When Your Daughter Hacks Your Social Media

So currently I have been working for the past few weeks on creating a brand of sorts for my name and connecting it with the development of startup businesses and entrepreneurship.  Part of the process has included putting together various social media pages, a website, blog site and a news press release.

The press release came together pretty well I have used press release services for other companies I have started and this one looked like it would be pretty effective.  So the press release was scheduled to go out early Tuesday morning and as part of the press release I connected the article to my twitter, facebook fan page, linkedin and other social media pages to boost the awareness.  The next day as I was looking at the news organizations that had picked up the release I noticed that one of them had a small picture of my twitter page and instead of a picture of myself oddly it was a picture of my 10 year old daughter.  Next I logged on to my youtube channel and noticed all sorts of likes and comments about various mermaid shows that my daughter watches religiously.  It was at that time that I realized that my press release which had gone out to over 200 organizations and had thousands of views after the first day had probably clicked on my social media pages and wondered why there was a pretty, little 10 year old on the profile picture as well as some odd posts about mermaid shows...

The moral to this story is to make sure that you communicate with all of your kids about the power of social media and how it should be used effectively especially as they grow up.  Social media can have powerful positive and negative effects for us all.  So this little blog will be posted on each of my social media sites and may it serve as a lesson for us all to be more aware of our need to talk with our kids about social media.

Leo Kanell Explains Why You Can Still Start A Business While You Have a Job

In the United States, less than 9% of the population are classified as business owners.  That's important because this group controls the majority of the wealth and makes the highest amount of income as well.  Often times we mistakenly think that wealth in this country is found with movie stars, professional athletes and famous singers, but in reality the majority of the wealth is controlled and earned by business owners.

In reality the old line that the "rich are different from you and me," isn't true just because they have more money, it's actually true because they have taken the risk to start businesses and reaped the rewards of their vision and massive actions.  Of the tax payers in the US that make over $1 million per year, over 72%, the vast majority have a business entity that files a separate tax return.  Of people who are considered the "super wealthy" meaning that they earn over $10 million per year over 9 in ten of them, an incredible 90% are business owners filing a separate business tax return.

So that said what should be the average person's thought process as they evaluate why the wealthy in this country are wealthy while the majority of people are not?  For starters, if you have never operated or owned a business you should take the plunge and try it.  Running a business requires an inordinate amount of time, focus and energy in order to succeed.  Many businesses fail, but for those entrepreneurs that succeed the reward is definitely worth the risk as they build wealth.  Wealth is the equivalent of true freedom in today's world, with capital you can increase not only your monetary contributions to humanitarian projects that matter, but more importantly your time also.  Indeed the freedom to control your time is probably one of the greatest benefits of wealth.

The conclusion is simple, if you want financial freedom and freedom with your time, then start a business.

3 Keys to Double Your Business

Whether you have recently started a business or have been successfully running your business for several years there are 3 key elements to focus on when it comes to growing your business.

1.  Increase Sales Through Distribution Channels

If your business is a Starbucks location, then to double business you need to set up another location to double sales, if your business is a monthly subscription service then you need double the amount of subscriptions you have, at the end of the day business is not rocket science, but one of the most important factors for doubling your business is to increase distribution channels, if you aren’t sure what distribution channels are then you need to figure that out quickly.  We recently helped a client in Silicon Valley secure money who literally doubled his business from 2012 to 2013, for his business to double he simply needed larger clients who paid more.  His business provides cloud and database services for medium size and large companies.  They recently landed a big client, maybe you’ve heard of them, Facebook.  In order to double their annual sales he focused on working in networks with larger companies and therefore larger needs, the end result was he doubled his annual sales, profits and overall business.

2.  Increase your Sales force

Whether you sell insurance or technology service or tires, at the end of the day people and human capital are often your most valuable resource, in order to grow and double your business, you must increase your sales force.  Recruiting and properly training your Sales Force is a definite key when it comes to doubling your business.  When thinking about how best to strategically grow your sales force, each business and owner are different, some owners will say be very selective about hiring the right sales person and still others will say take quantity over quality and hire as many as possible and fill the market with your sales reps.  Typically I would take the position of neither extreme, you want to hire quality Sales Reps, but if you try to attract only the best and brightest you will surely miss out on other sales people that would have done well and helped to boost your company’s bottom line, at the same time there must be some qualifying formula that you follow when bringing in sales people based on the criteria that you use to hire sales reps.  Focusing on a down the middle approach to bring in qualified, but also an adequate number of representatives to build more brand awareness and reach for your business is paramount to doubling and growing your business in a short time.

3.  Make Sure you Are Well Capitalized

In order to grow and double your business you must have adequate growth capital and cash on hand to finance it, whether that means securing a better location, purchasing more inventory, increasing advertising investment or dramatically increasing your sales force, each of those actions will require significant capital needed to grow your business.  We are all aware that most businesses fail due to running out of money and capital so securing lines of credit, working capital loans and financing for a new location or much needed equipment is essential for a company to double their sales/revenues.

When you increase your distribution channels, increase your sales force and secure growth capital you are well on your way to growing and even doubling your business!

Freedom is the Key

You may ask yourself how is it that in the last 240 years has the world in general progressed so incredibly with technology and improving the way we live as humanity.  Well the truth is it all begins with freedom, there is a reason that technology did not evolve quite so rapidly under certain elements of time versus others.  For example, much of the development began with the Italian renaissance where there was sufficient freedom to develop new products and inventions.  Many great artists and scientists like Leonardo Da Vinci and Michaelangelo came during that time.  Where there is true freedom the opportunity to prosper exists.

So with such unprecedented freedom in existence in society today in the year 2015 how is it that so many people really still live with so little freedom.  To me freedom is the ability to make our own choices, maybe that means I'm not going to work tomorrow, but will instead go wakeboarding on the lake with my family all day.  Perhaps it means that I will travel to learn more about a new culture or way of life.  In reality though the majority of people are not free to make such decisions and we all know exactly why that is.  It is because the majority of the population is subservient to those that control and mange their own enterprises.  I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but to obtain true freedom it all begins with one question, are you an employer or an employee?  It really is that simple, either I work to create my own freedom through wealth creation or I am working to help someone else create their freedom through my efforts.

In the Count of Monte Cristo novel, Napoleon Bonaparte truthfully states, "in life we are kings or pawns."  Truer words were never spoken, so which will it be for you, king or pawn?