I think my question would be have you looked back into the strategy of physical rewards for health motivation? Rather than recommend services offering gym discounts, health supplement discounts etc. I'd rather go back into the reasons why you want to offer rewards in the first place. From most industry best practice and studies into motivation, if you make the process transactional (do good thing, get spa discount), you'll actually lower motivation in the long run and damage any possibility of turning the healthy activity into a habit. Example 1: Studies where patients were paid money for adherence have repeatedly shown poor results, as patients begin to cheat the system and created something transactional. Example 2: CrossFit started from day 1 with an idea of standardised measurement (i.e. quantified self) and competitive leaderboards (i.e. feedback loops). Even though there are no mechanisms to stop an athlete from lying about their own time, the organisation has created an entire culture and international business off of the idea of people competing with themselves and baselining against strangers around the world. Standardisation, feedback loops, and gradual difficulty progression are all key ingredients to how CrossFit achieve this. Instead, I'd focus on how your rewards program can be intrinsically rewarding. I wont say "gamification" for the sake of dropping a b-word but if you pick up a book called 'Drive' you'll get a good primer into the underlying psychology of how/why game/reward systems can improve a positive behaviour. I've passively been around the health tech industry for the last few years so happy to follow up on a call, I also have a few contacts who might be helpful.

That is a really ambiguous question - if someone gave you money, it really doesn't matter what you did with it. The money they gave you needs to follow tax laws related to gifting. If you invested that money and made a profit, you need to pay capital gains on your profits unless you have done something to off-set or delay paying those taxes.

I'm assuming you're talking about yourself, working for another company? The first thing to consider is that a "1099" is NOT an employee, rather an "independent contractor". The IRS takes it seriously when a company claims 1099 contractors, when in fact, these contractors are treated as employees (the IRS wants payroll tax and will fine companies that miscategorize). To be a 1099 contractor, rather than an employee (W-2), you must have complete control over your schedule - when you work, how much ect. There are other criteria, but this is the main one - you must clearly not be treated the same as an employee. The other thing to consider is that if you are a 1099 contractor, you are responsible for paying and submitting your own income tax and self employment tax to the state and the IRS. It is more advantageous for a company to pay you as a 1099 contractor as they save paying employer portion of payroll taxes. Also you will not count as an employee for the Affordable Care Act (which impacts companies with over 50 employees). Hope this helps. Kathryn

I definitely recommend plantronics. Check out their website and your can order them online. I remember using CS540 model. Its wireless, good battery life, reduced background noise and easy to hook up. Its expensive but you can get a cheaper options on their site. They are one of the leaders in this field.

I'd recommend RecruiterBox as long as you can focus on filing one position at a time. It let's you accept up to 200 applicants for 1 position for free. http://recruiterbox.com/recruitment-software-pricing-with-free-signup/ Also, There are quite a few others out there most of which offer free 30 day trials or free access to their platforms with feature limits on them vs the company's paid offerings. Based on the way you phrased the question, this app should do the trick! Side note - if you're making use off Google apps - just create a form for submissions. It's always free.

Android commands a large market share, but is also very fragmented. One of the things you'll want to consider when developing for Android beyond 90% of your demographic using Android vs iOS, is that you'll also want to figure out what is most common versions of Android that they are using... For example, it would be pointless and a waste of time to develop an Android app that only supports 4.3 and up if majority of your demographic are still on 2.X. Once you have the data you need on what versions of Android are most common versions of Android being used among your user demographics, it'll help you pinpoint what version of Android to target as a "minimum required". Next you'll want to consider if that minimum version includes the necessary features and APIs you'll need to deliver on your app as well. If not you may have to move the requirements up. These are things you'll need to consider when developing an app for iOS as well, but much less so as the adoption rate for the latest version of the OS is much higher for iOS than it is for Android (due to a large variety of hardware / OEM restrictions with Android handsets and manufacturers).

I think with your future goal in mind which is to eventually have a bigger website with everything from every website, it is better to go with Option 1. Having an umbrella brand and then having sub-brands within it will make it easier for the customers to relate to the brand once you implement your final goal of the bigger Amazon-like website. This also doesn't hurt your need to make customers feel that they are a part of something that identifies with them. You could have your Action Sports website for example to talk directly to the right Action Sports customers. You just need to have some kind of branding indicating that this site is a part of umbrella brand. I can't see how this can hurt. In fact, this could even be done without completely different websites for every category. You could have one site with different category landing pages that lead to listing pages that only contain stuff from that category like Action Sports for example. Shopify has done a lot of these kinds of landing pages that are very effective. Have a look at these two which are aimed towards ebook authors and pet suppliers respectively: http://www.shopify.com/sell/ebooks http://www.shopify.com/sell/pet-supplies But I think you've already got the separates website working? It's fine and could work well. What you're trying to do is really good. I have a lot more suggestions in mind which could make your sites a lot more effective and make more conversions/revenue eventually. I would be happy to discuss this in detail through a call.

I've done a lot of work in this space (created the new art of conference network: Hashtags to handshakes). Here are a few thoughts for you: -get clear on you goal(s) and the type of people who can help you. -take inventory of what you have to offer(use this acronym Work history, Hobbies, Education, Network) -once you see the people you want to connect with, do the online research to see if you already have something or someone in common(LinkedIn). -read and comment on their content or something in their profile. -Invite them to 15min virtual coffee as an introduction call. (Be in a "how can I be of assistant mindset) -ask them two question during your virtual coffee (1. What are you working on that you're most passionate about? 2. What the biggest challenge?). Once you know someone's challenge you can find ways to be helpful. -Be patient. -let me know if you need more support ;)

As a 500 Startup mentor I would suggest the following 1) Blog about distribution, design and data. Those are the things that 500 values most and usually the fastest way to get on their radar. 2) Interact with @davemcclure (and all other partners) on Twitter 3) Attend geeks on a plane or other events they host. It's all about relationships and perception, so create opportunities to increase the probability of showing them that you have skills that are relevant to the companies they invest in. Hope that helps.

There are a couple of key questions embedded in your decision that aren't addressed in your description that make this difficult to provide input: What are you looking to gain with a partnership? (capital, connections, expertise, access to customer base) How much and on what timeline? To use for what specifically? (equipment, facilities, labor, marketing) How will it enable you to grow? (efficiencies, new markets, additional revenue streams) Is your objective incremental organic growth, "hockey stick" growth or other? How urgent is the need? (Do you have working capital? Are you pre-revenue, break even or positive? Is it sustainable?) Happy to discuss in detail once I have a bit more perspective on your situation. Best, Tamarah

WHO THE HELL NEEDS A LIFE COACH? That's another name for "mom". How do you expect to charge for that? Being a warm shoulder to lean on is quite a bit different than being able to charge people to give them advice. I drink beer (and talk strategy) with people that I would NEVER pay to listen to. On the other hand, I pay people for awesome advice -- and I don't ever drink beer with them. What's the point? If you are an expert in something then CHARGE people for it. If they won't pay for it then you might not be as much of an expert as you think you are. BTW, please don't call yourself a "life coach". That's so awful.

Your assumption is not true. They don't care where you come from. Time is money regardless of where in the globe you come from. Ask for advice not money if you are going in cold. Don't send your deck, don't attach anything to that email and make sure the email is max four short sentences. Here is how to get a response: Subject: Seeking advice Body: Line 1. Name.. working on a product in X space that does Y. Line 2. I saw you have experience with X space and Y products. Line 3. I would like your advice on (user acquisition, scaling, blah, blah). Make sure you do your homework on what area the investor is an SME. Line 4. Ask one very specific question. Thank you for your time Name DONE! It works and if you want to talk I can explain further which VCs this has worked with. As the saying goes ask for money you get advice. Ask for advice you get money. In an ideal world you want to have a warm intro. But hey those are not always easy to come by so you do what you have to. What is the worst that can happen investor says no? Or doesn't respond? Who gives a shit you tried.

I think as a first-time entrepreneur who is non-technical, you should focus 100% of your energy on your clothing business with your buddy. There is far less required to make a clothing business a success than a startup run by a non-technical founder. I don't mean to trivialize the challenges of running an apparel company (there are many) but comparatively, there is a greater chance of you having success with the apparel business than a startup. But you *reduce* your chances of success by diluting your focus with other ideas. Happy to talk to you in a call about starting off on the right foot with a cofounder.

Honestly there's too many to mention. Most successful founders are extremely kind and have a history of helping others... my quick list - Dave McClurre - Micah Baldwin - Clay Hebert - Mike McDerment - Jon Bischke - Gabe Luna - David Hassel - Mike Walsh - Bill Clerico - Hiten Shah - Gerry Pond - Sean Power - Christine Lu - Sally Ng - Marc Nager + 100's more Again, this is a quick list / not ranked in any order - just people who I think of personally that are kind and helpful in the startup space.

I've taken a quick look at your site and am happy to talk to you. Take a look at my reviews here on Clarity. Product advice is an area I provide a lot of help to Clarity members about.

The best way to sell anything is to find a similar product to yours (but less competitive) and find out how / where they sell theres. The truth is you'll need to make a lot of visits and calls which will mean rejection, but just know that it's a numbers game... meaning, it's all about the # of calls, emails, meetings you take - and over time you'll eventually get sales. There's no silver bullet, only a lot of lead bullets. You just need to start firing the gun (= pick up the phone and try selling it to stores). Again, find out who's been successful in this market, and copy what they did if you have no ideas how to proceed.

Forget about sales tactics right now. Nothing quick or easy is going to help you when you just want to make money fast. 1. Be extreme 2. Live disciplined 3. Give more value than people pay for 4. Act human It doesn't matter what strategy you use when you factor in all (4) of those.

Joining a top tier consultancy will not help you become a great PM. Full-stop. Yammer has one of the best product management groups and although some of their PM's have left (since the Microsoft acquisition), they still have a great group there. Some of Yammer's best PM's started out in different non-product roles. There might be some junior roles there that get you on the right track. There are a number of great established product teams that are always eager to add team members who are hard-working, passionate and eager to learn. Happy to talk to you in a call to point you in some specific directions but joining a great product team that actually *owns* the product is way more instructive and a better career path than a top tier consultancy.

I have in the past developed cost-savings calculators and they can be one of the most effective tools in moving an enterprise software prospect through the sales funnel to a closed deal. So I understand why you are so keen to get a handle on these numbers. Unfortunately, you are in a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation. It reads as though this will be your first deal. By definition, then, you have not yet had a deployment allowing you to properly quantify and document the benefits and cost savings accruing to insurers when their patients use your tool. Without such data, on the other hand, closing this first customer is all the more difficult. What you do have is a golden opportunity to work with this early adopter of your technology to develop those metrics. Make it worth this customer's while to work with you by offering it a steep discount, or a modest up-front fee combined with payments down the road based on how much they actually save. Or collaborate with this customer on a study that will quantify such savings and will provide this insurer with some effective competitive positioning it can use in its own marketing. The challenge here is that savings on the mediation of lifestyle diseases like diabetes can take an awfully long time to accurately establish. What metrics, such as weight stabilization, could be harvested in the shorter term? And how convincingly could you extrapolate from those early metrics to estimate eventual cost savings? You are certainly thinking the right way. Now you just need to figure out how you can collect actual patient data and turn that into a cost-savings calculator that will help you more easily close the next customer, and the scores of customers thereafter. I hope this helped. If you have further questions, I am only a phone call away.

I am going to begin my answer to this question not talking about writing emails at all, but rather getting at the true source of the problem. Then we'll talk text. The problem with "follow up" messages is they illuminate something is missing in your sales process. Most people fly by the seat of their pants on sales process anyway, believing that only big companies need one. But *everyone* in the field of selling needs a consistent sales process. "To manage we must measure" is a process improvement maxim...and if we aren't consistent in our behaviors, how can we measure? How do you know why you lose some orders and win others? Do you just assume it's your personality, or your price, or your brand? That would be crazy!--and what salespeople do every day. You have given us a single sentence to work with (industry, paths to market, what prospecting/qualifying method you're using now, and other facts would have been helpful). So I don't know anything for certain about your sales process or lack thereof. However, the fact that "following up" is included in your steps and vocabulary indicates to me you are having conversations that go nowhere. If you had a conversation with a prospect and it didn't result in a clear understanding for BOTH salesperson and prospect what the next step was...your process failed. That's what leads to having to "follow up". Every time I see "follow up", the first letter of each word jumps out at me, and that's what I hear it saying directly to me. "FU, Jason. You screwed up." Determining what the next step is, and ensuring it is ultra-clear for both you and your prospect, is YOUR responsibility. It needs to be built right into your consistent sales process. Do it automatically, every time. Otherwise, you end up in this "mutual mystification" situation you're in, where neither you nor the prospect knows what's supposed to happen next. Leading to the plaintive, "Are we there yet?" email. No, we are not. We are nowhere near there yet. If in your qualifying conversation with the prospect you did not uncover the urgent reason they want to buy, do you think you are going to discover it in a "follow up" email? If you didn't find out how important (or not) moving ahead was to them in your live, interactive, back-and-forth dialogue...what makes you think you're going to get the answer in a dull, one-way, inert email? Doesn't that sound ridiculous? Having to "follow up" means you're chasing prospects. Stop doing that immediately, and work on qualifying more effectively. Is this prospect In or Out? A Fit with us or not? Do they have an urgent, important reason to work with us now, or not? Uncover this, and you won't have to "follow up". Most of the places selling falls down are where the salesperson and the prospect have left things in this state of "collective confusion". Each believes they understand what the other means and intends...but the truth is totally different. When a prospect says, "Leave it with me and I'll get back to you," at the end of your meeting, what does that tell you? Me, it tells me NOTHING! Except that I'm being "niced out" of the door. These are times to be a little assertive: "I appreciate that. How long do you think it'll take for you to have a look at it? When should we book a talk to discuss your decision or any questions you have?" Don't leave it to chance. In fact, your sales process ought to have you laying out this as part of the ground rules right up front: "Ms. Prospect, we'll meet for about 40 minutes, that's typically what these conversations are, and I'm sure you'll have some questions for me. I'll definitely have some questions for you, because I want to find out more about your operation and determine whether we're really a good fit for you. At the end of that time, we'll know whether we're a potential fit or not. If not, no big deal. No one will get mad at anybody. If we are a fit, we'll figure out what that next step looks like then. Make sense?" And if the prospect wants to add anything into the agenda, they can. Most salespeople never even lay out these simple ground rules. A consistent sales process is a series of steps. At the end of every step, either it's over or it continues. If it's over, you know why: it's not a fit for a specific reason (no need, the problem's not big enough for you to get involved, or the prospect has uncontrollable anger issues, for example). Over is not a bad thing; it keeps you out of trouble and away from The Client From Hell. If you goof up--and I certainly do from time to time, even though I work with this stuff every day; it happens fast and there's a lot to keep in mind--and you must write an email, you must get the train back on the rails. Let it read like this: Mr. Prospect, I appreciate you meeting with me on (date) about (topic). I forgot to make sure of something at the6 end of that conversation, and I'm hoping you can help me out. Turns out you and I didn't figure out what our next step will be. Now you've had some time to go over what we talked about. At this point, there can only be three possible outcomes: 1. You've reviewed everything, and it's just not a fit for you at this time. 2. You have looked everything over, but have more questions that need answering before moving ahead. 3. You are delighted with the idea and want to move forward, and were just waiting for me to give you this quick reminder of the project. Let me make this super-easy. If the answer is the first possibility, will you reply to this email with the digit '1', and I'll know you're no longer interested? If you want to talk further, please reply with '2' and I'll call you about the further questions you have. If you are ready to go ahead now that I've brought this project back on your radar, please call me at ### so I can get things started ASAP...or reply with '3' to this email, and I'll know to call you so we can begin. Thanks again, YOUR NAME ** This message doesn't chase. It gets things back on track. If your prospect ignores it and you don't get an answer, you can safely assume it's '1' and stop trying to "follow up". In sales, "Yes" is good, "No" is good, but "I need to think it over"--making you have to "follow up"--is torture.

In your landing you tell the problem(s) your app solves. Make them feel the pain and tell them that signing up will heal it. So don't talk about "our app does this and that", but "do you have this problem? We have the solution"

When you do the interview you can show a mind map to show what you can do for them, printed out step by step, laminated. Just how you can achieve their business goals. If they ask to keep this print out, you tell them no this is "propriety" to my business. (PROPRIETARY 1: one that possesses, owns, or holds exclusive right to something; specifically) Or they will have someone else implement your plan.

Wish I'd seen this and been able to help you when you posted this 8 days ago. Guess we don't have many executive jobhunting experts available...but anyhow this will help going forward: This is your chance to stand out. Be memorable. Make them say, "We have to talk to this person!" Don't be bland. Don't write what "everyone else" would. Hit the highlights and hit them early. What makes you different? What makes you special? Tie this back to the role. Most cover letters aren't read...but when they are, the opportunity to become differentiated in the employer's eyes is open. All they need is ONE key reason to call you--remember that. And the cover letter can encourage them to read your resume in more detail. If your resume isn't being scanned by an optical reader for keywords, then the employer will be scanning it. This is just as important to know. They won't be READING it. Understand this. They will scan through the top third of Page One of your resume...and if you don't give them a reason to keep scanning, your resume will be thrown in the trash. So use your real estate wisely. People try to pack everything into a resume. This is a mistake. The purpose of your cover letter & resume is to Get You The Interview. That's it. Not to be a full backup of your life. So hit 'em hard up front. "Wait...what? I need to read that *again*" is the reaction we want. Not a nodding of the head...because all that will lead to is you in a pile with a million other candidates. We're not after "reasonable" here...we want "outstanding". I have several times had employers create jobs for me that did not exist before I showed up. http://www.modbee.com/2014/01/30/3162000/workwise-maverick-moves-for-job.html This is not my opinion, or unproven ideas. If I was in your shoes, I would make a small website. A few pages of video and written content demonstrating how I awesomely do what I do. And my cover letter would hit them early with What Makes Me Different...and then link to the multimedia for more. Think about it...if they go to that link, and invest the time to watch what you've put up--and it should take you a day to create--are they going to call you? Of course they are. Who else will have done something like this? Who else are they going to feel they know (at least a little)? People are in "I'll take anything" mode when it comes to employment. This is wrong. Focus, choose what you want and go for it with the killer instinct. Do what nobody else would do. What I suggested here isn't wild or crazy or even difficult...but hardly anyone Means It enough to put in the effort. And that's why someone like me will get the interview even if I don't have all the qualifications...and get the job. Because once I get into the interview, it's a whole new ballgame and anything can happen. So: > Big benefit and differentiator up front > Some "feel safe" content -- bullet points on your skills/experience matching their qualification requirements, for instance > Link to external content that further differentiates you and develops the "relationship" > Closing on why this is your dream opportunity and how you want to meet to discuss it in more detail. NO DESPERATION, though! Add phone # to arrange interview. Keep it brief and punchy, like a good marketing email. If you sound like everyone else, you'll get treated like everyone else.

Nichole's list is comprised of people who talk about growth marketing. Although growth marketing is a component of scaling-up, scaling a company is much more about operational issues. Everything from tech stack to culture to legal and compliance and almost always sales. On growth, there are a lot of people who talk about the principles of growth from a marketing perspective and a couple of people on Nichole's list are known for *talking* about growth but I'm generally wary of people who are more known for *talking* than actual notable accomplishments in growing products. Ivan Kirigin (formerly on Dropbox's growth team, now running a company I invested in called YesGraph), Gustaf Alstromer (AirBnb growth team), Elliot Shmukler (helped LinkedIn grow from 20m to 200m members, now in-charge of growth at Wealthfront who has been absolutely killing it), Drew Dillon (an early PM at Yammer, now Head of Product at AnyPerks), are all active on Twitter. Actually Elliot isn't but you can still search quotes he's made about growth via Twitter using his name. If you have more specific questions, am happy to try and point you to the right resources.

You can't offer trials or even easily make refunds accessible via in-app purchases. What you can do is actually make manual deposits or write checks back to the users who ask for it. But the purchase behavior associated with in-app purchases really shouldn't require any promise of a refund. In fact, doing so might make people *less* likely to purchase being that you're telegraphing a weak offering. Happy to talk through alternate ways of testing pricing and willingness to pay in a call.