Strategy Consultant | Marketing | BI | Analytics
Hire a smart virtual assistant (VA) capable of performing various activities. This will ensure focusing on your core activities and relatively cheaper cost. Don't hire freelance VA, always look for companies who provide these services. You will be better of with almost no downtime plus having access to their tool and automation platform. I collaborated with one, who gave special services like: 1. Flexible hours of work based on need 2. Work as per your desired time zones. 3. No additional Project Management charge. 4. No upfront investment. 5. 100% security i.e. own the copyrights of the work done. 6. Track performance by daily reporting schedule. 7. Rate as low as $8/hour. Let me know if you need any help.
Cold Calling & Sales Expert
Focus on improving your sales skills and delivering constant value to your accounts. With that in mind, I would recommend: "If You're Not First You're Last" by Grant Cardone "Closers Survival Guide" by Grant Cardone "Fanatical Prospecting" by Jeb Blount
Cold Calling & Sales Expert
I recommend reading "Will It Fly" by Pat Flynn and "The 4-Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferriss. Go ahead and run a Google Adwords Campaign to a landing page with the option to purchase something related to your topic. If you get a good conversion rate of people who click the Buy button, then it is a winner. Ideally, you are looking for a topic that is a huge need for your target audience. A friend of mine always says that he is looking for at least an 8 out of 10 on the BIG Problem scale.
20 Years in Tech, Startups and Marketing
This is an interesting idea. In fact I faced a similar problem recently - I wanted to pick up a sofa that I'd bought from ebay. My options were - borrow a big van and drive it there and back, hire a man and a van to do so. I chose the man and the van via this service - https://www.anyvan.com/ So a solution already exists here but perhaps there's a spin on it? Get people to pick up your items when they're traveling that way anyway - it's been done too - https://www.nimber.com/ It maybe that your market isn't mature and there's a need for this where you are. What I'd suggest is the following: Sketch out the problem/s and what people do about that problem Sketch out the use cases Sketch out all your assumptions Then try and debunk them - one by one Speak to people - whether that be on forums, facebook, in person, friends, relatives etc and gain as much insight as you can. Once you've got that insight try and sketch out the solution to the problem Once you've got that - then go back to your BMC and re-hash the whole thing Then build a cheap website/landing page saying that you can solve that problem by doing xyz - you don't even have to have the service or anything Promote it and collect feedback Re-hash the BMC Then decide whether it's viable or not. Happy to chat through in more detail.
Start-up & health insurance payer experience.
Clinical Decision Support coupled with cost optimization will grow over the next ten years in light of AI and Amazon development. So what do I mean in a practical sense by this? Say you are a patient with abdominal pain. Your doctor thinks you may have a gallstone, but it could also be a kidney stone or perhaps a bulging disc in your back among other conditions. A test would help your doctor diagnose you. But what test? It could be an ultrasound, CT, MRI, or a nuclear medicine study along with blood work. But what would be the best test for you given your medical history, past tests you've undergone and cost of the tests in the area? This is way too much information for a busy doctor to analyze in a 15-minute office visit. Ahh, but there is an AI platform with all your past medical history and costs of local services Amazon has figured out. Your doctor, working in conjunction with the platform can enter relevant clinical information based on their physical exam and interstation with you to determine the optimal test to order to diagnose your condition. This would result in high-quality, cost-effective care to be delivered with the help of AI in collaboration with your doctor's input. How does this change the job of a doctor? Well, it would make them more efficient and able to provide higher quality. They would need to learn how to interact more closely with an AI platform and recognize a stronger partnership with technology. As a result, decrease mental burden and job satisfaction would result. Ultimately, there could be lower rates of provider burnout and increased job satisfaction with more individuals wanting to enter medicine. This could help address our issues around limited access in light of an aging population requiring more services.
CEO at www.TextHub.com
Chartmogul is the best one I've found. There are many great ones though. You can even use open source analytics software to build your own.
Father of 2 teenage girls and married.
Hello, I wholesale part time. I have sold multiple products to a variety of different stores. My goal was to never get into a huge department store, it was to provide small mom and pop shops with products that would sell. Steps I took to sell multiple items: 1. Establish a contact person 2. Provide sample products to display in store on counter 3. Follow up with contact person to see what reaction they are getting from the consumer. 4. Discuss how your product will bring more revenue to there establishment. 5. Sell your idea. I have done this in multiple different types of stores. Example: Sold knives to a gift store to put in gift baskets. Sold shot glasses to a dollar store. Sold musical gardens to a small knick knack store. Sold table top fountains to a novelty shop. I used the steps above in order to achieve my goal. My personal opinion is 85% of your time and effort is going to be selling the idea. That's it. It really is that simple. Feel free to contact with any questions. Happy Earnings!!!
Co-Founder at Lexulous
Yes, this is possible. I am an active stakeholder in an organisation that has developed high performing voice apps and is currently building fitness apps (skills) for Google Home and Amazon Alexa. One of the easiest ways to start is from the following link: https://developers.google.com/actions/dialogflow/first-app There is a lot of nuance in this upcoming field of Voice Development. If you need further answers or would like a call then please connect with me.
Clarity Expert
I've been using UW for a few years. It is very useful but you have to be careful. Lot of unreliable people out there. Over the years, I've narrowed a couple of people I keep using. And have excluded others. Few things: 1- It's best to give clear instruction. I tend to build GSheet on what I need, interact a lot of Skype at the beginning 2- If you are searching for mails, do use email verification services. I find that people I work with tend to have a 95% success rate but, at the start, best to be on the safe side rather than burn your mail server (bounce rate need to be low) 3- Focus helps but if you are testing things out, you could use a platform like Reply.io to test out a few verticals and see what works or what doesn't work. 4- It feels your target markets are a bit too generic. Using UW, you'd have too wide a net. There are various ways to narrowing things down, from geos to title to company size or even keyword in company profile. Again, what is possible is to set a filter and share it with UW. Hope it helps, UW etc... are useful and best in my experience than the products out there. But it is a bit of work (no pain no gain). Happy to set up a call if you see value (am rather new to Clarity so not too sure how it works!). Best, H
Fractional CTO
1) Payment distribution. Use a system like Post Affiliate Pro or similar, which allows you to export a .csv file compatible with PayPall "Mass Pay". "Mass Pay" cost $1/batch to process, so your Affiliates won't be charge normal PayPal fees. 2) You must send 1099 Misc forms to all people you pay more than $600/year. Failure to comply... well... Like the bootleggers in Oklahoma (where I grew up) use to say... "Don't mess with the revenuers." I suggest anyone with a US address, you require a SS or EIN number. Period. Do this during their signup process. You'll thank me for this tip, as it's like pulling teeth to get this info at some future date. Here's another trick. Defer asking for SS or EIN number till the first scheduled payment to each US affiliate. Then send an email saying payment will be issued when SS or EIN has been provided. 3) Don't ever wait for an affiliate to invoice you for their payment. This will create a mass of nonsense work for you + all your affiliates, which will rapidly sour your affiliate relations. 4) Sounds to me like you're new to affiliate payments. You're welcome to schedule a call with me for information about how to select + hire an affiliate manager. After you provide me with details about your business, my guess is I can recommend one of several affiliate managers which might take on your project, if their schedule permits.
Brand Growth Pro, Project Management
You may improve your product's credibility by getting endorsements from vets. Consider partnering with local/regional animal welfare groups.
Fractional CTO
Wow. This is a tough one. If I found myself in possession of a business like this, I'd likely create an IDC domiciled in non-US jurisdiction. Then look for insurance for the non-US company. My guess... insurance rates will be far less this way.
Design Thinking | Consultant
What price points are you looking for? Do you want drop ship with allowance of white labeling a product? Does it need to be direct link e-commerce or will you personally fulfill each drop ship order? I have a client that sells watches through amazon, get in touch with me and I'll see how I can help you!
Get Advice On Growing Your Real Estate Business
Hello! My name is Humberto Valle, I'm a marketing strategist for www.unthink.me. The term “growth hacking” is now being widely used to describe startup marketing, but its meaning has changed since Sean Ellis originally coined the term in his 2010 blog post. You have a very good question here! In short, the answer is No, its not just for SaaS. Service based companies, professionals looking for work, and other non-digital physical product based companies use Growth Hack methodologies every day with great success. Let's get a few things straight first, there is no traditional or digital marketing, only good marketing. Just as how there is a difference in advertising and marketing. Marketing is a management level effort for anything customer facing while advertising is much much simpler than that, albeit still a complex responsibility. traditional is now also including platforms like social media and PPC so in many ways, growth hackers are referred to as that when they can combine management level insight in a business and it's market and pair with easily launched and measured customer acquisition tactics. Sometimes these efforts can very well combine traditional and new traditional as well as highly technical efforts. What differentiates a growth hacker from a "traditional" marketer? Well, while a growth hacker certainly has the skills of what is now becoming traditional marketing in his toolkit, Sean Ellis recognizes that those skills are not always relevant to most early startups, but just as well they are used by many. I have personally implemented non-technical growth hacking methodologies for service-based businesses such as in the cleaning industry, manufacturing of sports apparel, table top games, and others. I haven't had the chance yet to apply Growth Hacking to a SaaS which tells me that it can be done outside of the SaaS industry. If you think about it, growth hacking is understanding where your customers are coming from, what will make them tick, and how to be in the right place at the right time with an offer that is so easy to claim or engage with that it's almost intuitive so the conversion is high. Growth Hacking may have been coined by a technical aspect for a SaaS but in reality is no more than good practice marketing efforts at a management level effort. As a business owner, startup founder, or high level CEO - and of course as head of marketing - you must know who your ideal target it, the market, the competitors, things that make your prospects tick, how much are they willing to go through to acquire what you offer, what are their stages of decision making, howlong is your pipeline for conversion, where and how to retarget them, etc. - this is what every good marketer should be able to do, but in many ways it was unfortunately coined for the higher level experts like us who do have this type of insight when it reality it should be common practice for anyone wanting to call her or himself a 'marketer.'
Experienced eCommerce Expert
Cost will definitely depends on your specific requirements, and the web agency. For example, for the mobile repair side, are customers able to schedule a date/time for the repair and have to enter in their location? Does there need to be a system in place to ensure there's no double bookings? That's just the tip of the iceberg, but a good web agency will dig in deep and ask you a lot of questions in a discovery session to determine your requirements, so that they can propose a solution that'll meet your needs. The first step is find a web agency who has experience building similar websites. Then, have a conversation with them. Look for professionalism, clear communication and honesty. Ask if they have a minimum project budget. If they check all those boxes, consider paying them to do a discovery session to help you determine all of your requirements (paying for 2-5 hours should be enough). This is a useful exercise for you as well, so that you are clear about what you really need (even if you don't end up using this agency). After that, the agency could put together a proposal for you. Generally speaking, a website of this nature will not be less than $3K to build. It could easily be upwards of $20K, depending on all your needs. Your best bet is to keep things as simple as possible, and launch with the essentials rather than building everything at once. Use tools like Squarespace, LemonStand or Shopify to get a lot of features out of the box and reduce development cost. After launching, gather qualitative feedback from customers, and measure traffic patterns and conversion rates using Google Analytics. This data can tell you what to change, add or remove from your website. That way, you're building what customers actually want without just making guesses. Best of luck on your project!
International & Technical SEO Consultant
Make sure you got your mobile visitors covered with a mobile friendly and fast working website.
Unique Insights, Creative Solutions
Without any more details only very general advice can be offered. But that general advice would be to build an 'MVP' (minimal viable product) and start testing it. Test it with yourself, then friends, then family, then strangers, then more strangers etc. You'll be making changes to it along the way to make it fit closer and closer to what people want and find useful, and you'll be refining your knowledge of who your target market is. When you have enough data showing people like and will pay for your product, you can get investment if you want, to grow faster, or grow more slowly and organically without investment. If you can't build your 'disruptive tech idea' yourself, there are several options that will still let you make and deploy and test an MVP version of it. Feel free to send more background info if you'd like advice better tailored to your actual idea, best of luck, Lee
I am a High Priestess and also a 29 Psychic Reader
Find a place to store the food so nothing spoils. Contact local organizations around in your area that can help you bring in food donations. Let other food banks know of your operation. Set up a specific and time schedule that lets others know when they can receive from food you. Hold a food drive. Make sure you get boxes and grocery bags prepared to put food in for your clients. You should have no problems and, yes, there is hope.
Business Strategist & Conversion Expert
I can think of a few ways to solve this problem but there's only one I really like. And that is because the truth of the solution is not out there in the marketplace, but here inside the mind of the contractor. What does this freelancer believe is "a lot of money"? That's your first and key question. It drives all the others. You have to be totally honest about this because people often lie to themselves about this number...the reality is the truth is a figure a whole lot lower than they initially say. Why are we doing this? Because if you mismatch your beliefs with your target market, you will never sell. Either the projects will be too small for your taste, in which case you'll find ways to screw up the sale because the ideas are boring...or (more commonly) the projects will be valued too highly for your personal sense of value, and you'll screw up the sale because it's too big for you. The sweet spot is a level that is just a small bit higher than what you think of as "a lot of money." Let's say you get real with yourself, you've never earned more than $50K a year (most people have not), and so you're used to a salary of around $4K. Earning $10K or $15K at once is frightening to you. Exciting, but scary. You don't really believe you can do it...that someone will actually pay you that in one go. So looking for companies that have a $10-15K or higher project level comfort zone is a bad idea for you at present in this example. Projects at $5-7K are a much better choice, because they will draw you on while seeming believable in terms of someone really sending you that much at once. And if you're used to twice monthly salary payments, $3-5K may be even better. Once you understand what is true for you right now--and the goalposts can be changed; this is all habit and you have to be consciously aware of it and work on it continuously--then you can go out and look for a match in the marketplace. The fact is there are customers at every level. I had a South African friend I worked for about 10 years ago who had a design agency there before he moved to Vancouver, Canada. One of his designers bid on a job to redesign a credit card cover, and that art project was awarded to them at $80K. $80K to redesign that small space. Why? Because that customer felt it was worth it. But if the designer hadn't believed THEY were worth it, they would never have bid on that project, not at that amount...heck, they may not have even SEEN the listing for the project because their RAS would have screened it out. So find your sweet spot, then go and find out who has projects that are worth 10-20X that figure. It's easy to get someone to say "Yes" to a project where they know the value is $100K when your price is $5K to solve the problem. Maybe even $10K as the investment to fix things. And $100K problems are lying around everywhere in business. As for what niche, I like to pick niches I enjoy talking about all day. Beyond typical project value that's another good factor. If I'm going to be stuck in there, I might as well enjoy it. Also makes the marketing easier, since I stand out due to knowing the industry jargon. Yeah, a designer could work on anything...but that's the wrong perspective to be using when it comes to finding clients. The client's perspective is this: "Is this for me? Will this work for me?" And appearing general does not help answer those questions confidently.
Startup Consulting
3
Answers
I help you buy, sell, plan, value a business
I regularly help franchisees in this industry. Send me a message with some of your questions and I'll let you know if I can help in a call. Cheers David
Business Strategist & Conversion Expert
1. Are your tasks clearly defined? Lack of clarity can drop the enthusiasm level. 2. Are you excited about the tasks? See above. 3. Are you clear on the reward for completing the tasks? 4. Is there simply a rhythm your body and mind WANT to work in, that you'd likely be best to listen to? I'm a "Grind It Out" guy and work on things to death once I start, but some people really like Pomodoro, for instance. Also, we all have our "Golden Hours," a topic I was quoted in Inc. Magazine about...times during the day when we're best suited to do certain work. In my case, I am best at "grunt" work in the morning...non-creative, bang-it-out type stuff. And I get tired from about 3:30PM - 6:30PM so I try not to book anything but podcast appearances in there (which instantly put me on Performer Mode.) Then from about 7:00PM to 1:00AM I am creative, so I schedule those tasks then. Respecting these preferences is important to my success. Can I do creative copywriting in the middle of the day? Sure. But the end result will probably not be as inspired as it could be. As Dan Ariely said, we don't know our preferences that well. If you learn yourself, you can use that machine to its best advantage.
IT Service Management
6
Answers
Startups, Executive, Fortune Top 50 Executive
It depends on your business but in my experience, the best was to do a half and half model where some of it was virtual and some of it was onsite. After hours is something that costs effective outsourcing to a virtual company can be effective.
Management Consulting
I suggest doing some of your own research and brainstorming first, to help you craft questions to ask people. Then: simply ask. Use surveys, social media and face to face and try to change up the questions here and there to track consistency in answers.
Entrepreneur and successful grant writer
Wordpress will give you many more blogging options and capabilities than Shopify. There are also numerous plugins for Wordpress that allow you to sell services. WooCommerce is great for selling products, but you may want to find a plugin that allows you to sell just services. You don't really need all the inventory and other product-related capabilities that WooCommerce provides if you are just selling services. Shopify is great for selling tangible products. However, it sounds like you want to sell services, so the many tools and plugins that give Shopify users the ability to quickly set up shop aren't really helpful to you.
Conversions, marketing, ecommerce and content.
1. Make sure you have the right team in place. 2. Make sure job descriptions and methods of practice are well documented.