Starting the $100 project

This week I bought the supplies for my $100 project. I also helped my wife start her project with 500 pesos (around 35 dollars) to buy and sell women’s handbags.  For the $100 project I went to downtown Mexico City and bought high quality USB drives for very good prices in a very convenient location with a very reliable and recognized wholesale supplier. The real challenge was obtaining the mini stuffed bears; they were really difficult to find and suppliers are in a location that is very hard to reach and they are not very reliable. I am seriously considering changing the project a little bit using handmade hard dough figures instead or finding another design for the USBs. I felt firsthand the frustration of an entrepreneur when things don’t go according to plan in the most unexpected way and solutions need to be found. I’m not too worried about it though, I think I will be able to figure something out; the only thing I’m worried about is the project’s deadline and being able to obtain the goal of $100 in profits by that time.

My wife and I set a very bold goal. We want to move to New Zealand in a couple years when both of us graduate from college. We are starting to save up money for that and do the research in order to be prepared, get work visas and find jobs. Our plan is to live there for a couple years and then come back to Mexico and obtain a scholarship for my Master’s Degree in BYU- Provo. We also talked about starting a Mexican Food restaurant in New Zealand or a travel agency for people in New Zealand and Australia who want to visit Mexico and Latin America.

Acton Hero:  Desh Deshpande

He emigrated from India to the U.S and founded Cascade Communications and Sycamore Network.

Some of the great lessons I can learn from him are that I must learn from my mistakes. We attempt to do things and fail, it is normal and it’s not the end of the world. Making those mistakes helps us grow and expands our comfort zone. When we look at those failures from a greater perspective we realize that things are not as bad as they seem at the moment.

Another great lesson is that it doesn’t matter where people start but their motivation. Motivation is what matters to be successful in life. Many times we don’t realize how lucky we are to have all the resources, technology and comfort available to us until we lose it or see other realities with our own eyes. We must understand that everything is possible for us if we are motivated.

Acton Hero: Ken Zolot

He has founded robotic companies. As a child he had problems because of his excessive curiosity and desire to do things differently.

I learned that technical issues and people issues are interrelated. Human relations are very important for business to work properly. We are accountable to others as we are all connected and in order to lead effectively we must understand people’s motivations and help them.

When we create a new business or product it is important to ask ‘’who cares?’’. We tend to believe our product is the best thing in the world but we need to confront the brutal facts trying to understand what customers really want, what keeps them up at night?

Lessons from Business Plan

This week I created my first Business plan (for my $100 project) and it was a great experience as I was able to think about it in more depth, including the parts that I haven’t figured out yet. I realized that by doing this I am more creative and analytical as I try to come up with solutions for the problems and challenges.

Having this plan on paper helps me create goals more easily and feel more confident about my ability of going out and doing it.

 I am reading the following books: ‘’The E-Myth Revisited’’ by Michael E. Gerber and ‘’The Mormon Way of Doing Business ’’ by Jeff Benedict. I have learned about the importance of discipline. I realized that I have many ‘’personalities’’ inside of me fighting for control and setting opposite goals and plans; one day I will want to create a business, the next one I want to stay in bed and not worry about anything. I need to be disciplined and find a way to balance my personality and motivate myself.

Something else that I’m learning about is the importance of perseverance and consistency. I remembered a lot of the lessons I learned on my mission and now I see how they apply to other aspects of my life. I also realized that I need to pray more and read the scriptures more consistently.

Acton Hero: Paul Robshaw

The greatest lesson I learned from Paul Robshaw i show dreams are ‘’reality without boundaries’’. It is important to have dreams and work hard to achieve them.

Paul accepted early on that success requires hard work and that failure can come, that taught him to be true to his core values since they matter more than money or material success.

Paul learned from his father the importance of work as early as age 13. He performed every job available in the real estate business like cleaning, selling, developing and so forth.

I learn from him that there is no job that is unimportant, every effort matters and each experience teaches us something that will help us later and teach us an important lesson. One of the most important lessons is humility and perseverance. There will be tough challenges we will face in life and we must be ready for them and not give up.

Napoleon Hill: Think and Grow Rich

Napoleon Hill: Think and Grow Rich

How do people reach great success in life? Why do some people make extremely great amounts of money even when coming from humble origins? Napoleon Hill presents a series of steps towards riches in his book ‘’Think and grow rich’’. Like a time capsule, the book will teach the secret for money making from a previous point of time proving that the principles taught here can be effective at any time, place or circumstance.

Written right after the end of the Great Depression, Think and Grow Rich gives insight of a rapidly changing world in the beginning of the 20^th century mentioning ‘’contemporary’’ examples like Henry Ford and Thomas Alva Edison, both being part of a large number of people that were able to think and become rich and whose lives and experiences served as examples and research material for the principles of success. At the same time, Hill presents the modern reader with an interesting perspective of a world recovering from a great crisis and with big optimistic hopes for the future in a world he didn’t know was about to be devastated by a second world war. Nevertheless, many of his prediction for a future world were fulfilled and the principles taught in the book continue being valid.

Napoleon Hill states that the secret to riches originates in the human mind and its ability to affect the reality around it. Although I don’t believe in ‘’mystic forces and energy’’ as some people could call it I do believe in the power of positive thoughts and attitudes and how they affect the outcome. I also believe that there is a God (referred to as ‘’Infinite Intelligence’’ by Hill) who is happy and willing to bless us because he loves us and he is just waiting for us to decide we want his blessings and do the necessary actions towards them.

The power of the human mind is harnessed through the principle of ‘’auto suggestion’’ which cultivates a combination of positive thoughts, productive excitement and action plans towards the desired goal. I personally believe and agree that we become what we think about the most, not magically, but because of a combination of our own efforts motivated by constant positive thinking and excitement and divine aid from a loving Heavenly Father.

Part of the ‘’auto suggestion’’ process is centered on faith, not as a mere blind desire, but as a hope on things not seen that leads the person toward action and a ‘’burning the ships’’ mindset like the one that led Hernan Cortes to the conquest of the Aztec Empire and the creation of the New Spain as he wasn’t able to turn back and escape once he started his quest.

The book also touches other points like the importance of working along with others in a ‘’master mind’’ alliance of people with similar interests trying to reach a common goal. Several heads can use the principle of auto suggestion (or ‘’law of attraction’’ as it is called by other authors) better than only one individual.

One of the great jewels found in the book is the teaching on perseverance: ‘’winners never quit, and quitters never win’’. You never know how close you are to success, even if it feels farther than ever. Don’t stop digging; the gold vein could be a meter away.

No matter what your profession, nationality, age, or goal in life is; this book will teach you how to develop the mindset of success and perseverance. Through examples of real life people who reached great riches you will learn how these principles were applied and you will be able to Think and Grow Rich.

   

Similar Books:


     

Rekindle the fire

This week I had an opportunity to rekindle the entrepreneurial fire through a couple of experiences at school and with one of my friends.

An old friend of mine talked to me on Facebook during the week asking how things were. He asked me if I had already quit my job; I told him that I haven’t done it and then he asked me: ‘’then… what is your plan for financial freedom? How are you going to do it if you are still tied to your full-time job?’’ This really made me think about my life, my goals and my plans to achieve them. Am I keeping my job for now as a part of my goals or because of fear? That is something I need to think about.

At school I brainstormed ideas for businesses. It was interesting to see how a few of them have changed since the last time I did something like that. I had to think about problems that I see in daily life in Mexico, things that are missing or are uncomfortable to obtain. It was much easier to come up with ideas keeping those questions in mind.

Here are some criteria that helped me come up with ideas. This was provided by my BYU-Idaho class on entrepreneurship:

1. Complaints people have or gripes they hear from friends or people in the community.
2. Inconvenience experienced when purchasing a product or in acquiring a service.
3. A product or service “flaw” that is difficult to deal with, such as packaging that takes way too much time to unravel.
4. The pain that comes from paying way too much (i.e., getting “ripped off”) for a product or service.
5. Money that seems to be “lost” with little value returned.
6. Something that can make life easier.
7. A product or service that can contribute to health or well-being (literally removing pain of one kind or another).
8. A simpler way to access a product or service (less hassle).
9. Dreams that you’ve had as a child.
10. Successful businesses around you, maybe one that you feel you could do a better job with.
11. Hobbies and activities that people invest a lot of time and resources into.
12. Businesses or services that need simplification.
13. Read this article for more ideas.

Social Media - Continued

Essential to any marketing effort for a product, company or website today is a Social Media Strategy, especially if it is looking to market to young people.

There are many social media courses, articles and tutorials out there that explain the technical side of it. Here are some of the lessons I recently learned about the generals points for social media:

Be different. It is important to stand out from the crowd. The average person today is constantly bombarded with advertisement. It is not enough just to show your product anymore; you have to make them understand why it is different and cause an impression that won’t be overlooked.

Be authentic. Customers are not easily deceived anymore. They look for multiple sources and know when a company is just ”trying to sell them something”. Answer their comments, interact, be a person and engage your customers and visitors so they recommend you to their friends through their comments and interactions.

Be creative. This goes hand in hand with being different. Don’t just do what you learn about social media but look for ways to innovate, to create new things.

Have a strategy. It doesn’t help to spend money and time on this if you don’t have a goal or purpose for it.

Use your tools. Take advantage of Google Analytics and use metrics to measure your social media ROI so you can learn what works and refine your strategy.

Useful Resources:

12 Awesome Social Media Tutorials

Social Media for SEO - Goals

Social Media for SEO - Goals

The way we do business has changed. Not only do we have online businesses nowadays but with the arrival and widespread of social networks, businesses have become social. A business, especially one that sells to young people, now has to develop a social networking strategy to serve its customers with personalized service and improve its SEO at the same time.

I am used to using Facebook. In fact, my session is always open in my mobile device and I use it as one of my primary means of communication with friends and family that I don’t see often, interaction with communities that share my interests, and assessing the trustworthiness of a company I just discovered. For example, I am trying to change my Internet Service Provider so after finding some companies I could choose from the first thing I did was looking them up in Facebook looking for customer comments and reviews. If a company doesn't have an official Facebook page it’s easy for me to ignore it. If customers are happy with the company and mention it on the company’s Facebook page I gain confidence about their quality. If I ask the company questions through Inbox and their answers are useful to me, then I am much more likely of becoming their customer.

With these facts in mind, I came up with a list of goals for Social media and SEO:

Obtain ‘’Likes’’ and relevance. After I ‘’like’’ a company’s Facebook page, I will start seeing their publications in my wall and they will be present in my mind. The first step is to get visitors and potential customers to ‘’like’’ the company. A Facebook Ads campaing can be used for this. My first goal is to reach 100 Likes as a first stepping stone, then use an ads campaign and organic growth through interaction to increase its number to 500, and then 1,000.

Create content that is ‘’likeable’’ and ‘’shareable’’. Publications that are liked, shared and commented will have a greater and wider reach. Sharing content from related but not conflicting sources can also be good to keep social interaction up. The goal is to have at least one publication a day in order to remind visitors of my site’s existence.

Engage with the community. The Facebook page is the ‘’face’’ of the business where customers can ask questions and give suggestions. Friendly and warm interaction is the key for visitors to return. My goal is to answer comments every day, and invite people to interact if comments are scarce.

Expand your reach. I am not really using Twitter, Instagram, or other social media sites to promote my site other than Facebook and I have been suggested to try it. My goal is to open an account in those other sites and becoming familiar with them.

Success can be measured from this using Google Analytics. With it I can know how many visitors are visiting my site as a result of social media interactions (which is the first goal), and how many of those clicked Adsense ads. Links to Affiliate Networks can also be posted on social media publications advertising special offers.

Useful resources: 

http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/08/social-media-optimization-redux/

http://www.toprankblog.com/2010/07/4-social-seo-success/

SEO

Here we come to the mystical world of SEO. 

I have to admit that I had heard about ''SEO'' for a long time but I never knew what it meant until a couple months ago when I started learning more about Search Engine Optimization, or how easily can search engines find your website.

There are a few factors that can affect your website's SEO:

Keywords: Include Keywords that people are looking for but are also relevant to your website. It is important to focus on quality rather than spamming the website with the desired keywords.

Back-links: How many links lead to your site? This is a very important point too, and these links must be high quality links too, not just spam.

Site optimization: How long does it take to load? Is it easy to see in all screen sizes? What about mobile devices? All of this affects visitor experience in your site and how likely they are to return.

Be unique: Not only create original content; make that content so unique that your site stands out from the crowd.

Make it shareable: If you were a visitor, would you share what you found on Facebook or another social network? Make your content interesting, and make sure your URL's are simple and reflect what your content is about.

There are much more ideas to be applied on a site for SEO.

I recommend this guide.

And if you use Drupal you might want to take a look at the SEO Checklist Module

I still have a long way to go for my site. I'm learning and applying these things by trying and making mistakes.
My site (In Spanish): www.saliradentro.com

Getting actually started

In the last few weeks I have learned about the different types of online business, how I can use Google's Keyword Planner to analyze different business ideas and decide which one is my best option at the moment. I also learned about the different tools that I have at my disposal. Now I am about to get actually started and build my first online business. 

I have decided to merge some business ideas, adapt it to my current situation and availability of resources and focus on creating content to attract visitors and refer them to other websites who offer compensation to affiliates. I have requested my wife's help because of her field of study in college. As I talked to my dad he brought up the fact that he already has hosting space available as a benefit from our internet supplier and that I could borrow it for a few months as I start the business and then move to a different hosting service when he needs it back and I have already kick-started the business; so, right now I'm looking at the hosting service he is offering me for free and the web building tools that are available with it.

Some tools that I want to share:

This is a top 10 list for hosting companies : http://www.top10hostinglist.com/

This is a course development course I purchased a couple months ago in Udemy and I'm trying to complete during my spare time: https://www.udemy.com/complete-web-developer-course/#/

When ideas are hard to come by

I am the kind of person who finds it very difficult to get started with things. Whenever I have to write an essay I struggle for days just thinking, looking at the paper and wondering how I could start. I have discovered that the best way to start is... starting. I start writing the first thoughts that come to my mind about the subject, my mind starts working and the rest of the essay is smooth and easy. However, the ''blank page phobia'' is still there every time I have to start a new assignment. 

I discovered in the last couple weeks that the same happens when I try other things, like starting a business in this case! However, this is the solution that I found:

I started keeping notes about problems that I found around me; everything! From the difficulty of keeping my desk clean to how to improve public parking lots.

Then I started with more specific business ideas. Even if the business sounds impossible or if it doesn't make sense at the beginning. I found that if I don't let those ideas develop I will never get to the good ideas.

Then, I realized that everything is possible with determination, knowledge, perseverance, and making your idea unique, like Seth Godin's purple cow on the side of the road.

For whoever finds this entrepreneurial journal:

I would like to share some resources that are helping me refine the business ideas I have chosen. The first one is about Affiliate marketing, or how you can earn money online by referring traffic to sites like Amazon.org or even Oakley sunglasses and earn money by the sales you generate. 

The second one is a presentation about lessons learned from the success of Dropbox and Xobni

http://adamsmith.cc/from-zero-to-a-million-users-dropbox-and-xobni-les

After watching this I really felt that I was able to do anything I wanted to accomplish!

Getting Started With Web Businesses

I had been thinking about starting a business on the web for a while but I really had no idea how to do it. I started trying to sell books through Facebook and looking for affiliates. I even bought advertising in Facebook in order to target a specific kind of customer without a lot of success.

This semester I have the opportunity of taking a class about creating web businesses. I'm in the second week of the class and it has been great! I was terrified at first because I actually need to create a real business during the class and I didn't think I would be able to do it, but the things that I have learned so far have helped me feel empowered and confident that I can actually succeed at this!

I have a lot of ideas in a list that I'm making and I'm doing a study in order to decide which idea to use for the business. One of them is what my wife and I have been planning to do for a while: A website that shares the best places and tips for tourists visiting central Mexico. I also want to create a business that I could manage with my dad. He just lost his job today and he tries to keep a calm expression but I can see that he is really sad. He is a computer engineer and has some projects he's been talking about for a while; now that he lost his job he wants to try them and I want to be able to help him with what I learn during this class.

One of the things that amazed me the most this week was how easy is it to use the tools from Google Adwords like the Keyword Planner. I will share a video of how it works!