of these talks and gain valuable insights. The good news is, the talks are freely available on TED.com.

TED Talks For Business Owners

Here are my top TED Talks every business owner should watch, in no particular order. Enjoy!

1. Cameron Herold: Let’s Raise Kids To Be Entrepreneurs

Cameron Herold, who founded COO Alliance, gave a TED Talk entitled, “Let’s raise kids to be entrepreneurs.” In his words, the traditional system of education does not encourage kids to be entrepreneurs. He believes that we should change the system to produce more entrepreneurs.

 

2. Nirmalya Kumar: India’s Invisible Innovation

Nirmalya Kumar’s TED Talk focuses on the link between business and innovation. As most business owners know, running a business successfully requires a good dose of innovation. A business that constantly develops new products and processes has a higher chance of success.

 

3. Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Eight years ago, Simon Sinek gave a TED Talk on the role great leaders play in inspiring action. The lessons from that talk are still relevant today. Company leaders call the shots. CEOs determine the direction a company takes.

A leader determines how successful a company’s digital marketing campaign shall be.

 

4. Regina Hartley: Why The Best Hire Might Not Have The Perfect Resume

What makes Regina Hartley’s TED Talk a must watch for entrepreneurs is the advice she gives on the role of a resume in hiring or not hiring a new employee. Entrepreneurs put too much focus on what is on the resumes.

They forget that the resumes never capture all the important details of a prospective employee.

For example, the resume may not tell an entrepreneur everything the prospective employee did in creating a marketing automation software. A perfect resume may keep us away from one who has overcome great difficulties and challenges to get here.

 

5. Philip Evans: How Data Will Transform Business

The TED Talk Philip Evans gave in 2014 was designed to help businesses understand the role of data. We have to understand the transformational ability that data has in any business. We can no longer ignore analysing the importance of technology and data for running a business.

After all, marketing automation, like all types of technology, depends on data.

 

6. Seth Godin: How To Get Your Ideas To Spread

Seth Godin’s TED Talk was titled “How to get your ideas to spread”. In that talk, we understand the importance of using bizarre ideas in marketing. Good and boring ideas are not always productive. Bizarre ones, on the other hand, capture and retain customer’s attention.

These must-watch business TED Talks are a great start for any entrepreneur who is wanting to learn and grow themselves and their business.

What are your favourite TED talks? Please share the link in the comments below.

 

6 Lessons About Growing Your Business You’ll Learn From Superheroes

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Can superheroes really teach you any valuable lessons about growing your business?

The world has been blessed with a stream of several top superheroes over the years. From Wonder Woman to Iron Man, Firestorm, Superman, Spiderman, and Thor, there is a long list of superheroes to choose from. There are many lessons we can learn from your childhood idols

They entertain us. They also help us to understand more about ourselves. They remind us of some wonderful lessons regarding humanity that we may have forgotten due to the pressures of life.

However, superheroes can also teach us some valuable lessons about growing our businesses.

Here are 6 lessons about growing your business you can learn from superheroes

 

1. Staying true to our aspirations and beliefs

We are likely to forget or abandon our aspirations and beliefs from time to time. However, a close look at these superheroes shows us that we don’t have to go down that route. Pursue what is right for the business until the end, even if nobody else has the same belief in it.

2. Take your power seriously

Superheroes have a lot of power. They also have a lot of responsibilities hanging over their shoulders. Remarkably, they show an uncanny ability to use their power well. They take what they do seriously and so should we while running and growing our businesses.

3. Be ready to make difficult decisions

A close look at any superhero shows that they struggle to make decisions. The weigh each decision’s pros and cons. Sometimes they fail and other times they succeed. What they are very good at though is the ability and willingness to make difficult decisions.

Any person who desires to run a business needs to be prepared to make some uncomfortable decisions, too.

More importantly, making difficult decisions helps us to know our values better! We can all learn from this Harvard Business Review article about making tough decisions.

4. Never be afraid of asking for what you want

Anyone who runs a business also does a lot of asking. We ask for information. We ask for data. We ask clients to give us feedback. We ask clients to buy our products and services. Superheroes are never afraid of asking.

Never be afraid to use marketing automation apps to help the business expand.

We can’t grow any business if we are afraid of asking for help or stating what we want.

5. Stay focused on the most important tasks

Superheroes assume a new aura when pursuing specific goals. They allow nothing to distract them. Entrepreneurs also have to develop such an attitude. It’s important that we stay focused on the areas of our businesses that perform exceedingly well while ignoring distractions. This is just one of the lessons about growing your business you can learn from them.

6. Don’t wait until you feel ready, start now

It’s normal for us to wait until we feel ready to do what we ought to do. That may not be an effective way of growing a business. Superheroes never wait until all conditions are perfect to do something. They get up and do whatever is required now.

There’s no perfect time. Do whatever has to be done NOW!

If it’s digital marketing, embark on it right away! I’ll help you. Let’s have a chat to find out where you’re at and what you need to transform your marketing.

What lessons about growing your business have you learned? Let me know in the comments below.

To your success,

References

6 Common Misconceptions about Digital Marketing

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Digital marketing has helped entrepreneurs and business owners to take their business to the next level. It offers more advantages than other forms of marketing. Digital marketing doesn’t remain dormant for any length of time. It constantly changes and evolves. Along with that rapid change come a number of misconceptions about digital marketing that many believe to be true.

Not enough business owners have a broad enough understanding of what digital marketing can and cannot do and how to harness its true power.

Here are six of the most common misconceptions about digital marketing that I often here when talking to business owners in Australia.

6 Misconceptions about Digital Marketing

1. Digital marketing is for small businesses only

Digital marketing enables all businesses – whether small or large – to identify ways of communicating and engaging with their ideal customers or clients. It offers businesses several benefits, including faster turnaround time when testing campaigns, low cost and much more targeted advertising. It works for small and large businesses alike. No matter your budget or size of your company.

2. Digital marketing doesn’t contribute significantly to any company’s business strategy

This represents yet another misconception that mostly emanates from marketers who believe in traditional forms of marketing alone. Today’s customers are more likely to search for whatever they need on the Internet first thus making digital marketing essential to them.

Modern businesses and companies need websites.

3. It only succeeds with extremely large website traffic

The effectiveness of digital marketing is tied down to quality rather than quantity. For this reason, heavy or tiny traffic doesn’t matter! In our experience, quality will always attract and bring in the numbers that any business needs.

4. A website is all that a business needs for digital marketing

A website plays a crucial part in any successful digital marketing campaign. However, by no means is it the only requirement or ingredient! The website needs fresh content. The content has to be a mix of texts and videos.

Static content will not help the website.

Forbes offers a few ideas on what to do when content grows static and stale.

Static content harms digital marketing even if it’s posted on the most beautiful website.

5. Only worthwhile if my competition use it

Businesses need all the advantages they can get to stay ahead. In my line of work, I’ve realized that I don’t have to embrace digital marketing only because my competition uses it. If I take that path, I will always be behind and that would probably kill my business.

6. It’s not the answer for my industry

One of the misconceptions of digital marketing is that it doesn’t work well in all industries. The truth is it basically works well for all types of industries. It is not limited to a few industries. Any business that applies the principles of digital marketing will reap its fruits the industry notwithstanding. Digital marketing works for all industries whose clients search for products and services online.

Lastly, remember that SEO isn’t dead.

Embrace digital marketing as its results benefit all businesses in all industries.

 

References

5 Little Tweaks That’ll Transform Your Digital Marketing

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Why would you want to transform your digital marketing? Digital marketing is a super dynamic field. It changes at a meteoric pace. Many businesses struggle to keep up with and adapt to these fast changes. It is important, especially for marketers, to always be on the lookout for the next wave of changes and not settle for old ways of doing business.

Your current strategy may require a few tweaks from time to time to improve the results it offers. A few tweaks rather than a massive overhaul is often all it takes to take your campaign to whole new level. Here is a list of five tweaks worth implementing to transform your digital marketing.

1. Integrating Data Into All Your Marketing Decisions

Stop all digital marketing (and any other form of marketing) that is not data-driven. Business owners who continue marketing while ignoring data stand a high chance of heading into a storm of failure. Any content that you develop devoid of data will not produce the desired results either. Make sure you know exactly how much of your budget you are putting into a campaign and what you get out. Track everything!

2. SEO Should Remain a Priority

You will hear all manner of things regarding SEO. For example, some will tell you it’s dying, if not dead already. Well, you have a choice to make here. Either you believe them or you don’t. We would rather you continue prioritizing SEO though. Learn to prioritize SEO.

SEO isn’t a new concept. It’s critical to developing a highly effective digital marketing strategy. Good SEO helps ensures all your content is getting the attention it deserves. More quality traffic will result in more business.

3. Personalising Your Customer Experience

In many industries today, customers are demonstrating a bias towards companies that offer them personalised experiences. It’s not surprising that our lifestyle and interests often determine the choices we make. A highly intuitive group of marketers is necessary to map out and develop this kind of customer experience. Use tools like email automation, Messenger Marketing and other platforms that allow for action-based communication to create a personalised buying journey for each of your customers.

4. Making The Most of Your Website

Your website, if done well, can be one of the biggest assets in your business. Make sure the content on your website is of high quality, engaging and current, so visitors spend more time engaging with it. Make it easy for people to share your ideas using social sharing tools.

Ensure your website is capable of capturing leads by providing additional value to people who opt-in. Opt-in popups are a great way to capture engaged visitors.

Make your website responsive! In 2018, more than 80% of people visit a website on a mobile device. Failing to have a responsive website will not only result in lost visitors, but in lost business opportunities, too.

5. Improve Your Email Campaigns

A well-designed digital marketing strategy always incorporates email campaigns. Emails are not new tools in marketing. Since we already established that the world has moved on, we also have to change how we carry out our email campaigns.

How To Improve Your Email Campaigns:

  1. provide your customers with more value and content they will actually love
  2. being concise by passing the right message at the right time
  3. making the Calls to Action clear while creating a sense of urgency
  4. be consistent with your sending frequency, tone of voice, design and core message

Embrace segmentation and personalisation when developing your email marketing campaigns.

In fact, marketing automation often results in a drastic improvement of the email campaigns I run for my clients.

What are some tweaks that you have used in the past to improve the results and transform your digital marketing campaigns? Let me know in the comments below!

 

References

6 Common Business Mistakes You Want To Avoid When First Starting Out

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When I started my first business at the age of 21, I had all the right reasons for why I would be different and succeed. Well, guess what? I lost thousands of dollars because I really had no idea of what I was doing at that time.

In Australia, more than 60 percent of small businesses fail and cease operating within the first three years of starting.[1] This fact is too often ignored by young entrepreneurs who are just as naive as I once was.

I now know that the main reason I failed was because of my lack of marketing skills at the time. I had a good product that people were actually buying, however, I wasn’t able to reach enough of the right people and turn them into buyers. Here’s your chance to learn from my mistakes.

6 common mistakes you want to avoid when first starting out

1. Giving up too quickly

It’s all exciting when starting out as an entrepreneur. Until you hit a brick wall. There will be many obstacles along the way and sadly most people simply give up as soon as the first challenge arises. It’s all too hard and staying in your job is just too comfortable.

2. Not having clear goals

A shiny new product in a pretty box is not a very good goal. After all, you didn’t go into business because you wanted to sell pretty boxes. You went into business to live your passion, make money, and to enjoy the freedoms of a successful entrepreneur. Be very specific and clear about what freedom means to you personally. Then work on those things that truly make an impact and help you achieve your goals faster. Read this post about the principle of leverage and how you can use it to grow your business twice as fast by doing half the work.

3. Not testing the market

It’s easy to assume that your product will sell and that everyone is going to love it. All your friends and family are probably telling you how great your idea is. What would they say though, if you asked them to pre-purchase your product and actually hand their cash over? Test it out. If out of 10 people no-one buys it, it’s probably a bad idea.

4. Ignoring the numbers

Chances are, the profit margins for your awesome product are just not high enough. Did you really think if you bought these cool t-shirts for $10 and resell them for $20 you made $10 profit? If you are serious about building a business, here are just a few things to consider: Taxes, accounting & bookkeeping fees, advertising cost, Marketing and promotional budget, rent, utility bills, shipping & returns, plus all the time required to build a profitable business.

5. Lack of focus

It takes focus to get a new business off the ground. Lots of focus. You need to have a plan of what your business is going to look like in a few months, as well as in a few years. Then, break your plan into smaller chunks and focus on staying on track. If you are like most young entrepreneurs you are probably working on the next project, even before you’ve seen any results. Stay focused. Also, instead of focusing on money, focus on adding value to your customers’ lives. If you can add enough value, the sales will come naturally.

 

6. Working on the wrong things

Yeah, no. Your logo and letterhead can wait. Start selling first. If it works you can start worrying about the cosmetics. You don’t need to spend hundreds or thousands on a fancy website either. Keep it simple and prove that your idea works on a small scale before you start going global.

 

 

 

Why do you think your business will be different? Have you experienced other challenges in your business or seen a new business fail? What’s the biggest lesson you have learned thus far? Leave me a comment below!

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1. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics: http://www.abs.gov.au/

Grow Your Business Twice As Fast By Doing Half The Work – The Principle Of Leverage

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Let’s face it. We are all too busy.

Ask any friend or colleague how they are and chances are you’ll hear “I’m just so busy…”.

To cope with our never ending to-do lists, at work and in our personal lives, we look for ways, apps and tools to get even more done and in less time. We attend time management seminars to learn how to be more productive and take our smart phones and laptops to bed, so we can squeeze every minute out of our day. Despite the fact that we’re getting so much done, we aren’t feeling any happier. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

It’s a vicious cycle and for many of us there seems to be no way out.

I must confess, this is pretty much a description of the life that I was living for quite some time.

Until I learned about a simple principle. The principle of leverage.

 

The Principle of Leverage

By applying the principle of leverage, or the law of the lever, we are able to move heavy objects with a lot less effort. This simple technique has been known for thousands of years. The earliest remaining writings regarding levers and the principle of leverage date from the 3rd century BC and were provided by my old friend Archimedes (kidding, we never actually met).

So, since growing a business has little to do with lifting large rocks, how can we apply this to our everyday life and our to-do list?

Simple. The key is not to get more done, but to focus on getting the right things done.

We all have tasks that we need to perform on a regular basis.

Let’s say you have a particular task that takes you an hour to finish and you had to do it three times per week. This task then would take you three hours every week, or 156 hours per year.

To make better use of your time you could instead take one hour to write a system for this task. A step-by-step guide that you can pass on to someone else to perform the task for you.

 

What would you do with an extra 156 hours per year?

Now you might think, hang on David, that would mean I have to pay someone to do it? That money is coming out of my bank account!

Correct. But let’s assume you paid someone $20 an hour to perform this task. That would cost you $3,120 for 156 hours.

Wouldn’t you agree that, with 156 extra hours per year, you could easily recoup this expense and so much more?

Exactly. I’m glad you agree.

Do this for all repetitive tasks (unless you REALLY love doing them) and you will literally transform your life – and your business.

If you have employees or work with a team, you might even want to take it one step further.

Instead of writing a system for each task, write a system on how to write a system and let your team help you with developing your systems.

Having systems in place will not only help you and your team to be more productive, but will also add a significant amount of value to your business, should you ever consider selling it.

Good systems are the reason why large companies pay millions of dollars to buy out smaller businesses. They understand the value of having these systems in place and how much time and money it will save them.

DOWNLOAD MY FREE 1-PAGE BUSINESS SYSTEM TEMPLATE

Start your own business systems library to leverage your time and potentially save you hundreds of hours of work every year.

I have got my systems ready. Now, where do I put them?

A while ago, Tracey, whom I’ve been working with over the past two years, shared one of her biggest frustrations with me.

“David, my staff keep asking me the same questions, over and over again. It’s driving me crazy, having to answer those exact same questions EVERY day! I wish I could have my own ‘Google’, where my staff could simply enter a question and receive an answer instantly, without me having to be there!”

Two weeks later I got back to her with a system I had designed for her. We simply called it ASK. She now has all her systems in one place, stored securely in the cloud, which can be easily accessed by all her staff. Every system outlines exactly how to follow a procedure and where to find things. After a little over a year, she now has over 200 of her business systems documented. Even checklists now reside in that same system to ensure processes are followed correctly.

Staff members can simply grab one of the iPads provided and find anything they would ever need to help Tracey keep her business running, even when she’s away for a week or two, without having to call or email her.

I have since helped a number of business owners implement that same system, which saves them not only time and money, but more importantly, there sanity.

What’s your approach to increased productivity? Do you have systems in place that help you make the best use of your time? Or do you still do most of your tasks on your own? Leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts, what your challenges are and any tips you’d like to share.

7 Reasons Why Your Business Is Going To Fail Within Your First Year

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Reasons Why Businesses Fail - David Lee-Schneider MarketingDavid Lee-Schneider Marketing

In Australia, more than 60 per cent of small businesses fail and cease operating within the first three years of starting out.[1]

This fact is too often ignored by enthusiastic entrepreneurs who all believe they have what it takes to build a successful business.

When I started my first business at the age of 21, I had all the right reasons for why I would succeed. Well, guess what? I lost thousands of dollars because I was overly confident and naive.

In other words, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

Looking back, I now know that the main reason I failed was because of a lack of marketing skills at the time. I had a good product that people were actually buying, however, I wasn’t able to reach enough of the right audience to make it profitable.

7 reasons why your business is (probably) going to fail within your first year

In this article, I’m sharing common mistakes in the hope that you can learn from them.

1. You are not testing the market

It’s easy to assume that your product will sell and that everyone is going to love it. All your friends and family are probably telling you how great your idea is. What would they say though, if you asked them to pre-purchase your product and actually hand their cash over? Test it out. If out of 10 people no one buys it, it’s probably a bad idea.

2. Your numbers simply don’t add up

Chances are, the profit margins for your awesome product are just not high enough. Did you really think if you bought these cool t-shirts for $10 and resell them for $20 you made a $10 profit? If you are serious about building a business, here are just a few things to consider: Taxes, accounting & bookkeeping fees, advertising costs, Marketing and promotional budget, rent, utility bills, shipping & returns, plus all the time required to build a profitable business.

3. You give up too early

It’s all exciting when starting out as an entrepreneur. Until you hit a brick wall. There will be many obstacles along the way and sadly most people simply give up as soon as the first challenge arises. It’s all too hard and staying in your job is just too comfortable.

4. You waste your time working on the wrong things

Yeah, no. Your logo and letterhead can wait. Start selling first. If it works you can start worrying about the cosmetics. You don’t need to spend hundreds or thousands on a fancy website either. Keep it simple and prove that your idea works on a small scale before you start going global.

5. You are lacking focus or simply focus on the wrong things

It takes focus to get a new business off the ground. Lots of focus. You need to have a plan of what your business is going to look like in a few months, as well as in a few years from now. Then, break your plan into smaller chunks and focus on staying on track. If you are like most young entrepreneurs you are probably working on the next project, even before you’ve seen any results. Stay focused. Also, instead of focusing on money, focus on adding value to your customers’ lives. If you can add enough value, the sales will come naturally. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, was a genius at creating things that people want. The sales were a by-product of Apple’s early success.

6. You don’t have the right toolbox (or no toolbox at all)

If you are a mechanic and want to build a car from scratch, you are going to require some serious tools. You’ll also need to know exactly what tools you require to get the job done. Your toolbox as an entrepreneur might look a little different, but there is no doubt that you will need one. Do your research on what you really need in order to achieve your goals work hard on getting smart.

7. Did someone say goals?

A shiny new product in a pretty box is not a very good goal. After all, you didn’t go into business because you wanted to sell pretty boxes. You went into business to live your passion, make money, and enjoy the freedoms of a successful entrepreneur. Be very specific and clear about what freedom means to you personally. Then work on those things that truly make an impact and help you achieve your goals faster. Read this post about the principle of leverage and how you can use it to grow your business twice as fast by doing half the work.

Why do you think your business will be different? Have you experienced other challenges in your business or seen new businesses fail? What’s the biggest lesson you have learned thus far? Leave me a comment below!

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1. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics: http://www.abs.gov.au/