The first step in developing a marketing plan is to become obsessed with knowing your audience. That’s right, obsessed. It doesn’t matter how much money you spend on Google Adwords, or how many conference booths you rent out if you are off-course with knowing who your audience is.
Product validation is the crucial foundation for building a successful startup, a process that cannot be taken lightly. Many applications have been built and have consumed many hours and dollars only to discover that potential customers don’t really see enough value to whip out their credit cards.
We all know that our companies need to have a brand identity, this is Marketing 101. What about personal brands of the folks behind the company? Do the founders need a personal brand? Those are actually trick questions, because everyone already has a personal brand, whether they are strategic about it or not. What I have found is that a strong personal brand can actually be a huge asset to your...
Analytics helps your business determine what is working well, and what needs to be improved. We can always go off of a hunch, but the real power comes when we know the hard data behind our marketing efforts, and can make informed decisions that improve our business over and over.
Why do 3 out of 4 venture-backed startups fail? I mean, these aren’t stupid ideas. Someone has to come up with an idea, validate it’s market demand, create a plan for execution, and articulate this via presentation to venture capitalists, who reject approximately 99% of the ideas they agree to sit down and listen to. The few that make it through this process must have a pretty good chance of...
Have you ever found it easier to eat a healthy breakfast, while succumbing to temptation when it comes to evening snacks? Perhaps you find yourself more creative and productive in the morning hours, while the late afternoon is often punctuated by what many call a “slump”. Whether your morning starts at 9:00am or 5:00am, the odds are that you find your best decision-making abilities and creativity...
A mastermind group is simply a meeting of highly motivated folks who share a common goal and are looking to encourage and help each other improve. Whether you are stuck in a rut, on a plateau, or experiencing slow growth, a mastermind group can provide the boost in energy, new perspectives, accountability, and resources necessary to take your game to the next level.
Most entrepreneurs would love to have a secret sauce for growing their audience. For many, content marketing is a great, but slow, way to attract new customers. The question is, does this copy/paste trick onto other sites hurt your SEO rankings? Though it only takes a couple extra minutes per post, will this strategy lead to growth or penalties?
Many times the last thing we feel that we can make time for is exercise. Already we are stretched in a number of directions, who can take an hour out of each day to throw in another that, at first glance, doesn’t even improve the bottom line? The irony of exercise for entrepreneurs is that, even though it takes time out of your day, in the end you actually get more done in the remaining time that...
One of the key personality traits of an Entrepreneur is that we like to hustle, try new things, and fill our workday with variety. A negative side-effect of this is that we also have a hard time giving up control. As an entrepreneur, we must learn to delegate certain tasks to others. Without delegation, the sad truth is that we stall the growth of our companies because there is only so much time...
HI, I'M RYAN. I believe the best way to learn and remember is by writing things down and sharing them with others. This blog exists to help me synthesize and process my journey towards self-improvement.