You've Built a Startup. Now, Build a Legacy.

When you’re running the day-to-day aspects of your business, it’s easy to just be focused on how you’re going to get through that week or even that day. While this approach is often a necessity to get a startup off the ground, it doesn't leave a lot of time to focus on the long term.  

Yet many entrepreneurs want to look beyond just founding a company, they are looking to leave a lasting tribute. The only way to leave a legacy is to think right now about how and where you want to leave your mark.

Here are five ways to approach your business now to leave a legacy later.

Start with the end in mind. Define what matters to you in the long term and formulate a big vision. This vision is your legacy. Every day focus on how today’s steps are getting you and your team to the end.

When you get caught up in the drama of your struggles instead of  focusing on the vision of your end goal, you cheat yourself out of creating something that will stand the test of time. So live now with the end in mind.

Get out of the weeds immediately. Going hand in hand with a big vision is getting yourself in the right mentality as soon as possible. For an entrepreneur that means getting out of the day-to-day business affairs quickly. The sooner you can utilize the skills of others for help with tasks like administration, accounting, marketing and any other daily duties that you can hire out, the better off you’ll be. Think about it: Would Steve Jobs have been as successful if he has spent his time trying to do social media posts and the weekly payroll?

Being unable to relinquish control of daily tasks make you a micromanager and a small-time thinker. Legacies aren’t left by such activities. So think big now and hire out the daily work. Then focus on your innovative vision.

Don’t hire the best team, hire the 'most' team. Legacy requires the ego to have confidence in yourself and your idea balanced perfectly with the humility to be open to other’s suggestions and improvements.

You become amazing by processing the right feedback in the best way. To accomplish this you need a team made up of those with the “most.” You don’t need the best “on paper” applicant for your social media team, you need the most connected and motivated one. You don’t need the best marketer on your team, you need the most disruptive thinking one. What this means is you see past people’s resumes, and instead, look into their souls. You only want team members that have the most spirit and motivation to be in your tribe and to make a contribution to your vision.

Annoy and thus, proselytize your vision. It’s not enough for an entrepreneur to talk about his or her vision or print it and frame it at the office. You need to repeat and proselytize your vision to your team and to the world so much so that you start to even annoy yourself.

When your team starts to lovingly roll their eyes as you mention for the thousandth time the big legacy you’re building, know that you’re almost there.

Leave. One great benchmark of leadership is to create your legacy and then step away from it to ensure it goes on without you. If you leave and your legacy goes with you, then the vision wasn’t big enough.

To create a legacy strong enough that when you step down, the dream carries on, you should be thinking about autonomy and your personal exit strategy at all times to test weaknesses and holes in your big vision.

11 Things the Military Teaches You About Leadership

Does military experience translate to leadership and business savvy?

A glance at today's most successful corporations would suggest that it does. Many of the biggest names in the business world - Verizon's Lowell McAdam, FedEx CEO Frederick Smith, former General Motors CEO Daniel Akerson - have military backgrounds.

In 2005, a comprehensive study of S&P 500 CEOs by Korn/Ferry International found that more than 8% of top execs were ex-military officers, which is nearly triple the 3% of U.S. men who serve as officers. 

What does the military teach that helps these ex-officers climb to the top of major corporations? We combed through interviews with many of them to find out the biggest lessons about life, business, and leadership they learned from the service:

Always look sharp. 

Years out of service, FedEx CEO Frederick Smith still keeps up the tidy appearance he learned in the Marines. "Even in a blue pin-striped suit, I still make sure that the right-hand edge of my belt buckle lines up with my shirt front and trouser fly," he's said. "I shine my own shoes, and I feel uncomfortable if they aren't polished."

Take good care of your people. 

Former General Motors chairman and CEO Daniel Akerson says military service taught him to lead by example and "to take good care of your people."

Assemble diverse teams to get a range of perspectives.

Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky, a former captain in the U.S. Army, says military training taught him the value of working with diverse teams. "I quickly discovered no one had a lock on the right answers," he told DiversityInc.

Invest in relationships for the long term. 

The relationships formed in the military are "lifelong" and "serve you well in a business career," says Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, who served in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps.

Be willing to listen to everyone.

Michael Morris, the former CEO of American Electric Power, has said that the military developed his "willingness to listen and formulate an opinion that incorporates as many people's ideas as possible."

Stay calm under pressure.

Morris also likes to compare a CEO to a pilot in bad weather -; it's up to him to keep his cool through a storm so his passengers (or shareholders and employees) stay calm. "The last thing you want is to appear to be rattled," he says.

Act decisively even with limited information.

David Morken, CEO of Internet and phone services company Bandwidth, learned to "operate in the fog and to execute and decisively engage when you don't have access to a complete data set" from his time in the Marine Corps.

Carefully plan out the logistics.

Robert Myers, CEO of Casey's General Store, says his time in the Army made him a perfect choice later to run the company. The company's founder figured no one was more qualified to head up a distribution chain than a former military logistics officer.

Lead with integrity.

"Veterans have special abilities and common traits, including discipline, maturity, adaptability, and dedication," John Luke Jr., CEO of MeadWestvaco and a former Air Force pilot, has said. "They operate with integrity and high ethical standards in all that they do."

Be, know, and do everything you ask of those below you.

"When I was attending the Drill Sergeant Academy, I was taught to always 'Be, Know, Do,' when dealing with subordinates," former U.S. Army Drill Sergeant and Argo Marketing Group CEO Jason Levesque tells Business Insider. "Be the expert; know the job; do the difficult [tasks]. Your subordinates will follow you and, best of all, try to emulate you."

Give 100% of your effort. 

Robert McDonald, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, explains that his time in the infantry convinced him to always commit to something 100%. "If you're going to be in the Army, go into the infantry," he says. "If you're going to be in marketing, work for P&G. You don't do things halfway."

This article originally appeared on Business Insider.

10 Must Read Books for Entrepreneurs!

1. SCALING UP FOR EXCELLENCE: Getting To More without Settling for Less

Either you’re a part of an organization or embarking on a kind of career. Promise yourself to read this book before you get on the board. Why am I sounding so serious?  Because it really contains all the key fundamentals that you need to know prior to startup. With reference to entrepreneurial life, your management mastery has to be as imperative as there is nothing in the world. This book is an accurate guide on that.  Must read!

2. The UP SIDE of DOWN

As a matter of fact, an entrepreneur’s territory is often jammed with disappointments, frustrations and struggles all the way. Consequently, they become a name of fame owing to the strong will and challenging attributes they hold. The author exactly highlights those gems of failure that has the potential to transform any person from being pessimist to an optimist. Read by my own self, this book comprises absolute positive approach and mentoring that is needed among us all no matter which path we opt for. Search out keys to success.

3. Smart People Should Build Things

A complete guide to entrepreneurship – this is a must must read for anybody who is graduate or looking forward to settle on a job. Go through the advices of Founder and CEO of Venture for America, Andrew Yang, who is also a serial entrepreneur – and spare yourself from disappointments that may occur at some point in future. The author narrates his own story of shifting his mainstream from law to entrepreneurship and why he did so? Well, that you have to seek yourself.

4. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

There’s already intensive media hype focusing on Sheryl Sandberg’s feminism and her exclusively written book to inspire women. On top of this, motivation is not what’s required among women entrepreneurs – it’s the awareness that why they should not lag behind in a world that needs them the most as leaders. Sheryl did it by sharing her own experiences from workplaces which the reader would find highly stimulating, (like I have). Give it a read and motivate yourself.

5. The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

This is the best book available out there to guide CEOs of any startup. One would find plenty of lessons, from business management to investing and all with case stories. So, it won’t be that boring to read, in fact, the author seemed to have eminently researched on the subject matter to bring a compelling read for a reader. For those, who are striving hard to become an exceptional CEO or aspire to become one. This is your go!

6. The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies

Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, the two pioneers of digital technology put forward a brand new glimpse on future businesses and economics, in their second book released a month ago. It discusses fundamental issues that how radically our world is evolving with the rise and production of rampant technologies popping up every once in a while. As we are entering a new era of digital world, it is essential to have knowledge about all and sundries. A highly recommended book for entrepreneurs to know and comprehend, how they could move ahead and get a top position in this new machine age.

7. The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work and Team with Positive Energy

An excellent book, to boost a person’s life both professional and personal is here. The Energy Bus just as the title implies, takes you on an interesting ride while you read it. The narratives are easy to read and you’d find tones of guiding principles to lead a life filled with positivity – an essential aspect that achievement demands.

8. Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us

This one’s by far the best provocative book available to inspire anyone. Reason being, it not just motivates but gives us a whole new mind to understand our own potential. A unique insightful book that is a guide for each and all, no matter you’re a teacher, leader, organizer or anything that you are, you’d greatly be surprised to know the things you didn’t know before. It’s a must read to bring a change.

9. Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t

True Leadership doesn’t come by asking people to follow you, it’s when you show others the right way and they follow it. To further groom your attributes, the author gives a clean and simple in depth knowledge about leadership and management that would prove to be very fruitful after you read it. A complete go for aspiring leaders!

10. Steve Jobs

Last but definitely not the least is biography that you’ve got to read, in case you’ve forgotten. Why a biography?  Question must have popped up in your mind, because it’s not just limited to bio rather it comprises a whole new phases of paradigm shattering aspects that the author has gauged from Steve’s life, personality and his personal beliefs. such as:

“He emphasized that you should never start a company with the goal of getting rich. Your goal should be making something you believe in and making a company that will last.”

Mark my words, there’s great deal to learn from this book. The author “Walter Isaacson” is widely known for his remarkable work on biographies of “Benjamin Franklin” and “Albert Einstein”. And who doesn’t want to read about the legendary figure of 21st century? The man who left behind – the legacy of modern technology.

That’s all for the month we’ll be coming up with new pack of books in future as well, meanwhile you enjoy the reads and give us feedback.  We wish you entrepreneurs a very good read!

Billionaire Jack Ma teaches you how to be successful in life and business

Billionaire Jack Ma, the founder and ex-CEO of Alibaba Group, as well as one of the most successful Chinese Internet entrepreneurs, shares his wealth of experiences.

Jack Ma: The mistake I regretted the most

In 2001, I made a mistake. I told 18 of my fellow comrades whom embarked on the entrepreneurship journey with me that the highest positions they could go was a managerial role. To fill all our Vice President and Senior Executive positions, we would have to hire from external parties.

Years later, those I hired were gone, but those whom I doubted their abilities became Vice Presidents or Directors.

I believe in two principles: Your attitude is more important than your capabilities. Similarly, your decision is more important than your capabilities!

Jack Ma: You cannot unify everyone’s thoughts, but you can unify everyone through a common goal.

1. Don’t even trust that you are able to unify what everyone is thinking; it is impossible.
2. 30% of all people will never believe you. Do not allow your colleagues and employees to work for you. Instead, let them work for a common goal.
3. It is a lot easier to unite the company under a common goal rather than uniting the company around a particular person.

Jack Ma: What does a leader have that an employee doesn’t?

A leader should never compare his technical skills with his employee’s. Your employee should have superior technical skills than you. If he doesn’t, it means you have hired the wrong person.

What, then, makes the leader stands out?

1. A leader should be a visionary and have more foresight than an employee.
2. A leader should have higher grit and tenacity, and be able to endure what the employees can’t.
3. A leader should have higher endurance and ability to accept and embrace failure.

The quality of a good leader therefore is his vision, tenacity, and his capability.

Jack Ma: Don’t be involved in politics

1. One should always understand that money and political power can never go hand in hand. Once you are in politics, don’t ever think about money anymore. Once you are running a business, don’t ever think of being involved in politics.
2. When money meets political power, it is similar to a match meeting an explosive- waiting to go off.

Jack Ma: The 4 main questions the young generation must ponder on

1. What is failure: Giving up is the greatest failure.
2. What is resilience: Once you have been through hardships, grievances and disappointments, only then will you understand what is resilience.
3. What your duties are: To be more diligent, hardworking, and ambitious than others.
4. Only fools use their mouth to speak. A smart man uses his brain, and a wise man uses his heart.

Jack Ma: We are born to live and experience life.

I always tell myself that we are born here not to work, but to enjoy life. We are here to make things better for one another, and not to work. If you are spending your whole life working, you will certainly regret it.

No matter how successful you are in your career, you must always remember that we are here to live. If you keep yourself busy working, you will surely regret it.

Jack Ma on competing and competition

1. Those that compete aggressively with one another are the foolish ones.
2. If you view everyone as your enemies, everyone around you will be your enemies.
3. When you are competing with one another, don’t bring hatred along. Hatred will take you down.
4. Competition is similar to playing a board of chess. If you lose, we can always have another round. Both players should never fight.
5. A real businessman or entrepreneur has no enemies. Once he understand this, the sky’s the limit.

Jack Ma: Don’t make complaining and whining a habit

If you complain or whine once in a while, it is not a big deal.

However, if it becomes habitual, it will be similar to drinking: the more you drink, the stronger the thirst. On the path to success, you will notice that the successful ones are not whiners, nor do they complain often.

The world will not remember what you say, but it will certainly not forget what you have done.

Jack Ma’s advice to entrepreneurs

1. The opportunities that everyone cannot see are the real opportunities.
2. Always let your employees come to work with a smile.
3. Customers should be number 1, Employees number 2, and then only your Shareholders come at number 3.
4. Adopt and change before any major trends or changes.
5. Forget the money; Forget about earning money.
6. Rather than having small smart tricks to get by, focus on holding on and persevering.
7. Your attitude determines your altitude.

Jack Ma on entrepreneurship

1. A great opportunity is often hard to be explained clearly; things that can be explained clearly are often not the best opportunities.
2. You should find someone who has complementary skills to start a company with. You shouldn’t necessarily look for someone successful. Find the right people, not the best people.
3. The most unreliable thing in this world is human relationships.
4. “Free” is the most expensive word.
5. Today is cruel, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be beautiful.

Jack Ma: The 4 don’ts of entrepreneurship

1. The scariest things about starting up is the inability to see, to be snobbish, to be unable to understand what is going on, as well as to be unable to keep up with pace.
2. If you do not know where your competitor is, or overconfident and snobbish about your competitor, or are unable to comprehend how your competitor became a real threat, you will surely fall behind him. Don’t be the “they” in this idiom: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
3. Even if your competitor is still small in size or weak, you should take him seriously and treat him as a giant. Likewise, even if your competitor is massive in size, you shouldn’t regard yourself as a weakling.

Jack Ma on starting your own company

What starting your company means: you will lose your stable income, your right to apply for a leave of absence, and your right to get a bonus.

However, it also means your income will no longer be limited, you will use your time more effectively, and you will no longer need to beg for favours from people anymore.

If you have a different mindset, you will have a different outcome: if you make different choices from your peers, your life will then be different from your peers.

Jack Ma on opportunities

If there are over 90% of the crowd saying “Yes” to approving a proposal, I will surely dispose the proposal into the bin. The reason is simple: if there are so many people who thinks that the proposal is good, surely there will be many people who would have been working on it, and the opportunity no longer belongs to us.

The article is originally published in Chinese, and is translated into English. If you think this was helpful, feel free to share it with your friends.

About Jack Ma: Jack Ma is a Chinese Internet entrepreneur. He is the Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, a family of highly successful Internet-based businesses. He is also the first mainland Chinese entrepreneur to appear on the cover of Forbes Magazine and ranks as one of the world’s billionaires.Ma was named the Financial Times’ 2013 Person of the Year because he personifies the Chinese internet, referring to him as the “godfather of China’s scrappy entrepreneurial spirit.”.

Reader Story: Costs and savings of having a stay-at-home parent

This post comes from Lynn Svenson, who blogs at The Photographer’s Wife. Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income.Want to submit your own reader story? Here’s how.

One of the biggest impacts to my wallet (and heart) this past year was having a baby. Of course, there are plenty of expenses that go along with being pregnant and having a baby, like numerous visits to the doctor and the enormous amount of diapers. But in particular, I want to share how making the decision to have a stay-at-home parent has affected our wallets and our way of thinking.

We were overjoyed when we found out I was pregnant in the fall of 2011. However, along with that joy came some sadness. After taking a look at our finances, we realized we wouldn’t be able to achieve one of our long-time goals of my husband staying home to raise our children. We do have debt, and my salary alone just wouldn’t cut it. We ultimately took a big risk when we decided that my husband would stay home and I would bust my butt to get a new, higher-paying job after the baby was born.

Looking back, this was an absolutely ridiculous idea, but it considerably eased my stress at the time. It actually forced me to channel my efforts into a positive way of thinking. I went from thinking How on Earth are you going to do this? to I can do this! I am so grateful at how beautifully it all worked out, because I went on an interview at 37 weeks pregnant and got the job!

I started the new job right after my six weeks of maternity leave. However, we weren’t in the clear yet. I still wanted to find ways to improve our situation. I became more creative when finding ways to save money, especially on monthly expenses, to improve our cash flow.

We refinanced our car loan to a lower rate. We saved 30 percent on our car insurance by having them monitor our driving habits (which was almost non-existent for my husband’s car, since he is home every day now). We looked for discounts on all of our other bills. We are also refinancing our house to a lower rate.  I might not have bothered with all of these things if I didn’t have the pressure to improve our situation. When you really want something, you find ways to make it happen, and it never hurts to ask companies where you can save some money.

Some financial boons for stay-at-home parents

Not having to pay for child care. I always knew day care was expensive, but it wasn’t until I looked at the day cares near us that I knew the exact number (and may have let out a few expletives in the process). For decent day care (which depends on what we all consider decent) in our area, it would have cost us at least $750 a month, not including all those extra fees they like to add on. Also, depending on how soon we decide to have another child, we would have to consider having two children in day care at the same time. It hurt my wallet just writing that.

Not having to take sick days. This is beneficial for a few reasons. It is a known fact that kids that go to day care get sick more often. By my son not going to day care, we save 1) his misery of being sick more than he needs to be, 2) us from getting sick too, causing me to take off from work, 3) doctor’s co-pays and medicine, and 4) paying day care even though he’s not there. The same thing goes for vacations and holidays…you still have to pay the day care the same monthly amount even when he’s not there.

Not paying for gas. I’m not referring to the extra gas you will be witness to with a new baby at home; I’m talking about all the savings in gas money due to the fact that one person isn’t driving to and from work each day. In our case, we are saving more than $100 a month from my husband not driving to/from work. His commute was about 30 minutes each way and then he would also drive to eat lunch each day. This resulted in him needing to fill the tank of his pretty gas-efficient Honda Pilot two to three times a month at $70 a pop.

Not spending lunch money. My husband didn’t have a refrigerator or microwave at work, so his lunch options were pretty limited so he would grab his lunch at fast-food places. That added up to more than $200 a month, way over what we spend for him to eat lunch at home now. He would even try to save money by getting water instead of soda or using coupons that I gave him, too. Now we are saving money and helping his waistline.

Not eating at restaurants for dinner. We would go out for dinner a lot when we would both be getting home from work at 6 p.m. and were starving and too impatient to cook dinner. Now, he is able to start cooking around 5 p.m. without being rushed, allowing for a healthier and more cost-efficient meal at home. This also has cut the cost of my lunch because I have leftovers the next day.

Not spending my free time on housework. This is savings on my part…time savings. When we both worked full-time, I spent at least one day out of the weekend cleaning. Now, he gets as much done as he can during the day and our weekends are more open for fun and family time. I can’t even express how much I love coming home on Fridays knowing that I don’t have to spend the next day cleaning. This is purely a time versus money point.

Not having to take time from work for errands. So many places close between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., like the post office and banks. Thank goodness for direct deposit, but if we ever have errands that need to get done during the day, I no longer have to take time off from work to accomplish them.

Not having to spend as much on work clothes. He doesn’t have to buy work clothes as often now that he doesn’t have to step out of the house every day for work.

Costs of having a stay-at-home parent

Loss of a guaranteed salary. Although many people would argue that no salary is guaranteed in this economy, it’s certainly easier to know how much money you can budget for when you have a full-time job. My husband still has his photography business, but it’s more random, depending how many people are getting married, graduating, having babies, etc. But on a positive note, in quitting his full-time job, he is able to spend more time cultivating his personal business and dedicating himself to his photography and clients, something he would not have had much time for with a full-time job.

Increase in electricity and water bill. Having someone in the house all day, especially a baby, means that lights are on, the air-conditioning and heat are at normal levels all day instead of being turned down when not there, the stove or microwave is used and toilets are flushing, among many other things. I don’t know how much these differences add each month, but our bill has increased slightly because of it.

Increase in groceries. Eating more food at home means you’re paying more at the grocery check-out line, but the increase is not as much as what you are saving by not eating out every day. You just have to learn to adjust your mind-set of what you are now normally spending at the grocery store.

I would also like to point out that there are also intangible benefits to having someone at home all day. Even though we have a security system and a dog at home (a 90-pound Labrador that looks scarier than he actually is), it still gives me peace of mind knowing that there is an actual person at home and a car in the driveway to deter any potential threats. He’s also there to meet service people and monitor the house for any emergencies.

Overall, making the decision to have a stay-at-home parent really is a matter of personal preference and individual circumstances. I don’t wish to start a day-care debate, but we just knew that wasn’t what we wanted for our son. I can’t deny that I often wish we had another full-time salary to provide more of a cushion, but every time I look at my son, I know I can do without it for now. It’s a daily lesson in patience on my part, one that many people who are in debt also have, as I have to constantly reassure myself that the sacrifices I am making today will be worth it in the long run and that I will look back and be happy about my decision.

Reminder: This is a story from one of your fellow readers. Please be nice. It can be scary to put your story out in public for the first time. Remember that this guest author isn’t a professional writer, and is just learning about money like you are. Unduly nasty comments on readers stories will be removed.

Follow These Laws to Grab Customers' Attention

How do you grab a potential customer’s attention? While many people speculate on this conundrum, it’s actually quite simple. One way is to evoke their curiosity -- their desire to know more. (But it has to be substantive, not manipulated, curiosity.)

When you evoke curiosity you create a gravitational pull that is irresistible. Customers are eager to take the next step.

You can create curiosity and reach by showing just a bit of the glitter of the gold you have to offer. Make it unexpected. For example, a new steak restaurant was floundering until they offered a $100 cheese steak plate. All of a sudden, they were on the evening news and people were flocking to try this ridiculously overpriced steak dish.

This is just one example of the unseen but powerful laws that determine the success or failure of your customers’ relationships. Besides invoking curiosity, here are a few other laws that can help entrepreneurs grow their network, win and keep new customers and increase revenues.  

Great relationships are based on great conversations, not preaching. Walk into any retail store in your hometown and you’ll typically encounter one of two extremes: You’ll either get a sales clerk who won’t stop talking and explaining product features to you or you’ll encounter indifference and silence.

When approaching customers, find a happy medium between these two sales clerks. Customers want to have a vibrant discussion that helps to improve their understanding of their needs and the possible solutions you may offer.

How would you rate the quality of your client conversations right now? Do your conversations help your prospects improve their understanding of their challenges and how they can better fulfill their needs and goals? Or are you boring people by talking at them?

Build your network before you need it. I’m often asked, “How can I build more relationships with senior executives and influencers?” The best answer is follow the person, not the position. Build relationships with smart, motivated, interesting and ambitious people -- even if they’re not in an important job right now. Follow them throughout their careers. Build trust and offer up help before ever asking them for something. They will become promoters of you and your business and introduce you to other useful contacts.

Know the other person’s agenda and help them accomplish it. Have you ever been in a meeting with a customer who seemed distracted? Perhaps you noticed their eyes wandering or saw them reach for their smartphone. Or have you tried to get an appointment with an executive who just wouldn’t make room in their schedule for you?

In both cases, the problem is the same: You are not showing how you are relevant to the other person’s agenda of critical priorities. This agenda is always your starting point for building a power relationship. It embraces someone’s goals, but it’s even broader.

Everyone in the workplace has an agenda of three to five professional priorities that they are focused on. Plus, they also have a personal agenda. You need to understand both.

Whether you’re talking about a customer, a colleague, your boss or a friend, your first job is to understand that person’s priorities. Do you know what is important to them right now? Only when you understand this will you clearly see how you can help them and add value to the relationship. Only then will you be able to put your product or service in the context of what’s most important to that individual.

Enthusiasm is contagious. Enthusiasm for what you do and for your business is a powerful but underrated quality. It energizes everyone around you and lifts them up. Think of Richard Branson’s irrepressible zest for his businesses and life: It’s virtually a part of his brand.

Your own enthusiasm influences everyone around you. It attracts others to you. It makes people want to be in a relationship with you. It inspires commitment and makes you a powerful influencer.

6 Ideas for Epic Business Blog Posts

I hate to say it, but at least 95 percent of business blogs are absolute crap. In some cases, these sites fail because they’re rarely updated, but most of the time, the Achilles heel most business bloggers face is developing content that’s actually interesting to their audiences.

Your customers don’t want to read press release after press release, and they won’t give their attention to articles that read like incognito sales pitches. What they want is what blogger Corbett Barr has described as “epic s***” – content that “makes people think, inspires them, changes lives, creates value and blows people away with your usefulness.”

If you aren’t yet hitting these heights, any of the following ideas can help take your business blog from ordinary to epic:

1. Radical transparency. Want to really blow people away? Give them your secrets! The idea of radical transparency is often used on financial posts, in which business owners or individuals talk about their income, their outstanding debts or other interesting monetary tidbits (as in the case of Pat Flynn’s income reports on his “Smart Passive Income” website).

Even if you don’t want to give away your financial info, you can adopt this same “open door” approach by going in-depth on a recent corporate decision or process. It can be scary to open yourself up in this way, but it’s a guaranteed approach to help readers connect with your business on a deeper level.

2. A complete “how-to.” “How-to” posts are always mentioned on lists of recommended blog post formats because readers really respond to them. But how often have you clicked on a “how-to” post, only to discover a sparse list of bullet points that doesn’t leave you any more educated than you were before you arrived on the site?

If you want to really make your mark, make your posts so epic that people walk away with a complete understanding of the process you’re trying to teach (as in the case of the lengthy “How To Use Goodreads” tutorial pictured above). Using a combination of words, images and video files so that any reader can put the steps you’re describing into action is an easy way to generate blog interest.

3. Massive list posts. Again, list posts are a popular blog post format because they do tend to capture more attention than other structures. But that said, it’s getting harder and harder to stand out with lists of five to 10 items. Want to be truly epic? Create a massive list post with around 100 entries (or even more, if you’re feeling ambitious). Check out the following links for great examples of these types of posts:

• “101 Motivational Business Quotes”
• “The Entrepreneur’s Handbook: 101 Resources for First Time Entrepreneurs”
• “84 Styles to Workout Without Any Equipment”

4. Explore a hard truth. There’s so much BS online that readers are sick of it. Despite your spin team’s best efforts, most people know when they’re getting the whitewashed “truth” rather than the real deal.

For this reason, one of the easiest ways out there to gain attention with epic blog content is to explore a hard truth. As an example, check out Common Health’s controversial post, “Why I Quit Medicine.” It isn’t always fun to be so blatantly honest, but your readers will absolutely love you for keeping things real.

5. Long-form thought pieces. To be perfectly clear, “epic” posts don’t have to be long. If you can blow me away with a new idea or a different way of looking at the world in just a few paragraphs, that counts as “epic” in my mind.

But that said, you need to be aware of how well long-form pieces can perform. The State of Digital blog has observed correlations between content length and lower bounce rates, higher engagement rates and longer average time on site. It’s clear that readers want more content -- and it’s up to you to give it to them!

6. Original research. If you truly want to stand out, you’ve got to bring something new to the table. Rehashing the same facts and statistics that are cited over and over again online might provide some value to your readers, but it doesn’t set your business blog apart from others in any kind of meaningful way.

To engage your readers (and boost your blog’s social shares), consider conducting your own original research. Depending on your budget, you can do so using online survey companies, agencies that conduct telephone surveys or even market research firms that orchestrate in-person focus groups. Not only does publishing the results of your work on your blog lead to epic content, it improves your small business’s overall perceived authority and brand recognition within your industry.

How else have you created epic content in the past? Share your thoughts and recommendations in the comment section below!

10 Strategies for Overcoming Creativity Block

As an entrepreneur, I can tell you that starting, running and building a business goes well beyond skill, dedication and knowledge. Entrepreneurs and other business leaders must have tons of creativity for remaining relevant, for cultivating client relationships and for overcoming obstacles. And when we get too close to the forest of our own enterprise, it's often challenging to see the trees clearly. That's when we could find ourselves stuck in a creativity slump.

But not to worry. There are some simple strategies for sparking your creative flame:

1. Check in with your mission statement. Mission statements are often written and then forgotten. Keeping yours on hand for regular review keeps your mind focused on the “why” you're in business. When you're clear about the why (i.e., why your customers need what you provide), then it's easier to come up with the “what” (i.e., what you provide, generated through creativity). If you don't have a mission, now's a good time to write one.

2. Find inspiration from your clients. I recently heard a couple of successful entrepreneurs talk about where they find inspiration. They each said that when they are feeling stuck or frustrated and feel that they can't come up with a single ounce more of creativity, they call their favorite clients and spend a few minutes chatting. Doing so reignites their creativity.

4. Schedule a meeting with employees to bounce ideas around. Your employees know your business from a different perspective than you do. Having regular idea-generation powwows keeps the flow of inspiration and creativity going. This also gives your staff a sense of ownership and lets them know that their voice and ideas matter and are vital to the enterprise's success.3. Read. Personally, I don't read anything that doesn't serve my ability to better serve my clients, simply because I don't dedicate the time to pleasure reading. And often I find inspiration in my daily practice of reading interesting pieces on the web. However, sometimes that's not enough and I have to read outside of my comfort zone to ignite my creative spark.

5. Take a day or even a few hours off and go somewhere that inspires you. Stepping away from your office for a few hours or ideally a whole day sends you back to the office with a fresh perspective. Spending that time in a place that inspires or calms you is optimal for this purpose. For me, that place is the beach.

6. Schedule a meeting with a colleague to talk shop. When I really feel stuck, I call upon my friends who are also coaches. And every time I do, I walk away with so many new ideas that I often have to jot them down in my phone so I don't forget them all.

7. Take a vacation. It could be that your creativity is locked up because it's been way too long since your last vacation. It might not be a good time to take time away from the office, but even an overnight stay at a resort nearby could be just enough to refresh you and your creativity.

8. Disconnect. The idea of an entrepreneur disconnecting from her work even for an hour per day or for a full weekend is enough to send her into therapy. But, one thing I've learned is that when I take some time to disconnect from my work, that's when the floodgates of my creativity reopen. There is something very powerful about creating space between our work and ourselves. It almost feels like magic.

9. Solicit advice from unlikely places. Sometimes someone who is not at all connected to our organization or even to our industry is the best place to find inspiration. Personally, I do this a lot and I find that my best ideas on how to drum up new business come from the most unlikely places and people.

10. Meditate, pray or exercise. You don't have to be a religious type or even spiritual to get the benefit of these soulful practices. (Calling all atheists!) Exercise can have a similar effect. When we try too hard to generate creativity, we can actually block it more. Being in silence for a few minutes a day in whatever capacity feels comfortable can unblock our creative juices because stillness slows down our thoughts and clears the mind. For me, running without music--to the beat of my own breath--has a similar effect on me as my mediation practice.

Want to Make More Money? Understand the Multiplying Effect.

How much money do you want to make every year? If you haven’t seriously asked yourself that, you should. Why wouldn’t you? It’s a very easy question to answer. And until you’ve really thought about it, it’s impossible to determine how you’re going to get there.

When I was in my early twenties, my father sat me down and asked me that same question, point blank. The advice he gave me after fundamentally changed the way I thought about work and led me to my current career.

I told him I wanted to make $100,000 a year. At the time, I thought that was a lot of money. You’ll work for about another 30 years, he told me. So how much money would I make in my lifetime? I did the math: $3 million.

He asked, was I happy with that amount? If I wasn’t, what was I going to do about it?

My father was a smart man. Three million didn’t seem like a lot of money over 30 years, given taxes and living expenses. The math didn’t add up: Life is short, and it didn’t seem like enough for a lifetime of work. When I looked at the last paycheck I had received, I wasn’t happy.

My father told me the only way to create wealth was to find a business opportunity that had a multiplying effect and that didn’t require my presence. It took me some time to figure out what that meant. The latter part was easy enough. He explained, “A doctor can only help so many people in a day and in a year. A lawyer can only try so many cases.” To create great wealth, I needed to find something that didn’t require my hands or my presence. Fair enough.

The second was trickier: What did having a multiplying effect mean? He told me that I needed to piggyback on or create something that would be used over and over again -- that people never stopped needing. In other words, he explained to me the idea of collecting a royalty. That made sense to me. And it’s what spurred me to start licensing my ideas.

Today, there are many examples of businesses that share these qualities. App developers, for one. Franchises are another. And of course, there are countless examples of more traditional methods, like the stock market, bonds and real estate. 

For me, the concept of the multiplying effect was tremendously attractive. Some people derive pleasure and contentment from being masters of their craft, from working day in and day out with their hands. That’s not me. I wanted to make money and I wanted to be able to do new things, to constantly challenge myself in new ways.

How much money do you want to make? How are you going to make it? Finding my multiplying effect -- writing a book, offering a course and licensing my ideas -- has allowed me to live where I want, have people working for me elsewhere and be my own boss. It is incredibly freeing. It works for me.

I’m not saying it’s for everyone. But I want you to critically ask yourself how much you want to make. And do the math.

5 Clever Ways to Trick Yourself Into Saving More Money

The savings rate in America is dismal, and it's heading in the wrong direction. According to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the personal savings rate in America is 4.5 percent, down from 5.6 percent the previous year.

But do you know what's the greatest hindrance to you increasing your savings? You. Your brain is the biggest thing holding you back from saving more, and one of the best ways to combat this is to trick yourself. You have to make savings a game. Here are five sneaky ways to do so.

1. Take the 52-Week Challenge and Increase Savings Weekly

The 52-week savings challenge helps you save more money without even realizing it. Starting with the first week of January, save $1 in a piggy bank or savings account of your choosing.

For every week, you increase your savings based on the corresponding number of that week. For example, during the second week of January you'll save $2 for that week. The third week you will save $3 in your piggy bank. And now you have $1, $2 and $3 for total of $6 saved over the first three weeks.

By December, you'll be saving $49, $50, $51 and $52. And at the end of one year, you will have saved $1,378.

Even though the year has already started, it's not too late to start the 52-week challenge. You won't have to add much money to your piggy bank for the initial few weeks.

There is a great 52-week challenge worksheet from Jeff Rose, a certified financial planner, on his website, Good Financial Cents.

2. Set Aside Your Savings from the Grocery Store

Every time I buy something at the grocery store, the cashier hands me my receipt and tells me how much I saved during my trip. The savings, of course, come from using my loyalty card.

My mother-in-law and father-in-law have a great system for their grocery loyalty cards. They take the amount listed on the bottom of their receipt that they saved with their loyalty card, and they put that in the savings account or piggy bank.

It's money that you would've spent anyway if you had been shopping without your loyalty card. And it is a fast way to build up your savings without even realizing that you're doing so.

3. Only Use Folding Money, and Drop the Change in a Coin Jar 

Not only do my wife and I balance our family's monthly budget with a credit card, but we also do not spend coins. Instead we make as many cash purchases as we can by using only bills. 

At the end of each day, we take all of the change that we've accumulated and put it in a coin jar. My coin jar sits on top of my dresser, where it reminds me to put my change in it.

You'd be surprised how much money you can save that way. My wife routinely saves more than $500 a year in change.

4. Find Debit Cards that Round Up Your Purchases

There are a host of credit cards and debit cards on the market today. You can find cards that provide you reward points, frequent flyer miles, double miles, membership in elite clubs, and the list goes on and on.

One interesting type of debit card rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar. Your bank then deposits the amount rounded up into a savings account. At Bank of America, the programs called Keep the Change. Using such programs, your painless savings can quickly add up to a couple hundred dollars or more over the course of a year.

5. Keep Making 'Payments' After You Pay Off a Loan

What do you do after you have paid off your car loan? What should you do with cash you've dedicated to your mortgage payment after you own the deed to your house? Keep making the payment to yourself, of course, and put the same amount of money into a savings account.

What you want to avoid is lifestyle creep. You'll never know that it is missing from your budget. You already have it factored into your monthly spending. Simply keep making those payments to yourself.

Saving money doesn't have to be a long, laborious endeavor. It doesn't have to be a pain. In fact, you will have better success if you can make it a game.

Americans are not saving enough money. We are underfunding our retirement accounts and have inadequate emergency funds. But it doesn't have to be that way. We do not have to be victims. We can trick ourselves into saving more.