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08 Feb 2019
Sticky Post By Posted in Influencer Marketing, News Permalink

4 Influencer Marketing Secrets Entrepreneurs Need to Know

Sticky Post By On February 8, 2019



6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


Potentially earning thousands per post, influencers are cashing in on their ability to captivate large audiences and thus heavily impact the purchasing behavior of their followers. It’s clear why brands keep throwing products and money toward these social media stars — influencer marketing works.

The top 50 Instagram influencers have more than 3.1 billion followers, as reported by Social Blade, and overall, 3.028 billion people, or 40 percent of the world’s population, actively use social media. 

Here are a few more stats to consider:

  • Influencer marketing has 11 times the ROI of traditional digital marketing, as reported byTapinfluence.com.

  • Seventy percent of millennial consumers are persuaded by the recommendations of their peers in buying decisions, as reported by Collective Bias.

  • Thirty-seven percent of customers place more value on the quality of a post then its sponsorship and 67 percent don’t have an adverse reaction to sponsored content, according to Collective Bias.

  • Almost 40 percent of Twitter users have purchased a product or service as a direct result of an influencer tweet, according to Twitter. 

I grew my first company in 2009 with influencer marketing (before it was even a term), which spiked sales and created crazy brand loyalty in a short time. We went from zero to millions in revenue in under 12 months.

Related: How to Structure Your 2019 Social-Media Campaigns to Appeal to Gen Z

Are you onboard with influencer marketing? If so, here are four tips to working with social media tastemakers you must consider:

1. Co-create with your influencers.

Influencers are a direct extension of your brand, so act like they are. Sew them into the fabric of your company by creating content together. Rather than just telling them what to post, learn about them and their audience and how your brand fits into their daily life.

I recently spoke with Sebastian Merkhoffer for an episode of my new podcast. He said he’s currently recording eight-figure annual revenue for his company, FitVia, thanks mostly to influencer marketing. “Influencer marketing is becoming a standard part of the marketing mix. For us, success in developing our core partnerships has stemmed largely from co-creating content together,” he said.

Merkhoffer said FitVia has influencers bring his products wherever they go. “Recently, we sent a German influencer for a detox weekend where she took her followers, and our team, along for the ride. It’s something authentic and far more engaging than just posting a photo of your breakfast.”

2. Leverage IGTV as the latest go-to social channel.

By 2021, it’s predicted that mobile video will account for 78 percent of all mobile data traffic, according to Instagram. 

In June of last year, Instagram released IGTV to compete with YouTube. It wasn’t a home run off the bat, but marketers should stay keen on its advances to come.

“While user engagement with IGTV has been fairly disappointing so far, I expect Instagram to improve the functionality and visibility of IGTV content and put a lot more money behind getting brands to make use of the feature,” predicted Michael Edelmann, senior marketing manager at The Business of Fashion, on Later.com.

Related: This Family Has 4 Million Instagram Followers — and the Kids’ College Educations Are Already Paid For

As a brand, it’s integral to keep an eye on these shifts to immediately track how your social media collaborators are responding. Are they early adopters to all the latest platforms? Or are they a bit more reserved, and stick with what they know?

As Alfred Lua explained in a Buffer article, “You might also want to check out less-known and less-popular social media platforms as well. For example, Musical.ly, a platform for creating and sharing short videos, has become very popular among teens. Other platforms you can check out include Anchor, Medium and Tumblr. “

3. Focus on gen Z.

Millennials still hold the reins with more than $200 billion in purchasing power. However, gen Z is on track to become the largest group of consumers by 2020, and according to Millennial Marketing, they already account for $29 billion to $143 billion in direct spending. Gen Z is a growing section of the influencer economy across all platforms, making it vital for brands to consider their future consumer base.

For example, kidfluencers can be a massive opportunity for brands. “More people are looking at kid influencers for product recommendations. It’s definitely a long-term play. It’s building brand awareness and affinity through generations,” Zoe Marans, vice president of MediaKix, recently told Fast Company.

4. Slowly invest in influencer marketing.

Before you jump on the influencer marketing bandwagon, be cautious not to throw your entire marketing budget to YouTube stars. Sure, throwing $1 million at Beyonce to post about your product may reach hundreds of thousands, but that buzz will die in a matter of hours. Instead, start small to figure out what type of influencers will have the broadest impact.

“The key is to invest your budget into influencer marketing slowly,” Merkhoffer said. “I can’t stress how important it is to test, learn and then scale. The process iterates on itself and marketers must stay agile enough to integrate feedback as it comes through, not just once a quarter or annually.”

Related: When It Comes to Influencers, Fake Engagement Is Only Half the Problem

Even better, if you can use product or swag as payment to start a campaign, that can be an effective way to get influencer buy-in, especially if these are influencers that are already using your brand. As Lua explained, “If you are offering a discount or free samples for their followers, be sure to create a specific discount code or landing page for each influencer. That’s to help you with tracking the effectiveness of your campaign.”

Ready to ramp up your influencer marketing campaigns? Understand that success lies in your marketing team’s ability to nourish relationships that build trust between your brand and your target customer. Make sure you vet your influencers diligently and create a very clear deliverable so that everyone’s on the same page.





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01 Feb 2019
Sticky Post By Posted in Cybersecurity, News Permalink

What Business Owners Need to Know About Protecting Their Data

Sticky Post By On February 1, 2019


False sense of security? Even major apps and platforms can fall victim to security vulnerabilities.


6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


With the recent rush toward enhancing consumer data protection due to GDPR and other privacy regulations that have taken effect, businesses have strengthened their platforms toward better protecting and securing user data. But is this enough? What do you need to know as a business owner, entrepreneur or manager?

Recent vulnerability reports prove that even major ecommerce and social platforms can easily become an attack vector for cross-site-scripting (or XSS) attacks, and these happen even if the platforms themselves are secure. With vulnerabilities in third-party application providers being used by major customer-facing platforms, there is an increased risk that user data will be exposed to malicious players. This is the risk we all face, unfortunately. 

Data privacy regimes

Perhaps the biggest tech news in 2018 was the enforcement of the European General Data Protection Regulation, which sought to protect European Union citizens’ personal data from being collected and utilized without consent. With the GDPR, any business that handles data on E.U. citizens, or which counts E.U. citizens as among their clients, will need to explicitly inform said users of data gathering efforts, and seek explicit content for doing so.

GDPR has had its impact even outside of Europe since any business that provides services to E.U. citizens or residents will need to comply. In addition, there have been numerous privacy-focused regulations that are also in effect worldwide, given the recent consumer and business focus on data privacy, which are all good things that are working to protect us.

Even with an increased focus toward enhancing privacy, however, there are still a lot of risks involved when it comes to businesses losing user data to malicious hackers. For one, given the collaborative nature of services (e.g., an ecommerce store utilizing a payment processor or a logistics provider), the weakest link here would be the service that can introduce a potential breach. In this regard, the moment a third-party application puts the user at risk, the entire operation could already be compromised.

XSS in a nutshell

In the simplest explanation, XSS attacks are a form of data-injection, wherein malicious client-side code is injected by an attacker into an otherwise legitimate website. This works by injecting code — usually JavaScript — into a website or web app’s output, often working through forms such as search fields, feedback forms, forum text entry fields and even cookies stored on a user’s browser.

When an unsuspecting user accesses an affected website, the injected code has the potential to deliver a payload, which can include executing code, stealing data, controlling a user’s session or installing backdoors to a computer system or network.

Such attacks are borne by the need for today’s websites to be interactive. With the numerous interactions between browser and server over a single session, XSS can even be used to pull content from a third-party website, use existing cookie data (which can include usernames and passwords), or interact directly with an app’s client-side processes.

What platforms have been vulnerable?

A recent DOM-XSS (document object model-XSS) exploit has been found on prominent social networking and ecommerce sites including Tinder, Shopify and Yelp, reports VPN Mentor late in 2018, exposing as many as 685 million users globally to data theft.

Digging deeper into the potential extent of the risk, the security researchers discovered that the XSS vulnerability included money transfer service Western Union and image sharing service Imgur. Other services affected by the vulnerability were Canva, Letgo, Lookout, Fair, Amazon Music, TicketMaster and Reddit, among others.

The weak point is assumed to have originated in Branch.io — a third-party mobile linking platform that unifies user experiences across different devices and channels. The service has an alias subdomain for its partner sites (including the ones listed above), and clicking on links pointing to these subdomains may have rendered users vulnerable to data theft through scripts injected by malicious hackers.

What can businesses and users do?

The company involved has promptly fixed the potential vulnerability after receiving reports of the XSS risk. However, this precludes the possibility that attackers may have discovered the vulnerability and exploited it to steal data. Therefore, this means that users who have recently or regularly used services detailed above like Tinder, need to double check if their accounts are not compromised. Password changes and browser cache/cookie clearing might be a good idea.

For businesses, meanwhile — especially those that run consumer-facing platforms, or even those that utilize websites for employee access — there are several methods to minimize the risks, as explained by ComputerWeekly, associated with XSS. This involves building applications with a tight security development lifecycle. This means constantly building and updating in order to reduce or eliminate security-related errors in design and coding. This also means assuming that all data that is being received by the application can potentially come from an untrusted source, even if it comes from users who are already logged in and authenticated.

As such, some changes that can be adopted for entrepreneurs, business owners and managers can include:

  • Not trusting user input blindly. This means constantly validating the input for type, length, format and data range whenever such data goes across trust boundaries;
  • Reducing client-side input, to preclude the possibility of unwanted code or character sets being passed through;
  • Setting a webpage’s character set to the bare minimum (ISO-8859-1), which is enough for English and most European languages;
  • Asking users to re-authenticate before accessing critical services;
  • Immediately expiring login sessions if access from multiple IP addresses is detected;
  • Utilizing vulnerability scanners to keep track of such risks in real-time;
  • And conducting penetration testing before an application or website goes live.

The takeaway

As XSS attacks have been all over the headlines, it makes sense to focus on preventing security risk, especially in the light of calls for better data privacy and protection. This is important today, given the fact that most sites will not work without client-side scripting.

If this has still gone above your head, make sure to contact your webmaster and have him or her walk you through these important points regarding data protection. Knowing that major social networks and services have actually been at open risk to a big XSS attack, both businesses and users need to be proactive about their security.



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25 Jan 2019
Sticky Post By Posted in Blockchain, News Permalink

How Blockchain’s Decentralization Narrative Can Redefine Data Privacy

Sticky Post By On January 25, 2019


The true value of blockchain technology can be found in data privacy.


5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


Blockchain’s prolonged sentiment as a panacea to the world’s problems throughout 2017 was unambiguously representative of what the Gartner Hype Cycle details. However, out of the extended bear markets, which pruned many altcoins from the markets and helped participants in the broader ecosystem become more discerning, emerged several trends that still can drive important change in crucial areas.

One of those areas is data privacy, and the future role that decentralizing network and systems architecture can have in mitigating the endemic problems of data security, unethical data sharing and Orwellian-grade mass surveillance.

Related: Don’t Let Blockchain Technology’s Security Loopholes Go Unnoticed

Surveying the cryptocurrency and blockchain landscape reveals that privacy has been continually emphasized among core proponents of the underlying technology, and is beginning to garner more widespread support following consistent revelations of data hacks and the extent to which governments seek to reduce financial privacy.

Privacy is a fundamental principle that has been overlooked for years as social media companies and internet tech giants rose to oligopoly status with enormously popular platforms. The platforms were free and groundbreaking, but behind the scenes, it is the users’ data that drives the business model and is doled out to third-parties without reprehension.  

The centralization of these models is inextricably linked to the problems that have increased data privacy concerns, and are gathering momentum.

While blockchains and cryptocurrencies do not singularly pose the solution to data privacy, they have reignited the debate about digital privacy and accelerated growth in novel technologies that help to secure better privacy. From a tangential development like zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to distributed storage architecture, the narrative of decentralization provided the foundation for much-needed change.

Now, it is just a matter of creating that change.

Building a private and decentralized internet

Despite its original conception as an open and decentralized digital realm, the internet has not really lived up to its promises in this regard. Tech and financial companies employ siloed data models that contain massive amounts of sensitive, personal information and are subject to influence by governments and attack by hackers as central points of failure.

Related: Become a Blockchain Expert for Less Than $20

According to a Javelin Strategy & Research study from 2017, roughly $16.7 million was stolen through identity fraud in the U.S. Fraud stems directly from the poor security that centralized data models confer. Voluntary credit freezes following mass data scandals have become commonplace.

Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world, not have your information sold to the highest bidder.

Decentralizing data storage and transfer, as well as integrating decentralization with innovations such as multi-party computation, encryption and trusted execution environments has the potential to reshape data privacy. Looking past the hype of blockchain, you will find myriad solutions on the horizon that demonstrate the evolving nature of privacy and the unrelenting efforts by people to preserve it.

Technical developments such as IPFS alters how the modern web works by creating a distributed, P2P hypermedia protocol, with no central point of failure. With the potential to replace HTTP, IPFS reenvisions the original conception of an open and flat web, removing data duplication and employing cryptography for fingerprinting data without revealing sensitive details within the data.

More of an indirect consequence of the proliferation of cryptocurrencies, ZKPs have emerged as a dynamic new technology with wide-ranging potential. The concept, used in public cryptocurrency networks such as ZCash and Monero, is designed to verify the authenticity and integrity of a data transfer (i.e., a financial transaction) across a public medium without revealing any information about the transfer itself. Think verification of identity without needing to disclose the identity or completely private financial transactions without revealing the origin, recipient or amount transferred.

While both ZKPs and IPFS represent major steps forward in enhancing data privacy, they are complicated and require significant technical knowledge to implement. Platforms such as Promether are working to change this by providing the modular framework that integrates an “Adaptive Symbiotic Network” for anyone to create secure, decentralized and anonymous networks. An open-source technology, Promether abstracts the details of a secure and anonymous network from mainstream users, making accessing tools that safeguard privacy much more available to non-technical users.

Related: Blockchain Could Make Our Food Supply Much Safer

This protection of data can be used in specific industries as well. For example, take the sensitive issue of storing health data. MedRec provides a way of storing health records using fully decentralized access rights via an Ethereum blockchain. According to the developers at MIT (where the project originated), MedRec uses the World Wide Web as a model and provides patients all over the world control over record distribution.

As 2019 begins, looking back at the innumerable violations of privacy over the last several years should encourage people to once again emphasize a principle that most would admit they strongly believe in but is often ignored out of the lure and familiarity of centralized platforms.

Blockchain has not redefined data privacy, but it has refueled a growing generation of ideas that have the potential to shift the control from centralization to decentralization, once again allowing individuals the ability to take back privacy of their data.



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16 Jan 2019
Sticky Post By Posted in News, Time Management Permalink

3 Tips To Effectively Manage Your Side Hustle and Avoid Costly Mistakes

Sticky Post By On January 16, 2019


Take that hustle from the side to full-time.


6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


According to a Bank Rate study, 4 in 10 Americans having a side hustle and earn over $8K annually through that side hustle. More and more people are freelancing, driving in the car share industry and starting their own small businesses. The car-sharing market is set to exceed $11 billion U.S.D by 2024, according to a research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. 

35 percent of the U.S. workforce, or 55 million people, were freelancers in 2016, according to the Freelancers Union. Even the youngest generation, Gen Z, is looking to the gig economy. In a survey by Deloitte, 62 percent of working Gen Zers said they would consider joining the gig economy to supplement full-time employment, while 15 percent already have a side hustle in addition to their full-time job.

With this increase in side hustles, it’s critical for entrepreneurs, freelancers and independent contractors to know how to effectively manage their business, not only to increase their take-home income but also to ensure they don’t run into any unforeseen (or costly) issues.

Let’s take a look at three effective strategies to manage these endeavors that can help in maximizing sales and minimizing the amount of time spent. Let’s face it, side hustles are cool, but not having any free time or losing money is not.

Related: 15 Easy Ways to Make Extra Money at Home

1. Meticulously track your income streams

When you run a side business, there can be many income streams (and if your business doesn’t have more than one, look for additional opportunities), the main one being obtaining new clients, of course. But, other ways to make some extra cash can arise as well, such as speaking opportunities as a result of the work you’ve done, creating content for other sites if you’ve positioned yourself as a thought leader within an industry or ad revenue from your company blog posts.

The key is to track how much revenue is coming in from each of these avenues, and then put more time and effort into the areas that are making the most money. This is especially important in the beginning when funds are necessary to re-invest in the business to keep it moving forward. Creating a spreadsheet to tally each revenue stream and checking your performance regularly will help determine where and how you should be spending your time.

It’s very easy to fall into the habit of focusing on the aspects of the business that you prefer to do or want to spend your time on, rather than on what’s bringing in the most revenue. But, that’s not the best way to increase your earnings.

For example, a graphic designer may freelance and take on clients for extra income, and since their passion lies in the design work, they spend the majority of their time on perfecting the deliverables for clients. But, another aspect of the business is identifying new leads in order to get more clients, which takes sales skills the individual may not possess or enjoy. Being that this is the best way to increase their income, a set amount of time should be allocated to this task, no matter how less desirable it may be. I like to call these rainmaking activities. Focus on these activities that are going to make it rain for you and the business, even if they suck to do.

Related: 10 New Ideas for Making Money on the Side

Grow your team systematically

The time will come when you can no longer wear all the hats and do everything as a one-man (or woman) band. Bringing on additional team members can free up your time to focus on the growth strategies that will bring in even more income, so it can be a win-win.

Knowing whether your business needs a full-time employee, a freelancer or an intern can be a tough decision, but an important one. And knowing what differentiates an independent contractor from an employee is critical. Not only so you can be as productive as possible, but also because you don’t want to violate any labor laws or get into costly disputes with your hires. Because technological advances such as drag-and-drop website builders create a low barrier to entry for new businesses, many entrepreneurs may not realize all the rules and regulations around minimum wage, overtime pay eligibility, and record-keeping.

With the rise of ecommerce companies, some key points for business owners to stay abreast on are that employees could be subject to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) protections if the employee’s regular work involves interstate commerce. In today’s digital world, that applies to a lot of people. Not to mention some of the most common mistakes made by employers are paying employees who may otherwise be exempt on an hourly basis, docking pay for partial days worked or misclassifying employees as exempt.

Related: A Complete Guide to the Highest-Paying Jobs, Companies, Freelance Jobs and More

Spend your time very wisely

Since your full-time job most likely takes up the majority of your time, it’s critical to make sure the time you spend on your side hustle is worthwhile. That’s why it’s important to know when to say no.

Opportunities pop up all the time, and it’s natural to think that you need to capitalize on all of them. After all, you could miss out on an opportunity that could’ve been huge, right? Well, not so fast. Mark Cuban once said, “every no gets me closer to a yes,” and if you follow this advice it may be in your best interest to say no more often so you have the time and bandwidth to say yes to the opportunities that will truly grow your business.

Additionally, how you spend each minute per day is vital when you have a side hustle you’re trying to build and can’t dedicate full-time to it. There are some time management techniques I follow. For example, I like to use the Pomodoro technique when managing my time and to-do list. This keeps me focused on what I’m working on at the time. Here’s how it works:

  1. Set a timer for 20 minutes (or whatever amount of time you want to work. I like the 20 minutes).
  2. Focus on one task during that time.
  3. At 20 minutes, take a 5-10-minute break (depending on whatever works best for you).

This is an effective way to focus without distraction. Work on completing a certain number of pomodoros per day. Doing more with less is the name of the game, especially until that side hustle becomes the full-time hustle. Good luck and happy hustling!



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08 Jan 2019
Sticky Post By Posted in News, Productivity Permalink

5 Ways to Be More Productive in 2019 Without Driving Your Team Insane

Sticky Post By On January 8, 2019


Here’s how to get your business running faster and better.


7 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


When talking about their biggest challenges for 2019, many of the entrepreneurs I speak with say they’re overwhelmed with the rapid pace at which business operates today. Today’s consumers have come to expect instant gratification, and they’re putting pressure on companies to make sure that they get what they want right now.

Technology’s partly to blame for these questionably reasonable expectations. We’ve got virtually countless hours of on-demand video streaming content at our fingertips. We’re on the cusp of mass product delivery by drone. We get frustrated when customer service departments fail to respond to our queries within minutes.

Just a couple of decades ago, looking up information meant going to the library to check out references. Today, we don’t even type out our Google searches. We just holler at Siri or Alexa to get the answers, products and media we want.

In a survey by PwC, nearly four out of five surveyed customers customers say that they want experiences that are speedy, convenient and helpful. For businesses, reliably offering these experiences has become a constant challenge.

With 2019 already underway, why not make speed improvement one of your key objectives for the year ahead? Here are five strategies you can apply to speed up your processes as we get ready to zoom through another year.

Related: How to Manage Time With 10 Tips That Work

1. Maximize your real-time social media opportunities

Knowing what delights customers most is a huge component of business leadership. Data from the 2018 Sprout Social Index suggests that there’s a widening disconnect between what brands’ social media profiles are posting about (61 percent of the 2,000 social marketers surveyed favored teaching, while 58 percent favored telling stories) and what customers want (73 percent of the 1,200 surveyed prefer deals, while 60 percent prefer posts showcasing new products and services).

So, how can you improve your organization’s ability to discern what the market really wants right now? Conducting your own market surveys can help, but it’s a resource-heavy solution that yields dubious insights. Social listening, on the other hand, allows marketers to follow what people are saying about your industry, products, and competitors.

I’ve used solutions like SentiOne that can track such mentions across social platforms and online communities in real-time. Armed with this information, you’d be able to act on customer issues in a timely manner and even launch targeted campaigns that speak directly to customers’ interests with precision. It’s also a useful way to know what new features or products to roll-out or at least give you the starting point to start your market research.

2. Shorten time to delivery

Customers don’t like waiting for their online orders to arrive at their doorsteps. Last year, the maximum time that ecommerce buyers found acceptable for orders with free shipping was just 4.5 days, as reported by Emarketing. If they’re paying for shipping, they expect to receive their packages even sooner.

Having the ability to expedite delivery can be a major differentiator, but it’s a tall order if you’re a smaller enterprise. Thankfully, as the independent ecommerce economy has grown, so has the ecosystem of logistics services empowering the industry.

Using a third-party, fully white label-ready fulfillment partner gives you the capability to offer two-day shipping, without being dependent on Amazon.

Industry leader ShipBob, for one, can store your inventory in a network of shared warehouses around the country, so that products are ready to ship, with maximum proximity, as soon as your customers check out. Better fulfillment partners integrate directly with leading shopping cart systems like Shopify and WooCommerce and can save you and customers massive amounts of wait time.

Related: Get it Done: 35 Habits of the Most Productive People (Infographic)

3. Maintain a bird’s eye view of your business

With competition seemingly getting tougher every year, in 2019 your ability to make quick but informed decisions has become mission-critical. However, getting hold of the necessary information may require pulling data from dozens of sources, each with its own interface, before you are able to generate reports that are comprehensive enough to act upon.

A consolidated business data resource can provide you with an integrated dashboard that pools together information from all the platforms you use for social media, sales, project management, finance and marketing.

Even if you use separate services like HubSpot, MailChimp and Twitter, Rivery.io’s platform, for example, can aggregate real-time information from your accounts and even push metrics to the data repository of your choice.

You can’t afford to get stuck in the nitty-gritty anymore. Keep an eye on the trends that matter, so you can make smarter strategic decisions on the fly. I also like to use tools like Kipfolio, for interactive business dashboards that give me a pulse on everything from sales to accounting to marketing spend.

4. Accompany your customers on their journeys

As reported by Strategy and PwC, three out of four surveyed buyers in the U.S. say that customer experience is a major factor in their shopping decisions, citing speed and ease as their most valued factors. Yet, despite the efforts of developers and designers to create intuitive interfaces, some customers, especially those who lack tech savvy, have been known to hit roadblocks on their paths to purchase.

To avoid alienating these customers, you can ease access to your interface with an interactive walkthrough solution. Offering onsite chat, either automated or human-driven, can help maximize a sense of accessibility and trust, shortening the time to convert prospects into customers.

This type of “digital adoption” hand-holding can be a major game changer, especially if your sales prospects are less comfortable experimenting in digital environments. There are all types of new chatbot software tools that can be used for streamlining these conversations and navigating customers. We’ve used Drift across my various companies and found it works well.

Related: 5 Habits of the Wealthy That Helped Them Get Rich

5. Minimize slowdowns caused by absenteeism

Team productivity gets compromised due to staff taking unexpected time off can derail your entire operation. If you can’t find someone else to quickly step in and pick up the slack, it can be hard to fulfill orders and maintain pace on projects.

Using workforce management platforms can help you sort out staffing and scheduling issues, largely on autopilot.

Deputy, for instance, has functionalities that can help line up shift replacements when someone suddenly needs time off. Using the employee-facing app, team members can inform HR with just a few taps that they’ll be out, and the scheduling system automatically dispatches push notifications to others who have similar skills, asking for substitutions that can often be lined up before you even know they were needed.

Absenteeism was a big issue for one of the nonprofits I’m involved with and tools like Deputy have helped us to make necessary adjustments on the fly. Don’t let people interfere with your systems. Manage the systems that manage the people.

Be quick and nimble

Today’s business landscape moves at breakneck speed. But, things always go wrong. For your startups and scaling businesses to keep pace in the coming year, you need to be prepared, with systems in place to expedite processes and minimize the impact of bumps in the road. I wish you a prosperous 2019!



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18 Dec 2018
Sticky Post By Posted in Money, News Permalink

Stablecoins, Rather Than Cryptocurrencies, Might Be the Future of Money

Sticky Post By On December 18, 2018


Cryptocurrency remains volatile, and stablecoins may provide the stabilization the market needs.


4 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


While the cryptocurrency market is trying to find a bottom after losing over 80 percent of its value since its year-to-date peak, stablecoins are getting more attention thanks to their ability to store value and smooth volatility noises. Currently, stablecoins represent the fastest-growing market within the cryptocurrency space, with several major coins of this kind being launched in the last few months.

The payments industry is perhaps the key beneficiary of this emerging sub-market. Stablecoins enable merchants and consumers to rely on balanced prices that are not affected by the high volatility of the crypto market, as these coins are pegged to real-world assets, especially to the US dollar. Bitcoin was also designed as a secure and fair means of payment, but it has failed to bring utility in the context of payments. In the last few years, hundreds of new coins and tokens have been issued by various entities, but most of them have been prone to the same volatility risks.

Are stablecoins worth the hype?

Stablecoins are hybrid cryptocurrencies because they are blockchain-based units that are also backed by fiat currencies or commodities, which is why they provide the benefits of both crypto and fiat currencies. Thanks to their stability, stablecoins represent the ideal tool that can connect countless of internet and blockchain ecosystems with traditional economies. These coins help users streamline payments via automation while ensuring liquidity, security, and transparency.

Most of the blockchain ecosystems are still struggling to become more interconnected with traditional banking, but the latter seems to have tough barriers in many jurisdictions. To avoid the hardships caused by banks, crypto firms can rely on stablecoins.

This is also the recommendation of Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who recently spoke highly about stablecoins in a Lovin Malta article: “We’re obviously not going to intervene in banking policies because they have to deal with issues such as correspondent banking and risk assessments. Our job as a government is to create this new market and not allow a vacuum to form within it. Some platforms are already banking in cryptocurrencies and new sectors, such as stablecoins, are being set up that are being viewed as more secure.”

Judging by the potential impact they can bring to blockchain ecosystems, stablecoins are definitely worth the hype — at this time it’s not just about speculators.

USD-backed stablecoins are dominating this sector — you’ll find Tether’s USDT, Circle’s USDC, Paxos Standard Token or TUSD in the list of top cryptocurrencies by market cap. However, some firms choose to break the stereotypes and develop new forms of stablecoins that incorporate even more features.

The concept of smart money remains a topic of conversation, for example, as discussed by Coinbase chief operating officer Asiff Hijri, who recently said on Twitter at the Money 20/20 conference that, thanks to stablecoins, money became programmable for the first time in history. “[Stablecoins] will unlock the ability to create programmatic money applications like we have not seen before because now money is truly programmable,” the COO noted.

To substantiate the potential value of stablecoins, crypto exchange Binance just announced in rather breaking news fashion that Circle’s USD-pegged stablecoin USD Coin will now be listed on the exchange. It is a quote asset for several new trading pairs in its combined Stablecoin Market (USDⓈ) listing. The exchange announced this in an official post published in this article from the Binance support site.

Stablecoins are yet another mega-trend these days, and they pledge to disrupt the payments industry, ecommerce operations, salary and rent payments, wealth management and lending markets among others. So the future of money might belong to stablecoins, rather than cryptocurrencies as everyone has speculated. 





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11 Dec 2018
Sticky Post By Posted in Customer Service, News Permalink

This $300 Billion Industry Has Been Outdated for a Decade. Here’s How to Fix It.

Sticky Post By On December 11, 2018



5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


Phone services, particularly call center customer services, have lagged behind the growth of the technology sector. As technology trends toward interactive and user-friendly interfaces, phone-based customer service remains a frustrating experience that continually disappoints.

The worldwide call center industry is estimated to be worth $300 billion as reported by Tech In Asia. However, inefficiencies plague both the customer-facing side and business back-end of the customer service model. Companies struggle to manage the incoming call volumes, leading to extended waiting periods and the proliferation of ineffective automated voice systems. Customers are often left with a terrible impression that can have a significant impact on their brand loyalty and view of the company.

Related: 10 Reasons Why Good Customer Service Is Your Most Important Metric

An industry that needs to evolve

First call resolution (FCR) and service level/response time are often-cited metrics (as reported by ICMI) within the call center space that can have tangible effects on customer satisfaction. Improved FCR can reduce costs by minimizing repeat callers, increase employee satisfaction and directly correlates to customer satisfaction. However, the model is outdated for achieving such metrics, and removing the need for repeat callers by trending away from phone-only communication with customer service representatives is becoming widespread.

The industry standard for response time is roughly 80 percent, as documented by Call Centre Helper, of calls answered within 20 seconds. For people who are all too familiar with customer service lines, this typically does not come anywhere close to when a problem is resolved, or a human interaction is reached. Callers are perpetually frustrated with the experience as the prevalence of automated systems with limited options have increased.

A study by Clarabridge last year highlighted how the problems with the call center model are felt on both sides of the telephone line. Despite the industry standard of 80 percent of calls answered within 20 seconds, 46 percent of the respondents in the study cited long wait times as the top issue with call centers. Conversely, 86 percent of agents say they deal with irate callers, either stemming from long wait times or problems with the product/service.

The notion that a large percentage of customer service activity is conducted via telephone is relatively disconcerting considering the proliferation of technology over the last two decades. The large design space of the internet and the emergence of communication apps should have easily improved the customer service experience over the last decade. This is not the case.

Some companies have attempted to transition away from the phone service model by utilizing social media platforms and direct messaging. These models are often in combination with phone service systems and remain in their early stages. Others have focused on enhanced training and metrics for callers with solutions like BrainX to personalize customer service rep training experiences. Despite this, the new models tend to focus less on user-friendly interfaces and more on building upon an existing structure.

Related: Steal These 4 Proven Customer-Retention Strategies

Integrating technology for a millenial-focused customer service experience

While many businesses have stuck with the traditional call center methods, some companies have begun building technical solutions to ease the process and improve customer satisfaction by emphasizing a younger, app-prone generational approach. 

With some of this new tech, users can chat with customer service agents through SMS texting, audio files or even picture sharing — formats that notify customers when a human agent is available while they work on other tasks. Demand-based engagement tailors the experience to the customers and problems with repetition are removed by the ability to make service choices at their own convenience rather than being forced to press numbers at given times.

Related: 25 Tips for Earning Customer Loyalty

The benefits of this new tech extend past the customer service component of the user to saving costs for businesses on the back-end. Time consumption is reduced by at least tenfold for action to be taken, and incoming call volumes can be slashed dramatically reduced. As a result, costs for training customer service reps and building call center infrastructure decrease providing more profit to companies.

For millennials, the popular applications and services are those with the most user-friendly interfaces and best user experience (UX) that customer service can offer. By transitioning away from a severely antiquated model of customer service, predicated on 1990’s phone services, new tech is appealing to a younger generation of users and businesses looking to improve efficiencies.

Call center customer service has historically been a frustrating and time-consuming experience (think of all of the crappy hold music you’ve had to endure over a lifetime). If we can overcome the need for every customer service experience to be held through a phone conversation, we can do away with a customer service system that’s been outdated for a decade.

At the very least, maybe companies can start using Spotify playlists for on-hold music (one can only imagine).



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27 Nov 2018
Sticky Post By Posted in News, Personal Improvement Permalink

4 In-Demand Skills You Can Learn Online

Sticky Post By On November 27, 2018


Online resources can help you learn and earn more.


6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


High costs of college tuition and the growing abundance of online resources to learn about topics from computer science to blockchains have created an unprecedented opportunity for self-taught professionals and entrepreneurs. Consistently learning new skills and adapting to the evolving work environment is crucial to maintaining a fruitful career in today’s workforce.

Many college graduates do not even work in the field that they majored in, and instead, work in an area that they initially received a job in out of college or taught themselves how to excel in. Whether you’re looking to transition into another field or just want to learn some new skills as a hobby, the ability to do so has never been as convenient or powerful as it is now.

The increasing prominence of online education resources

In parallel to the proliferation of online educational resources is the explosive growth of freelancing. A 2017 study by Upwork revealed that freelancers are predicted to become the majority of the workforce within the decade. Many freelancers and entrepreneurs are self-taught, learning new skills on the fly out of a need to develop a professional talent or by meticulously studying a topic through online classes or reading.

Related: 15 of the Best and Most Unusual Online Courses for Entrepreneurs

The progression of the internet into its modern form has opened avenues for extensive, user-friendly, and affordable educational material for users of all levels of experience. Online resources for enhancing professional skills range from free university courses to standalone educational platforms that connect students and paid professionals. Some even offer informative games, impressive video tutorials and open-source frameworks for improving  content.

Here are four areas in which you develop skills and learn more about online.

1. Coding and software development

I taught myself the basics of computer programming in a prison cell by reading textbooks and using a number two pencil, without internet access. I know computer science can be intimidating for someone not familiar with the topic since it is often viewed as having an exceptionally high barrier to entry and robust prerequisite skills in mathematics. Thankfully, numerous educational materials are available for users of all experience levels to learn about how computers work and how to program.

These resources are not just relegated to proprietary online platforms either. MIT OpenCourseWare offers undergraduate and graduate courses on computer science — among other topics — online for free.

Platforms such as KhanAcademy, Coursera, and Udemy all provide their own courses on software development, computer science and other related topics. The material may be intimidating at first, but the classes are comprehensive and tailored to students of all talents with video tutorials, walk-through problems, projects and connections to top educators.

2. Languages

Learning new languages becomes more challenging as you get older, but the sheer amount of content and material available to learn new languages today is perhaps the best representation of online education’s progression. Services such as Rosetta Stone are established and popular among many people, but numerous other services have also arisen.  

Internet Polyglot offers courses on 21 different languages, Live Lingua is an entirely free full-immersion language course platform and mobile apps such as Duolingo and Busuu have skyrocketed to the top of the app download charts. The ability to speak multiple languages is not only helpful if you live in a foreign country or are traveling, but is a net positive for your resume that can even bolster your salary.

Related: Get Smarter About Business Cheaper With These 10 Free Online Courses

3. Healthcare and medicine

Similar to computer science, healthcare and medicine are primarily viewed through the prism of an exceedingly high barrier to entry. However, the notion that you can be successful in the medical industry solely with a doctorate is fading.

Online platforms such as Khan Academy and Coursera offer some in-depth material on life sciences, sports medicine and anatomy. Although they won’t provide the necessary material for becoming a doctor, they can help launch your career in the field or provide up-to-date content for you to refine your knowledge.

The prevalence of online education in fields including pharmaceutical medicine, healthcare project management and public health are also increasing. Once challenging areas of study to access are now widely available through platforms such as Class Central that aggregate resources from the top online universities in several fields. Subjects available in healthcare and medicine include clinical statistics and research, nutrition and epidemiology.

4. Blockchain

Blockchain and cryptocurrency exploded into the mainstream following the meteoric rise of the price of Bitcoin at the end of 2017. Despite the relative decline in prices over the past year, interest in the blossoming industry persists. Moreover, resources have transformed from obscure open-source Github repos to comprehensive courses on everything from understanding the underlying protocols to programming smart contracts. The demand for blockchain experts has officially exceeded supply, as reported by BTC Manager. That means, despite the volatility of the market, there’s still a huge market opportunity for anyone wanting to develop their skills.  

Kingsland University – School of Blockchain was the winner of the 2018 Stevie Award in the Innovator of the Year category that offers a highly touted and extensive suite of blockchain programming curriculum. Programs like those provided by Kingsland University were few and far between in the early days of blockchain technology, but now are vital to onboarding new industry participants and facilitating the transition of many programmers to the blockchain space. With industry partnerships — such as their recent one with the Tezos Foundation — Kingsland will be creating the much-needed talent pool that will drive future innovation and growth. They’ve recognized the crucial role education plays and they are getting out into the community and providing scholarships for career building education, with a nearly guaranteed job at the end of the training.

Related: Why Your Business Assets Belong on the Blockchain

Other resources for learning more about blockchain and cryptocurrency are Blockchain at Berkley and Udacity’s Nanodegree program on blockchain development. With the technology still in its early stages and blockchain developer salaries among the highest out of any industry, the opportunity to earn a lucrative income has never been so widely available.

The internet has created unprecedented educational opportunities for anyone with an internet connection. Previously restricted and highly exclusive material is now available for free to virtually everyone. For entrepreneurs and freelancers, online resources are crucial to gaining professional insights and building a foundation to advance their careers. I dedicate one hour per day to learning something new and even have it as a calendar event on my schedule to make sure I hit my daily goal. It’s so much easier to learn now that all of my notes don’t have to be scribbled down in a notepad using a number two golf pencil.



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20 Nov 2018
Sticky Post By Posted in Instagram, News Permalink

The 10 Best Instagram Tools for 2019

Sticky Post By On November 20, 2018


You can be posting coffee art Boomerangs, like your favorite influencer, shortly after reading this list.


5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


In June, Instagram reached 1 billion monthly active users worldwide, as reported by Statista. The process of liking photos, sharing stories and getting new followers has turned the platform into a social staple (even my grandma is liking cat memes on IG versus Facebook these days). More importantly, Instagram has become a goldmine for marketers, influencers and brands.

Here are some of the best tools available for obtaining insights, driving results and leveraging Instagram in 2019. Happy ‘Gramming.

1. Social Gone Viral

Developing organic growth isn’t easy. That’s why Social Gone Viral has become one of the leading organic growth platforms on the market. Social Gone Viral uses targeted marketing algorithms to help its customers get followers, comments, likes, sponsorships and more. If you’re looking organically grow, check them out. This tool can help you get trending posts.

Related: How 39 Major Businesses Use Instagram Stories (Infographic)

2. Magic Social

If you want a leg up on the competition or to emulate Instagram profiles that you admire, Magic Social is a great way to do it. Magic Social is a tool that allows you to track the activities of another profile on Instagram. The platform includes numerous services, such as benchmarking, side-by-side comparisons and engagement metrics. This is a great tool that helps you build similar audiences to your peers or competitors. 

3. Rocket Social 

Photos are hands down your most valuable asset when it comes to Instagram. So it’s crucial that you have constant likes and followers engaging with them. Rocket Social is an automation tool that increases engagement on your Instagram photos. Yes, some people warn against these types of tools, but a healthy mix of automation and organic is useful. You should ask all of your favorite influencers (seriously). 

4. Iconosquare

Social media and data analytics seem to be a match made in heaven. Iconosquare is an analytics and social media management platform that allows users to get in-depth information on followers, engagement, hashtag analysis and other social media metrics. The goal of the platform is to help users understand why actions have occurred through trends. It’s super useful if you’re building a business through IG.

5. Unfold

Instagram stories are still relatively new compared to all the other features present on the platform. As a result, many users haven’t learned to harness the power of them. Fortunately, Unfold is here to help. Unfold is an application that allows you to create videos that are both beautiful and professional, Unfold also allows you to save your Stories.

Related: 5 Ways to Help You Boost Your Conversions on Instagram

6. SocialRank

What is a profile without its followers? Success in the social world isn’t just about amassing a large number of followers, it’s about understanding and interacting with that audience. SocialRank has taken a unique approach to analytics by keying in follower demographics. On the platform, you can take in-depth looks at follower demographics, export different lists, identify your most engaged followers and much more. It’s a great way to segment and target your audience and followers. 

7. Magisto

After photos, video content is the most important asset on Instagram. That’s why Magisto is so great. Magisto is a video editing platform that uses AI to create business and personal videos. You give Magisto your content, and it creates an awesome video. It’s simple to use and churns out pretty quality videos.

8. Have2HaveIt

If you’re looking to sell a product on Instagram, look no further. Have2HaveIt helps businesses increase revenues on Instagram by providing a link that directs followers to ecommerce websites. If you like to shop for products, you’ve most likely come across the app. When you click on an image, it shows the various products and hyperlinks to a page that allows you to purchase that product. My wife says it’s the easiest way to shop online.

9. Sendible

Automation, automation, automation. Sendible is a full-featured social media management tool. On the platform, users have access to an array of services, which include scheduling and posting content, replying to followers, collaborating with multiple teams and developing analytics reports. Sendible makes it easy to manage social media on the go. It’s super useful for company branding versus personal branding.

Related: How Two Millennials Spun Celebrities’ Instagram Comments Into a Full-Time Job and 800,000 Followers

10. Boomerang

Boomerang is a tool made by Instagram that allows users to create short and engaging videos. The application works by taking a series of small snapshots and turning them into a video, similar to a GIF. It’s a fun way to create different and engaging content. Your favorite travel bloggers love to use this app to take pictures of their coffee overlooking majestic oceans or at their favorite waterfall. Please use it sparingly.

There are tons of amazing Instagram tools out there, but before choosing your tool, take the time to clearly define and understand your goals, whether that means getting followers, increasing engagement or tracking results. Once you know what you want to do, these tools will help you get the job done. Shoot me new tools I didn’t list on Twitter (@andrewmedal) or follow me on Instagram (@andrewmedal) to check out my latest coffee art.





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13 Nov 2018
Sticky Post By Posted in Gifts, News Permalink

4 Cool Gifts for Tech Geeks for the Holiday Season

Sticky Post By On November 13, 2018


Work to achieve product-market fit for gift giving.


6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


Holiday spending is estimated to hit $1 trillion this year, with PwC estimating that the average consumer will spend $1,250 on gifts, travel and entertainment.

Speaking of gifts, it’s never too early to think about what presents you’ll give your beloved geek friends. Rather than procrastinate and be caught in the last-minute shopping rush, you can get a head start working on that list right now. Besides, Thanksgiving weekend is also just around the corner, meaning you can take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales to score the best deals.

Related: Holiday Gift Guide: What to Give Your Team Members

My team and I always like to find random cool tech products this time of year that I can send to colleagues and business partners. Here are four cool products we found that you can give to your tech geek friends.

1. MyHeritage

There was a time when DNA testing was just the stuff of movies and TV. Today, anyone could get tested thanks to home DNA test kits. So how about giving your friends a way to know themselves at a nuclear level with MyHeritage‘s DNA test? MyHeritage first came into the scene as an online genealogy platform that allowed users to upload family history and family tree data to its database.

The company offers its MyHeritage DNA as an advanced and affordable DNA test that reveals a person’s ethnic origins including the geographic regions associated with the person’s genes. Combined with the service’s database containing more than 6 billion historical records, it’s even possible for users to discover previously unknown ancestors and relatives.

Of course, privacy is an important concern these days. MyHeritage DNA tests are designed for the recipient’s appreciation of genealogy and only the person has access to the test results. Testing is also done in a CLIA-certified and CAP-accredited laboratory based in the U.S.

MyHeritage DNA retails for $79. I bought this for family members last year, and they loved it. 

2. Nix Mini Color Sensor

If you have friends who do graphic design, you’re probably wondering if they see the world as you do. It isn’t uncommon to hear them drone about how certain designs could be improved upon or how something could’ve been shades of red lighter (this was taken from a real conversation I had with one of my graphic designer friends who complained about the red shade of my shirt!). 

If you have that kind of friend, then the Nix Mini Color would make for a great present. It’s a nifty device that can scan and match more than 31,000 brand name paints or digital color values. Its results can match to popular paint brands including Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams and Behr. It also provides color readouts in RGB, CMYK and CIELAB color spaces, meaning they can use real-world objects as a reference for their own designs.

The sensor is ultra-portable, measuring just 1 by 1.5 inches — smaller than a ping-pong ball — and weighs just 0.6 grams. It connects to smartphones via Bluetooth and has apps for both iOS and Android. The package comes with the device, a USB cable and a lanyard.

Nix Mini Color Sensor is available for $99. I’ll be buying this for my buddy.

Related: A Business’s Guide to Corporate Gifting

3. Anker PowerCore 20000 II

Battery life has always been a key concern of techies. Who’d have thought that a phone’s battery indicator showing red could cause people so much stress? What’s probably more irritating is how manufacturers have built the batteries into devices. You can’t simply swap out a weak battery with a fresh one. As such, a power bank is a must-have for any geek-on-the-go.

Boasting of a 20,000 mAh capacity means the Anker PowerCore 20000 II power bank packs enough power to charge an iPhone X more than six times (which is pretty impressive). It features Anker’s PowerIQ 2.0 technology that provides high-speed charging depending on the device plugged into it. It can even power larger tablets and other power-hungry devices. It has two USB ports allowing you to charge two different devices at once. Despite the large capacity, the power bank is still quite portable with an easy-to-grip sleek design measuring 6.7 by 2.4 by 0.9 inches.

Anker PowerCore 20000 II sells for $59.99 for the black version, $65.99 for the white. Because I’m on the go and travel so frequently, this may be my personal gift to myself! 

4. Geek Speak Magic Ball

Despite advances in technology, impromptu decision-making still can be tough. So why not help your friends simplify their decision-making and let randomness reign with this Geek Speak Magic Ball?

It’s the modern day iteration of the classic 8-Ball. Like the classic, the Geek Speak Magic Ball returns one of 20 possible answers only with a geek-speak twist. The ball can reply with quips like FAIL, WIN, meh, 404 error, LOL, PWND and O RLY. Great for those friends who work in IT. Sure, it’s a novelty item, but this one can be a nice display piece on a desk or shelf when the novelty wears off.

Depending on the seller, the Geek Speak Magic Ball can be bought for $7.99 at Amazon. I’m getting this for all of my different business partners, for those really tough business decisions we have to make.

Related: 18 Unique Holiday Gifts for Everyone On Your List

Give it some thought.

While you can always go the lazy route and just give friends Amazon gift cards, you should try to take the time to give your gift ideas a bit more thought. Surely, there are scores of other items that you can buy as gifts for your friends aside from the ones on this list.

For budding entrepreneurs, gift giving can be a good exercise in product development and marketing. It allows you to consider product features, quality and price while trying to take into account how well the gift would appeal to its intended recipient.

Ultimately, just do it to build the relationship and invest in your friendship. It’s always a nice feeling to be able to gift a friend something that they’d be able to appreciate knowing it matches their personality, likes and wants. Yes, it’s the thought that counts, but it’s even better when you get product-market fit for the gifts you give. That’s the ultimate goal. Happy holiday hunting. 



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