21 Success Tips for Young and Aspiring Entrepreneurs

achieved their goals. Having a mentor is an amazing blessing to an entrepreneur, but not everyone can find one in person.

If you havent yet found your personal business guru, here are 21 tips for young or aspiring entrepreneur to help get you started.

1. Challenge yourself.

Richard Branson says his biggest motivation is to keep challenging himself. He treats life like one long university education, where he can learn more every day. You can too!

2. Do work you care about.

Theres no doubt that running a business take a lot of time. Steve Jobs noted that the only way to be satisfied in your life is to do work that you truly believe in.

3. Take the risk.

We never know the outcome of our efforts unless we actually do it. Jeff Bezos said it helped to know that he wouldnt regret failure, but he would regret not trying.

Related:The 3 Key Elements to Make Your Business a Success

4. Believe in yourself.

As Henry Ford famously said, Whether you think you can, or think you cant, youre right. Believe that you can succeed, and youll find ways through different obstacles. If you dont, youll just find excuses.

5. Have a vision.

The founder and CEOof Tumblr, David Karp, notes that an entrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and a desire to create it. Keep your vision clear at all times.

6. Find good people.

Who youre with is who you become. Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, noted that the fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be.

7. Face your fears.

Overcoming fear isnt easy, but it must be done. Arianna Huffington oncesaidthat she found fearlessness was like a muscle -- the more she exercised it, the stronger it became.

8. Take action.

The world is full of great ideas, but success only comes through action. Walt Disney once said that the easiest way to get started is to quit talking and start doing. Thats true for your success as well.

9. Do the time.

No one succeeds immediately, and everyone was once a beginner. As Steve Jobs wisely noted, if you look closely, most overnight successes took a long time. Dont be afraid to invest time in your company.

10. Manage energy, not time.

Your energy limits what you can do with your time, so manage it wisely.

11. Build a great team.

No one succeeds in business alone, and those who try will lose to a great team every time. Build your own great team to bolster your success.

12. Hire character.

As you build your team, hire for character and values. You can always train someone on skills, but you cant make someones values fit your company after the fact.

Related:7 Reasons Rock Star Entrepreneurs Hit Home Run After Home Run

13. Plan for raising capital.

Richard Harroch, a venture capitalist, has this advice for upcoming entrepreneurs: Its almost always harder to raise capital than you thought it would be, and it always takes longer. So plan for that.

14. Know your goals.

Ryan Allis, co-founder of iContact, pointed out that having the end in mind every day ensures youre working toward it. Set goals and remind yourself of them each day.

15. Learn from mistakes.

Many entrepreneurs point to mistakes as being their best teacher. When you learn from your mistakes, you move closer to success -- even though you initiallyfailed.

16. Know your customer.

Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendys, cited knowing your customer as one of his three keys to success. Know those you serve better than anyone else, and youll be able to deliver the solutions they need.

17. Learn from complaints.

Bill Gates once said that your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. Let unhappy customers teach you where the holes in your service are.

18. Ask for customers input.

Assuming what customers want or need will never lead to success. You must ask them directly, and then carefully listen to what they say.

19. Spend wisely.

When you spend money on your business, be careful to spend it wisely. Its easy to spend too much on foolish things and run out of capital too soon.

20. Understand your industry.

Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos, once said, Dont play games you dont understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them. Truly understanding your industry is key to having success.

21. Deliver more than expected.

Google's Larry Page encourages entrepreneurs to deliver more than customers expect. Its a great way to get noticed in your industry and build a loyal following of advocates.

Being a successful entrepreneur takes a lot of work, a lot of visionand a lot of perseverance. These 21 tips, from entrepreneurs who have already found success, will help you navigate the path much more easily

1. By Jim RohnSuccessLessonsEveryone Must Know!!!

2. Lesson # 1 : Results are the best measurement of human progressNot conversation. Not explanation. Not justification. Results! And if our results are less than our potentialsuggests that they should be, then we must strive to become more today than we were the day before.The greatest rewards are always reserved for those who bring great value to themselves and the worldaround them as a result of who and what they have become.

3. Lesson # 2 : Be a good observer of both life and the world around you.A more worthy challenge is to try to get from the day. We must become sensitive enough to observeand ponder what is happening around us. Be alert. Be awake. Let life and all of its subtle messagestouch us. Often, the most extraordinary opportunities are hidden among the seemingly insignificantevents of life. If we do not pay attention to these events, we can easily miss the opportunities.

4. Lesson # 3 : Wherever You Are, Be ThereLifestyle is learning to be wherever you are. It is developing a unique focus on the current moment,and drawing from it all of the substance and wealth of experience and emotions that it has to offer.Lifestyle is capturing each moment so that it becomes a new part of what we are and of what weare in the process of becoming. Lifestyle is not something we do; it is something we experience.

5. Lesson # 4 : Prepare in all areas of your lifePersistence in your presentations, this is one secret to success. After my first presentation, I got upand did it again. Even though I was scared to death, I did it again. So preparation in all areas of lifeis so vital to your success. Dont be lazy in preparing; dont be lazy in laying the groundwork thatwill make all of the difference in how your life turns out.

6. Lesson # 5 : Skills Make Labor More ValuableSkills multiply labor by two, by five, by ten, by fifty, by one hundred times. Skills made the difference.So do what you can - labor. But also do the best that you can do improved skills. And you will findthat the labor combined with skills will start producing miracles. Miracles with your money, miracleswith your family and miracles in every part of your life.

7. Lesson # 6 : It is a Challenge to SucceedWhat you may be lacking in are the strong feelings about what you want and what you want to do.Let these strong feelings help you take a second look at your life. After all, youve only got one life,at least on this planet. So why not make it an adventure in achievement? Why not discover what allyou can do and what all you can have? Why not now take the Challenge to Succeed!

8. Lesson # 7 : Wages will make you a living, profits can make you a fortuneHow empowering it is to be able to go to work on your fortune every day rather than going towork to pay the rent. Your whole attitude changes; your spirit changes. It is in your voice. It is inyour face. It is in your gestures. And then you can say, "I am now working full-time on my joband part-time on my fortune because I found a way to make profits." Wow!

9. Lesson # 8 : Success IS everything.First you need to succeed to survive. We must take the seasons and learn how to use them withthe seed, the soil and the rain of opportunity to learn how to sustain ourselves and our family.But then second is to then succeed to flourish in every part of your life today than yesterday, inour speech, our language, our health, everything we can possibility think of.

10. Lesson # 9 : The Major Key to Your Better Future is YouThe major key to your better future is YOU. You see the real difference is inside you. In fact,the difference IS you. Someone once said, The magic is not in the products. The magic is notin the literature. The magic is not in the film. There isnt a magic meeting, but the magic thatmakes things better is inside you, and personal growth makes this magic work for you.

11. Lesson # 10 : Love the OpportunitySomebody said you have to love what you do, but thats not necessarily true. What is true is that youhave to love the opportunity. So, before you are tempted to give up or get discouraged, rememberall success is based on long term commitment, faith, discipline, attitude and a few stepping stonesalong the way. You might not like the stone you are on right now, but its sure to be one of the stonesthat lead to great opportunities in the future.

12. Lesson # 11 : We must not choose to do less than we couldTo settle for doing less than we could do is to fail in this worthiest of undertakings. It is not what weget that makes us valuable, it is what we become in the process of doing that brings value into ourlives. It is activity that conversion from idea into actuality gives us a personal value that can comefrom no other source.

13. Lesson # 12 : Success is Easy, But so is NeglectNot doing the things we know we should do causes us to feel guilty and guilt leads to an erosionof self-confidence. As our self-confidence diminishes, so does the level of our activity. And as ouractivity diminishes, our results inevitably decline. And as our results suffer, our attitude begins toweaken. And as our attitude begins the slow shift from positive to negativeand on and on it goes.

14. Lesson # 13 : Dont Send Your Ducks To Eagle SchoolWhy? Because it wont work. Good people are found not changed. They can change themselves,but you cant change them. If you want motivated people, you have to find them, not motivatethem. Chalk it up to mysteries of the mind, and dont waste your time trying to turn ducks into eagles.Hire people who already have the motivation and drive to be eagles and then just let them soar.

15. Lesson # 14 : Creating Your Character is Like an Artist Creating a SculptureCharacter is the result of hundreds of choices you make that gradually turn who you are, at anygiven moment, into who you want to be. If you are sincerely committed to making yourself into theperson you want to be, youll not only create those qualities, but youll continually strengthen them.And you will recreate them in abundance even as you are drawing on them every day of your life.

16. Lesson # 15 : Dont mistake activity for productivity.You probably know some people who always seem to be busy being busy. To be successful, you mustbe busy being productive. Some people are going, going, going, but theyre doing figure eights. Theyrenot making much progress. Dont mistake activity for productivity, movement for achievement. Evaluatethe hours in your days, and see if there is wasted time that you could manage better.

17. Lesson # 16 : Run the day, or it will run youTo master your time, you must have clear written goals for each day that you keep with you at all times.It helps to create each days list the night before. Prioritize your goals for the day and constantly reviewthem. Successful people dont let the minor activities distract them from the major activities the onesthat hold the keys to their success.

18. Lesson # 17 : Focus your energy on the most important thingConcentration takes a lot of discipline. If you have a long list of things to get done within one day, dothe toughest one while your concentration is at its peak. If youre a morning person, get the job donein the morning. Dont wait until the evening when your energy is all spent. Do the jobs that need themost concentration when your body is best able to handle them.

19. Lesson # 18 : Learning to solve problemsHeres the best way to treat a problem: As an opportunity to grow. Change if you have to, modifyif you must, discard an old philosophy that wasnt working well for a new one. The best phrase mymentor ever gave me was when he said, "Mr. Rohn if you will change, everything will change foryou." Wow, I took that to heart. The more I changed the more everything changed for me.

20. Lesson # 19 : Learning to handle the passing of time.It takes time to build a career, it takes time to make changes, so give your project time, giveyour people time. If youre working with people, give them time to learn, grow, change, develop,produce. And here is the big one, give yourself time. It takes time to master something new. Ittakes time to make altered changes and refinement in philosophy as well as activity.

21. Lesson # 20 : Change Begins with ChoiceWe must make the very choices that will bring life, happiness and joy into our daily lives. And if I may beso bold to offer my last piece of advice for someone seeking and needing to make changes in their life-If you dont like how things are, change it! Youre not a tree. You have the ability to totally transformevery area in your life - and it all begins with your very own power of choice. Thank You Very Much Sompong Yusoontorn

111 MOTIVATIONAL BUSINESS QUOTES OF ALL TIME

1. Thestartis what stops most people. Don Shula

2. Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. Swami Vivekananda

3. There are no secretstosuccess. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. Colin Powell

4. A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. Henry Ford

5. It takes 20 years to become an overnight success. Eddie Cantor

6. Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. Farrah Gray

7. If youractions inspireothers to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, youare a leader. John Quincy

8. You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself to be. Lou Holtz

9. The best revenge is massive success. Frank Sinatra

10. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you havent found it yet, keep looking. Dont settle. Steve Jobs

Obstacles cant stop you. Problems cant stop you. Most of all, other people cant stop you. The only one who can stop you, is YOU. Jeffery Gitomer

11. Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. Carl Bard

12. Life has two rules: #1. Never quit #2. alwaysremember rule # 1. Unknown

13. You can have everything you want in life if you justhelp enough people get what they want in life. Zig Ziglar

14. In the end, what we regret most are the chances we never took. Frasier Krane

15. A professional is a person who can do his best at a time when he doesnt particularly feel like it. Alistair Cooke

16. Work so hard that one day your signature will be called an autograph. Unknown

17. If its important to you, youll find a way. If not, youll find an excuse. Jim Rohn

18. Hire character. Train skill. Peter Schutz

19. Whether you think you can or whether you think you cant, youre right. Henry Ford

20. If you work just for money, youll never make it, but if you love what youre doing and you always put the customer first, success willbe yours. Ray Kroc

Always look for the fool in the deal. If you dont find one, its you. Mark Cuban

21. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer. Nolan Bushnell

22. Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life likemost people wont so you can spend the rest of your life like most people cant A student inWarrenG.

23. It takes a strong fish to swim against the current. Even a dead one can float with it. John Crowe

24. Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, Whats in it for me? Brian Tracy

25. Fall seven times, stand up eight. Japanese Proverb

26. Its how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success. Charlotte Whitton

27. There is no such thing as failure, only results! Anthony Robbins

28. The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. Bruce Lee

29. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. Jimmy Johnson

30. The essential question is not, How busy are you? but What are you busy at? Oprah Winfrey

Dream is notthat whichyou seewhile sleeping it is something that doesnotletyousleep. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

31. Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out. Robert Collier

32. I hated every minute of training, but I said, Dont quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion. Muhammad Ali

33. The person who doesnt read is no better off than the person who cant read. Unknown

34. The trouble with the rat raceis that even if you win, youre still a rat. Lily Tomlin

35. We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions. Stephen M.R. Covey

36. Instead of wondering when your next vacationis, maybe you should set up a life you dont need to escape from. Seth Godin

37. One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching. Gerard Way

38. If youregood at something,never do it for free. The Joker

39. Two things define you.Your patience when you have nothing and your attitudewhen you have everything. Unknown

40. Succeeding is one thing. Maintaining that success is another. It is during your success that you are most susceptible to failure. Unknown

To be good or bad doesnt count: life out in this world doesnt depend on that. It depends on a relation of forces based on violence. And survival is violence. Youll wear leather shoes because someone has killed a cow and skinned it to make leather. Unknown

41. Do not call procrastination laziness.Call it fear. Julia Cameron

42. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Jim Rohn

43. Difficult doesnt mean impossible. It simply means that you have to work hard. Anonymous

44. Failure is success ifwelearn from it. Malcolm Forbes

45. The number of followers you have does not make you better than anyone else. Hitler had millions, Jesus had 12 Unknown

46. All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become. Buddha

47. What good is an idea if it remains an idea? Try. Experiment. Iterate. Fail. Try again. Change the world. Simon Sinek

48. Before you start any business, always ask yourself three questions Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead. Chanakya

49. Identify your problems but give your power and energy to solutions. Tony Robbins

50. The entrepreneur builds an enterprise; the technician builds a job. Michael Gerber

Behind every successful person theres a lot of unsuccessful years. Unknown

51. My son is now an entrepreneur. Thats what youre called when you dont have a job. Ted Turner

52. As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others. Bill Gates

53. Failure defeats losers, failure inspires winners. Robert T. Kiyosaki

54. People dont buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons. Zig Ziglar

55. Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. Voltaire

56. Hope for the best, expect theworst and take what comes. Unknown

57. It doesnt matter where you arecoming from. All thatmattersis whereyou aregoing. Brian Tracy

58. People are not lazy. They simply have important goals that is, goals that do not inspire them. Tony Robbins

59. The number one reason people fail in life is because they listen to their friends, family, and neighbors. Napoleon Hill

60. Once you start a working on something, dont be afraid of failure and dont abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest. Chanakya

100% of customers are people. 100% of employees are people. If you dont understand people, you dont understand business. Simon Sinek

61. Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous. Chanakya

62. Great minds discuss ideas;average minds discuss events;small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

63. Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesnt matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle when the sun comes up, youd better be running. Christopher McDougall

64. If you hate waking up on Saturdays, change your friends. If you hate waking up on Mondays, change your job Unknown

65. What really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you. Paulo Coelho

66. The very first company I started failed with a great bang. The second one failed a little bit less, but still failed. The third one, you know, proper failed, but it was kind of okay. I recovered quickly. Number four almost didnt fail. It still didnt really feel great, but it did okay. Number five was PayPal.Max Levchin

67. Dont take rest after yourfirst victory because if you fail in second, more lips are waiting to say that your first victory was just luck. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

68. If you want to increaseyoursuccessrate,double your failure rate. Thomas J. Watson

69. If people are not laughing at your goals, your goals are too small. Azim Premji

70. Vision without action is daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. Japanese Proverb

There are two rules for success: 1) Never tell everything you know. Roger H. Lincoln

71. If you chase two rabbits, both will escape. Chinese Proverb

72. Dont worry about others doing better than you. Concentrate on beating your own records every day. Success is a battle between YOU and YOURSELF only. Anonymous

73. Nothing is impossible, the word itself saysIm possible! Audrey Hepburn

74. And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. Paulo Coelho

75. Approach the start of each day with one goal and end the day with one word:DONE! Anonymous

76. People dont buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe. Simon Sinek

77. If you hire people just because they can do a job, theyll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, theyll work for you with blood and sweat and tears. Simon Sinek

78.Work until your idols become your rivals. Unknown

79. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. Aristotle

80. A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he cant. Either way a sale is made, the only question is who is gonna close? Jim Young

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. Mark Twain

81. Do or do not. There is no try.Yoda

82. In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later. Harold Geneen

83. Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it. Chinese Proverb

84. People may doubt what you say,but they will believe what you do. Cass, Lewis

85. Whenyou wantsuccess asbadasyou wantto breathe, then you will be successful. Eric Thomas

86. The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Captain Jack Sparrow

87. Amazing things rarely happen in your comfort zone. Unknown

88.Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.Mahatma Gandhi

89.First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.Mahatma Gandhi

90.People with goals succeed because they know where theyre going. Earl Nightingale

There is only one boss. The customer. Andhe can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down,simply by spending his money somewhere else. Sam Walton

91.The purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates customers. ShivSingh

92.A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.He is notan interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. Mahatma Gandhi

93.Dont follow a model that doesnt work. If the recipe sucks, it doesnt matter how good a cook you are. Tim Ferriss

94.Great brands are like great stories. And every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. And our job is to make sure that every chapter of our stories makes sense to the one in front of it and make sense to the one after it.There is no such thing as an overnight success. You have to get up and put your work boots on every single day. Kevin Plank

95.The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.Tom Peters

96.It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, youll do things differently. Warren Buffett

97.Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you have to give up the fight and walk away, and move on to something thats more productive. Donald Trump

98.Everybody pities the weak; jealousy you have to earn. Arnold Schwarzenegger

99.Winning is fun,but it teachesyou nothing. Failure is the best teacher in the world. Winning is a trophy, failing is an education. Unknown

100. There is a difference between interest and commitment. When youre interested in something, you do it only when its convenient. When youre committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results. Kenneth H. Blanchard

Between the ages of 15 and 32, dont worry about getting married, dont worry about settling down, dont worry about having a baby. Give birth to yourself. Kelly Cutrone

101. Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave. Unknown

102.The tiny seed knew that in order to grow, it needed to be dropped in dirt, covered in darkness, struggle to reach the light. Sandra Kring

103.You cant climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets. Arnold Schwarzenegger

104.One of the marks of successful people is they are action oriented. One of the marks of average people is they are talk oriented. Brian Tracy

105.In any situation, the best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing. Theodore Roosevelt

106.Never tell your problems to anyone 20% dont care and the other 80% are glad you have them. Lou Holtz

107. Dont stop when youretired;stop when youredone. Marilyn Monroe

108. Do the work others arent willing to do, and youll get the things others will never have. Anonymous

109.Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value. Albert Einstein

110.You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty. Gita

111. Everything will be okay inthe end. If itsnotokay, itsnot the end. John Lennon

Have a motivational business quote?

So Im dying to know whichbusiness quote most inspired you?Do you know of any other good motivational business quotes I may have missed

How to Find a Passion That Will Make You Rich

You cant connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward Steve Jobs, former Apple CEO, Stanford commencement speech

Steve Jobs delivered his famous commencement speech at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California on June, 12 2005.

In this speech he urged the attending student body and millions upon millions of people who would later view the speech on YouTube to find something they love in life, and then pursue it with reckless abandon.

He began the speech with a segment on his theory about connecting the dots.

He starts by telling a story about when he dropped out of college, so that he could take the classes that interested him rather than being forced to attend all the shitty required ones that did not.

After making this move, he stopped by a calligraphy class one day, and learned a bit about how to write using different, distinct styles.

Fast-forwarding ten years, Jobs recalls when he was preparing to release the first Macintosh computer.

Thinking back to his experience in that class, he made an interesting decision: to include different styles of writing different fonts as a feature in this new machine.

And so computer fonts an innovation thats still prevalent today were born.

The point of this story is, of course, that if hed never sat in on that random calligraphy class, he would never have been the pioneer who invented fonts Not as early as he did, at least.

His purpose in making this point is that there was no way that he couldve planned for this. He didnt connect the dots looking forward and purposefully go to a calligraphy class so that he could later use the experience as inspiration to invent computer fonts.

He was only able to connect the dots looking backward because of a chance experience he had, no matter how irrelevant or unrelated it might have seemed on that fateful day he popped into that random class.

And this isnt some trumped-up, ivy-league bullshit that only applies to famous creators like the great Steve Jobs. This is a basic fact of life for any creative and successful entrepreneur, no matter how big or small their vision may be.

There are some things that are simply better left un-planned. And this is truer than ever for entrepreneurs who mesh together different ideas from their pasts to create something new and innovative.

The fact is that the number of different disciplines and skills out there is growing exponentially by the dayand many successful new businesses exist because theyre able to piece different, seemingly unrelated concepts together gracefully.

My story and Dot #1

Much of my adolescence was spent in front of a screen

After re-watching this particular segment of Jobs speech while preparing to write this article, I reflected on the past few years of my life.

Just three years ago I was a recent college graduate, grinding it out at a 9-5 cubicle job, like most of my peers. I was working as a software engineer. And this was definitely not something I was doing to embrace my passions or anything like that

Well, not quite, at least.

Growing up I was always a nerd, you see. I built and fixed computers as a hobby, played way too many video games, and generally enjoyed time alone in front of a screen. And all of this interest in computers is what lead me to taking a bunch of computer science courses in college, interning at multiple software startups during my summer breaks, and then landing this particular job after graduation.

Dot #2

Switching gears, Ive always been a very competitive athlete. Growing up, I played sports year-round, focusing on basketball and football, all the way through high-school.

Computers and sports pretty much defined my life, to be honest. Even in college, when I dropped the traditional sports, I competed nationally at the collegiate level on my schools paintball and snowboarding teams.

My obsession with sports gradually turned into an obsession with fitness and bodybuilding when I graduated college, leaving these organized sports behind me

I had never been much of a weight lifter, but I decided I wanted to get big. So I started tracking my caloric intake, following a strict training routine, andwas able to pack on 40 pounds of muscle after a few years of doing so.

Dot #3

Switching gears one last time, the areas of women and dating was always something that scared the shit out of me.

I was so attached to sports and computers growing up that I never developed any sense of social confidence. Attending things like high school dances and college frat parties was NOT my type of night To put it bluntly: I sucked with girls and I was a huge pussy around them.

I didnt kiss a girl until I was 16. I didnt lose my virginity until I was 21. But when I graduated from college I finally resolved to figure it all out. I was a horny 22 year old who was dying to get laid with far greater frequency than Id ever achieved and I was ready to put in the work to get it done.

This led me to devouring self-improvement books about pick-up, game, confidence, goal-setting, and eventually business and entrepreneurship as well. I eventually connected with a group of guys my age who were also looking to go out and improve their game and we proceeded to get after it every single weekend, going balls to the wall and approaching women en masse.

Soon things began to click,my social confidence reached new heights, I dated several different women, and I eventually settled into my first long term relationship.

How I connected these dots

Bodybuilding was my first postgrad hobby

It wasnt until one boring day in the office that these three distinct storylines from my life computers, women, and fitness mixed together and began to synthesize something new.

I was sitting in my cubicle, staring at the ceiling, and counting the seconds until I could get the fuck out of there. Then, for whatever reason, something popped into my head and I decided I wanted to start a website, just for the hell of it.

I wanted to experiment with web-design and teach myself to be better using HTML, CSS, and PHP (three of the main programming languages used in web design these days) This was my nerdy side speaking obviously.

But what type of website was I to create?

To make a long story shorter, I ended up buying a domain and creating this website. I began writing about the two things that had fascinated and challenged me over the last few years:building muscleandbuilding confidence.

My programming knowledge allowed me to create a website and spend a bunch of time tweaking code to make it look flashy, my passion for fitness gave me an initial focus to research and write about, and my recent experiences with struggling to build confidence gave me something to be vulnerable about and really connect with my audience on a personal level.

As you can see, these three pillars these three dots are what allowed me to quit my 9-5, build an online following, start making money for myself, help other men, and do something that resembled following my passion for the first time in my life

And this passion continues to fuel my website, my writing, and my life in general, to this very day.

But I never wouldve been able to create HowToBeast and accomplish any of this without first pursuing each of these distinct interests on their own and without any agenda to use them for profit or take advantage of them in any way in the future.

I simply did each thing because I wanted to at that particular time in my life.

You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future

Steve Jobspresenting the innovative iPad

The above quote is from Steve Jobs during the same speech

And its the most crucial part of the whole speech

Because its purely actionable advice.

If I took one thing from the speech THIS is it. And if you take one thing from this article, make sure THIS is it, too.

You must trust that following your passions now and doing shit that you want to do now just because you feel like it will pay off somehow, someway in the long run. The worst case is almost always that you spent time doing something that you enjoyed Not a bad deal.

The best case is that its a critical dot in your life a critical stepping stone to your success.

It just might be your version of Steve Jobs calligraphy class or my obsession with computers.

It just might be the straw that breaks the camels back and allows you to create something fucking awesome in the future.

Again, Steve Jobs says it best:

You have to trust in something your gut, destiny, karma, whatever because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path and that will make all the difference.

Put your trust in something whatever it might be for you and accept the belief that everything you do now will have a higher purpose A purpose thats probably a lot bigger than you could possibly realize right now.

Dont get caught up in what other people think about you who gives a fuck. Do what interests you and do it well.

Do shit that interests you for its own sake

Muay Thai is one of my current hobbies Im doing for the hell of it

The simplest way to integrate this key principle into your life is to simply do shit that interests you purely for the sake of doing it.

Want tolearn a martial art? Do it. Who gives a fuck if theres a payoff? Worst case you enjoy learning a new skill and are able to defend yourself if the shit hits the fan.

Want toself-publisha book? Do it. Who gives a fuck if theres a payoff? Worst case you learn how to write and better communicate yourself.

Want to learn a programming language? Do it. Who gives a fuck if theres a payoff? Worst case you learn some basic logical reasoning skills that help you better analyze future problems.

Want to learn how to cook intricate meals? Do it. Who gives a fuck if theres a payoff? Worst case you learn something that you can use to setup a cool date in the future.

And best case for any of these things?

Its a crucial puzzle piece in a new business venture it changes your life.

Steve Jobs didnt invent fonts because he beat himself up and pushed and pushed until it came to him.

Im not even in the same universe as Steve Jobs in terms of innovation, but the internet business I built isnt something I forced into existence.

Both of these things happened organically, because of things that were pursued only for the sake of pursuing them. When you do something you love, just for the hell of it, processes are put into motion that just might have bigger payoffs than you could imagine.

So get out there and try more things. Do more and more things And when you like one of them, then do it more. Do it because you love it. Do it because its interesting and exciting. Do it for its own sake.

These are the things that youll enjoy doing. These are the things that will add value to your life And they just might be one of the dots that come together in the future and change your life.

How To Make $24,000 In 4 Weeks Freelancing Online

f you had to make an extra $100 this week, could you do it? Most people would probably say yes.

But what about an extra $1,000? Hmmnow thats quite a bit harder. Most of us might have a difficult time getting that amount of money together at a moments notice.

How about an extra $5,000? If you had an emergency, could you pull together a spare $5k for an unplanned expense? For 99.9% of the population, the answer is a resounding Hell No!

But it doesnt have to be that way.

In todays article, Im going to show you the step-by-step process I used to make almost $24,000 in a single month thats just about $6,000/week.

I didnt borrow the money from a rich uncle or do weird, illegal things to get it. I simply used skills I already had to pitch myself and start a freelance business.

Ill break down exactly how I did it below and if this article helps you, read to the end, where Ive created a free bonus full of advanced material + strategies.

Sell yourself first, if you want to sell anything. Burt Lancaster

When people ask me what the best ways to make money are, sometimes I laugh. Not because the question is stupid, but because, well, there really is no right answer. The truth is that almostanythingcan make money. But first, you have tochange your mindset.

You must start viewing your skills and experiences as bankable, valuable resources worth paying for. You (yes, you) can help someone with skills and knowledge that you already have. The easiest way to do this is by freelancing. (If youre struggling to think of valuable skills, here are some ideas and specific examples.)

All that being said I have good news and bad news for you.

The good news:There are several online freelance marketplaces like Elance and oDesk that allow you to offer your services, get clients, and start making money quickly, even if youre a complete beginner.

The bad news:These freelance marketplaces can be extremely competitive and overwhelming. If you dont know what youre doing, the competition can be very intimidating.

But dont let that discourage you.

Today, Im going to show you the simple hack I used to make $24,000 on Elance in four weeks designing simple WordPress websites. (Note: the strategies here apply for any freelance skill, not just web design.)

If you stick around until the end, Ill also give you some tools to help you get an even bigger jump on the competition.

Step 1:Use sneaky research on your competition

Before you start, youll need to know what exactly youre getting yourself into.

Specifically, you need to know:

Exactly what strategies your successful competitors use to stand out in the crowd

How you can completely obliterate them by being ridiculously over-prepared

To find the answers to these questions for myself, I posted a fake job to see what types of responses I would get. I recommend you do the same!

Heres what I posted on Elance:

My goal was to attract my competitors and see what types of proposals they sent me then use that knowledge against them.

One note here: Its not really necessary for you to post a fake job like I did in order to get good results. The big idea here is to show you what happens when you actually test your process and then act on those results.

Heres what I learned with the results from my test

Step 2:Analyzing the results

Within 30 minutes, I received almost 100 proposals and I learned two very valuable insights:

Over half of the applicants to my job were non-native English speakers.

Most people were submitting canned proposals without any personalization.

Once I figured these critical pieces of info out, I knew I had auniqueangle. Why?

Well, most people hiring freelancers are from the US/UK which means that oftentimes, theres a language barrier. People are always more comfortable communicating in their native language.

And because of this language barrier, most proposals were very dry and uninteresting.

Heres one that I received

See what I mean? What a snooze.

You can do much better. Heres how

Step 3:How to stand out and start booking jobs

To stand out against a sea of freelancers, you have to show that you understand your potential client and provide them with a reason to give your proposal a second look. Your approach should feel warm, engaging, and above all, personalized.

Nobody wants to feel like theyre #573 for the day.

Research your prospective clients profile beforehand and look for these details:

Purchase history Do they regularly hire on Elance? If so, this is a good sign that they are serious.

Feedback history What type of feedback do they have for freelancers theyve hired in the past. What have they liked/disliked?

Personal details Name, interests, location, etc. Anything you might be able to relate to and build some rapport.

Why fit in when you were born to stand out. Dr. Seuss

The knockout punch: video mini-pitches

Once youve rounded up all this information, use it to create a short mini-pitch with an unlisted YouTube video.

Your mini-pitch should:

Be 90 seconds or less

Introduce youself and give a very brief background

Tell them why you like their specific project (so they know you actually read it)

Offer a simple call to action to get in touch with you

Bonus:if you can include some relevant personal details that you have in common, it helps.

From there, the process is simple. Rather than sending a regular proposal like everyone else, just send them a quick message with a link to your custom video.

This method works SHOCKINGLY well because itdifferentiatesyou from the crowd and shows that you truly care about what theyre working on.

You cant fake that.

Get the step-by-step strategies, videos and scripts I used to make $24,000 in 4 weeks

At this point, youre probably wondering what this approach actually looks like in REAL life.

I put together an extended guide on Hacking Elance that includes:

The exact scripts and screenshots I used to book jobs and negotiate with clients

Real mini-pitch videos I sent that resulted in thousands of dollars

The biggest mistakes people make when trying this approach (and how you can avoid them)

A checklist for dealing with common client objections

Facebook Marketing: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners

Facebook isbig. As the largest social network in the world, it has more than 1.23 billion active users, 62% of whom log in on a daily basis.

With such a large user base, ignoring Facebook really isnt an option for most marketers. You can bet your ideal market is using Facebook nearly every day. The question is: how do you target all of those users with your marketing?

The good news is that the Facebook advertising platform allows you to zero in and specify the type of people youre looking for. You can target by location, demographics, and interests.

In this guide, Ill show you the basics of how to use Facebook to your advantage. The guide is aimed at the beginner who wants an introduction into marketing their business on the worlds largest social network.

Whos On Facebook?

Facebook may have started out as a social network for college students, but, by now, nearly everyone with an internet connection is using it. The minimum age requirement is 13, and there is reason to believe it is being used by all other age groups.

Facebook doesnt publicly release data on their most popular age group, but a survey by Pew showed thatsocial networking is most popular with the 18-29 age group. Its popularity decreases with age. It is least popular with those 65 and older.

I can assure you that, no matter what age group youre targeting, there will be more than enough of those users on Facebook.

How Can You Market on Facebook?

Facebook has three tools (pages, ads, and groups) that can be used by anyone. Each of these options has its own purpose, and they can be combined for greater reach.

Pages

Facebook pages are similar to profiles, but for businesses, organizations, and public figures. Users can Like a page, which means theyll automatically receive updates from that page in their news feed. Users also have the option to Like a page but not follow it. (Users also can follow some profiles.)

While profiles require a mutual relationship between friends, pages can be liked by anyone, without a requirement for the page creator to accept a fan. They also dont have a restriction on the number of friends/fans they can have (unlike profiles, which are limited to 5,000 friends).

Advantages: Pages are free and easy to set up.

Disadvantages: It can be hard to get a foothold and build a fan base with a page.

Ads

Facebook offers a fantastic targeted advertising platform. You can create ads targeted at specific geographic areas, ages, education levels, and even the types of devices used for browsing. Facebook also lets users close ads they dont like and Like a page right beneath an advertisement:

Advantages: Ads have powerful targeting parameters.

Disadvantages: Ads can get expensive, depending on your goals.

Groups

Facebook groups are similar to discussion forums, but with additional features that pages and profiles have (like a wall). You can create groups related to your industry or product offerings as a way to reach out to potential customers.

Advantages: Groups are free and have high levels of engagement.

Disadvantages: Groups can be very time consuming.

How to Market with Pages

Facebook pages are the simplest, easiest way to get started marketing with Facebook. Theyre free, relatively easy to set up (at least in their basic forms), and incredibly flexible. Theres not much of a downside, either.

Unfortunately, many companies dont use them to their full potential; or worse, use them badly. These guidelines will help you avoid making those mistakes.

Profile Photo and Cover Image

Your profile photo should be your logo. Simple as that.

The cover image is a different story. Its really up to you to decide what to put here. Some use photos of employees, while others use fancy artwork and put their contact information in the cover image. Pick a photo that will enhance your page and draw the eye of your visitors.

About Section

The About section is prominently placed right below your company logo. This is your chance to tell anyone coming to your page what your business does.

Make sure you put good information here, telling people what youre company does, why youre different, and other interesting details. If you can, take the time to write it specifically for your Facebook audience. You can copy the text from the About page of your website or blog, if youre in a pinch. Be sure to fill in all of your data under Basic Info.

Just remember to keep it friendly and informal. A casual tone usually works best on Facebook. Here are a few good examples:

HubSpot tells us what they do and gives a contact method:

WP Engine shares what they do and the number of customers they have, which helps establish credibility:

You also may want to put your hours of operation in the About section.

Tabs

Tabs are the little squares that sit to the right of your About section. Here are ESPNs tabs:

Facebook allows you to use up to 10 application tabs, known to Facebook admins as the Favorites section. Photos and Likes are required tabs. You may move the Likes tab wherever you wish, but Photos must remain as the first. Your top tabs are set to a limit of four.

Think about what the priorities are for your visitors. If youre a physical store, you may want to make a tab for location. If you host webinars, perhaps you could use the Events tab to let people sign up and join your webinars. Social media is about engagement, so the more (and the more closely) you get your fans to engage with you, the better marketer you will be.

Post Useful Information to Your Wall

What you post to your wall will show up in the news feeds of everyone who has Liked your page, just as it does when you post something to your personal profile.

So, make sure what youre posting is useful to your fans. Dont post endless updates about the same thing, and dont post too many updates, clogging the news feeds of your fans.

Here are some ideas for the kinds of things you might want to post to your wall:

Links to articles related to your company or your industry

Links to your blog posts

Coupon codes for fans to save on your products

New product announcements

Links to online tools your fans might find useful

Again, make sure that your posts are useful. Also, dont post more than a few times each day unless theres a special event going on.

Ask Your Fans Questions

Getting your fans involved with your page is a great way to inspire loyalty.

Asking questions in your updates gets people involved, but on their own terms. What you ask depends largely on your product and your niche, but asking open-ended questions usually garners the best responses. Asking opinions on a new product idea or project can be a good way to convince your fans that your company cares about what they want. Getting more engagement on a post may also help youreach the top of the Facebook News Feed.

Dont Spam

Spam is one of the quickest ways to lose fans. If you do nothing but send out promotional blurbs about your company, without ever adding anything of value, then youre going to have a hard time getting and keeping fans.

Before you send out any update, ask yourself if it honestly adds value to the conversation. If not, dont send it.

Study Your Statistics and Results

Facebook offers some really great analytics for pages. Pay attention to them. If you see a big surge in fans (or a drop off), look at what youve posted recently and see if you can figure out a reason for the trend. Then, post more of that kind of content (or less, if youre losing fans).

Targeted Advertising

Because it gathers so much demographic information about its users, Facebook has one of the best targeted advertising programs online. You can target users based on virtually anything you might find in their profiles, as well as track your success with each segment.

Ads can be run on a per-impression or per-click basis. Facebook shows you what bids are for ads similar to yours, so you know if your bid is in line with others in your industry. You also can set daily limits so theres no risk of blowing your budget.

Types of Facebook Ads

There are a number of ad subtypes you can choose from.

You can create ads that direct to your Facebook page, or to a site not on Facebook. You can create ads to promote a Facebook event, complete with an RSVP link. You can create ads for mobile app installs and app engagement.

Users Can Hide Your Ad

Facebook used to offer the option to Like any advertisement on Facebook. Not anymore. People can Like an advertisement (if its that type) or hide the ad. Upon closing an ad, Facebook asks the user to specify why they didnt like it.

Its valuable information, providing insight into why your ads might not be doing very well.

Powerful Targeting Options

As already mentioned, Facebook has some of the most powerful targeting tools of any online advertising program.

You can target by virtually anything on a users profile. You might start with the location, if thats important. You can specify either city, zip code, county, or state. This works particularly well for local businesses. From there, you can choose basic demographics, including relationship status, age, workplace, education (including major and years of attendance), birthday, and much more.

You can target ads to people who have recently moved. So, if you own a gym in Scottsdale and want to find all the individuals who recently moved to the area, you can target your ads and ad copy to those individuals.

You also can target people based on their interests. Say, for example, you have a product thats targeted at baseball fans. You could enter baseball in the Interests field.

Or, maybe youve written a book and youre sure that people who like another certain book will like yours. Enter the books title under Interests, and youll specifically target those users.

You even can target a private list of users. If you have a list of email addresses of people that you want to target, you can use Facebooks ads manager to target just those people. So, if you run a SaaS business and have 200 people on your prospect list, you can use their email addresses to target them with ads in Facebook.

Customize Your Ads

The other big advantage to tightly-targeted ads is that you can create different ads for different demographic groups. Better-targeted ads are going to garner better results.

If youre targeting baseball fans, you might create individual ads for different popular teams. You could have one ad specifically aimed at Red Sox fans, one at Yankees fans, and another at Cubs fans, and then have those ads shown only to people who have indicated in their Interests that they are fans of those teams.

Or, lets say youve targeted people based on their love of a particular book. You could mention that book in the ad itself to make it more likely to catch their attention. Create different ads for different books, and then target accordingly.

Conclusion

Facebook isnt just powerful. Its flexible. No matter what type of company you run, it has enough different marketing options that you can tailor your marketing efforts to fit your company, your budget, and your time constraints.

Yes, it can take some time to get to know all of its features, but its worth it. Facebook still is growing at a rapid pace, and every day it becomes a more indispensable part of social media marketing.

Its also important to strike while the iron is hot. For the moment, companies that are savvy about Facebook marketing still enjoy an early-adopter advantage. Once more traditional marketers start transitioning into the space, competition will increase, advertising prices will rise, and users will become much pickier.

If Facebook is not a current part of your marketing campaign, it should be. Set aside some time to tinker around, start a few test campaigns, and see what happens. Like anything, it takes practice to get good at it.

My advice: get started now.

How to Use Facebook's NEW Call-to-Action Button

The button is one of Facebook's coolest new tools for page managers -- and its a winner!

According to Facebook:

Page admins can select from a group of call-to-action buttons like Shop Now or Sign Up to add to the top of their Page.

Lets take a look atFacebook's Call-to-Action featuresso you can be ready when the button is rolled out on your page.

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