We have been down the same road in the past for sure. Time and Time again. E-mail is a terrible strategy phone is always best. A great way to get a response is to text them if you have their mobile numbers. A great site for that is Twilio.com Also What does your caller ID read ie when you call does it say "so and so debt services" perhaps changing the caller id with your telephone provider to something that does not look like a collection agency would be worth while. Also keep in mind when dealing with e-mail any mention of debt or financial help will often end up in spam or junk folders and never read. When leaving a message on their telephone its always a great idea to point that out to them that you will be e-mailing them and it may end iup in their spam/junk folder. I hope that was helpful. Do you have a website? Feel free to call for follow up if requires

Seems like you're headed in the right direction, especially with the webinars and the guest blogging - these are a great way to increase the interest to your service. Also, 900 subscribers by May sounds totally realistic. However, the website definitely needs a lot of work. It looks like a general blog, nothing too professional to convey trust and authority. No additional pages for your services, it's hard to get in touch with you, the only lead form is the Hello Bar on the top (that is a bit too large). The landing page and the exit intent popup are also really bad - you'll have to work on the design aspects or use plugins such as OptinMonster for optins and Unbounce/LeadPages for landing pages. No related posts, no way to convince a user to stay after a post is done. The list is long, I can share a few other things as well and help you with the design concept and measuring your leads if you're interested.

I think you've really answered your question pretty well! The common options are: 1) Deferred compensation. Find someone that will agree to take a note in lieu of payment, with an enticing arrangement to pay them for their work when you get revenue. 2) Partial cash, partial equity. Equity doesn't have to mean a share in the company today. It could take the form of options (with vesting over time), or vesting that is dependent on certain milestones (perhaps revenue) being met. 3) All equity - Again with the vesting possibilities in #2 above. Unless you have no other choice, you might want to avoid anything related to equity due to complexity, legal expense, and other reasons. A good option might be to see if you can find a good but inexperienced UX designer who needs to build a portfolio, and would see this as an opportunity to get a case study and build credibility, in exchange for a reduced compensation rate. Lastly, consider hiring a UX designer on a site like Odesk. Many offer services at low hourly rates, and some of them are probably really good.

A few thoughts... First, there is a 20k adgroup limit per campaign. Second, going in you should assume that 80% of your long tail keywords will not get any impressions. That being said, this is a common strategy with several different ways to execute on it... 1. The rule of thumb when building out campaigns is being mindful of how you will optimize and manage it. I like to ask myself...Will my ad copy or settings change if I separate these keywords into new adgtoups? If not, group them together(unless you can't on the build out). 2. Become intimately familiar with filters, segments, columns, labels, and dimensions or else managing it can become impossible. 3. There are two common strategies that people use similar to this... One is putting all matchtypes in 3 dif. Adgroups and negated out the other matchtypes... The other strategy is starting a beta campaign with only broad modifier and when you find converting queries in your search term report you move this over to an alpha campaign with higher bids. Putting both together in the same ad group would be pointless. As for the effectiveness of using any of these strategies it would really depend on the effort involved in building out and managing it and on how crucial it is you don't miss out on any queries... I would be happy to explore your specific situation if you call me.

Technically you can bid on competitors. Take for example Autotrader who bids for keywords such as Honda, Ford, etc. But the best advice is actually here http://searchengineland.com/the-complete-guide-to-bidding-on-competitor-brand-names-trademarked-terms-118576

Try designing an activity where the leader has to describe to his team members how to build something or complete a certain task, with his back facing the team so he can't see what they're doing. Succeeding in this type of activity will require that the leader is able to use clear communication without being directly involved or micromanaging the situation. It will also require trust from both parties, and will force the team members to work together & help each other as they try to work out the specifics of carrying out the task. You can follow the activity with questions about what the leader did well and what he could have done better, and also what was frustrating for the leader. Push them to articulate how this activity translates to work in their organization. Here's a great example of this activity with a bit more detail: https://prezi.com/i1w8-bnyso-l/activity-to-teach-delegation/

Certainly a lead gen website would help with a strong call to action. LinkedIN would be a good source of leads as well. Dont discount using Direct Mail to get your message accross Even though it is a little costly, the most powerful way is to send your direct mail piece via FEDEX or DHL This way - the gatekeeper wont open it. And it makes a big impact to the decision maker (your target prospect) Hope that helps!

You say "I want to know how valuable a service that will bring one back to a state of inner peace, clarity and total presence, is to this business world" I coach entrepreneurs and business owners to create masterpieces in their field. One of the ways I help them is by guiding them through feeling inner peace, clarity and total presence. >> When you know the answer to this question, what difference does it make for you? >> Is what you REALLY want to know whether business people will pay you to help them feel more inner peace, clarity and total presence? >> Who do you REALLY want to work with? If you want to explore how to find clients for the services you offer, get in touch with me!

One approach to consider is seeing if you can find a specific project type that you can replicate with many like clients. It's harder to sell 'web design' than a very specific 'great website for homeowners wanting to sell for-sale-by-owner', for example. One of the keys to profitable scale is to be able to get additional revenue at the same or increasing per-project profitability. If you're doing something different in each project, it takes longer to figure out how to make really good money at it.

I have been working in personal finance for 18 years, am a Certified Financial Planner(TM), and hold a Master of Science degree in personal financial planning... Mint.com and Quicken, both products of the company Intuit, are clear leaders in the personal finance application space. Mint.com is for those who don't mind having all their data stored in the "cloud" and want a free product in exchange for seeing advertisements. While Quicken is a paid offline software package. Like Mint, Quicken is fully capable of automatically importing your bank and credit card transactions, and categorizing those transactions based on your rules. It is also far more flexible than Mint for the creation of custom categories. There are certainly other options -- Yodlee, Guide, Balance, to name a few -- but the companies and features are still in early development compared to the offerings of Intuit. I am an active user of each of these software packages and services. If you have any follow up questions, feel free to schedule a call with me.

IT services are a commodity industry. The formula for winning comes down to two things: Differentiation and Relationships. You can differentiate your IT company by making life easier for those who work with you. For example, consider a monthly fixed price contract regardless of how much (or little) IT consulting/troubleshooting you need to do in any given month. That makes it easy for your clients to budget you in and get the sale. Testimonials - especially from very similar businesses - can be a huge factor. Consider specializing in a specific niche, ie: IT for Law Firms, but choose based on your highest value current clients. Another opportunity to differentiate comes in when your IT services empower not just operations, but marketing as well. This is a rare but valuable extension of IT seen in the occasional change in corporate hierarchy from the old CIO to the new CDO (Chief Digital Officer). As an outside agency, your expertise can provide a similar boost to the company - not just saving them cost and increasing security and productivity (typical IT services value), but helping them grow through an understanding of the tech that empowers marketing success - and how to integrate that tech while maintaining company security. Relationships are part two. Here's where it gets tricky - and where IT firms can often rack up huge bills from their sales teams. In commodity industries, relationships close the sale. Your competitors are out there at trade shows, meetups, BNI, seminars, conferences, giving out company swag... you name it. But what they are often missing is the leveraging of their own networks. Who do you know who knows other business owners? How can you tap your network - and extend your network - to find out about 'trigger events'? Trigger events are specific moments when a door is open - for example when a CEO is expressing frustration with their current IT services provider, or when a company expands in size, or when they move to a new location, or hire a new (relevant) leader. In IT services, you'll often interact with heads of finance, IT, or company owners/founders/CEOs - often all three. Be prepared to address the specific pain points of each... and be aware each is very different. Of course, reaching those individuals is very specific to your target industry, capabilities, company size, experience, existing network. I need to learn more about you to get you on track for more business. You'll see significant results if we deep dive into your specific experiences and goals to build a custom sales system. If you want an action plan for your growth, my company is not taking on new clients but I'm happy to do a mind dump with you to get you launched. If you'd like the help, pick a time at www.clarity.fm/ryandraving

It needs some basic revision to eliminate errors. For starters, the tag line "Changing the way how online businesses perform..." ought to be either "the way" or "how" – not both. Even so, that's a bit vague. Rather than hire an editor, hire a writer. I'm not cheap, but I'd do it for you if you were in the market to hire a specialist.

Go for Wordpress initially. -- Custom website will delay your launch plans considering all factors. -- Wordpress can be used to meet your requirements from day 1. -- Once you have enough visitors and decided the revenue model + business objective plan for a customized website to be developed from scratch.

I've built this kind of system before for more than one company. What you want to build is a continuous integration system (and this is what my company specializes in). This allows you to trigger tests each time a developer submits code. The test you describe would fire up several environments in parallel (i.e. one for each browser) and you would get high level status reports about test coverage and success. Don't hesitate to contact me and I'll do my best to walk you through the process via phone, email, and how we see fit.

I have been developing software for over 20 years (large scale enterprise security software) -- there is absolutely no way I would ever license software to a Chinese based company -- EVER. The Chinese government does not enforce US based copyright or intellectual property laws. I have seen time and time again companies take deals like what is above and then get royally screwed out of royalties and revenues. Once they build the app -- they own the app -- especially if they are publishing it. Additionally -- there are several US based corporations and the federal government that will no longer utilize software or applications that have been developed or published from certain countries because of security issues -- the Ukraine, China and African nations are among them. These are some things you need to keep in mind when looking at the licensing model. You would be better off finding a US based company interested in the same opportunity that you can have a partnership alliance with and retain your rights and revenue share.

Finding good commission salespeople is almost impossible. I've hired companies who supposedly specialize in this, and no results. Base+Commission is probably the best you're going to get. The base has to be slightly less than what the salesperson can survive on, which will induce them to go get sales. But your commission % must be high: at least 30%. Or competent salespeople will laugh you off as they walk out of the interview. Honestly, though, and this isn't going to make you happy to hear, but as the business owner if you can't sell your own products or services, you're not going to make it. Nobody believes in your business as much as you. Nobody cares as much as you. Not your significant other, not your employees. And if you can't do it, no one can. In your situation, which is essentially a startup in the rare situation of having some case studies to point to, YOU need to be spending at least 70% of your time on prospecting for new business. If you're programming, or supervising, you're putting your energy into the wrong thing. You need revenue. Now.

I have established off-shore development relationships with individuals and firms in India, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Korea going back to 1996. You might find it a lot smoother to have them work through an established firm in India that is already set up with all appropriate licenses, tax-reporting, payment systems, and so on. It can be tricky enough to communicate the software requirements and other specifics of your project without you and them also learning and implementing processes to respect domestic and foreign regulations. If you'd like more information, feel free to set up a call.

Defining all the pieces of a business plan in one lengthy answer might not do you much good. Try something like udemy to get a free or paid course on how to write biz plan

There are 3 ways you could generate revenue from your site: 1. Adsense or ads from a network. You can also sell ads directly but ir also means you need to have a sales team or figure a way to attract customers. Unless your site generates north of 5m uniques it will be hard to make a real profit. Easy math for every $1M uniques you can make about $1000/mo maybe more as high 5x but its a good starting point 2. Affiliate links. Pick a network like amazon or rakuten and post your ads/links on site. Margins are low and conversions are hard to get so volume is fundamental here to generate max revenue 3. Direct sales or upsell, use the "organic" traffic from your site to upsell a "pro" version or merchandise related to your product. If you are not expert in econmerce and want to sell digital goods gumroad.com is a good choice. If you are selling a physical item listing your product in amazon will be the best choice

The area in which you are working is quite complex both in terms of describing inventions and in terms of the changing legal landscapes. An expert is definitely suggested. Even then, the terms of an agreement would be difficult to protect under patent law. This makes such a business model harder to protect than others. That said, there is often some technical aspect to software that is patentable separate from the business model itself, so you may want to look there as well. I have very little advise on how to go about the process. I am an expert at Patent Law and can easily review people's work to determine its quality. That said, I could not do that for at least 10 years while working as a patent professional as the small nuances, etc. make it difficult to see what is poorly thought out vs. what is very well thought out - they often appear similar to an untrained eye. Most people look for the most thorough description, though this is not an indication of the planning and strategy in the application. Most noteworthy, noone really reviews patent work, so even success of practitioners may not be the best indication. I know the answer is not helpful, but it is honest. Here is my short checklist that anyone can look into: 1) Do they have their work reviewed and by whom? 2) Do they work with other attorneys to improve their work quality on a regular basis? 3) How do they approach strategy for claims? 4) What is their success rate for broad claims? 5) Do they handle a lot of software applications? 6) When do they call for help? General questions include 1) Do they bill by the hour or on a fixed fee basis? 2) What is the time frame? 3) What do you need to do? Every client has a best fit representative so don't think that there are best answers to the second set of questions. I have worked with excellent entrepreneurs who love working with me and with others where the relationship was better handled by someone else in my firm. Personality, style, etc. play a big role in the feeling that you are being well-protected. In general, I personally look for someone who is business minded, who requires no work from me, who has their work reviewed very regularly by people from other firms, who call for help often, who handle a lot of software, and who bill on a relatively fixed fee basis for the drafting work. I hope this helps.

I imagine that most recommendations for physical therapist comes from a Dr. I had an injury on my shoulder and he gave me a suggested PT to go to for help. That would be one place to go offline to see how you get to be a qualified supplier to an orthopedists. One creative approach to this might be to start a podcast where you interview orthopedists about the role of PT. That way, you get to meet them in person and build a connection with them. The podcast could build your personal brand nationally but the real objective is getting to meet orthopedists. It can be done by phone to make it easy for them but at least you get to connect with them directly. For more ideas, give me a call through Clarity. Regards, Jeff

hi what I did was to get some information beforehand starting my businesses. It helps avoiding the most common errors. you also want to have a good plan what and how to start your business. so there may be information and study neccessary. you also want make sure to have data on if there is a niche market and customers for your business and how to find them. if you want to quit your current job, this step is crucial. best would be if you build up your business on the side whilst working another 40-60%. another great way to learn is to help a fellow founder to start his company. so you will gain insight into the whole process but are not responsible. hope this helps rolf

In my experience, starting out testing one against the other is ideal (i.e. running campaigns on each and seeing which performs better). It's also important to look at what your immediate and long term goals are for the spend. Are you trying to sell them something now, keep them engaged for a later release of a product, or some other action? The key thing to note is that depending on what you're selling and what your keywords are, the bar can be a lot lower in terms of your bid per click if you go with Facebook Ads. Additionally: you can hyper target your audience with Facebook Ads like whoa (Google Ads are more limiting). Ex: I ran both sets of ads for a new line of ballet inspired barre-wear (targetting both ballet dancers and barre students). Both Facebook and Google Ads were linked to the sales page. For Google Ads: I used keywords like "barre-wear" (low search volume) "ballet attire" "activewear" (limited relevance) and about 20 other related terms. The spend to results ratio here was underwhelming. Keep in mind: I've only been working with Google Ads for a couple of years now. Better results are possible if you've got someone with 5+ years of experience who knows the system backwards and forwards, but for the most part, Google Ads are not DIY friendly if you want serious results. For Facebook Ads, I did 2 campaigns: 1. Ballet Dancers: I targetted women in major cities (NY, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles), who were under 26 and fans of ballet companies and schools in their city, and also those who were fans of major dance supply companies. 2. Barre Students: I targetted women nationwide who were between 26 and 52, married, above average household income, fans of barre studios in their area, fans of Lululemon Athletica (high end activewear brand), and did a couple of variations on different hobbies and activities to target specifically stay at home moms or wives who were active. The results: $100 in ad spend // over 150 clicks to the product page // 20 new email newsletter signups // 3 immediate sales // 2 follow up sales within that week (so for a $100 product the ad yielded about $500 in sales that week from individuals who could be potential customers again (and 20 new people to market to for future sales).

The first and most important thing is to figure out where your customers are. I saw a question not too long ago that said they wanted to market to "middle aged women who are into fashion". Then you should spend all of your time on Pintrest! I've taught a lot of wedding professionals how to specifically target brides using Facebook. For instance, we would run ads to women between the ages of 22-35 who had changed their status to "engaged" in the last 6 months. So, first figure out what websites or social networks your customers love. Then build your platform there. Meanwhile, you need to have a strong website that you're driving traffic to, so you don't build your online "house" on rented property (facebook, twitter, pintrest, etc). That way if the rules change at any of those sites, you've built a following at your website as well. I'm currently launching a company that does exactly this for my business clients. I help create an online "personality" for businesses. If you have more questions, please don't hesitate to schedule a call.

Common issues are: * Sending the wrong message to a specific target group * The product/service is too complicated or not appealing enough * The reputation is not there - case studies, testimonials and actual reviews More expensive products and services need a solid portfolio of existing customers and successful projects or stories. Marketing is not a one-shot thing and prospects often have to be warmed up for weeks or more in order to get comfortable and convert to users. That's where freebies, educational resources, free consulting and more come into play.