Why Taking A Risk Is The Only Way To True Success

Some words of wisdom By Chad Howse  

What used to be safe, is no longer. What’s “safe” in today’s volatile economy and society, is risk.

Not long ago it was safe to go to college, get a degree, then get a job in the field of your study. That's no longer true.

Today, someone is working the job you want to have. They have experience, you don’t – and no one’s hiring. You have to make your own way. College is no longer your best investment unless you’re going into a field that needs a degree (doctor, dentist etc…); even then, success is far from guaranteed, and paying that investment back is even harder.

And so, you’re left to your own devices. You’re kicked to the curb, forced to see what you can offer the world – and if they’ll accept it. Or, you can go another route: you can find something that excites you, and give it to the world.

The Global Economy

The world is your oyster. The internet has opened borders, broadened your niche, market, and potential client base. You can now reach anyone with a computer – like I do with my business. You don’t even have to learn their language, there are apps that can translate the text for them.

All you need to do is give people something unique, in a unique way, and with passion.

The good news: you can reach far more people than you used to be able to.

The “bad” news: average doesn't cut it any longer.

Doing an average job used to mean security. Today, an average – or even a good job – may mean you’re replaced by someone who does what you do, only they do it exceptionally.

With the expanding of the client base, the broadening of what can be done, and the incredible lack of employment, should you seek a career, or risk it all and create your own path?

What does a “career” offer?

The likely risk of being laid off (seniority is king in the work force).

Low pay – as an entrepreneur you can essentially, determine you own pay by you actions. A workers pay is determined not always based on merit (unless you work in commission, even then you’re getting a small piece of the pie), but on seniority.

It takes the control of your life out of your hands.

What does “risk” offer?

More control over the funds that come in, as well as what’s taken from you in the form of taxes (although the government needs to improve this).

Control over what you do with your life. So many spend their lives doing things they don’t like to do – essentially living a life they don’t want to live; what’s the point?

Risk offers a purpose.

Death is a magnificent thing: It gives your life, and this very moment, a very special and unique meaning. With each day you’re closer to the end. Each moment is one that will never be had again. Death should give you reason to risk, to try, to persist. To live a life spent doing what you hate doing, is a life lived in hell.

To risk nothing is to gain nothing.

In business, the greater the risk, the greater the room for gains. In the stock market that risk isn't always founded on sound principles, but a lot of time when you’re talking about growing a company, or even finding success in life, great risk leads to growth.

Any great accomplishment has been done so in the face of “safe logic”. They've gone with their gut rather than the path walked by those before them. They've forged a new path.

Have the courage to step out from the crowd. Break through the limitations that bind your mind to the life you’re living right now. You deserve something greater.

We Live in Scary Times

They say that the unemployment rate in America is at 8%, but that’s not counting all of the people who have simply given up. Some economists believe that unemployment is actually closer to 15%, and could reach up to 25% in the next decade.

The future isn't uncertain, it’s very certain that the jobs you hold now may not be there in a decade. What will you do then?

The safest thing a person can do is take matters into their own hands.
This may mean joining on with a start up, something that entails a lot more risk, but you typically need less education, you’re working for a company who’s making a difference, whose leaders are leading with passion and have a lot of skin in the game, and you’re innovating.

This may also mean starting your own company. The internet has given you endless possibilities to create what you want to create, to reach who you want to reach, and to help who you want to help.

The world needs new companies, leaders, and entrepreneurs if it’s going to survive this economic collapse. It needs leaders that hire, not drones that follow. The old dinosaurs are beginning to fade away, will you take their place?

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http://addicted2success.com/success-advice/why-taking-a-risk-is-the-only-way-to-true-success/

Rudeness on the rise in social media

Have you ever experienced Rudeness or nasty behavior Via your Social Media?

Ever check out your news feed on Facebook and seeing friends behaving badly?

Not surprisingly, what happens offline is happening online — even at an accelerated rate.

And online rudeness is spurring fights in real life.

Rudeness and throwing insults are cutting online friendships short with a survey released April 2013 that reveals people are getting ruder on social media.

The study says two in five social media users have ended contact after a virtual altercation.

As social media usage surges, the survey found incivility also has increased with 78 percent of 2,698 people reporting an increase in rudeness online with people having no qualms about being less polite virtually than in person
.

One in five people have reduced their face-to-face contact with someone they know in real life after an online run-in.

Joseph Grenny, co-chairman of corporate training firm VitalSmarts that conducted the survey, said online rudeness now often spill into real life with 19 percent of people blocking, unsubscribing or “unfriending” someone over a virtual argument.

“The world has changed and a significant proportion of relationships happen online but manners haven’t caught up with technology,” Grenny told Reuters on the release of the online survey conducted over three weeks in February 2013.

“What really is surprising is that so many people disapprove of this behavior but people are still doing it. Why would you name call online but never to that person’s face?”

The Pew Research Center show that 67 percent of online adults in the United States now use social networking sites with Facebook the most popular while the latest figures show over half of the British population has Facebook accounts.

The survey follows a spate of highly publicized run-ins between people who came to virtual blows online.

British football player Joey Barton, who plays for Olympique de Marseille, was summoned by the French soccer federation’s ethics committee after calling Paris St Germain’s defender Thiago Silva an “overweight ladyboy” on Twitter.

Boxer Curtis Woodhouse was widely praised after he tracked down a tweeter who branded him a “complete disgrace” and “joke” after a loss, going to his tormenter’s house for an apology.

Grenny said survey respondents had their own stories such as a family not talking for two years after an online row when one man posted an embarrassing photo of his sister and refused to remove it, instead blasting it to all his contacts.

Workplace tensions are also often tracked back to conversations in chat forums when workers talked negatively about another colleague.

“People seem aware that these kinds of crucial conversations should not take place on social media yet there seems to be a compulsion to resolve emotions right now and via the convenience of these channels,” said Grenny.

Grenny suggested peer-to-peer pressure was needed to enforce appropriate behavior online with people told if out of line.

He said three rules that could improve conversations online were to avoid monologues, replace lazy, judgmental words, and cut personal attacks particularly when emotions were high.

“When reading a response to your post and you feel the conversation is getting too emotional for an online exchange, you’re right! Stop. Take it offline. Or better yet, face-to-face,” he said.

Then how to combat the ill effects of online rudeness?

I advise individuals and professionals think twice about sharing a tweet or a post. If you have one, adhere to your company’s or organization’s social media guidelines.

But the highest standard I have to determine what to share on social media is my grandmother.

I ask myself this important question: What would my grandmother think?

Check out Social Media Success FaceBookPage =  https://www.facebook.com/MichaelBev50? 

 keep in touch & like the page while there! I will always reciprocate

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http://www.tednguyenusa.com/rudeness-on-social-media/

Build Your Small Business Brand by Avoiding These 5 Common Pitfalls

Some Great Advice from Meaghan McClellen


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Every business starts out with the hope of a bright future, but some companies just can’t build a solid reputation or overcome obstacles as they climb the ladder.

Building your company’s image, or branding, is as essential as the products or services you actually provide, and you’ll want to steer clear of these common mistakes.

 

Common Pitfalls of Branding

Offending Consumers

Crass humor, stereotyping and patronizing customers is rarely an effective branding method, but accidental offense is also avoidable. A diverse company and marketing team is one way to make sure you won’t step on any toes. In fact, if you can locate the consumers that the competition offends, you might find yourself a profitable niche.

Being Too Rigid

CEO of GoDaddy, the Web hosting and domain company, Bob Parsons, is a creative leader. Not only is he the one who came up with the idea of GoDaddy girls, but businessman Bob Parsons explained his advertising strategy in an interview with Inc Magazine, in which he said there was no real advertising budget. Bob Parsons simply open to opportunities, even ones that pop up at the last minute. Allowing yourself to roll with the punches is necessary. Others will want to work with you when you develop a reputation as flexible.

Poor Name Choice

Choosing the right name for your company comes before Web sites, marketing campaigns and printed materials. For many, their own name also represents the business. You may play on words or use industry ideals. Whatever your name, it must represent your company. Changing names at a later date is confusing and costly. Because you’ll use your company name in so many places, consider the following:

• Is it too long or short?
• Is it difficult to spell?
• Is it overly common like “John Smith”?
• Can you use it as a domain name? Who Represents might be a good business name but “whorepresents.com” is slightly less than ideal.

Test out your company name with friends, family and associates before you print it on your business cards.

Broken Promises

While your company might not be running to become President of the United States, you can learn something from the oversized branding that presidential hopefuls, and even winners, participate in. Political campaigns like Obama’s in 2008 involved a lot of big ideas, promises and hope. It was certainly the idea of “Yes we can” that helped to get Obama into the Oval Office, but then reality hit. Obama wasn't able to make every promise into a reality. Partisan arguing has led to a less effective socialized medicine law, for example, that still has some conservatives upset. Even when you do make good on your word, people will have something negative to say, so it’s best to only make promises that you can fulfill from the start.

Lack of Passion

What is causing your customers’ unhappiness? What issue can you solve for them? Once you answer those questions, advertising and branding falls right in place. The things that worry consumers and pull at their heart strings often encourage them to open their wallets, but if you lack emotion, you’ll miss this opportunity instead of empowering consumers. Furthermore, everyone wants to feel as though they’re talking to a real, live human being and not a computer. This is where showing emotion helps you stand out from the crowd.

Check out Social Media Success FaceBook Page https://www.facebook.com/MichaelBev50?  keep in touch & like the page while there! I will always reciprocate

http://addicted2success.com/success-advice/the-10-biggest-small-business-startup-mistakes-how-you-can-avoid-them/

Keeping up with the Tools of Your Trade

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Keeping up with the latest tools

Keeping yourself updated with all things Social Media can be tricky as new media apps/ideas/things become available almost every day. New strategies proliferate every hour and everyone thinks they hold the next big thing!  No wonder it can be scary. 

Staying current is about three different components: Keeping up with the newest developments, experimenting with digital tools, and learn as much as you can.

Keeping up with the latest tools is about finding tools that will curate information so that you can easily access and process it. You might be surprised, but this tool is the (relatively old) standby, RSS. RSS, or real simple syndication, was developed to deliver information from the web to people who subscribe to that information. For example, most blog sites are equipped with RSS feeds which allow a user to subscribe to the blog and have the blog material delivered in a variety of formats.

 

Use the RSS reader in Google Reader to manage your subscriptions so that you stay up to date with the most current research and trends in digital media. Though there's a catch. I find the process of logging to access the content to be a little clumsy on mobile devices. Two tools that make that simple. Reading blogs on the iPhone, the Feeddler app is a great resource for you to manage the blogs and podcasts that you plan to read or listen to. The app alerts you when there's new posts to read and you can quickly scan through the titles of the posts to see which ones capture your interest. Second, If you prefer to read posts in a more magazine-like style, especially on my iPad. In that case turn to Flipboard.  Flipboard takes the RSS information puts it into a visual display like a magazine that you can scroll through by turning pages and clicking on articles to read the most recent updates.

Both Flipboard and Feeddler use Google Reader as their source of information, so all of the material that you read on any of these three tools syncs with the others. Therefore, when you mark items that you’ve read in Feeddler, they are also marked as "read" inside Google Reader and Flipboard. I also find it valuable to be able to share an article using Feeddler or Flipboard through Twitter, email, or other vehicles that allow me to connect these articles to my followers, customers and colleagues.

Experimenting with digital tools

Try experimenting with all the tools out there! “the ones you think look interesting or can help your business” especially the FREE ones. And through experiment you will find tools out there that will help you and often become valuable time savers. Experimented with Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterest, Storify, MindMeister, Goanimate, Audacity, and a variety of iPad and iPhone apps, to name a few. All will hold invaluable tools, which help and make your work much easier. 

 

Starting off

Most people start with the big three facebook, Twitter & Pinterest with LinkedIn being the professional users choice, which can reach millions of business people across the globe. I would recommend the three above to start off your business and experiment with the tools that they all offer, gain confidence with the sites and navigation systems they have, once you have accomplished these you can go on and add many more to your portfolio, which in turn widens your audience – all good. It can be mind blowing and there will be obstacles to overcome, but believe me it is worth persevering, just work through at your own pace otherwise you can overload! 

These strategies are my ways of keeping current with the changes in digital media technology and the way it affects my business. We are all learners no matter what age you are especially in this digital world of ours, I’d love to hear about the ways that you stay current – all comments welcome after all we all learn from each other. 

Happy tool hunting! 

Mike Beveridge

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