There is a lot of buzz about home refinancing nowadays. It seems like everyone is refinancing their home to pay for things like student loans or even credit card debt. It’s hard to know if refinancing your home mortgage is really the right choice for your financial situation. Refinancing your home can be a good thing that brings along lower interest rates or a shorter loan term! That being said, it’s not always a positive solution depending on your financial status. Should you refinance your home? Keep reading to learn more!

Image via Pexels

Why Refinance Your Home?

One of the first questions you should ask as a homeowner is why you should bother with home refinancing in the first place? There are a lot of incentives to refinance. First, you might be able to secure a lower interest rate on your home loan. If you’re able to reduce your interest rate, you might save money depending on your loan. Not only can you save money, but you can lower the size of your monthly payment!

Refinancing your home loan might also shorten the loan’s term. For instance, you can bring a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage down to 15 years, splitting the term in half! You might also want to go from a fixed-rate mortgage to a ARM loan if interest rates are falling nationally in the marketplace. You would do the reverse if the interest rates nationally are facing an upward trend. As you can see, there are a lot of positive benefits to refinancing your home if you do so mindfully and under the right circumstances.

When Is Refinancing a Good Idea?

Refinancing is a good financial idea if your new loan involves a lowered payment or shortens the term of your loan. If you’re smart with this, you can use something like USDA refinancing to escape debt quickly. You should be comfortable playing 3% to 6% of the principal of the loan when refinancing, as this will cover the cost of closing the new loan. If you’re in a stable financial place and can afford this temporary cost, the benefits likely outweigh the risks! Remember, you shouldn’t use loan refinancing as a means to spiral further into debt through a different line of credit. Keep the focus on securing a better loan for your financial situation!

When Is Refinancing a Bad Idea?

Loan refinancing isn’t the best thing for everyone. For some people, refinancing a home loan is a slippery slope into gaining even more debt. You also need to be comfortable paying the costs of closing this new loan, and sometimes it isn’t worth this extra cost for only a small difference in monthly payments. Loan refinancing is also not a good idea if you aren’t staying in the home for more than a few years. If you’re planning to move soon, you likely won’t stay long enough to see the benefits of refinancing.

Before you make a large financial commitment like home loan refinancing, examine your financial goals. What are you looking to accomplish with a home loan refinance? How will this help you reach your goals? Examine how much you owe on your current mortgage and your current terms. It’s easy to get caught in this cycle of refinancing when it might not be productive towards your actual goals. When in doubt, speak to your lender or a lending expert about the best option for you.

Refinance Your Home

Home refinancing can be a beneficial financial decision for many homeowners, but it’s not always the best choice for everyone! Oftentimes the cost of refinancing lowers the actual benefits of the new loan. Always speak with a professional before making large financial decisions, and be wary of relying on credit or excessive lending to solve your financial problems. This guide above should provide the clarity you need to take the next step!

There comes a point in everybody’s life, whether you are young or old, where you are forced to make some hard decisions, ones that you instinctively know have to be made, and ones that you’re even scared of making. You could feel caged in a dead-end job, trapped in a dead-end relationship, or surrounded by people or places that are holding you back, and you just know that only by breaking free of such things will you find the personal happiness and contentment you seek.

If that hasn’t happened to you yet, don’t worry – it will. And probably not just the once in your life either. However, even though that unhealthy environment you find yourself in is just that – unhealthy – and affecting, possibly damaging any potential you possess, by breaking free it’s like a reinvention of self (where you’ve even been able to keep the good bits from the “old” you, too).

My name is Andy, I’m a mid-thirties digital marketing entrepreneur, and, even at my tender years, such a thing has happened to me. However, this is not my story.

Through my business, I have encountered many, many different kinds of people, each with their unique take on their life and the world around them. I find all of aspects of human nature presented before me so very interesting, but, once in a while, I meet someone who, in their own way, manages to somehow motivate me, and even reassure me that, yes, I’m doing ok. I’m doing more than ok.

One such person is Kimberly Clay, an internet entrepreneur, founder/CEO and the writer of WhatSheSay.com. She helps people design their own self improvement plans which are tailored to each individual’s lifestyle. Recently, I managed to persuade Kimberly to do an interview with me, so she could share her own experiences and wisdom, and the story behind how one woman took the kind of decision mentioned above, and truly started to realise her own personal dreams. Here’s her remarkable story:

How was WhatSheSay.com developed from an idea into what it is today?

That’s kind of like asking a woman how she gave birth… She knows exactly how it happened, but it’s still kind of hard to explain.

In the beginning, I knew I wanted this blog to be something I hadn’t quite done before. I wanted to be able to reach people (and that idea got distilled down to focusing primarily on women) in a way that I hadn’t even conceived of doing before. I knew I wanted to be able to use my voice or my perspective to help women see things in a different way, because I have learned through my own experience that even the most infinitesimal shifts in an individual’s perspective can make huge differences in the way they live their lives.

It also became a desire to help women to see themselves, or to consider how they present themselves in the world, differently. As time has passed and I’ve had conversations with many  different women, one thing has become apparent to me. There are countless women seeking a different or better path. And they’re not necessarily interested in finding someone to solve all their problems. But they want help, they want information they can apply to their situations, and they want to connect with someone with whom they can identify. They want to feel that they’re not alone, but there are others with whom they can share their journey. That’s WhatSheSay.com.

What motivated you to take the plunge into entrepreneurship?

I grew up in a time and place where the expectation was that you went to school, decided on a profession, and spent the rest of your life working for other people. And while there’s nothing inherently wrong with that scenario, in most cases it offers little, if any, opportunity for an individual to create and perform based on their vision and outlook, or their desire to express individual creativity. That’s what attracts me most about entrepreneurship – the ability to create something of my own.

In what ways does your previous business experience benefit you today?

In the course of my work experience, I’ve had five very distinct careers, with only the last two being somewhat related. I think that experience and background has afforded me three important benefits:

• Because of my wide-ranging experience, I am able to understand business from the unique  perspectives of the individual entrepreneur, for-profit corporations, non-profits/grass-roots organizations, as well as entities concerned with the interests and welfare of the community at large.

• I have the ability to easily communicate with and relate to a wide range of people –  from wham’s to owners of “mom and pop” stores, to ceo’s and individuals at the helm of national organizations. I have an ability to understand unique challenges and issues, and can relate to the struggles of others without pre-judgement or jumping to conclusions.

• I have failed a bunch of times. And now I understand that failure is not something to be avoided at all costs, but is often a very important part of a successful business process.

What was your vision of how your life would be when you were young?

Oh wow…I’m not sure you have enough time for that. For the most part, I saw myself wearing a hard hat, cowboy or ranger hat, steel-toed boots and a ranger uniform or flannel shirts and khakis. I have always (ALWAYS, ask my mother) been a wildlife/animal nut. I can still remember being about seven or eight years old and spending summer mornings and afternoons sitting alone in the attic waiting to catch a bird or checking on a bird’s nest. My mom has a great story she tells about the time I was nine or ten years old, and she came downstairs into our family room and found it covered in tree frogs. You see, there was a storm outside, and I thought the frogs needed a place to hide out during the storm so they wouldn’t drown…

I studied Forestry in college (and minored in Wildlife Management, of course), and thought my life would be spent at the top of a fire station in the western U.S., out in the middle of nowhere. I even began my professional career in forestry, but, as is often the case, life intervened and my career has taken many twists and turns since then.

You appear very open about wanting to make fundamental changes to your life, and to inspire others to do the same. How achievable is that in the ever more demanding and hectic world we find ourselves in today?

Oh, I think it’s very achievable if that’s what you truly want to do, or if your life has become so uncomfortable it’s what you feel compelled to do. Will it be easy? No. We’re creatures of habit and tend to resist change. In addition to that, oftentimes, the changes we desire are resisted by those closest to us (who may also be impacted by those changes in ways they don’t like or appreciate). But I think the potential benefits make the effort worth it.

We only get one life and I have yet to meet the woman (or man, for that matter) who really wants to spend it being miserable and unhappy. No matter how hectic or demanding are our lives, if we really want the lives we live to be different, we can change them. If we’re not able to immediately change our outward circumstances, we can begin to change our experience of them (the ways in which we think and believe and react), and begin the work of moving toward something different and better. Even that is progress.

I’ll be honest, Kimberly. Yes, I know the website is designed for a certain kind of woman, but I’ve read a few of the blog articles (very informative and entertaining they were too). Do you think a proportion of your readership will actually be men?

The short answer to that question is “yes”. Actually, we’ve had two interesting aspects about our audience reveal themselves since the time we launched WSS. One is that we do indeed have a small, but consistent contingent of male readers that comprise approximately 8% of our total readership over the life of the blog. The second interesting fact is that I initially envisioned that the majority of the blog readership would be mature women; women 40 and over. That’s not the case. We continue to attract the majority of our audience from the range of 25 to 44 year old women. That is something that continues to surprise me…in a good way.

What advice would you give to someone who feels that they are “standing at Ground Zero”?

Breathe: Your first instinct will be panic or fear. You’ve suddenly been thrust into a situation where it feels like the world has been pulled out from beneath you and you’re in freefall. It is very unsettling, very frightening. So the first thing to do is just breathe. Calm yourself. Calm your mind. If it feels like the sky is falling, no matter. When all is said and done, the sun WILL come up tomorrow. Just take a minute (and that minute may be an hour, an afternoon or a day or two) and breathe.

Don’t try to decide everything at once: Because it’s likely to seem that the world is crashing down around you, you’ll want to fix it. Everything. At once. You can’t, and if you try to, it won’t be right. Pace yourself. Take the time you need to decide what you truly want to happen (think endgame, long-term), then work backwards from that outcome to determine what needs to be done. Finally, prioritize those needs so you can begin to define what action you need to take and when (which solves the question screaming in your head “What should I do?“).

Trust what God has put in you: You can do this. I’m a Christian woman. I believe that we were all created for a purpose unique to each of us. And I believe in the course of our lives we’re brought to and through experiences that prepare us for our unique purpose in life and challenges we’ll be required to face.

There are many reasons why our lives can blow up. And we tend to focus too much on the blow up. What we should be doing is realizing that things have to be put back together, and now we have a perfect opportunity (huge, HUGE opportunity) to reconstruct things differently; better than they were before. You have to trust that you have within you what it takes to be successful in doing that. Circumstances may require you to learn new things or acquire new skills, but at your core you already have what you need to succeed because God already put it in you. It just needs to be brought out.

What’s the very best thing about your life today?

For years, I’ve made decisions about my life based on the needs, expectations or wants of other people. Now, it’s my turn. I have an open road in front of me. Yes, I have challenges and hurdles to overcome, but I have the opportunity to decide for myself which paths I want to take, which directions I want to explore, what roads I don’t want to go down. I can choose less stress. I can choose no drama. I can choose to trust my own choices even when I make a mistake or bad decision. Even in situations where my options are limited, I have the power to choose. That’s something. In fact, it’s everything.

I have successfully been in the digital marketing field for several years now, and I’ve seen a googleplex (that’s a seriously large number, by the way) of websites, blogs and internet ventures simply either die on their feet or just slowly fade away.

With Thanks…

Take a look at Kimberly’s website WhatSheSay.com, and I’m sure you’ll agree with me that it has the premise, the impetus, and exactly the right person behind it to make it not only an outstanding success, and a blueprint for the creation of a something exceptionally worthwhile, but also a really valuable resource of positivity to those in need of a guiding hand, whether they are men or women.

Cesar Lago, President of Sales and Marketing for Camanchaca, Inc., the US-based division of Chilean-seafood industry leader Camanchaca S.A. joins Enterprise Radio to discuss the importance of hard work in success.

Listen to interview with host Eric Dye & guest Cesar Lago discuss the following:

1. Give us a history about Camanchaca and how your retail brand Pier 33 came to be.
2. What are some changes you have seen in the industry and with consumers throughout your 17 years with the company?
3. As someone who has worked his way up to the top, what do you accredit your success to?
4. What would you like to accomplish as President of Camanchaca Inc.?
5. If you could give one piece of advice to young professionals, what would it be?

Cesar Lago is the President of Camanchaca, Inc. He was an integral part of the founding of Camanchaca’s Miami-based sales office in 2001 and has been involved in the development of key strategic relationships with retail, food service and distribution partners since.

Lago graduated from Florida International University with a bachelor’s degree in Business in 1992. After college, he held a sales position with Dial Soap for five year. He was then offered a job at Heritage Salmon to develop the sales of Chilean salmon in the U.S. when the farmed salmon industry was in its infancy.

At Heritage, he was part of a team that represented Camanchaca salmon in the U.S. market. His knowledge of the Camanchaca Salmon products and the industry, along with his keen ability to identify opportunities and cultivate relationships led to Lago becoming the National Sales manager when Camanchaca opened its U.S. office in 2001 marking 17 years with the company on March 16th.

Website: www.pier33gourmet.com

People also listened to this: How this entrepreneur is making parents lives easier and children’s lunches healthier

Trade skills are currently in decline, as many baby boomers leaving their industry for retirement. Launching a trade business could, therefore, help you to meet the growing demand for trade skills while ensuring you enjoy a steady, healthy profit. Here are the four best trade businesses to start from scratch.

1. Electrician Company

Electricians are responsible for designing, installing, repairing, and maintaining electrical wiring and control systems in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. For this reason, it is a sought-after profession in multiple industries, especially construction. It can become an excellent career and business opportunity. However, every electrician on staff will need between four to five years’ training or experience.

2. A Welding Business

Welding is a specialized skill that is needed in various industries, such as construction, auto body repair, metal fabrication, shipbuilding, oil and gas, and forestry. It means that skilled welders and welding companies are always in demand in multiple industries. However, it can be a dangerous profession, so you must provide all staff with the appropriate protective equipment, such as welding gloves, boots, and helmets, auto darkening preferrable; read here to learn more about the best equipment for your new welding business.

You must also be willing to travel and work in remote locations and in arduous conditions. Most welding companies start out with one mobile welding contractor, who may then rent or buy shop space and hire certified welders to expand the business. Every welder within the company must have technical welding training, as well as an apprenticeship that leads to certification.

3. A Plumbing Business

Demand for both plumbers and pipefitters are expected to considerably grow until 2026, so a plumbing business can be an ideal venture. Your company will ultimately be responsible for designing, installing, and repairing piping, appliances, and water disposal systems in homes, industrial plants, and businesses. You will also need to provide staff with training in the form of an apprenticeship and education, and they will also need a license or certification to become a professional plumber.

4. HVAC Technician Company

HVAC technicians must install, repair, and maintain various residential heating, air conditioning, ventilation, and refrigeration units. Many can also specialize in sprinkling systems, fire protection, building and facilities maintenance, and oil and gas burners, and these skills could ultimately provide new companies with a competitive advantage.

Demand for HVAC specialists is expected to grow over the next decade, so it could be the ideal time for a self-employed HVAC technician to launch his own company. In addition to one-off jobs, companies should try to enjoy a steady cash flow by providing clients with service contracts. However, every technician on your payroll must have the correct certification for your state and provinces, and they must have experienced on-the-job training and several years post-secondary education.

In addition to gaining experience in your chosen trade and hiring the best tradespeople for the job, you must also create a solid business plan, register for a business structure and taxes, and insure the company before you market your new venture.

Online trading has become quite popular over the past few years. There are many different reasons why this is the case.

As time has gone on, online trading platforms and mobile apps have become more competitive. There are many different forms of online trading available. There are also many different available platforms to choose from.

This brief guide will help you understand how to succeed as an online trader.

Is online trading the same as investing?

Online trading and investing have several things in common. However, there are also several ways that these practices are different.

Both online trading and investing are ways that people try to profit from financial markets. Both of these methods involve depositing some capital now in order to get potential profits in the future.

Investing is a term that usually applies to assets designed for slow and predictable growth. Investment assets include life insurance, mutual funds, and others. Investing typically requires few direct actions.

Trading is something that is much more involved. Traders are usually much more active than investors. Some traders make multiple trades a day. They will also usually expect a greater return on their investment.

Online trading makes it easy to place many trades in a short amount of time. An online platform is usually preferred by individuals who want to speculate on the markets directly, rather than using a financial advisor.

What’s the difference between CFD trading and spread betting?

Spread betting and CFD trading are both forms of financial derivative trading. CFD trading is available in many countries worldwide while spread betting is only available in the UK. These methods are used for similar purposes. However, there are a few ways in which they are distinct.

Neither method requires traders to pay stamp duty in the UK. CFD trading imposes a capital gains tax, however. Spread betting, on the other hand, does not.

Because of its tax benefits, spread betting is usually preferred.

What should I look for in a trading platform?

There are many trading platforms to choose from. Here is what you should look for:

•         Broker reputation
•         Available assets to trade
•         Risk management tools
•         Technical analysis tools and charts
•         Ease of use

Additionally, your personal preferences will also be relevant.

How can I minimise risk?

There are two main objectives of using a trading platform. Ideally, you will be able to minimise risk and maximise your potential for profit. There are many ways in which you can minimise risk.

•         Invest in multiple types of assets by diversifying your portfolio
•         Have a risk management strategy and follow through with it
•         Place risk management orders to protect your trades against sudden market movements
•         Be patient and stick to your trading plan
•        Research the markets before placing your trades

The best way to minimise risk is by creating a diverse portfolio.

Conclusion

Online trading offers the opportunity to earn a return on investment for a lower cost. Becoming an online trader is very possible and offers the flexibility to trade on your own time, thanks to trading platforms and mobile apps. It is always a good idea to do your research properly, however, and experiment with a demo account, before you start trading with real money.

Eric Kish an author, speaker and Turnaround CEO with 20 years’ experience in transforming organizations in various stages of distress. His new book is “Everyday Turnaround: The Art and Science of Daily Business Transformation” joins Enterprise Radio.

This episode of Enterprise Radio is working in association with the Author Channel.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Eric Kish discuss the following:

1. How do you know when a company needs a real turnaround?  What are some of the warning signs?
2. What are some of the immediate steps a leader can take?
3. What are some essential turnaround tactics for small and medium sized businesses?  Are their needs any different?
4. What is requred to get “buy in” from the whole organization on making a turnaround happen?
5. Solving immediate problems is obviously good, but, how do you make a turnaround last and change the company for good?

Eric Kish is an author, speaker and Turnaround CEO with 20 years’ experience in transforming organizations in various stages of distress.

His educational background is an MSc from Stanford Business School, an Advanced Certificate in Strategy and Innovation from MIT and an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnics of Bucharest.

Eric is an active member of the Association of Interim Executives and currently runs or advises on turnarounds.

He is the founder and Managing Partner of Kish & Partners Consulting, a firm dedicated to teaching and helping clients implement the principles of the Everyday Turnaround method.

Website: www.everydayturnaround.com

Everyone is looking for ways to up their game with online marketing, build brand awareness and get their message to their target audience.

Here are five ways you may or may not be aware of to accomplish just that.

Use Pop-up Ads

Used effectively, pop-ups are a valuable marketing tool. When visitors enter your website, there is a plethora of visual information to view. A pop-up directs their eye to the information you want them to see first. If it happens to not be the relevant information they seek, one simple click and they can continue their search. A simple study of your page analytics will give you an idea of when and where to implement pop-up windows.

Benefits of using a pop-up ad include:

• Spontaneous Attention Seeker – Pop-up is a tool that creates curiosity with each visitor through eye catching graphics and information. Consider placing exciting content or an appealing offer or a freebie that invites the user to engage with you.
• Increased User Engagement – Because a pop-up is a user engagement tool, when you design your pop-up to have a pleasant theme and presents an eye-catchy content, it will attract the attention you desire and keep visitors on your site longer leading to greater visibility of your content or purchase possibilities.
• More Subscriptions – A popup is a convenient way to subscribe users by collecting user subscription information and is an essential tool for every website to grow a consistent audience.
• Generate Buzz – Popups have a great potential to generate buzz. A good website with relevant content and a pop-up is the perfect formula for success. Enticing content that targets a visitor will naturally draw them to the website.
• Influential Branding – Branding is all about building the value of your site or products and services. Use a pop-up to highlight your unique selling points and keep your name top of mind.
• Affordable and Cost-Effective – Pop-ups are one of the most affordable, easy to implement, and influential tools you can have in your cadre. Your ROI has a greater margin of profitability which means more revenue you can focus on your product or promotion of it.

Conduct Contests and Giveaways

This is a great way create buzz and interest in your website. By promoting a product or service using contests and giveaways, you create awareness and give your potential customer something of value. When they see the obvious value, they return to your site and ask for more. This is a great opportunity to gather their contact information and add them to your email list and upsell them. They are asking for you to do so.

There are several ways to go about conducting a giveaway or contest, but the most common is to use related affiliate merchandise or services. Simply contact other companies and ask if you can promote their product with a contest or giveaway. It assists the affiliate with gaining visibility as well as yourself, while building your customer base and brand. And people love a contest and enjoy being given things of value. Everyone wins.

Give Gated Content

Another way to market online is to share gated content – give the seeker something after they give you their email address or other information they give you. It’s an incentive for them to share with you.

The gated content can be what you choose. Many people or businesses use a series of instructional videos or product giveaways. For example, let’s say you are launching a new book with a companion workbook. Let visitors know that if they order the book (thereby giving you their contact info), you will include the workbook for free or at a discount.

Here’s the key: this is the perfect time to over deliver. Meaning, when their book and workbook arrive in their mailbox, there is also a bonus gift that they were not expecting. Perhaps it’s a rubber bracelet, a pen, or a tumbler. Whatever bonus gift you send needs to be relevant and desirable. This ensures that they return for your next book – before that book is even written.

Use A Podcast

Let’s just assume for the time being that you have done your research and know who your target audience is. Now you can begin to network with others who are reaching the same demographic. When you make connections with those in your industry or in an industry that complements yours, collaborate together to reach twice the target range.

An advantageous way to accomplish cross promotion is via podcasts. Whether you create a podcast or not, reach out to those who do and ask to share about your product or service. In return, perhaps you can offer to write a blog to your audience that includes mention of the podcast. You both benefit from exposure and potential customers hear about something that they may not have known about in another way.

Create Video or Facebook/Instagram Lives

By creating video content via a pre-recorded message or via a ‘live’ broadcast, you create a way for customers to see the face behind the product or service. People are in search of behind-the-scenes information and regard transparency as something to be valued. Video is the perfect way to give them both.

There are ways to do this beyond just talking about or showing your product. You can discuss the benefits of, value of, and creation of those services and products. It’s as if you are pulling back the curtain and letting them ‘in’ on a little secret.

Take visual art as an example. Record your work in progress and chat about why you are choosing the subject, colors, and tools you are using. Tell them a story about the image. It’s fascinating and meaning behind the art is apparent, it will appeal to them and they will be more inclined to buy it.

The bottom line is this: give the customer value and they will engage.

At the start of the year, news of Amazon’s first-ever cashless grocery store, Amazon Go, caused quite a stir. While many Seattle natives looked forward to shopping without waiting in line or scanning items at the cash, critics worried Amazon Go represented a potentially damaging new trend in the economy. As more retailers embrace cashless payments from mobile wallets, millions of Americans who still rely primarily on cash won’t be able to shop freely.

As much as 20 percent of Americans are considered underbanked, underserved, or credit invisible — a denomination that makes it hard to participate in cash-free markets. That’s because many of the country’s biggest retail banks actively discourage the underserved from participating in the financial world. Ignored by these institutions, the underserved’s only hope in engaging in digital payments is through fintech.

Fintech recognizes the niche needs of the underbanked, and they offer alternatives that might be able to save these Americans’ ability to participate fully in the financial world. Here are some of the ways these new companies plan to help them:

1. Mobile wallet platforms

Typically, a mobile wallet—or an app on a phone that facilitates digital payments—syncs with a bank account. Apple Pay, Google Cash, and the Starbucks App let customers transfer funds from their checking account to load digital cash on these mobile accounts. The issue for the underserved is they may not have the traditional bank account that lets them load these services.

Fintech is giving them an alternative way to participate with mobile wallets. Some help those who don’t have access to the Internet, and they include the mobile wallet app owners themselves, like Amazon and Walmart. These retailers offer their cash-dependant customers a way to load their digital accounts with actual cash at participating retailers.

Other fintech companies help those who have access to the Internet but are typically disqualified from the average retail bank. Apps like Chime and Simple offer no-fee, hassle-free online accounts with fewer barriers, giving many of the underbanked a chance at opening a checking account to load their mobile wallet.

2. Online loan lenders

It’s a challenge for the underserved to access financial assistance for many of the same reasons the underbanked are disqualified from opening a bank account. Complex criteria stand in the way of securing personal loans, and branch hours are also an obstacle for those who work unusual hours or who live far from the branch’s location. An online, largely automated platform offers customers of companies like MoneyKey a simple and convenient way to apply for necessary assistance. By simplifying the traditional borrowing experience, these lenders increase the underserved’s opportunity to get help. They can download an app alongside their mobile bank’s app and check in on their status at any step of the online loan process.

3.  Opportunities for the credit invisible

There are 45 million Americans who are considered thin-file or no-file consumers. That means they have a limited or nonexistent credit history. Traditional retail banks see this as a warning sign and bar the credit invisible from accessing their full line of services. In reality, many of the credit invisible are financially responsible individuals. Fintech aggregates data differently. They search beyond the traditional credit score and analyze things like transaction history and current financial situations to determine if a consumer is a low-risk addition to their company.

The underserved is a large population ignored or discouraged by the biggest banks in the US. While they may find it challenging to manage their money through traditional streams, fintech offers them an exciting new alternative. Not only will they be able to create a robust mobile wallet for cashless retailers, the underbanked have an opportunity to participate in a variety of financial services with the help of fintech.

The amazing benefits of sleep cannot be denied. In fact, research suggests that obtaining between seven and eight hours per night can help dramatically extend one’s lifespan. It is therefore no great surprise that many successful entrepreneurs have leveraged this necessary “downtime” to their benefit. Let us look at five habits which can produce positive results.

Formatting a Healthy Sleeping Schedule

It is a well-known fact that developing a normal sleep routine will benefit the natural circadian rhythms within the body. In other words, entrepreneurs go to bed at the same time every evening and set their alarm for a predetermined hour. This habit soon becomes a routine; providing a deeper and more rejuvenating sleep.

Curtailing Duties Within the Workplace

Experts are well aware that high levels of stress will negatively impact sleep. Not only is the quality of sleep affected, but it is much more difficult to remain sleeping throughout the night. This is one of the reasons why successful business owners try to reduce their daily workloads. By limiting levels of stress within the workplace, they are less likely to take these worries home at the end of the day.

Fitting in Smaller Naps

Many reputable online entrepreneurial portals outline the importance of hard work and dedication. However, one lesser-known trick is to fit in occasional “power naps” when possible. Smaller amounts of sleep (even for as little as 20 minutes) have been shown to increase motivation and to provide a greater sense of focus. Therefore, professionals can return to their duties feeling rested and ready to take on whatever tasks await.

The Concept of “Efficient Sleeping”

Sleeping efficiently is a concept that is unfamiliar to many. This essentially signifies specific actions that can be taken in order to maximize the benefits associated with sleep. There are numerous methods to employ and these will depend upon the individual in question. Some entrepreneurs prefer listening to binaural beats when dozing off. Others play a motivational audio book. Some choose to be awoken by the natural sunlight or purchase an ergonomic mattress in order to avoid tossing and turning. Regardless of the specific approach, these and other methods will provide a sound and restful sleep.

Embracing the Prosperous Nature of Sleep

There can be times when sleep is not ranked as a high priority, but entrepreneurs know better. They appreciate the inherent benefits of seven or eight solid hours. So, they rarely sacrifice sleep for work. You can encounter many more business-oriented success solutions by keeping up to date with this online resource. After all, knowledge is power.

Sleep is often glossed over within the hectic business world. Still, its importance cannot be overstated. Successful entrepreneurs from all walks of life have learned to embrace this natural requirement and as a result, they are able to remain one step ahead of the game. For even more sleep-related advice, check out the numerous additional posts that The Dozy Owl has to offer.

Jason Ciment, author of the new book: “I Need More Clients: Digital Marketing Strategies That Grow Your Business” joins Enterprise Radio. Leading digital marketing consultant, Jason Ciment, is a CPA, attorney, author, and a software engineer now adds a second book to his repertoire.

This episode of Enterprise Radio is working in association with the Author Channel.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Jason Ciment discuss the following:

1. What prompted you to write this book?
2. What is your background for formulating this book?
3. Why is the book timely now?
4. Who is this book for?
5. What’s the biggest mistake people make with their business website?
6. How has social media changed business?
7. This book appears to cover everything so do you see a sequel book for this topic too?
8. What’s your best business advice for someone launching a new business?

Leading digital marketing consultant, Jason Ciment, a CPA, attorney, author, and a software engineer now adds a second book to his repertoire. His newly released book, I Need More Clients: Digital Marketing Strategies That Grow Your Business, is now available on Amazon in paperback. Ciment, with his unorthodox background, offers business insights and step-by-step lead generation techniques culled from decades of experience working with clients, influencers and entrepreneurs.

Ciment is known as a “quadruple threat” in business marketing circles because his diversity of skills inspired him to reject traditional corporate paths in favor of creating his own business success models. Through his firm, GetVisible, he and his partner Michael Moshkovich have applied a unique approach to digital marketing that has helped clients grow and transform their businesses into thriving evergreen enterprises.

Website: Click here

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jasonciment
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jasonciment

Anni Keffer a nationally recognized educator, speaker, author, and entrepreneur who is passionate about youth leadership and author of her newest book, “Leadership Built On Why: A Guide for Young Adults” joins Enterprise Radio.

This episode of Enterprise Radio is working in association with the Author Channel.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Anni Keffer discuss the following:

1. You are so candid about your own story in this book — can you talk about your struggle to be heard?
2. Is anyone ever too young to be a leader?
3. Can you talk about the #metoo and the #neveragain movements? So many adults argue these people don’t have the experience or authority to push policy. But it’s amazing how the young people are insisting they do. Do you think they’re being successful?
4. Can you give some other instances of young people finding their purpose early?
5. Can you lead us through the journey of discovering our “why?” How do we start?
6. Can you give any examples of exercises people can practice to build their sense of self and purpose?
7. How can this book help empower young women?

Anni Keffer is a nationally recognized educator, speaker, author, and entrepreneur who is passionate about youth leadership. She has been featured on CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX affiliates and in a number of publications, including Yahoo, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, New York Business Journal, Miami Herald, Mompreneur Media, and more. She’s the founder of the Young Women of Influence Conference and an in-demand leadership speaker. Anni was nominated for WHIRL Magazine’s Women In Business 2016, and is a co-author of Girls Lead. Her new book is Leadership Built On Why: A Guide for Young Adults.

Website: www.annikeffer.com

People also listened to this: Keys to Bridging the Generational Divide in the Workplace

Today’s business operation is surfeited by technology. There are web tools, social media marketing tools, and even aerial footage tools of the drone variety that have changed everything.

In fact, such tools have taken videography of the professional variety and made it something that can be immediately sourced by small business owners for a fraction of the cost such videography would have been just a few years ago. The right tools take the expense away and return results that are both pleasing, and have the right kind of professional veneer.

There are a lot of reasons it makes sense to have such videos available on your company’s website. Additionally, whenever you’re doing something that involves marketing, you want top-tier videos to define your public relations. Following are five additional reasons to vie for professional videos.

1. Competitiveness

When you’ve got a bevy of professional videos at your business’s disposal, this makes you look good. The right professional photographer can make a one-man team look like some sort of top-tier, A-list endeavor. This can be very good for startups, or smaller businesses. If potential clients, that meet you through your video email marketing campaigns, see that you look professional, they may choose you over competitors.

2. Professionalism

It’s simply more professional when you’ve got videos defining your business that are visibly refined. Anyone with a smartphone can snap a clip with the tap of a thumb these days. Videos corrected for light, aperture, depth-of-field, and the many things which define modern videography give your business a veneer which screams professionalism.

3. Security

Videos can provide you with security. Consider this: you develop some proprietary means of conducting business and put it into practice. Five years later, a totally different business comes up with the exact same thing independent of you. You didn’t steal from them, they didn’t steal from you; you were just operating in synchronicity.

Well, if you’ve got videos of a professional grade showcasing what you’ve done, then you’ve got evidence that your method predates theirs, and so you can continue operating as you had without worrying about legal recriminations.

4. Record Keeping

In the same vein, you need to keep solid records of your operations going forward. This can be difficult, so having videos helps. It’s a lot easier to peruse through a videos than it is to peruse through a conglomeration of documents that must be read to be understood.

5. Morale

Your team, be it large or small, is going to have moral issues should your only videos be amateurish and lazily derived. However, if you’ve got top-tier videos that have a flavor of professionalism around them, then this actually provides a boost in morale which can translate to more streamlined, profitable operations going forward.

Securing Professional videos

You can hire a professional video company to get the pictures you need, but today that may not be strictly necessary. There are many tools and platforms designed precisely for the purpose of giving non-professional video makes a professional edge. Drones can act as a substitute for helicopter footage or that derived from a camera on a crane.

If you’re using a screwdriver as a hammer, you may get the job done; but a hammer makes it much easier. If you’re using non-professional tools for videos, again, you may get the job done, but you’ll find doing so is much less complicated and much more effective when you find and use the right tools.

If you are a businessman, you need a VPN. If you are surprised about that, perhaps you should learn more about VPNs’ benefits for business.

Why do so many people consider a VPN to be a necessity for everyone who is serious about running a business online? What kind of threats are they talking about when reminding you about cyber security and data protection? Can you consider a VPN to be a magic pill in the 21sy century? We’re going to answer these and many other questions in our today’s article about VPNs and their essential part of any successful business.

VPN in Business

No matter whether you’re running a business from home or office, in both cases, you face the same risks the moment you go online. If you use a VPN you get 2 in 1 – encryption and encapsulation. Protecting your Internet traffic and any data on the cloud means a secure connection between you and a headquarter office as well as you and your customers. A VPN is not only about protecting your personal data and that critical data of your company. It is also about organizing a secure Internet space around your business for the customers.

analytics-3088958_960_720.jpg

Connecting to the Internet means sending your data through a local network to the server where the website is. On the way to that server, your traffic is fully unprotected if not using a VPN. But when you have a VPN, everything differs.

• First of all, go to this site and pick a VPN service, which meets the requirements of your devices;
• Then, run it on your computer and connect to any server;
• Now, the process of Internet connection will differ a lot. Your traffic will go through the invisible tunnel as well as be encrypted by a VPN. Any data you send, receive, or store will be automatically hidden from advertisers, spies, and hackers out there. No matter how important or unimportant the information you share is, in any case, it will be fully encrypted for others.

Your IP address will be changed as well. So, your devices automatically get the address of the server, which they are connecting to through a VPN. The threads of data leaks and Internet spying for businesses are more critical and dangerous than for any ordinary Internet user. On an unsecured WiFi network, anyone can watch you and your traffic, interfering into your online activity whenever they want to.

If you’re still not sure whether having a VPN for you is important as for any other business, check the statistics of how many websites and companies are being hacked on a regular basis. You’ll be definitely surprised. The previous year was especially rich in major hacks and hacker interferences all over the world. WannaCry, NotPetya, and Bad Rabbit are one of the biggest data breaches ever existed. In 2017 they caused harm not only to a single company but a branch of companies in different countries. So, don’t put your business at risk and get a VPN.

Howard Partridge, Author of The Power of Community: How Phenomenal Leaders Inspire Their Teams, Wow Their Customers, and Make Bigger Profits joins Enterprise Radio to discuss the key to engagement is community.

This episode of Enterprise Radio is working in association with the Author Channel.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Howard Partridge discuss the following:

1. What prompted you to write this book?
2. It seems like we’re heading into even more dramatic changes in the world of work, such as AI and remote workforces. How can community help unify these types organizations?
3. Talk about the connection between a great workplace community and employee engagement.
4. In this super tight job market, where people jump from job to job faster than ever, can loyalty still play a role in the workplace?
5. Can you give some examples of leaders who have built community among their employees, and seen dramatic improvements in their business?
6. What is a POD — and why are they such a powerful tool for the workforce?
7. Can you talk about the power of being a coach instead of a commander?
8. How is it possible to care about your employees in a massive organization? Can you give some strategies for larger employers?

Howard Partridge is an international business coach, #1 Amazon.com bestselling author and in-demand conference speaker. He grew up on welfare, started his first business out of the trunk of his car and transformed it into a multimillion dollar, turnkey enterprise. He has owned 9 small businesses, and for two decades has helped small business owners revolutionize their businesses and have more freedom in their lives. His new book is The Power of Community: How Phenomenal Leaders Inspire Their Teams, Wow Their Customers, and Make Bigger Profits. It includes a proven, step-by-step approach to transforming your organization — by tapping into the human need to connect and feel valued by others.

Website: www.howardpartridge.com

People also listened to this: 4 Super Tools to Stay True to Your Dreams

While most businesses offer an online delivery service of some kind, it’s no secret that not every business is able to offer it in-house – this is where couriers come in. With the likes of UPS, DHL, DPD and more all offering their services to consumers and businesses alike, there’s no reason as to why even home businesses can’t invest in a reliable, cost-effective service for their local and international couriers needs. But with so many to choose from, how can you really know which one is the best for your business? Here, we’ve pulled together five questions you need to ask when choosing your courier service.

How Much Do They Cost?

With improvements in delivery technology, most couriers are now able to offer fast, trackable delivery as standard without the addition of a hefty price tag which is perfect for businesses. While reaching for the lowest-priced courier may seem like the best option, especially if your business is on a budget, investigating a little more deeply into each courier and calling around to ask for any deals or discounts for mass-volume shipments could work out much better for your budget. However, don’t go for the best deal immediately. The best price doesn’t immediately mean the best service, so make sure you ask yourself the following questions first.

Do They Offer Tracking?

Catering to consumer demand is something that most businesses always aim to do, and by offering a tracking service, you’ll be doing exactly that. Transparency within the supply chain is something that businesses big and small are demanding and tracking is where this begins. The ability to track any delays, hold ups or the estimated time of delivery will not only settle your mind as a business, but your client’s minds too.

What Areas Do They Cover?

Look at your current orders – what areas are they coming from? Would the courier you’re thinking about choosing be able to deliver to that area? While most couriers will deliver anywhere across the country and most places abroad, there’s nothing more frustrating as a business or as a customer than finding out that your courier won’t deliver to a destination address. This point is especially important for remote locations and international deliveries. Talk to the courier – will they deliver to these areas? How much hassle would it be to do so? What is the pricing? From there you can work out whether it would be a worthwhile investment.

What Services Do They Offer?

Just like tracking, consumer demand often stretches to speed of delivery too. With the likes of Amazon and other industry leaders offering next day – and in some cases same day – deliveries, it’s more important than ever before for small businesses to choose a courier who can offer similar services in order to attract customers away from bigger companies. Ideally, you’ll need a courier who can offer next day delivery for an affordable price for you and your customers, and 2-3 day delivery as standard. Of course, this isn’t always possible internationally, so in this case it’s best to discuss with your courier what the best and most affordable service is for your international customers.

What Do Their Reviews Say?

Reviews are undoubtedly the best way to find out the realistic ins and outs of a company. Other businesses are likely to leave good and bad reviews when they’ve used the company before, so make sure you do your homework and take a look at what other people in your position have to say. Big-name couriers are likely to have a whole host of reviews for you to sift through, but when it comes to independent and smaller couriers, you may need to ask for references or search a little harder for reliable reviews.

Choosing the right courier for your business can be the difference between happy customers and frustrated ones. By choosing a reliable, low cost courier who has a range of speedy services on offer, you can pass this service onto your clients and consumers and with any luck, have a smoothly-running delivery service in no time.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is worldwide accepted set of standards that intend to enhance safety when handling information of customers in the credit, debit and cash cards.

Penetration testing has been introduced in PCI DSS process. It involves testing the security of the systems that are included in the storage, processing, and transmission of information of cardholders. It should be known that penetration testing is a crucial area of compliance with the PCI DSS requirements.

Difference between Vulnerability Scan and Penetration Test

Even thou both the vulnerability scan and the penetration test are both required in the PCI DSS compliance the two do have a difference. Vulnerability scan is an entirely automated process that scans networks for vulnerabilities.

A penetration test, on the other hand, is more than the vulnerability test since a tester aims at showing the risk of the exposed vulnerabilities to a business. Penetration testing involves a lot of work and costs more unlike the vulnerability scan that only requires the automated scan.

Types of a PCI DSS Penetration Testing

There are three types of the penetration testing which are;

In the black-box assessment the tester is not given information as he/she begins the examination. In the white-box assessment, the inspector is given all details of the networks and the applications. The grey-box penetration testing may include the tester being provided with part of the information of the systems.

Scope of a Penetration Test 

The PCI DSS penetration testing is carried out on all the systems within the range of the Cardholder Data Environment (CDE).  The CDE is merely the people, process, and the applications that stores, processes or transmits the cardholder data. The method of determining the scope of PCI DSS penetration testing involves the following steps;

•    As noted in the guideline, it is essential for an organization to evaluate unique access to public networks and restricted access to individual IP addresses.

•    Penetration testing has to be carried out in internal systems/critical systems that access the information of the cardholders. It should be noted that the critical systems are systems that process and protects the cardholder’s data.

•    It is possible for penetration testing not to be carried out in a particular system. However, if the non-CDE environment is compromised, it should not at all affect the CDE.

The penetration testing is carried out on a half-yearly or annual basis. The examination is conducted by a service provider that is not in the management of the CDE. It is crucial that critical systems such as firewalls, systems that detect malicious users, authentication servers, systems that redirect e-commerce are all tested since they manage the CDE.

Importance of Penetration Testing for PCI DSS

The goal of penetration testing aims at determining whether a hacker can access the system and affect the security of files and data of the cardholders. The penetration testing also aims at checking if the scope, management of vulnerabilities, methods applied in the testing and segmentation are all in place.

Application Layer and Network Layer Testing

Application layer testing checks vulnerabilities in web applications, web services, and software integrations. Some of the areas that may require this testing are shopping carts, online questionnaires, and forms on booking. Application testing checks the operating system of an application and attempts to note areas where the information can be compromised. Application testing, however, doesn’t involve the off-the-shelf applications.

Network layer testing focus on detecting insecurity defects with infrastructure that supports the CDE environment. This includes the web servers, firewalls, email servers, VPN servers among others. These applications are off-the-shelf applications that are not tailored to the needs of a business. Network-layer testing makes sure that the implementation and maintenance of these systems are effective.

Conclusion

It is crucial that an organization assesses upgrades and modifications that can affect the security of information of cardholders. PCI DSS has not guided on such changes; however, if an implementation can risk the CDE, it is the duty of an organization to carry out penetration testing.

It is vital for any business that is involved in the processing, storing and transmitting of the card information to always be updated about the PCI DSS requirements and to set goals on the compliance of the standards. The business environment is still under threat, and it is essential to keep the CDE secure at all times.

It is certain that the PCI DSS penetration testing is costly and it can interrupt the daily processes of an organization hence there is a need to involve a professional penetration tester. Through conducting penetration testing, the expert will provide insights to threats and vulnerabilities that may affect a business.

Author Bio

Ken Lynch is an enterprise software startup veteran, who has always been fascinated about what drives workers to work and how to make work more engaging. Ken founded Reciprocity to pursue just that. He has propelled Reciprocity’s success with this mission-based goal of engaging employees with the governance, risk, and compliance goals of their company in order to create more socially minded corporate citizens. Ken earned his BS in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT.  Learn more at ReciprocityLabs.com.

Are you an established podcaster who has already built up a fairly solid fan-base over some time and already has a pretty decent library of podcasts that you’ve put hours of work into? Then maybe it’s time to bring your podcasts to an entirely new fanbase by turning your podcast content into online blogs. This gives you much more exposure and skyrockets you right into the blogging sphere.

Podcasts are Just Voice Blogs!

The first thing you have to realize if you want to go from being a podcaster to a blogger is that you’re already halfway there. Don’t agree with us? Well, see it this way: Podcasts are, for all their flair, basically just blog content in a voice medium. Most of the content you need for your blog posts have already been created – and they’re right there to turn into a blog that’s successful in its own right. Now, you already have a fanbase, and you already have content. What’s next?

Hiring a Transcriptionist

The next step is to turn your voice content into text. Many people find it very tedious to type possibly hours of audio recordings to text themselves, and for this you’ll be glad to know that you can hire a professional transcriptionist who can deliver the podcasts to you – typed out and cleaned up so you can start turning them into the blogs you know people out there will want to read.

Hiring an Editor

Already hired a transcriptionist and have all your work accessible in text? Great, then you’re almost there. Next, you might want to hire a blogger or editor to clean up these podcast transcripts – you know, double check the spelling, add some headers, maybe add a paragraph there and a sentence here. This ensures that it’s high-quality blog posts, and not just a verbatim transcript of your podcast they’re getting access to.

Post the Podcast AND the Blog

The next secret that you should know about turning your podcasts into blogs is the way that you post it. First, you might want to add some extra content to the blog-version of the podcast – that way, readers feel like they’re getting something extra above the podcast version. You’ll want to make sure that you post a Listen Here or Download link at the bottom of the blog post so people can listen to the podcast once they’re done reading the blog post. That’s really cool, right?

Get People to Share

If you want to build a successful brand from your blog and podcasts, apart from producing posts that they can get into, you want to produce the kind of posts that people can share. This means posts that are engaging and make people want to share. Shares – and the readers that come from shares – are exactly the kind of thing that makes a successful blog.

Setting up a Mailing List

As a blogger, getting repeat readership is part of the success of your blog – and one way to get on the fast-track to people coming back to your blog is by setting up a mailing list. Readers will be notified via e-mail every time you post something new – this is a good reminder for them to check back to the site every time something new comes in, and you can even have special links for members in your mailing list that will give people access to all sorts of cool special offers. People like that, and people will love your podcasted blog for it.

Get in touch with People

A blog and podcast are both great ways to get in touch with people: Find out what your readers and listeners want, and incorporate their questions or feedback into your next post or podcast – people love feedback, and they’ll come back for more.

JT Marino the Co-Founder of Tuft & Needle,  a $170+ million company known for pioneering the disruption of the mattress industry joins Enterprise Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest JT Marino discuss the following:

1. Can you tell me about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey?
2. What is Tuft & Needle?
3. How did you scale a business to the size it now is?
4. What new things are in the pipeline for Tuft & Needle?
5. What’s your biggest piece of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs? Or someone with a business idea who doesn’t know what to do next?

JT Marino is the co-founder of Tuft & Needle,  a $170+ million company known for pioneering the disruption of the mattress industry.

As the visionary of Tuft & Needle, JT leads the R&D, product development, architecture, design, and software development teams. JT is a passionate storyteller, facilitator, and teacher, inspiring T&N’s most challenging and disruptive projects. Prior to T&N, JT combined principles from both design and engineering to develop innovative software products in the high-tech industry, and he has applied this same approach to disrupting the mattress industry. JT has extensive experience building and leading teams of designers and engineers, along with researchers and scientists, to develop innovative customer experiences.

JT started his career as an engineer at the world’s leading software application consultancy, where he accelerated his experience through working amongst the foremost thought leaders and tech leaders for VC-funded startups and Fortune 500 companies. He has been featured on FOX Business, New York Times and Entrepreneur Magazine, and is a frequent keynote speaker at startup and mattress industry events such as SXSW, Startup Grind and ShopTalk. JT studied computer science and mathematics at Penn State University.

Website: www.tn.com/EPN

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tuftandneedle
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tuftandneedle
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tuftandneedle

People also listened to this: The Importance of Hard Work in Success: A Conversation with Seafood Industry Leader Cesar Lago

“Marketing is telling the world you’re a rock star.

Content marketing is showing the world you are one.”

– Robert Rose, content marketing guru, and author

A more accurately descriptive name for the Planet Earth we find ourselves inhabiting today would surely be “Planet Google.” So endemically ingrained now in our daily existence, this importance placed on the digital world, and our increasing reliance upon living our lives in such a way, has never been greater, and that’s not going to change any time soon.

Let me give you an example. A rather jaw-dropping one at that. Back in 2014, according to eMarketer, your typical U.S. citizen interacted with some form of media for a total of around 12¼ hours every day. Now read that again… Yes, the average U.S. citizen. 12¼ hours. Every single day.

If the average person sleeps 8 hours a night, that means over 75% of their waking hours are spent in the marketplace. Our culture of consumerism, certainly ever-present on dear old Planet Google, clearly now has the largest marketplace. In the world: Ever. Now pick your jaw up.

Yes, Planet Google – a marketer’s dream. Each day, and every day. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

My name is Andy Macia, and I’m a continually successful digital marketing entrepreneur. So surely, you ask, being successful when you have such an amazingly large captive audience is a given, no? Hmmm… No. Slight problem – you’re not alone. Every other marketer on the planet has the same, identical captive audience. So how can you be truly successful in the digital marketplace?

Put simply, the successful are the ones who know who they’re speaking to. Are they speaking to Tom, self-employed plumber and NFL fanatic from Dogtown, Alabama, or Vanessa, a highly respected, highly successful neurosurgeon from LA? Yes, successful marketers know who Tom and Vanessa are, but, more importantly, they know what differentiates them.

Influencer Personas & Buyer Personas

The secret is this – personas. Open your dictionary (and I know you won’t do that – you’ll type the word in a search engine, followed by “def”), and you’ll see this definition of the word persona:

“The aspect of someone’s character that is presented to or perceived by others.”

In other words, know the people in the marketplace, and know their personas. Some of the personas that exist in the digital world actually influence the purchasing decisions of others, while some are happy just to spend, spend, and spend again. People who influence – influencer personas, and people who buy – buyer personas, living together in relative, consumer-driven harmony on Planet Google.

Now, let’s introduce the subject of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which just happens to be my chosen field in the world of entrepreneurship. As a successful digital marketing entrepreneur, the complexities of SEO, and creating strategies that utilize SEO to the max, are my bread and butter, so to speak.

This is fundamentally why:

Every specifically-tailored search engine optimization strategy needs to begin by establishing the type of influencer personas and the buyer personas you wish to reach; those who influence the buying decision, and those who will invariably buy the product. It’s the basic first step; if this step isn’t taken, you are throwing your marketing campaign budget to the wind. And it will always blow away. It always does.

Identifying such personas determines who exactly your content creation and backlink generation is going to be targeting. It dictates the type, tone and language of the content, and how that content is best distributed, and through which channels.

What is a Buyer Persona?

Let’s look first at buyer personas, the people who are actually going to part with their hard-earned dollars, and invest in your product or service. The buyer persona can be defined as “research-based archetypal (modeled) representations of:

• who buyers are
• what they are trying to accomplish
• what goals drive their behavior
• how they think
• how they buy, and
• why they make buying decisions”

You can add more meat to the bone by also asking further questions that address their location, hobbies, and sports, income, lifestyle, to name but a few. The clearer the picture you build up, the clearer the strategy you ultimately devise.

What is an Influencer Persona?

The SEO influencer persona is quite a different representation. These people aren’t going to buy the product themselves (they may do later, however); what these people are going to do is affect how far your content is spread online, and to the type of people it is spread to. They will surely have a say in its success.

In essence, influencers are those who can spread targeted content with just one simple link on their website. By placing this link, they create a much bigger audience who will view your content, but they’ll also increase the volume of traffic that comes to your website, thus giving your website a high authority backlink.

There’s your theory. Now let’s look at how that pans out in practice with a real-life example.

Real-Life Case Study: FoodHeavenMadeEasy.com

Meet Jessica and Wendy, both professional, registered dieticians, and the proud owners of FoodHeavenMadeEasy.com, a blog sharing their expert advice on nutrition and health. Their audience? Predominantly female, who are looking to eat healthier, and who like to try out new recipes.

Their target influencers – high authority sites to place their content, and informed audiences to disseminate it – were online enterprises such as BuzzFeed.com. Jessica and Wendy were tasked with selling an article idea to BuzzFeed and then creating the article content. Their choice? How to Eat Healthy For a Week with just $50. Take a look – it’s supremely good content.

Jessica and Wendy saw their site traffic enjoy a 350% increase, from 20,000 visitors a month to over 70,000 and realized a far higher Domain Authority, then up to 37. Furthermore, and this was the icing on the cake for them (not exactly nutritious or healthy, but you get my point), BuzzFeed asked them to contribute regular content to their site – they’ve since published more articles with them. So how come did that one article work out so well, so beautifully…?

The “Three E’s”

Jessica and Wendy’s article did everything that all good content needs to do to attract influencer personas – it provided the “Three E’s.” These are:

• To Engage: Create a conversation with the people that see the content.
• To Equip: Give those people reasons to talk about the content and, ultimately, the product, and
• To Empower: Provide easy ways for those people to share the content throughout social media.

Understand the persona of an influencer, and the 3 E’s can successfully target the desired audience directly through the content.

Can You Have Multiple Buyer & Influencer Personas?

In short? Absolutely.

Everybody’s different. Every buyer persona can be found in a target audience; however, their individual circumstances and consumer needs can vary greatly. The same goes for influencer personas-  they, too, can vary greatly given their personal interests, preferences, and motivations.

The Marketing Power, Potential & Importance of Personas

“Without quantified buyer personas, you may as well set your revenue on fire.”

– Andrew Gierer, Chief of Staff of “Price Intelligently”

“It’s what makes your buyers tick and what makes your influencers click.”

– Andy Macia, digital marketing entrepreneur (yes, me – all the time to clients)

Short and sweet. Highly-targeted content creation can only be possible and be truly effective when personas have been determined and developed. Once that has been done, the world, or, more appropriately, your target audience is your oyster. By not understanding the needs, motivations, and interests of those within the audience, the target will be missed.

Would you like to know just how important your influencer personas are? Well, remember this?

The Ice Bucket Challenge of not-so-long-ago? Undoubtedly, a viral phenomenon. It provided staggering statistics for a social media-empowered event. Of the 4 million-odd tweets that used the #IceBucketChallenge hashtag, 69.3% were retweets. Put another way, word-of-mouth. That’s the power of your influencers.

Its creator was Pete Frates, an ex-professional European baseball player diagnosed with ALS (better known perhaps as Lou Gehrig’s disease). Frates knew that in order to reach maximum awareness of the disease, he had to get to major influencers involved. When he heard about the Ice Bucket Challenge from a friend in 2014, he challenged various major influencers via social media.

Before long, recording yourself dumping an ice-cold bucket of water over your head in the name of ALS, and then challenging three of your friends to do the same, was the thing to do. Even President Obama was challenged (who, sadly, didn’t take the challenge, but did still donate to the charity). However, many famous faces around the world were more than happy to do the challenge.

What was the SEO result? According to Time.com, by August of 2015, the ALS Association had raised over $115 million in donations, and I’m assuming it’s a lot more now.

Know Your Audience…

Ignoring the power of both the buyer and influencer personas in an SEO strategy is 100% fatal for any marketing strategy, here on Planet Google.

Dismiss either one of them even, that same result is inevitable. However, if you can utilize both to not only reach your target audience, but, in fact, to constantly grow that audience, the longer-term success of your product or service, and therefore, your business, will be assured. Never forget – great content creation and quality link generation are inextricably linked to personal identification.

Big dreams open great opportunities, small dreams question your capabilities. But a long-term goal won’t lead you anywhere without enthusiasm, desire, and commitment. Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson, an English business magnate, sets an example how a true entrepreneur should look. By launching his first small magazine business at the age of 16, he managed to become one of the most wealthy British businessmen today. His fortune is worth an estimate of $5.1 billion and the Virgin brand is prominent throughout the world. But not all his start-ups were as worldwide famous.

Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited

Launched in 1984, British Atlantic was initially planned to fly between London and the Falkland Islands. Shortly after the rebranding to Virgin Atlantic Airways, the disagreement among the co-founders took place, which resulted in the redemption of the company by Richard Branson. Nowadays, the Virgin Group holds 51% of shares of Virgin Atlantic, which is the seventh largest UK airline, in terms of conveying people. The airline transports both cargo and people to North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The operating income of the company is estimated at £153 million whereas the revenue is about £2,7 million.

Virgin Galactic

Alongside with SpaceX, Virgin Galactic aims to take people into space, as well as launch rockets for the purpose of science. Created in 2004, the company planned to start the engine of its first spacecraft SpaceShipTwo in 2009. But due to various problems Virgin Galactic faced, the launch was postpone no sooner than 2010. Since this year, more than a dozen of aircrafts were sent into space. No signs of trouble were seen until October 2014, when SpaceShipTwo crashed, which resulted in the death of Michael Alsbury. The accident didn’t stop Branson from achieving his goal, and after a two-year pause, the company launched VVS Voyager.

Virgin Hyperloop One

With the development of new technologies, transportation moves to a new level. Conveying either people or cargo is becoming cheaper, faster, and safer. In simple terms, Hyperloop is a tunnel built underground, which is capable of transporting people or items at the speed of a plane, but at a fraction of the cost of air travel. The design of Hyperloop was released by Tesla and SpaceX and the first to introduce the new way of transportation was Elon Musk. The main goal of Hyperloop One is to commercialize the Elon Musk’s innovation.

Hard Rock Hotel and Casino

Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is a resort located in Paradise, Nevada. By offering more than 600 Las Vegas slot machines, Race & Sports books, and variations of table games; the venue is one of the top casinos in Las Vegas. If you get tired of 24/7 casino games, you can rest in the hotel which has about 1,500 rooms. In the end of 2017, Virgin Group redeemed the Hard Rock’s rights and added one more facility to Virgin Hotels. It appears that the resort’s name is temporary, since there are rumors that Hard Rock Hotel and Casino will be rebranded as Virgin Hotel soon.

Virgin Records

Founded by Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and Tom Newman, Virgin Records Limited was a British record label. It didn’t take long for the company to become worldwide famous, since performers like Paula Abdul, Roy Orbison, Devo, Culture Club, the Smashing Pumpkins, and more were on the list of artists. Positioning itself in the market as a thriving company, it was sold to Universal Music Group in 2012.

Conclusion:

Richard Branson teaches us a lesson that a true entrepreneur should not stick to a one-way business. His ventures are worldwide known and it appears that he is not going to stop with his start-ups.