hello everyone welcome to another
Google+ Hangout it’s great to have
everyone back on I’m really excited to
have with me today refill is on ski who
is a die-hard entrepreneur advocate uh
you know you may know her from all of
her track record experience at
Entrepreneur Magazine being the head
honcho over there and then leaving and
doing her own thing and speaking and
tweeting and facebooking and youtubing
and just showing lots of love to a
street art community and welcome aboard
well thanks Evan it’s really great to be
here with you yeah I said when we first
got to love that blue background is so
bright and energetic and warm and I’m
ready I feel happy and excited just
looking at your smile and the blue
background I’m a big believer if you
know people say you to have your office
and muted colors I think that’s just
bunk I think you need to have your
office look whatever you like it to me
if you like you two colors good for you
I hate them there is no beige in my in
my home or office anywhere what you know
I I have black on my wall here but I’ve
got a green shirt on so bringing some
light there yeah now we are both
speaking at this age summit that’s
coming up in New Orleans is july 27 to
30th and I’m talking about haters and
dealing with haters on social media and
how to handle it and I thought of have
you want to talk about what you’re going
to be talking about and then maybe
pinging with a few questions and get a
sneak peek on we’re going to be talking
about so can you give us an overview of
what your session is yeah so my my main
session is all about mobile about making
sure your websites mobile about
marketing moberly about sort of a whole
mobile revolution that we’re underway
right now and that I think too many
small business owners are ignoring at
their own peril God so what one of the
what are some highlights take away is
that I can get from that so one of the
things that I think entrepreneurs we
like to think of ourselves as we’re kind
of cutting edge we’re on we’re on the
forefront of everything and I think here
in the in the mobile revolution
entrepreneurs have actually taken the
back
I think that consumers have adopted
mobile technology at far faster rate
than anybody thought I don’t mean
talking on their phone or you know
fooling around on a tablet but I mean
actually using mobile to search for
things to shop for things to do
basically everything they used to rely
on their desktops and laptops to do and
the numbers are astounding there were
just some numbers released by bia/kelsey
which is a market research group that
showed that this year alone the amount
of local searches so if you are a local
business owner if you have a restaurant
or a store or something locally we’re
not even talking online business here
local business searches this year will
hit 82 billion which is up 23% and
searches from desktops and laptops are
going to be 65 billion which is slightly
down from last year and then when you
project out to 2019 mobile searches hits
a hundred and forty two billion at
desktop searches goes down to 62 Wow and
that’s funny image that twenty-three
percent growth is that year over year
yes that’s from 2014 to 2015 Wow yes you
know a lot of people are gonna be left
in the dust if they don’t accept well
you already are if you’re if people
aren’t aware so in April end of April
Google which is the Big Daddy in all of
the search engines right so Google
needed changed her the algorithm on on
mobile searches so if your website is
not mobile optimized if it’s not mobile
friendly if it’s not going to show up
nicely on somebody’s phone or tablet if
somebody searches from a phone or tablet
your rankings and local in mobile search
will actually organically be lessened
you are going to get penalized by Google
for having that and I think it’s just a
matter of time before they apply that to
all the search rankings so you’re gonna
you’re going to lose organic search
rankings if you’re not doing it and
worse than that really you’re going to
lose customers there’s a survey from
laughs
here that says something like thirty
three percent of consumers if they go to
a website via their phone or or tablet
and it’s not moberly optimized thirty
percent something like thirty five
percent go to a competitor’s site and
thirty percent never come back to your
site ever wow so so perf you know
entrepreneurs who have a local business
they have a dance school or a restaurant
or something like that what are what are
their first steps what do they have to
do to get ready for this and they’re
already missing out on their customers
yeah so the first thing you do is is go
to google and search because they have a
that if you you can put your website in
there and see if you’re okay you can
just put it in there and it’ll it’s free
and it comes back and says hey you’re
fine continue if if it doesn’t then you
need to get a web design and it’s not
expensive i think a lot of entrepreneurs
who put this off because they think it’s
expensive it’s not expensive to switch
the easiest thing to do is to design
your your site in something called
responsive design which means simply
that whatever size phone or tablet a
consumer cause your site up on it
responds to that size so you don’t have
to do one for apple six pluses and 14
for iphone 4s or samsung sixes or iPads
or anything it doesn’t matter so that’s
the easiest way to get it done if again
your web host can do it a web designer
can do it and it doesn’t cost a lot of
money at all that’s the big fear right
let’s just appear the unknown to figure
the cost and i just want to do things
the way I’m doing it now right exactly
and I also think there’s some confusion
out there I think a lot of business
owners think when they’re told you need
to have a mobile site they think they
need to create a mobile app which can be
expensive I mean now you’re talking
about developers and apps and getting it
approved by you know the the Google
store and the apple store and all that
other stuff we’re not talking a nap
we’re talking just your regular web site
being mobile friendly which means that
it
good on a phone think about your own
experiences thinking about trying to go
to a website on a phone where you have
to type step in and the keys are so
small instead of drop-down boxes and
buttons that’s a big key to responsive
design got it and there are some people
who will say that the content that you
serve on mobile should be different than
on your website maybe more pared down or
if it’s a local business somebody
searching who’s close to you might be
looking for the address and how to get
close to it where somebody online they
don’t care as much about that from like
a desktop or a laptop what what are your
thoughts on that absolutely people
searching are looking for maps to how to
get to your place and address a phone
number in case they’re they want to know
what cross street it’s at if your
restaurant you need to have a menu no
matter what business you are yet to have
your hours and if you’re open on or
close on certain dates that are not
usual you need to post that there’s
nothing worse than someone showing up
because they looked at your site that
said you are open today and you’re not
people don’t have time to waste and you
can’t make their life less convenient
for them if you have content you wanted
you wanted so people can digest that
content and one of the other keys in
going mobile it’s not just your website
it’s your marketing email marketing
right now I will have it at my seminar
that most um emails now are open on
phones and tablets and so if the email
does not manifest itself in a way that
people can read it they just delete it
they don’t save it for later it’s just
gone you’re wasting money got it and so
you know this can be really scary for
entrepreneurs if you’re the
entrepreneurs who are doing everything
themselves and maybe they got the
website designed three years ago by a
friend of theirs and they’ve been doing
their own newsletter and it’s kind of
hacked and put together what do you tell
them is it hey you got to learn these
skills and get better at it or now it’s
getting to the point where you really
have to consider bringing somebody on or
else hosting to another company what
advice you get those entrepreneurs I I
think if you are serious about starting
running and growing a business
you are not a web designer yourself it’s
time to step away right it’s time to to
make sure your site is professional and
again it doesn’t cost a lot of money you
don’t have to hire if you were going to
bring somebody and that might cost you a
lot of money so the first thing you do
is call the company that is your web
host today and ask them they might they
might have a program that doesn’t really
cheaply that that converts or they can
recommend somebody or outsource if
there’s a lot of people I mean we have
our swamp is daily we we were like okay
we’re not mobile we’re talking about it
we need to get mobile friendly and we
just went to the people who designed our
site and they charged us literally
hundreds not thousands hundreds of
dollars to make the change Wow anybody
any business can afford this you might
get people requesting for that company
happy to recommend me up okay so you’re
talking about your mobile site
responsive site and then you’re talking
about an AB and that may be a scarier
world uh when does it make sense for
company to go to an apps like everybody
needs to have a mobile site that’s we
talk on your search like especially
local but at some point everybody’s
going to have to have it mobile site
great responsive sites does the app make
sense for everybody and if not who
should go and make an appt I don’t think
and that makes sense for everybody
because an app is you have a whole it’s
like a whole other business when you
design an app you’re like you need
programmers who’s going to design it
what is going to make your appt stand
out from everybody everything else in
there why are people going to use your
app rather than just going to a site
when somebody goes particularly shoppers
right when they’re looking for something
they’re not they’re not looking to just
deal with the app I think apps are
really great for airlines American
Airlines for instance great at marriott
hotels great app but that’s it that
they’re talking to millions of customers
right that are on their airliner saying
at their hotel to design a general app
you have to you have to have a lot of
money set aside to not
only create it but to market it you’ve
got to get it approved and then how many
apps are in the App Store I mean there
are millions so then what’s going to
make your sand out how are you going to
get it into the hands of people and
start a buzz it’s very rare that an app
goes viral and so I think unless you
have a very techie well funded by VC
business don’t worry about a nap just
worry about you know the basics here
which is a website this mobile friendly
that’s as important as a sign on top of
your sore foot got it so so if I’m a
local restaurant don’t forget about a
nap yet just I get my website mobile
responsive exactly I’m getting some
questions coming in what is about
pricing a little bit off topic but I
know I know you can handle it um talk
about pricing and premium products and
he’s using Lego as a specific example
how Lego is able to charge a premium
price on their products and and he’s
wondering is that fair and however these
companies able to charge kind of premium
prices for the products and advice you
might have for entrepreneurs well so
let’s let’s separate the Lego example
from the entrepreneur example companies
get to charge premium prices because
that’s what the market will bear right
its weak it’s when people by step is a
total market driven economy if you can
get people to pay more good for you but
you can’t do that Legos has been in
business for how long now right its
reputation its people know it’s reliable
they’re not going to break they’re not
going to split their kids love them it’s
just it is amazing how much in the last
let’s say 40 years Lego has transformed
from just the brightly colored blocks to
making characters and cars that move and
all sorts of things so Legos has
obviously invested millions and millions
and millions of dollars in in business
development and in marketing and making
all that happen they can get away with
that price if you’re an entrepreneur you
can’t charge a premium price nobody
knows who you are why would somebody pay
more for something they are not aware of
they’re not sure of i mean i’m not
saying entrepreneur should charge the
lowest price because i think that’s
12 I think you come in somewhere in the
middle where people don’t extinct it’s
so cheap they’re going to get what they
pay for but it’s not a premium price
because you have to justify that and
then after you have satisfied customers
you use those customer testimonials you
put that to work for you you start
having 0 marketing where you can pour
your marketing dollars into supporting
your products and you have that great
reputation that’s when you can start
charging more yeah and he’s using Batman
Lego to as an example how it costs more
and and I mean Legos tied up those brand
deals to write there’s a lot of Lego
competition but if you want the Batman
version with the blocks you got to go to
Lego and so that was a smart move to get
the partnerships yeah I mean and that’s
actually an interesting point there’s a
lot of licensing agreements available
even to small businesses out there you
just need to do the homework you know
Batman’s not going to go with with a
little guy but you remember those stupid
um I shouldn’t say super those those
towels that by those blankets that
snuggies right so um a friend of mine
knew somebody who was able to get
snuggies and then secure some licenses
for colleges and and got the the license
to produce snuggies in college colors
with college logos this is a small
business this was on you know a big
corporation so sometimes if you have an
idea um early you can go when you can
approach major league baseball or
football or you know collegiate caught
the NC double-a or um movie studios or
whatever and get the license for
something if you’re kind of an unknown
it’s caught it’s not going to be
exclusive likely it’ll be very small to
start but it can be a really big on
inroad into something much bigger down
the line cool cool um back on topic in
terms of the mobile stuff I’m wondering
are there changes that that I have to
make as an entrepreneur on how I run my
business and how I teach my staff so you
know if I get my site mobile responsive
everything you
said you know it fits in every device i
got my menu up first and the hours and
all that is there anything else i need
to do is that a damn i dun like every
now and then i’ll update the mobile
cider or is there something that I have
to know more and how I run my company
and how I train my staff about how we’ve
gone mobile yeah that’s a great question
of and actually yes so especially if you
have a local store what they’ve seen in
surveys is that particularly younger
customers Millennials jenzy you know
from let’s say teens to mid 30s um go
into a store armed with their phone and
they’re on their phone in the store
because their comparison pricing they’re
looking to see if someone locally close
by has that same product that what
they’re checking the price on Amazon on
to see is it worth waiting to get it is
it that much of a deal so one you need
to kind of arm yourself with the the
knowledge of what your competitors are
doing like are they selling what you’re
selling a lot cheaper and if they are
you need to be able to answer the
argument that’s not to say you should
lower your price but you what can you
get somebody can get from your store is
it more personalized service is it free
gift wrapping what is it that you can
offer that makes it like oh I’m gonna
take it now but you need to train your
staff to kind of look around the store
and see who’s sitting there in front of
a product you know coming on their phone
and you don’t want to be confrontational
because that personal just leave just
want to say hey are you looking for some
information can I tell you something
about this product so you’re Seth needs
to be really armed with knowledge about
the product about your inventory of the
product about what’s going on and why
you know the convenience factor of you
want this today right you don’t want to
go home and order it online and then by
the time you get it’s gonna be three
days from now and and if it’s if it’s a
clothing store you know so then offer to
help them say oh here’s this pretty blue
um you know sweater you’re wearing would
you like to see some earrings or a scarf
that would match it that
personal service that someone’s never
going to get from a computer is going to
go a long way to not only making back
sale but making sure that customer feels
so comfortable and valued in your store
they’re going to come back there the
next time what are your thoughts on
using in-store marketing on the phone or
also pinging people and having ads show
up to them with if they’re worth in five
miles of your store or with one mile I
can you talk about some of those
strategies and if you think they’re you
know applicable to a lot of local retail
stores i think they are you of course
have to have buy-in right you don’t want
to be spamming anybody so you want to
make sure that your customers are
welcoming your marketing message that
they that they’ve opted in to getting
some kind of text message from you if
they’re within a certain area I think
it’s a really good idea particularly if
you’re in an area where there are a lot
of stores right or so somebody maybe
went to lunch at a restaurant four doors
down from you well maybe they didn’t
know you were having a great sale so
once you ping them it’s like ooh but and
they’ll say Oh after lunch I can run in
there because it’s so close and
convenient so I think that’s a good idea
I think one of the things we have to
realize today is that the competition
for the consumers eyeballs and the
consumer wallet is bigger than it’s ever
been its global right somebody halfway
around the world could be selling
exactly what you’re selling and so you
have to do what you can to be top of
mind and if you’re a local sore the best
way to do that is say to somebody who
may not have opened your email message
or who may not have seen the local ad in
the paper is to say hey you’re here
you’re nearby come on in or create a
special lab like oh I just saw you were
nearby come on in mention here show this
and I’ll give you ten percent off or
whatever the deal is you want to make
love it love it there’s a bunch of
questions coming in people are feeling a
passion excitement another sara lee at
the mobile but I know like you have such
a depth of knowledge you’ll be able to
answer jaan is ready to say he’s asking
about how to get money to start a
business how and where can you get money
to start a business
okay so um I’m only familiar with us
facts I don’t know where this person is
I’m assuming and I know that a lot of
the statistics from Canada are identical
to the United States so the truth is
about starting to businesses is that
about eighty percent of all startups are
self financed or financed by by family
and friends so self financed means
either your savings credit card advances
some people today there’s a lot of
businesses being started by older
boomers people 50 and over their
borrowing from their 401ks to do that so
most businesses are self financed I
think people get the the impression from
VCS and angels Oh money is out there
these things and angels are looking to
invest in fast-growing possibility
businesses I mean for bc’s mainly it’s
tak I mean they’re rbcs that specialize
in other things but they’re looking to
make a a big hit and they want to make a
lot of money as soon as possible so
that’s not probably not ninety five
percent of the businesses that are
started so basically we’re talking about
you have to sell finance and the way to
do that it’s kind of to bootstrap start
when you’re when you still have a job
the good news about this it’s so much
easier today to do that then even 15
years ago because of the internet and
because it’s so much cheaper and easier
to reach people to market using social
media which is free to reach your target
customers and put them to work for you
spreading the message you can actually
get started and get get scaling earlier
cheaper than ever before yeah and
there’s not a huge appetite for pure
startup funding ah you know and even if
they’re worried you’d lose so much of
your business it because such
unfavorable terms because there’s so
much risk so if you can just get a
little bit like show show you can get
one person to buy your product or
service you’re already ahead of most of
people just come and pitch ideas yeah
and the same thing with crowdfunding you
know don’t crash mine everybody’s
buzzing about it and it’s a
thing but it’s not the panacea you’re
not not a lot of people get funded
enough to start a business through
crowdfunding love it resale world is
asking Reva what’s the best way to get
factories to sell children’s clothes so
how do you find a factor for your
clothing company you mean a factory to
make that cause I’m assuming that’s what
they want I’m assuming yeah it sounds
like it so um I think the easiest way
way to do it is is you can look at you
wanna do you want a source in your
country your area or do you want to
outsource overseas so if you want to
look for us manufacturers of goods
there’s something called thomasnet so go
to thomasnet.com and it used to be the
huge thomas register that was like 26
volumes and build library shelves and it
lists every manufacturer in the United
States so you can look under the keyword
so it would be children’s clothing and
you could find all the people in there
and so it’s now online it’s thomasnet th
0 mas net.com I love it encyclopedia of
information we had pretty iffy but if
you want to go overseas man I think that
that you can still get a lot of good
better deals overseas go to Ali Baba I
mean there’s other people that do it as
well but I think Ali Baba is the best or
so if you’re looking for a lot of stuff
you go to alibaba.com if you’re looking
for just a few things you’re looking to
get started go to all the Express so
it’s a li express com and what they do
is you put in what you want maybe show a
picture you know what you’re looking for
and they send it out to their millions
of factories in china and vietnam and
all over the world really and you’ll get
these back and people can say oh I can
do that and these people have been
vetted once at least by all about us so
you can then see you can talk to them
you can email with them and see if
that’s a product at a project that
you’re okay with and that’s start the
relationship there I love Aliexpress my
son just turned six years old and we got
them a bunch of these capes and masks
from superheroes
all on Aliexpress he’s got like Green
Lantern and Superman he could dress up
like all these characters and it was
like three bucks apiece or something
something right it’s great pricing it’s
easy shipping and like I said most
people are vetted so you know you’re not
going to get ripped off right cool cool
um new future builder is asking is there
going to be gained in creating the
content driven app on mobile versus
someone using facebook Instagram
snapchat and so on to consume similar
content at some point I think the answer
will be yes but if you are a newer
businesses a younger business I think
you’re better off using the
infrastructure of a Facebook of an
Instagram other twitter because if you
have your own app it’s your job to drive
people there if you are using Facebook
and Twitter and Instagram they built the
platform or Pinterest if you are selling
a product Pinterest is is just huge even
though their number of users is smaller
than the Facebook and Twitter zuv the
world the people who go to pinterest are
actually in a lot of cases their buyers
are looking to shop so they consider
pinterest Amal essentially an online
mall sort of like you know etsy so they
go there they put in a keyword let’s say
they want to buy a bracelet right they
put it in red bracelet like I’m wearing
and then all the people who pinned all
the retailers who pin stuff on red
bracelets as long as you use you know
the hashtags and make sure you use the
keywords you’re going to show up to in
there in answer to their search query
and you’re going to be they’re going to
look uncle oh I’m going to buy from this
store and bam you’ve made a sale so I
would start with that until you really
have accumulated a lot of of customers
like a huge customer base before you
start worried about making your own app
cool and for entrepreneurs kind of
listening in if I do have that store and
you know so we started with now I need
my I need my mobile responsive site
that’s my first step now I got to be on
pinterest and these other
that works is that something that you
feel should be a core competency of the
company to know how to post to the
social network so what will work for
them or is that something I could just
give off to another company say you guys
help me with this that’s a you know
that’s such a great question and that’s
such a dilemma I’m a big believer I I
would say the best answer is both you
have to edit i’m also a big believer and
you don’t have to conquer every social
media especially at the beginning two
three at the most find out where your
customers are if you are selling like i
said if you’re selling retail products
you should be on pinterest you’re in the
wedding business you should be on
pinterest in the United States most
Pinterest users are women in England in
Britain it’s nor 5050 so if you’re a
u.s. sore and you’re selling women’s
products you need to be on pinterest if
you’re not maybe maybe not so it really
depends but you need to see don’t check
with your customers and then a way to
also look at it is who are your
competitors identify your competitors
and see where they’re active socially
because if they’re if you think
pinterest who’s on my audience and you
see your competitor is all over that
site or all over Instagram you have to
think twice about well what do they know
that I don’t and you want you want to go
there so I do think that there needs to
be some interaction from someone at your
company whether it’s the CEO whether
it’s the marketing department there
should be some interaction on social
media between someone at the company and
and and the the consumer the end user
but there does it you can you can hire
out things like adding you know if you
want to we just did an experiment on
Twitter where we’re tweeting an article
that goes up on small biz daily so we
generally post to new things a day we’ve
been tweeting them basically 18 hours a
day and it actually increased traffic to
our website from twitter by a lot so I
you know my first thought was I don’t
have the time to do that so I was not
going to do it but I hired a friend of
mine so I still the one on Twitter all
the time you know if
you at riva me or at small day this
daily on your that answer is going to
come from me but the posts that go out
saying hey I’m you know here’s something
on small to say that comes from my
friend Teresa so it’s I think you can do
both and really get more out of it cool
cause a lot of great messages coming
back just thanking thank you for the
response thank you for the advice reebok
a lot of love happening the community
for all the answers don’t give me that
sits great um next up rise online is
asking does riva feel that the mobile
style that you’ve been talking about can
apply to any business like even a lawyer
or a therapist yes because I was that
such a great question because two years
ago I was doing seminar four score and
we were doing it in different parts of
the country a woman said to me she was a
therapist and she said well that
wouldn’t be appropriate for me and I
said it would be because it’s just to be
found people there i saw some number the
other day about how many people use the
yellow pages and it was like three
percent or something I mean nobody does
that anymore so what happens is that
people are looking for a therapist or
whatever else chances are they’re going
to reach for their their phone or their
tablet there’s something that’s going on
worldwide right now called second
screening and what this is is that the
end of the day people are tired they are
sitting down in front of the television
and they’re watching television and they
see something that reminds them of
something and they want to look
something up or they have their lists of
the three last items that they didn’t
get you today they’re not going to get
up and go in their home office they’re
not going to go bring their laptop
they’re going to reach for their phone
and they’re gonna do it and they’re
going to look for a therapist and
they’re going to look for a lawyer and
so again your tip to be able to be found
there not to get the google penalty you
want to make sure your website is mobile
friendly it applies there’s no business
this is not apply to I love it that rise
online master question has been in a lot
of our twitter chats and he changed his
bio to i asked great questions so i’m
glad you could join in on this one too
cuz shell is writing in how
you get out of distraction and regain
focus on your dream oh wow this is hard
because me it’s not going to necessarily
work for everybody else so basically I
think for me you have to sit down and
remind yourself what what that is you
know you can you can put it on one of
these big sticky sheets you know and
front of you whether it’s on the
bathroom there just a little message
about you know reach for your dream or
write down what your dream is but I
think you have to spend a little bit of
time every day because everybody’s lives
gets really crazy startup nobody has
time particularly through starting a
business while you’re still working
you’re juggling a life you’re juggling
your job you’re juggling your startup so
it helps to UM just remind yourself
sometimes just 10 minutes a day of
thinking about what is my goal what do I
want to do and make a list I’m a big fan
of lists so I like to make a list and
this make a list of the things you’d the
steps you need to take and you don’t
necessarily need to do them daily but if
you can take one step a week it’s just
going to get you closer to that goal and
it’s not going to distract you so much
that you can’t you can’t balance
everything you’re trying to do i love it
and i love how how you have it on an
orange piece of paper green lights
behind you and can you actually talk
about that because the environment that
your win you know not just your physical
environment also your environment or
your friends and your family and the
people you surround yourself with just
like your daily environment can hold you
back they hold you where you are instead
of loving you so it looks like you have
intentionally created an environment
that supports you to go on and be who
you are and it just comes across in the
video and look in the background and
everything you’re talking about and your
energy can you just quickly touch on
that for people watching I think that
that for people who are small business
owners who are entrepreneurial minded
even before they start a business this
is the time where you know if you’re
married your spouse might be a little
bit nervous about that if you’re young
your parents might think you’re a little
bit
crazy i think a lot of that is is going
away the stigma of being an entrepreneur
is going away it was very much in
evidence in the 90s even when the whole
entrepreneurial revolution started
people were like you’re crazy why would
you leave a job and start your own
business so I don’t think there’s that
so much anymore but if you see that
there are negative people in your life
people who are telling you you’re never
going to be able to do that or God years
you’re really bad at that why would you
think you could run that business I mean
I’m not telling you to get divorced or
tell your parents to like your disowning
them but if it’s outside of that if it’s
friends you don’t have room for negative
people in your life I think it’s really
important to make sure that that you
don’t have to your friends don’t have to
be other entrepreneurs but they have to
be people who understand what you’re
doing and why you want to do it and who
respect you enough to support you in
this decision that’s not to say you want
people who question you you want people
who say is that the right way to do that
are you sure that’s the right thing
because when somebody asks you a
question you know you need a thicker
skin they’re not attacking you there
just kind of that question my mate you
think about wait maybe I can do it this
way or or like when I told you we
started doing all these twitter posts on
our site it’s because a friend of mine
said what are you doing why aren’t you
doing this and I was like well I just
think it’s silly because well just try
it so we had this little mini
conversation and I was like okay he’s
right why shouldn’t I just try it so I
think well you wouldn’t you want to
invite people who might be skeptical if
they’re really negative think twice
about that relationship yeah and I think
it’s great that you uh you don’t have
friends I push you and give you ideas
and challenge you even though you might
be an expert like hey well maybe that
was a blind spot and their interview to
do better I’m talking about Twitter I’m
curious what your favorite social
platform is and why when I when I see
you at Sage some in July you’re on your
phone or did what app you’re going to be
using who
we’re gonna be logged into I’m gonna be
on Twitter I for me I like Twitter
because it’s immediate it’s personal I
feel like um you can meet somebody I met
somebody probably seven year eight years
ago at a conference and I didn’t know
where I knew her a little bit from
Twitter but I’ve only seen her probably
three times in that eight or nine years
but but we’re Twitter buddies right and
I feel like there’s a lot of
relationships that you can um develop on
Twitter where I’m not a big Facebook fan
because it takes it takes longer you
have to first of all on facebook they
have to opt-in right you have to like
follow each other on Twitter it’s a
great way to meet people you don’t know
because um you know maybe they see you
want to tweet chat and they follow you
and then they’ll at you or they seen an
article I wrote somewhere and that and
they’ll ask me a question so I just like
Twitter because I think its immediate
and I know it’s not personal but it
feels more personal and I for me
facebook is confusing because things are
on top and then they’re not and then
they are again and like I’m like why are
you showing me that I don’t really care
so um I like Twitter because um it’s
chronological I don’t mess with that
Twitter I hear rumors that they’re
thinking about it I would really get me
mad do you use HootSuite how do you
manage your twitter feed I sweet and
tweetdeck so I like TweetDeck um it’s
easier to read on my on my laptop
because that you can make the columns
narrower where um you know on whose
suite the columns are a little bit wider
but moberly I like the HootSuite app
better so on my phone on my iPad I have
I mean I haven’t sweet on my on my
computer as well and I generally will
schedule a lot of stuff out on hootsuite
but to consume it to read it I generally
read on tweetdeck got it another
question about social media on mobile
snapchat and Instagram seem to have a
younger audience would you advise older
businesses to
join those arenas or avoid them well I
who are your customers you could be an
older business you can be an older
entrepreneur but if you’re selling to on
gen Z yeah you have no choice do not do
not be inauthentic so don’t try to be a
six-year-old pretending that you’re 20
if you think that you need um you know
the mindset of a twenty-year-old hire
one you know hire a marquis you can hire
somebody part-time you know it’s not
like higher oh my god it’s going to cost
me thousands of dollars you can hire a
part-timer that that will cost you you
know that maybe works 10 hours a week um
to do that for you you really want to
make sure you’re authentic in that
you’re presenting your business as
authentic and don’t have this person
there’s 20 year old doing it as if they
are you because what are you gonna do
when you meet somebody you know add an
event and I don’t think anybody minds
that they understand that if they’re
talking about business they’re talking
or business write a follow-up question
from someone else on that having trouble
attracting people uh he’s finding that
the people just aren’t as passionate as
he is and the ends up having to work
alone and it’s killing killing them
holding them back distracting him so how
do you hire people to help you do these
things well I think that first of all if
you’re a startup before you start hiring
maybe start finding independent
contractors it’s cheaper just make sure
if you’re in the u.s. I don’t know what
the laws are anywhere else but if you’re
in the US there’s a lot of there’s like
a the IRS go to the IRS website and
there’s like 21 things that tell you the
difference between an independent
contractor and an employee and this is a
really if you make the mistake of
misclassifying somebody it’s the
penalties are huge I mean it just
happened here in California with uber
where the court ruled that an uber
driver was an employee I don’t know
where that’s going to go because a lot
of those rules differ from state to
state but start with that and then
you’re going to look for people who you
know so go on places like Elance or guru
calm and and look for people whose
profile um you like
and then have a have a like a gchat or a
skype call with them so it’s not just
over the phone so you can see um is are
they passionate you can see their their
background of what they’re showing you
and you can you can pretend a lot but
when you’re talking to somebody visually
it’s hard to fake the passion and
enthusiasm and then just because it’s
it’s 1099 work right you’re not stuck
with them if it doesn’t work you can
find some somebody else I think there’s
a lot of people right now we’re looking
at UM Millennials now the waves of
Millennials coming out of college
there’s a lot of really enthusiastic
smart people looking for jobs you just
might need to UM spread the word that
that you’re in the market but I would
always start with attending not 1099
employee first cool um looking at the
time maybe one last question this is
some great action happening here says
awesome uh what three pieces of advice
would you give to college students who
want to become entrepreneurs so we’re
going over here I love this question one
started think about fake here’s the
easiest thing people go what can I do
when I’m in college does this question
applies to college students or everybody
else what do you want that you can have
what what do you wish it could happen
you know I went to college a million
years ago um and in Columbia Missouri
and there weren’t a lot of places that
delivered food to the dorm so back at
that time it was like well if I could
call you know jack in the box and get my
tacos delivered particularly for other
college students who don’t have cars
that was really important to other
students need rises is offering ride
sharing something that that that’s
needed so think about what what needs
you’re facing with and then um it’s
really great when you look a lot of
these startups today a lot of even these
tech ones they’re starting with people
that they met at college so second step
is to surround yourself don’t try to
keep this you know a secret and do it
alone in the corner of your dorm room
find people who are equally passionate
who can buy into your idea because the
more people you have the more it’s going
to
spread and then take entrepreneurship
classes I don’t subscribe to the oh you
can’t teach entrepreneurship you can’t
teach the spirit of entrepreneurship but
you can teach how to read a balance
sheet how to create a business plan have
create a marketing plan what does all
this mean and it’s really important that
you arm yourself with this knowledge
particularly while you’re in college and
starting this because when you’re out
and really that business is up and
running you don’t want someone cheating
from you because you don’t know how to
read a balance sheet and the accountant
you hire it is embezzle I love it the
time was already up and it flies and
talk with you thank you everybody for
watching just as a reminder or even our
both can be speaking at the sage summit
in norleans it’s July 27 to 30th usually
it’s an eight hundred dollar ticket but
they provided me with a bonus code i
leaked it in the scripture we can get it
for a hundred bucks $99 so great deal
great price I’ll be there we’ve been
there will be on Twitter will be on
YouTube embarrassing questions doing our
thing weaver thank you so much for
joining us today I really push at the
time and I’ll see you in a month yeah
see you then thanks Evan cool hi
everybody
Google+ Hangout it’s great to have
everyone back on I’m really excited to
have with me today refill is on ski who
is a die-hard entrepreneur advocate uh
you know you may know her from all of
her track record experience at
Entrepreneur Magazine being the head
honcho over there and then leaving and
doing her own thing and speaking and
tweeting and facebooking and youtubing
and just showing lots of love to a
street art community and welcome aboard
well thanks Evan it’s really great to be
here with you yeah I said when we first
got to love that blue background is so
bright and energetic and warm and I’m
ready I feel happy and excited just
looking at your smile and the blue
background I’m a big believer if you
know people say you to have your office
and muted colors I think that’s just
bunk I think you need to have your
office look whatever you like it to me
if you like you two colors good for you
I hate them there is no beige in my in
my home or office anywhere what you know
I I have black on my wall here but I’ve
got a green shirt on so bringing some
light there yeah now we are both
speaking at this age summit that’s
coming up in New Orleans is july 27 to
30th and I’m talking about haters and
dealing with haters on social media and
how to handle it and I thought of have
you want to talk about what you’re going
to be talking about and then maybe
pinging with a few questions and get a
sneak peek on we’re going to be talking
about so can you give us an overview of
what your session is yeah so my my main
session is all about mobile about making
sure your websites mobile about
marketing moberly about sort of a whole
mobile revolution that we’re underway
right now and that I think too many
small business owners are ignoring at
their own peril God so what one of the
what are some highlights take away is
that I can get from that so one of the
things that I think entrepreneurs we
like to think of ourselves as we’re kind
of cutting edge we’re on we’re on the
forefront of everything and I think here
in the in the mobile revolution
entrepreneurs have actually taken the
back
I think that consumers have adopted
mobile technology at far faster rate
than anybody thought I don’t mean
talking on their phone or you know
fooling around on a tablet but I mean
actually using mobile to search for
things to shop for things to do
basically everything they used to rely
on their desktops and laptops to do and
the numbers are astounding there were
just some numbers released by bia/kelsey
which is a market research group that
showed that this year alone the amount
of local searches so if you are a local
business owner if you have a restaurant
or a store or something locally we’re
not even talking online business here
local business searches this year will
hit 82 billion which is up 23% and
searches from desktops and laptops are
going to be 65 billion which is slightly
down from last year and then when you
project out to 2019 mobile searches hits
a hundred and forty two billion at
desktop searches goes down to 62 Wow and
that’s funny image that twenty-three
percent growth is that year over year
yes that’s from 2014 to 2015 Wow yes you
know a lot of people are gonna be left
in the dust if they don’t accept well
you already are if you’re if people
aren’t aware so in April end of April
Google which is the Big Daddy in all of
the search engines right so Google
needed changed her the algorithm on on
mobile searches so if your website is
not mobile optimized if it’s not mobile
friendly if it’s not going to show up
nicely on somebody’s phone or tablet if
somebody searches from a phone or tablet
your rankings and local in mobile search
will actually organically be lessened
you are going to get penalized by Google
for having that and I think it’s just a
matter of time before they apply that to
all the search rankings so you’re gonna
you’re going to lose organic search
rankings if you’re not doing it and
worse than that really you’re going to
lose customers there’s a survey from
laughs
here that says something like thirty
three percent of consumers if they go to
a website via their phone or or tablet
and it’s not moberly optimized thirty
percent something like thirty five
percent go to a competitor’s site and
thirty percent never come back to your
site ever wow so so perf you know
entrepreneurs who have a local business
they have a dance school or a restaurant
or something like that what are what are
their first steps what do they have to
do to get ready for this and they’re
already missing out on their customers
yeah so the first thing you do is is go
to google and search because they have a
that if you you can put your website in
there and see if you’re okay you can
just put it in there and it’ll it’s free
and it comes back and says hey you’re
fine continue if if it doesn’t then you
need to get a web design and it’s not
expensive i think a lot of entrepreneurs
who put this off because they think it’s
expensive it’s not expensive to switch
the easiest thing to do is to design
your your site in something called
responsive design which means simply
that whatever size phone or tablet a
consumer cause your site up on it
responds to that size so you don’t have
to do one for apple six pluses and 14
for iphone 4s or samsung sixes or iPads
or anything it doesn’t matter so that’s
the easiest way to get it done if again
your web host can do it a web designer
can do it and it doesn’t cost a lot of
money at all that’s the big fear right
let’s just appear the unknown to figure
the cost and i just want to do things
the way I’m doing it now right exactly
and I also think there’s some confusion
out there I think a lot of business
owners think when they’re told you need
to have a mobile site they think they
need to create a mobile app which can be
expensive I mean now you’re talking
about developers and apps and getting it
approved by you know the the Google
store and the apple store and all that
other stuff we’re not talking a nap
we’re talking just your regular web site
being mobile friendly which means that
it
good on a phone think about your own
experiences thinking about trying to go
to a website on a phone where you have
to type step in and the keys are so
small instead of drop-down boxes and
buttons that’s a big key to responsive
design got it and there are some people
who will say that the content that you
serve on mobile should be different than
on your website maybe more pared down or
if it’s a local business somebody
searching who’s close to you might be
looking for the address and how to get
close to it where somebody online they
don’t care as much about that from like
a desktop or a laptop what what are your
thoughts on that absolutely people
searching are looking for maps to how to
get to your place and address a phone
number in case they’re they want to know
what cross street it’s at if your
restaurant you need to have a menu no
matter what business you are yet to have
your hours and if you’re open on or
close on certain dates that are not
usual you need to post that there’s
nothing worse than someone showing up
because they looked at your site that
said you are open today and you’re not
people don’t have time to waste and you
can’t make their life less convenient
for them if you have content you wanted
you wanted so people can digest that
content and one of the other keys in
going mobile it’s not just your website
it’s your marketing email marketing
right now I will have it at my seminar
that most um emails now are open on
phones and tablets and so if the email
does not manifest itself in a way that
people can read it they just delete it
they don’t save it for later it’s just
gone you’re wasting money got it and so
you know this can be really scary for
entrepreneurs if you’re the
entrepreneurs who are doing everything
themselves and maybe they got the
website designed three years ago by a
friend of theirs and they’ve been doing
their own newsletter and it’s kind of
hacked and put together what do you tell
them is it hey you got to learn these
skills and get better at it or now it’s
getting to the point where you really
have to consider bringing somebody on or
else hosting to another company what
advice you get those entrepreneurs I I
think if you are serious about starting
running and growing a business
you are not a web designer yourself it’s
time to step away right it’s time to to
make sure your site is professional and
again it doesn’t cost a lot of money you
don’t have to hire if you were going to
bring somebody and that might cost you a
lot of money so the first thing you do
is call the company that is your web
host today and ask them they might they
might have a program that doesn’t really
cheaply that that converts or they can
recommend somebody or outsource if
there’s a lot of people I mean we have
our swamp is daily we we were like okay
we’re not mobile we’re talking about it
we need to get mobile friendly and we
just went to the people who designed our
site and they charged us literally
hundreds not thousands hundreds of
dollars to make the change Wow anybody
any business can afford this you might
get people requesting for that company
happy to recommend me up okay so you’re
talking about your mobile site
responsive site and then you’re talking
about an AB and that may be a scarier
world uh when does it make sense for
company to go to an apps like everybody
needs to have a mobile site that’s we
talk on your search like especially
local but at some point everybody’s
going to have to have it mobile site
great responsive sites does the app make
sense for everybody and if not who
should go and make an appt I don’t think
and that makes sense for everybody
because an app is you have a whole it’s
like a whole other business when you
design an app you’re like you need
programmers who’s going to design it
what is going to make your appt stand
out from everybody everything else in
there why are people going to use your
app rather than just going to a site
when somebody goes particularly shoppers
right when they’re looking for something
they’re not they’re not looking to just
deal with the app I think apps are
really great for airlines American
Airlines for instance great at marriott
hotels great app but that’s it that
they’re talking to millions of customers
right that are on their airliner saying
at their hotel to design a general app
you have to you have to have a lot of
money set aside to not
only create it but to market it you’ve
got to get it approved and then how many
apps are in the App Store I mean there
are millions so then what’s going to
make your sand out how are you going to
get it into the hands of people and
start a buzz it’s very rare that an app
goes viral and so I think unless you
have a very techie well funded by VC
business don’t worry about a nap just
worry about you know the basics here
which is a website this mobile friendly
that’s as important as a sign on top of
your sore foot got it so so if I’m a
local restaurant don’t forget about a
nap yet just I get my website mobile
responsive exactly I’m getting some
questions coming in what is about
pricing a little bit off topic but I
know I know you can handle it um talk
about pricing and premium products and
he’s using Lego as a specific example
how Lego is able to charge a premium
price on their products and and he’s
wondering is that fair and however these
companies able to charge kind of premium
prices for the products and advice you
might have for entrepreneurs well so
let’s let’s separate the Lego example
from the entrepreneur example companies
get to charge premium prices because
that’s what the market will bear right
its weak it’s when people by step is a
total market driven economy if you can
get people to pay more good for you but
you can’t do that Legos has been in
business for how long now right its
reputation its people know it’s reliable
they’re not going to break they’re not
going to split their kids love them it’s
just it is amazing how much in the last
let’s say 40 years Lego has transformed
from just the brightly colored blocks to
making characters and cars that move and
all sorts of things so Legos has
obviously invested millions and millions
and millions of dollars in in business
development and in marketing and making
all that happen they can get away with
that price if you’re an entrepreneur you
can’t charge a premium price nobody
knows who you are why would somebody pay
more for something they are not aware of
they’re not sure of i mean i’m not
saying entrepreneur should charge the
lowest price because i think that’s
12 I think you come in somewhere in the
middle where people don’t extinct it’s
so cheap they’re going to get what they
pay for but it’s not a premium price
because you have to justify that and
then after you have satisfied customers
you use those customer testimonials you
put that to work for you you start
having 0 marketing where you can pour
your marketing dollars into supporting
your products and you have that great
reputation that’s when you can start
charging more yeah and he’s using Batman
Lego to as an example how it costs more
and and I mean Legos tied up those brand
deals to write there’s a lot of Lego
competition but if you want the Batman
version with the blocks you got to go to
Lego and so that was a smart move to get
the partnerships yeah I mean and that’s
actually an interesting point there’s a
lot of licensing agreements available
even to small businesses out there you
just need to do the homework you know
Batman’s not going to go with with a
little guy but you remember those stupid
um I shouldn’t say super those those
towels that by those blankets that
snuggies right so um a friend of mine
knew somebody who was able to get
snuggies and then secure some licenses
for colleges and and got the the license
to produce snuggies in college colors
with college logos this is a small
business this was on you know a big
corporation so sometimes if you have an
idea um early you can go when you can
approach major league baseball or
football or you know collegiate caught
the NC double-a or um movie studios or
whatever and get the license for
something if you’re kind of an unknown
it’s caught it’s not going to be
exclusive likely it’ll be very small to
start but it can be a really big on
inroad into something much bigger down
the line cool cool um back on topic in
terms of the mobile stuff I’m wondering
are there changes that that I have to
make as an entrepreneur on how I run my
business and how I teach my staff so you
know if I get my site mobile responsive
everything you
said you know it fits in every device i
got my menu up first and the hours and
all that is there anything else i need
to do is that a damn i dun like every
now and then i’ll update the mobile
cider or is there something that I have
to know more and how I run my company
and how I train my staff about how we’ve
gone mobile yeah that’s a great question
of and actually yes so especially if you
have a local store what they’ve seen in
surveys is that particularly younger
customers Millennials jenzy you know
from let’s say teens to mid 30s um go
into a store armed with their phone and
they’re on their phone in the store
because their comparison pricing they’re
looking to see if someone locally close
by has that same product that what
they’re checking the price on Amazon on
to see is it worth waiting to get it is
it that much of a deal so one you need
to kind of arm yourself with the the
knowledge of what your competitors are
doing like are they selling what you’re
selling a lot cheaper and if they are
you need to be able to answer the
argument that’s not to say you should
lower your price but you what can you
get somebody can get from your store is
it more personalized service is it free
gift wrapping what is it that you can
offer that makes it like oh I’m gonna
take it now but you need to train your
staff to kind of look around the store
and see who’s sitting there in front of
a product you know coming on their phone
and you don’t want to be confrontational
because that personal just leave just
want to say hey are you looking for some
information can I tell you something
about this product so you’re Seth needs
to be really armed with knowledge about
the product about your inventory of the
product about what’s going on and why
you know the convenience factor of you
want this today right you don’t want to
go home and order it online and then by
the time you get it’s gonna be three
days from now and and if it’s if it’s a
clothing store you know so then offer to
help them say oh here’s this pretty blue
um you know sweater you’re wearing would
you like to see some earrings or a scarf
that would match it that
personal service that someone’s never
going to get from a computer is going to
go a long way to not only making back
sale but making sure that customer feels
so comfortable and valued in your store
they’re going to come back there the
next time what are your thoughts on
using in-store marketing on the phone or
also pinging people and having ads show
up to them with if they’re worth in five
miles of your store or with one mile I
can you talk about some of those
strategies and if you think they’re you
know applicable to a lot of local retail
stores i think they are you of course
have to have buy-in right you don’t want
to be spamming anybody so you want to
make sure that your customers are
welcoming your marketing message that
they that they’ve opted in to getting
some kind of text message from you if
they’re within a certain area I think
it’s a really good idea particularly if
you’re in an area where there are a lot
of stores right or so somebody maybe
went to lunch at a restaurant four doors
down from you well maybe they didn’t
know you were having a great sale so
once you ping them it’s like ooh but and
they’ll say Oh after lunch I can run in
there because it’s so close and
convenient so I think that’s a good idea
I think one of the things we have to
realize today is that the competition
for the consumers eyeballs and the
consumer wallet is bigger than it’s ever
been its global right somebody halfway
around the world could be selling
exactly what you’re selling and so you
have to do what you can to be top of
mind and if you’re a local sore the best
way to do that is say to somebody who
may not have opened your email message
or who may not have seen the local ad in
the paper is to say hey you’re here
you’re nearby come on in or create a
special lab like oh I just saw you were
nearby come on in mention here show this
and I’ll give you ten percent off or
whatever the deal is you want to make
love it love it there’s a bunch of
questions coming in people are feeling a
passion excitement another sara lee at
the mobile but I know like you have such
a depth of knowledge you’ll be able to
answer jaan is ready to say he’s asking
about how to get money to start a
business how and where can you get money
to start a business
okay so um I’m only familiar with us
facts I don’t know where this person is
I’m assuming and I know that a lot of
the statistics from Canada are identical
to the United States so the truth is
about starting to businesses is that
about eighty percent of all startups are
self financed or financed by by family
and friends so self financed means
either your savings credit card advances
some people today there’s a lot of
businesses being started by older
boomers people 50 and over their
borrowing from their 401ks to do that so
most businesses are self financed I
think people get the the impression from
VCS and angels Oh money is out there
these things and angels are looking to
invest in fast-growing possibility
businesses I mean for bc’s mainly it’s
tak I mean they’re rbcs that specialize
in other things but they’re looking to
make a a big hit and they want to make a
lot of money as soon as possible so
that’s not probably not ninety five
percent of the businesses that are
started so basically we’re talking about
you have to sell finance and the way to
do that it’s kind of to bootstrap start
when you’re when you still have a job
the good news about this it’s so much
easier today to do that then even 15
years ago because of the internet and
because it’s so much cheaper and easier
to reach people to market using social
media which is free to reach your target
customers and put them to work for you
spreading the message you can actually
get started and get get scaling earlier
cheaper than ever before yeah and
there’s not a huge appetite for pure
startup funding ah you know and even if
they’re worried you’d lose so much of
your business it because such
unfavorable terms because there’s so
much risk so if you can just get a
little bit like show show you can get
one person to buy your product or
service you’re already ahead of most of
people just come and pitch ideas yeah
and the same thing with crowdfunding you
know don’t crash mine everybody’s
buzzing about it and it’s a
thing but it’s not the panacea you’re
not not a lot of people get funded
enough to start a business through
crowdfunding love it resale world is
asking Reva what’s the best way to get
factories to sell children’s clothes so
how do you find a factor for your
clothing company you mean a factory to
make that cause I’m assuming that’s what
they want I’m assuming yeah it sounds
like it so um I think the easiest way
way to do it is is you can look at you
wanna do you want a source in your
country your area or do you want to
outsource overseas so if you want to
look for us manufacturers of goods
there’s something called thomasnet so go
to thomasnet.com and it used to be the
huge thomas register that was like 26
volumes and build library shelves and it
lists every manufacturer in the United
States so you can look under the keyword
so it would be children’s clothing and
you could find all the people in there
and so it’s now online it’s thomasnet th
0 mas net.com I love it encyclopedia of
information we had pretty iffy but if
you want to go overseas man I think that
that you can still get a lot of good
better deals overseas go to Ali Baba I
mean there’s other people that do it as
well but I think Ali Baba is the best or
so if you’re looking for a lot of stuff
you go to alibaba.com if you’re looking
for just a few things you’re looking to
get started go to all the Express so
it’s a li express com and what they do
is you put in what you want maybe show a
picture you know what you’re looking for
and they send it out to their millions
of factories in china and vietnam and
all over the world really and you’ll get
these back and people can say oh I can
do that and these people have been
vetted once at least by all about us so
you can then see you can talk to them
you can email with them and see if
that’s a product at a project that
you’re okay with and that’s start the
relationship there I love Aliexpress my
son just turned six years old and we got
them a bunch of these capes and masks
from superheroes
all on Aliexpress he’s got like Green
Lantern and Superman he could dress up
like all these characters and it was
like three bucks apiece or something
something right it’s great pricing it’s
easy shipping and like I said most
people are vetted so you know you’re not
going to get ripped off right cool cool
um new future builder is asking is there
going to be gained in creating the
content driven app on mobile versus
someone using facebook Instagram
snapchat and so on to consume similar
content at some point I think the answer
will be yes but if you are a newer
businesses a younger business I think
you’re better off using the
infrastructure of a Facebook of an
Instagram other twitter because if you
have your own app it’s your job to drive
people there if you are using Facebook
and Twitter and Instagram they built the
platform or Pinterest if you are selling
a product Pinterest is is just huge even
though their number of users is smaller
than the Facebook and Twitter zuv the
world the people who go to pinterest are
actually in a lot of cases their buyers
are looking to shop so they consider
pinterest Amal essentially an online
mall sort of like you know etsy so they
go there they put in a keyword let’s say
they want to buy a bracelet right they
put it in red bracelet like I’m wearing
and then all the people who pinned all
the retailers who pin stuff on red
bracelets as long as you use you know
the hashtags and make sure you use the
keywords you’re going to show up to in
there in answer to their search query
and you’re going to be they’re going to
look uncle oh I’m going to buy from this
store and bam you’ve made a sale so I
would start with that until you really
have accumulated a lot of of customers
like a huge customer base before you
start worried about making your own app
cool and for entrepreneurs kind of
listening in if I do have that store and
you know so we started with now I need
my I need my mobile responsive site
that’s my first step now I got to be on
pinterest and these other
that works is that something that you
feel should be a core competency of the
company to know how to post to the
social network so what will work for
them or is that something I could just
give off to another company say you guys
help me with this that’s a you know
that’s such a great question and that’s
such a dilemma I’m a big believer I I
would say the best answer is both you
have to edit i’m also a big believer and
you don’t have to conquer every social
media especially at the beginning two
three at the most find out where your
customers are if you are selling like i
said if you’re selling retail products
you should be on pinterest you’re in the
wedding business you should be on
pinterest in the United States most
Pinterest users are women in England in
Britain it’s nor 5050 so if you’re a
u.s. sore and you’re selling women’s
products you need to be on pinterest if
you’re not maybe maybe not so it really
depends but you need to see don’t check
with your customers and then a way to
also look at it is who are your
competitors identify your competitors
and see where they’re active socially
because if they’re if you think
pinterest who’s on my audience and you
see your competitor is all over that
site or all over Instagram you have to
think twice about well what do they know
that I don’t and you want you want to go
there so I do think that there needs to
be some interaction from someone at your
company whether it’s the CEO whether
it’s the marketing department there
should be some interaction on social
media between someone at the company and
and and the the consumer the end user
but there does it you can you can hire
out things like adding you know if you
want to we just did an experiment on
Twitter where we’re tweeting an article
that goes up on small biz daily so we
generally post to new things a day we’ve
been tweeting them basically 18 hours a
day and it actually increased traffic to
our website from twitter by a lot so I
you know my first thought was I don’t
have the time to do that so I was not
going to do it but I hired a friend of
mine so I still the one on Twitter all
the time you know if
you at riva me or at small day this
daily on your that answer is going to
come from me but the posts that go out
saying hey I’m you know here’s something
on small to say that comes from my
friend Teresa so it’s I think you can do
both and really get more out of it cool
cause a lot of great messages coming
back just thanking thank you for the
response thank you for the advice reebok
a lot of love happening the community
for all the answers don’t give me that
sits great um next up rise online is
asking does riva feel that the mobile
style that you’ve been talking about can
apply to any business like even a lawyer
or a therapist yes because I was that
such a great question because two years
ago I was doing seminar four score and
we were doing it in different parts of
the country a woman said to me she was a
therapist and she said well that
wouldn’t be appropriate for me and I
said it would be because it’s just to be
found people there i saw some number the
other day about how many people use the
yellow pages and it was like three
percent or something I mean nobody does
that anymore so what happens is that
people are looking for a therapist or
whatever else chances are they’re going
to reach for their their phone or their
tablet there’s something that’s going on
worldwide right now called second
screening and what this is is that the
end of the day people are tired they are
sitting down in front of the television
and they’re watching television and they
see something that reminds them of
something and they want to look
something up or they have their lists of
the three last items that they didn’t
get you today they’re not going to get
up and go in their home office they’re
not going to go bring their laptop
they’re going to reach for their phone
and they’re gonna do it and they’re
going to look for a therapist and
they’re going to look for a lawyer and
so again your tip to be able to be found
there not to get the google penalty you
want to make sure your website is mobile
friendly it applies there’s no business
this is not apply to I love it that rise
online master question has been in a lot
of our twitter chats and he changed his
bio to i asked great questions so i’m
glad you could join in on this one too
cuz shell is writing in how
you get out of distraction and regain
focus on your dream oh wow this is hard
because me it’s not going to necessarily
work for everybody else so basically I
think for me you have to sit down and
remind yourself what what that is you
know you can you can put it on one of
these big sticky sheets you know and
front of you whether it’s on the
bathroom there just a little message
about you know reach for your dream or
write down what your dream is but I
think you have to spend a little bit of
time every day because everybody’s lives
gets really crazy startup nobody has
time particularly through starting a
business while you’re still working
you’re juggling a life you’re juggling
your job you’re juggling your startup so
it helps to UM just remind yourself
sometimes just 10 minutes a day of
thinking about what is my goal what do I
want to do and make a list I’m a big fan
of lists so I like to make a list and
this make a list of the things you’d the
steps you need to take and you don’t
necessarily need to do them daily but if
you can take one step a week it’s just
going to get you closer to that goal and
it’s not going to distract you so much
that you can’t you can’t balance
everything you’re trying to do i love it
and i love how how you have it on an
orange piece of paper green lights
behind you and can you actually talk
about that because the environment that
your win you know not just your physical
environment also your environment or
your friends and your family and the
people you surround yourself with just
like your daily environment can hold you
back they hold you where you are instead
of loving you so it looks like you have
intentionally created an environment
that supports you to go on and be who
you are and it just comes across in the
video and look in the background and
everything you’re talking about and your
energy can you just quickly touch on
that for people watching I think that
that for people who are small business
owners who are entrepreneurial minded
even before they start a business this
is the time where you know if you’re
married your spouse might be a little
bit nervous about that if you’re young
your parents might think you’re a little
bit
crazy i think a lot of that is is going
away the stigma of being an entrepreneur
is going away it was very much in
evidence in the 90s even when the whole
entrepreneurial revolution started
people were like you’re crazy why would
you leave a job and start your own
business so I don’t think there’s that
so much anymore but if you see that
there are negative people in your life
people who are telling you you’re never
going to be able to do that or God years
you’re really bad at that why would you
think you could run that business I mean
I’m not telling you to get divorced or
tell your parents to like your disowning
them but if it’s outside of that if it’s
friends you don’t have room for negative
people in your life I think it’s really
important to make sure that that you
don’t have to your friends don’t have to
be other entrepreneurs but they have to
be people who understand what you’re
doing and why you want to do it and who
respect you enough to support you in
this decision that’s not to say you want
people who question you you want people
who say is that the right way to do that
are you sure that’s the right thing
because when somebody asks you a
question you know you need a thicker
skin they’re not attacking you there
just kind of that question my mate you
think about wait maybe I can do it this
way or or like when I told you we
started doing all these twitter posts on
our site it’s because a friend of mine
said what are you doing why aren’t you
doing this and I was like well I just
think it’s silly because well just try
it so we had this little mini
conversation and I was like okay he’s
right why shouldn’t I just try it so I
think well you wouldn’t you want to
invite people who might be skeptical if
they’re really negative think twice
about that relationship yeah and I think
it’s great that you uh you don’t have
friends I push you and give you ideas
and challenge you even though you might
be an expert like hey well maybe that
was a blind spot and their interview to
do better I’m talking about Twitter I’m
curious what your favorite social
platform is and why when I when I see
you at Sage some in July you’re on your
phone or did what app you’re going to be
using who
we’re gonna be logged into I’m gonna be
on Twitter I for me I like Twitter
because it’s immediate it’s personal I
feel like um you can meet somebody I met
somebody probably seven year eight years
ago at a conference and I didn’t know
where I knew her a little bit from
Twitter but I’ve only seen her probably
three times in that eight or nine years
but but we’re Twitter buddies right and
I feel like there’s a lot of
relationships that you can um develop on
Twitter where I’m not a big Facebook fan
because it takes it takes longer you
have to first of all on facebook they
have to opt-in right you have to like
follow each other on Twitter it’s a
great way to meet people you don’t know
because um you know maybe they see you
want to tweet chat and they follow you
and then they’ll at you or they seen an
article I wrote somewhere and that and
they’ll ask me a question so I just like
Twitter because I think its immediate
and I know it’s not personal but it
feels more personal and I for me
facebook is confusing because things are
on top and then they’re not and then
they are again and like I’m like why are
you showing me that I don’t really care
so um I like Twitter because um it’s
chronological I don’t mess with that
Twitter I hear rumors that they’re
thinking about it I would really get me
mad do you use HootSuite how do you
manage your twitter feed I sweet and
tweetdeck so I like TweetDeck um it’s
easier to read on my on my laptop
because that you can make the columns
narrower where um you know on whose
suite the columns are a little bit wider
but moberly I like the HootSuite app
better so on my phone on my iPad I have
I mean I haven’t sweet on my on my
computer as well and I generally will
schedule a lot of stuff out on hootsuite
but to consume it to read it I generally
read on tweetdeck got it another
question about social media on mobile
snapchat and Instagram seem to have a
younger audience would you advise older
businesses to
join those arenas or avoid them well I
who are your customers you could be an
older business you can be an older
entrepreneur but if you’re selling to on
gen Z yeah you have no choice do not do
not be inauthentic so don’t try to be a
six-year-old pretending that you’re 20
if you think that you need um you know
the mindset of a twenty-year-old hire
one you know hire a marquis you can hire
somebody part-time you know it’s not
like higher oh my god it’s going to cost
me thousands of dollars you can hire a
part-timer that that will cost you you
know that maybe works 10 hours a week um
to do that for you you really want to
make sure you’re authentic in that
you’re presenting your business as
authentic and don’t have this person
there’s 20 year old doing it as if they
are you because what are you gonna do
when you meet somebody you know add an
event and I don’t think anybody minds
that they understand that if they’re
talking about business they’re talking
or business write a follow-up question
from someone else on that having trouble
attracting people uh he’s finding that
the people just aren’t as passionate as
he is and the ends up having to work
alone and it’s killing killing them
holding them back distracting him so how
do you hire people to help you do these
things well I think that first of all if
you’re a startup before you start hiring
maybe start finding independent
contractors it’s cheaper just make sure
if you’re in the u.s. I don’t know what
the laws are anywhere else but if you’re
in the US there’s a lot of there’s like
a the IRS go to the IRS website and
there’s like 21 things that tell you the
difference between an independent
contractor and an employee and this is a
really if you make the mistake of
misclassifying somebody it’s the
penalties are huge I mean it just
happened here in California with uber
where the court ruled that an uber
driver was an employee I don’t know
where that’s going to go because a lot
of those rules differ from state to
state but start with that and then
you’re going to look for people who you
know so go on places like Elance or guru
calm and and look for people whose
profile um you like
and then have a have a like a gchat or a
skype call with them so it’s not just
over the phone so you can see um is are
they passionate you can see their their
background of what they’re showing you
and you can you can pretend a lot but
when you’re talking to somebody visually
it’s hard to fake the passion and
enthusiasm and then just because it’s
it’s 1099 work right you’re not stuck
with them if it doesn’t work you can
find some somebody else I think there’s
a lot of people right now we’re looking
at UM Millennials now the waves of
Millennials coming out of college
there’s a lot of really enthusiastic
smart people looking for jobs you just
might need to UM spread the word that
that you’re in the market but I would
always start with attending not 1099
employee first cool um looking at the
time maybe one last question this is
some great action happening here says
awesome uh what three pieces of advice
would you give to college students who
want to become entrepreneurs so we’re
going over here I love this question one
started think about fake here’s the
easiest thing people go what can I do
when I’m in college does this question
applies to college students or everybody
else what do you want that you can have
what what do you wish it could happen
you know I went to college a million
years ago um and in Columbia Missouri
and there weren’t a lot of places that
delivered food to the dorm so back at
that time it was like well if I could
call you know jack in the box and get my
tacos delivered particularly for other
college students who don’t have cars
that was really important to other
students need rises is offering ride
sharing something that that that’s
needed so think about what what needs
you’re facing with and then um it’s
really great when you look a lot of
these startups today a lot of even these
tech ones they’re starting with people
that they met at college so second step
is to surround yourself don’t try to
keep this you know a secret and do it
alone in the corner of your dorm room
find people who are equally passionate
who can buy into your idea because the
more people you have the more it’s going
to
spread and then take entrepreneurship
classes I don’t subscribe to the oh you
can’t teach entrepreneurship you can’t
teach the spirit of entrepreneurship but
you can teach how to read a balance
sheet how to create a business plan have
create a marketing plan what does all
this mean and it’s really important that
you arm yourself with this knowledge
particularly while you’re in college and
starting this because when you’re out
and really that business is up and
running you don’t want someone cheating
from you because you don’t know how to
read a balance sheet and the accountant
you hire it is embezzle I love it the
time was already up and it flies and
talk with you thank you everybody for
watching just as a reminder or even our
both can be speaking at the sage summit
in norleans it’s July 27 to 30th usually
it’s an eight hundred dollar ticket but
they provided me with a bonus code i
leaked it in the scripture we can get it
for a hundred bucks $99 so great deal
great price I’ll be there we’ve been
there will be on Twitter will be on
YouTube embarrassing questions doing our
thing weaver thank you so much for
joining us today I really push at the
time and I’ll see you in a month yeah
see you then thanks Evan cool hi
everybody
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