Probate is tough. As I helped to launch my Real Estate Investment & Management Firm almost 10 years ago, I was on the lookout by monitoring the updates from the Public Guardian of my local County and other venues. But, the challenge of dealing with the Courts outweighed any potential gain.

1. Let's define successful. Each of us has individual goals and only some of them are monetary. But I take it you are asking about how to make money consulting! I'd be very careful listening to the advice of a consultant who isn't successful by that measure. I pledged to never accept money from someone who makes more than I do. Why in the world would they need me to get to the next level when I haven't demonstrated both good ideas and the discipline to do it? I'm grateful to have been consulting for nearly 20 years, and here are some specifics (fees billed, by myself). I hit my stride four years in and billed $307,000. For the next four years, it rose every year until I hit $686,000. Then decreased the next four years during the recession, reaching $339,000. Then back up in 2007 to $804,000. Then a tad down each year during three spinal surgeries and recoveries. Then back up to a new high in 2011 of just over $1 million. Now I'm at a sane level. :) 2. Recognize the "blah blah me too lemming-like" marketing speak you'll read everywhere and plant a flag on ONE specific mountain instead. Make it your business to be the unquestionable SME (subject matter expert) to defend it. Ignore the really bad advice to put your eggs in one basket or to just follow your heart and the money will come. (There are a lot of people following their heart and struggling.) 3. Consider these very distinct stages in how you make money in consulting, in order: a. Forget spreadsheets; see your hourly rate as a positioning tool. b. Get a second shift job to keep from compromising while you build it. c. Fill >60% of ALL the time you work w/ recoverable fees. d. Maintain >60% with an increasingly higher hourly rate. e. Move exclusively to package pricing w/o reference to hours. f. Build scalable income (webinars, books, etc.). 4. Be friendly but not too accessible. Experts are not accessible in developed cultures. 5. Take two stances, concurrently. Be very helpful in giving away terrific advice for free as long as you don't personalize it. Then charge ridiculous amounts of money to do so. 6. Figure out why you're in business. I'd suggest these three things, in this order: a. Make money. b. Make a difference. c. Enjoy the process. If you don't charge enough, no one listens and you don't have an opportunity to make a difference. But just charging a lot of money is very emptying. 7. Take chances and be different. On my website I tell visitors who aren't a good fit, list all my prices, and list all my competitors. I'm not sure there's a business in the world that does that! Best wishes to you.

Billboard ads have some of the worst response rates out there and some of the highest costs. The companies that look at things like billboards are the ones who probably won't pay the bills for your marketing services because they'll be bankrupt in 2 weeks since they make poor decisions. Want to know what the BEST methods are? Set up a call and I'll guide you through them.

Many well-known SaaS companies have doubled their prices. I've personally worked with a few that have gone through it. In most cases, your conversion rates stay the same and you see a huge jump in revenue. This is because people tend to under-price themselves. Also, your product improves over time so it provides more value and can support a higher price. But don't raise prices for old customers. Grandfather them in so their plans stay the same price. In the long run, it won't make a difference to your growth since most of them will churn out anyway. If you raise prices on current customers, you'll get a huge backlash. It gets nasty. I'm pretty sure that Zendesk tried it and had to reverse the price increase. I highly recommend raising your price by 100% for a month on new customers. Keep a close eye on your revenue and your conversion rates. If things don't go well, you can easily reverse it and discount everyone that paid for the more expensive plan. Either way, you'll know what your market will actually support.

Dan has given you some excellent advice. On the low-level, purely mechanical front, send your pitch via some tracked service like FedEx or UPS, for two reasons. 1. Nobody is going to throw one away without opening it. 2. When a road-blocking gatekeeper rolls you to a stop, just say: "Could I speak with Stephanie, please? I'm following up on a FedEx she received yesterday."

The way I hire anyone is to find someone who's currently employed in that role for a company in my existing market. You can find that person using a few techniques. 1) LInkedIn: Search who's currently doing technical sales for companies similar to yours, and reach out to them to get advice on "How to hire someone like them?". 2) Customers: Connect with a company using a similar product and ask them who's the most impressive technical salesperson they've met - contact that person. Another technique for finding-the-right-person is to search on LinkedIn for a person who previously worked at a similar company that would manage that kind of person (ex: Sales Manager) and ask for advice on hiring... then you can ask who they worked at, at the previous company that impressed them. Build the list using this technique, then win them over to join you for US domination :). Call anytime for more tips like this.

I provide conversion optimisation services on a price per day on a rolling monthly basis. I did it this way, because my background is in software development consultancy and everything was estimated and billed out on a daily basis. I also provide one off services which is normally priced based on how long it would take to complete. I prefer to work with customers on a rolling monthly basis because I can have an impact on many aspects of their digital marketing and business processes. It means I'm also not tied to only creating split tests but have the freedom to advise and have a positive impact on multiple areas of a business.

Can you demonstrate value for them? All the words you're using here are very negative; you need to find a positive spin because I'm not going to pay for something which sounds so negative.

The best way to incorporate a software company in the US is to request a consultation with a US-based attorney. Start by seeking an attorney in the state where you plan to hire your US-based sales manager. Answering this question in full without knowing a lot of business details will lead to an inaccurate answer for your company's specific needs. Therefore, a consultation is best to obtain a full response. During the consultation you will be asked about the existing business, the targeted states for transacting business, any proposed location for your sales manager(s) and other business activities in the US. Other variables involved in answering your question include tax implications, existing and estimated revenue and gross profits, estimated employees over the next year in the US, and a slew of other details. Once an incorporation state is elected, an attorney can assist you elect a business entity type and ownership structure most beneficial to your business needs.

I strongly disagree with the first answer - of course you are building to sell! They key is how fast and what is the multiplication factor for investors... But back to the question itself, I think the most important thing to remember about investors and fundraising is that you are not just getting money - you are selling your company piece by piece. So at each round you need to be sure that what you get is worth what you give away. Simple math might show that at the end it will not worth much for the founders. The rest are details of strategy and specific business and need to be discussed directly. Happy to talk.

Having been in senior management and a CEO for many years, I have found that delegating is not only a skill but also an art. You question is very interesting as I assume that in most situations you would be delegating to people more skilled or more knowledgeable about the task or project than you are. A good manager knows their limitations and their role which is to manage rather than do. Therefore the rules on good delegation techniques still apply: 1. Identify the right person or team with the right skills and experience to do the work. It sounds as if you have done this. Write down the reasons that you feel that they will be better placed to get the best results and portray this to the person up front. 2. Be clear on the level of delegation that you are giving to them. There are 9 levels (if you would like to know these, please let me know). This includes a detailed briefing to outline the tasks/outcomes. 3. Negotiate the timeframe, reporting and results. Don't tell, ask - then double the time they estimate. Most of us underestimate the time anything will take. By providing the person with extra time they will feel much more positive about the tasks and be confident on delivering the outcome. Negotiating the timeframe, reporting and results is the most important step. Never dictate this as you really want a good outcome and this will only be achieved if they are part of this decision. Please call me if you would like some more practical help.

(1) Paying for clicks you would have had anyway. Many people know precisely which site they're looking for in advance. Googling the site and then clicking that paid AdWords link is simply our lazy way of getting where we were already going. And there are cheaper ways of providing visitors with short cuts. (2) Paying for non-customer traffic. I don't mean non-converting traffic. Rather, I'm talking about people who visit your site simply in order to promote their own service. You'll be paying for the privilege of hearing more sales pitches. After all, these people find you the same way as prospective consumers. (3) Providing Google with data about your traffic enables Google to know more about your traffic than you do. Recently Google has begun withholding more and more information. One way or another, that data will be sold back to the same customers who provided Google with the data. (4) Renting space often leads only to further dependence on rented traffic. The same money can be spent on other services and assets that improve content and visibility or expand one's online footprint in terms of actual holdings.

The high-level answer as you can't. Sales encompasses many aspects and techniques that you can "learn" (as in being able to do rather than just knowing only through practice). When you are selling, the emotional/human factor influences every single aspect of a sale and therefore you need experience to find the best strategy but then be able to adapt tactics on the fly. However, to give you something useful, you should pick one or two of the elements of sale, and read about them. Depending on your product/market/channel, you will be able to pick form different pools. I personally like negotiation and price psychology. Another great thing about sales is that it doesn't have to be about making an actual sale. You can abstract the teachings and apply them to everyday life with much more casual interaction you can use to practice. Happy selling!

This should help you out: 1. Property Development for Beginners: A Beginners Guide to Property Development by Steve Chandler http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1482580551/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1482580551&linkCode=as2&tag=pittspropedea-20">Property Development for Beginners: A Beginners Guide to Property Development</a><img src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=pittspropedea-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1482580551 2. Real Estate Development: Principles and Process by Mike E. Miles http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0874209714/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0874209714&linkCode=as2&tag=pittspropedea-20">Real Estate Development: Principles and Process</a><img src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=pittspropedea-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0874209714 3. http://www.masterycoachingterence.com/

Hi there - There are two parts to the answer. First, it's very important to have a site map that is both current and does not have any URLs in it that return a status code other than a 200. Even 301 redirected URLs should not be in there. Also, the site map should not have more than 50,000 URLs. If it has more, then create multiple site maps and list them in an index site map. Second, site maps are a great way to get content *discovered*, but they won't necessarily rank well. You need the URLs to also be easily discoverable on your site through internal linking. I hope this helps. Feel free to book a call with me if you'd like to discuss more. John

My background: I've built several products that anonymously allow employees to communicate their concerns which also measure the impact of specific actions or inactions of organizations and leadership. The biggest negative impact of an organization that isn't very transparent is a lack of trust by employees and often customers. A lack of trust will erode employee engagement amongst top performers. Hope that helps.

From the looks of it, you might have to hire a PHP developer from Elance or ODesk to write something custom. There are tools that can find the results but its going to hard for them to remove certain ones automatically.

Have you had any meetings with buyers for retail distribution? Projection is difficult because the success of the product honestly depends on your external ability to market and more importantly, how accessible the retailer allows your product to be at the store level.

I'm answering your question assuming that you hope to be able to replicate it's own success in your own mobile app. There are a couple of factors responsible for it's growth that are instructive to anyone building a mobile app. "Leveraging the intimacy and privacy of the mobile phone." We now have an *intimate* relationship with our phone like no other device in the history of technology. Every internet company that started before around 2010 has built their core interactions around "the old web" one which was accessed primarily via a browser on a computer. Companies that start with a clean slate, should be building their interactions around how to do whatever the app is supposed to do while leveraging what is unique to people's relationship to their mobile devices. Photo-sharing has become a core part of the way we communicate now. Snapchat built something that provided an experience that leveraged the feeling of privacy and intimacy that is unique to mobile. "Provided an escape from the "maturity" of other online services." Too many parents, aunts, uncles and other "old people" have encroached into the social networks of teens and young people. As a result, they've had a desire to find places to express themselves in places inaccessible by older generations. An important distinction is that it's not just parents and relatives that young people are trying to avoid, but also employers & colleges who are increasingly using "mature" social networks to review applicants. "Leveraged PR even bad PR" The fact that the app got so much press about it being used to sext was perfect PR for the company, as it essentially reinforced the brand experience that it has today. Essentially, "if it's safe enough to send a sext, it's safe for any kind of communication I want to have." And although the safety and security of Snapchat is actually not as advertised, it still enjoys the reputation of having less impact than any primarily web-based service. Building a successful mobile application is one of the hardest challenges to face designers, programmers and entrepreneurs in the history of writing software. Happy to talk to you if you're considering building a mobile app, about what I've learned about the "table stakes" for success.

I've been investing in residential and commercial real estate for over 10yrs and have learned from a lot of decisions along the way. Certainly depends on the type of property, type of investment, and structure of the transaction. For example the answer would be very different between a SFR and a 200 unit apartment complex. I always start with the macro - what is driving people to rent property in that part of the city. Will the reasons people are renting there continue to support future rentals and future rental increases (jobs, development rules, pricing, etc.) If I like what I see for that city and that part of the city from a macro perspective, I look at the economics of the property itself (price per unit in relation to deferred maintenance, does the NOI pencil out to what I need it to be, is there upside in rents or utility bill backs or appreciation, am I buying at a discount due to deferred maintenance or lease risks, etc.) Then I look at the structure of the deal itself - if I am leading the investment and have LPs, what is the rate of return for everyone involved. What is the holding period, plan to sell vs. 1031 exchange, etc. Some of the areas where there can be difficulty is on deferred maintenance that a seller is unwilling to compensate you for (negotiation techniques are your friend here). Issues with the leases (some might be easy to overcome and others may not be). Financing (will a bank want to own that type of property in that city).

You missed the opportunity to try and describe your service here, I wonder if you're generally missing the ability to effectively describe what you do to who you think is your customer? Strategy is simple. Tactics and implementation are where wins and losses are made. By "the brand connecting is missing somehow" I'm guessing you're saying you're getting underwhelming sign-ups. That points to messaging being off or it being accurate and no one cares about the service you're offering. Given that you didn't provide any details where we could help (web link etc), you're best bet is to schedule a call with myself or someone else like me on Clarity that knows something about product positioning, customer acquisition and measurement and analysis.

There's 2 types of customers for this segment that have a decent budget. 1) Funded tech startups (i.e. Anyone that recently closed a round on www.angel.co) 2) Digital agencies (or their clients) who want to build a mobile app for marketing or convenience purposes. So for #1, you can target anyone who likes sites like Angel List, Gust, etc. For #2, you can get a list of digital media agencies and run ads against them. All that being said, the best way to pull them into your funnel is to create some AMAZING free content like an infographic, video or webinar that demonstrates why you guys are the best company out there. So teach them something about mobile marketing that they had no clue about - then close them at the end. Hope that helps.

Keep in mind that investors invest for returns. Telling a prospective investor that you want his or her money to grow your business but don't plan on ever generating a liquidation event that pays him or her a dividend is not likely going to work; angel or not. You may be better served with debt financing where returns are generated in the form of interest payments not equity value growth. BUT, if equity financing is the plan, you're going to want to develop a strategic exit plan right from the start. That means identifying prospective buyers, strategic channels etc and characterizing the value drivers for each right up front. You'll find prospective buyers come in a number of forms; competitors, bigger versions of you, strategic partners, private equity, etc. Each will value your business in different amounts for for different reasons. Understanding this is vitally important for you to navigate to securing the right money, from the right sources, with the most favorable terms. Once you've qualified and quantified each of them, then determine what (specifically) you're going to need to do to align your business with those prospective buyers generating the highest returns. This will drive your business model and go to market strategy and define your 'use of funds' decisions. This in turn result in a better, more valuable business whether you exit or not. Do it this way and you'll have no trouble raising money from multiple sources. You can learn more about the advantage of starting with a Strategic Exit plan here: http://www.zerolimitsventures.com/cadredc Good luck. Steve

Generally, the transfer of tangible personal property is the trigger for a sales tax event. In this case, it may be necessary to review the various aspects of a typical transaction to determine if any portion thereof would be subject to sales tax. However, generally speaking, receipts from the sale “Marketing”, "Media Placement Services" and "Web Site Networks" are not subject to State or local sales and compensating use taxes provided your organization does not sell or otherwise transfer any tangible personal property to its clients in conjunction with these activities or perform any services otherwise taxable under Section 1105(c) of the Tax Law in conjunction with these activities. (See, Advertising Agencies, Technical Services Bureau Memorandum, June 10, 1983, TSB-M-83(16)S. For additional guidance, you may also want to refer to Publication 750, A Guide to Sales Tax in New York State http://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/publications/sales/pub750.pdf. I hope that you find this information useful. Shawn Powell Joseph Reference TSB-A-97(43)s

Your support software should cater to your needs, depending on how your business operates. Fiver uses Vanilla forum and Zendesk. Thumbtack uses Zendesk. Not sure about AirBNB, their help center seems to be custom. Depending on how well funded your are, I would recommend starting with a free plan with one of the help desk SaaS products, or even using open source ticketing platform. Then, as your needs grow and you need integration with your marketplace, there's no reason you can't scale and migrate.