Winter Is Coming and So Is Christmas

As the seasons begin to change, this brings along with it one of the most special days of the year. A day to be merry, celebrate, show love to those you care about, be charitable, have fun, and create memories along the way. With its festive nature, the Christmas season provides the perfect backdrop for you to go all out with your decorations and bring a little Christmas cheer into your life. Go Shopping The best part about Christmas is that there are a lot of things you can do at little to no cost. There will be hundreds of discount sales going on if you didn’t take advantage of the Black Friday sales already. However, if you already have some decorations that are good-to-go, you can easily reuse them and keep some money in your pocket. You can add a few new items though, to change up the look. […]

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5 Essential Steps to Take to Successfully Grow Your Startup

5 Essential Steps to Take to Successfully Grow Your Startup

Whether you’re a self-taught business owner or an industry professional with an MBA, you’ll need tools to grow your startup. Here they are.  With so many businesses on the market, you need consistent growth in order to stand out amongst the crowd. Here are five steps you can take to successfully grow your startup.   Step 1: Understand Your Market When developing your product, it’s important to know exactly which corner of the market you’re hoping to occupy, and what will make your business different from others in said corner. To hone in on your target market, consider the following: Your estimated price point (and, therefore, the average socioeconomic status of your target customer). The most common market(s) for your type of product or service, historically.  The pain points you are addressing with your startup (you might realize that you can actually tap into more markets than you previously thought!). […]

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7 Personal Finance Lessons from the Coronavirus

7 Personal Finance Lessons from the Coronavirus

The Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak took a concept many investors love, compound growth, and turned it against us. What started as a distant problem overseas is now scaring nearly every person in the United States. Personal finance lessons aren’t the only things we learn from this humbling virus… Primarily the impact it is having on the health of ourselves, loved ones, and neighbors. Though the pandemic is also impacting in many other ways, including everyone’s social life, ability to move around, and the economy. Local businesses are struggling, the S&P 500 is highly volatile, and everyone’s financial situation changes daily. Given all the uncertainty, I thought it would be helpful to share seven things for sure. That are seven known personal finance lessons from the Coronavirus that we can learn from and act upon. 7 Personal Finance Lessons from the 2020 Coronavirus (Covid-19) 1- You Need an Emergency Fund An emergency […]

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5 Great Internal Marketing Tips to Boost your Revenue

5 Great Internal Marketing Tips to Boost your Revenue

Marketing firm hired – check. Money spent on Google Ads – check. Facebook page created – check. Then when we finally get that customer on the phone and into the office our precious marketing work is done – right? … Not so fast. Congratulations, you’ve earned yourself a first date with that customer, but now you need to fill that experience with great conversation, good laughs, and even a trademark smile. Let’s face it, now that they’re in the door isn’t enough. An internal marketing strategy now becomes extremely vital.    At our office, we’ve tried over a dozen different ideas to maximize the value of our new and existing customers. Just getting them in the door isn’t good enough. Now that we’ve earned the opportunity to treat their needs, we need to make sure that we’re presenting these great and trusting customers with the best products and services at […]

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Founder and CEO Anthony Zhang is Someone you Need to Know

Founder and CEO Anthony Zhang is Someone you Need to Know

  “Can you tell me what was going through your head when once you finished your pitch, [Mark] Cuban looked at you blank in the face and said, ‘You didn’t tell me shit…’?” After all the research I had done for this interview with Anthony Zhang, this was the question I most wanted to ask. Without skipping a beat Anthony replied, “I was shitting my pants… Excuse the curse word.”      Anthony Zhang has co-founded 3 companies, two of which have already been acquired and the third is his current project that I detailed at length in this post   (BTW – I can’t wait to invest in his current project Vinovest – click here to check out the company yourself). He’s held the titles of CEO, Board Member, Director of Growth, Head of Marketing and Business Development, and now Angel Investor… And he’s only 25 years old. In […]

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How Vinovest Pours a New Opportunity for Everyday People

How Vinovest Pours a New Opportunity of investing in fine wine for Everyday People

  When we talk about historical investment options for the average American, we discuss stocks, bonds, precious metals, and if we’re fortunate enough to have saved up enough capital maybe we dive into real estate or a business investment as well. One thing I hadn’t considered as a realistic investment option, though, is fine wine. Well, thanks to Vinovest, a new LA-based startup run by a proven set of co-founders, investing in fine wine is no longer reserved for the ultra-wealthy. Everyday people – you and I – can do it, too.    (Sponsored content)   I had the great opportunity to sit down with Vinovest co-founder, Anthony Zhang, just a couple of weeks ago   During our conversation, I had the chance to:     Learn more about how the company, and more importantly how an investment in fine wine through Vinovest works, Determine if these investments are safe […]

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Have Fun and Convert Sales?!? How to Best Answer your Business’ Phone

Have Fun and Convert Sales?!? How to Best Answer your Business' Phone

  “Thank you for calling the Hard Rock, Maui! This is Mike – how can I rock your world?!” I remember like it was yesterday. Hands down the second-best job I’ve ever had (running this dental practice is pretty great). Young twenties, summer breaks, Maui Hawaii, … There must be a lesson we can take from that experience to apply and dramatically improve our businesses, am I right? In fact, there were many lessons I learned that I carry with me today, but the one I want to focus on here is how we were trained to answer the phone at ‘The Rock’ (as we called it).    What my managers in Maui understood that I think many of us in the business world forget is that customers may come because of your brand or marketing, but they’ll stay because of the experience you provide for them. My question to […]

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How to Be a Great Party Host: Tips, Tricks, and More

How to Be a Great Party Host: Tips, Tricks, and More

  Achieving pro party host status isn’t something that happens overnight. It takes years of trial and error in the form of burnt casseroles, bad playlists, and running out of booze before you can consider yourself an old salt in the entertaining department. But even though most people aren’t born a natural Martha (Stewart, that is), it doesn’t mean everyone can’t become one.   Here are some of our best tips and tricks for advancing your status from amateur to pro the next time you host       Never Make Your Guests Ask for Anything One basic philosophy to adopt as the host or hostess of any event is this: Never make your guests ask for anything. Consider yourself the giver of all things for the four or five hours your home is transformed into party headquarters, and try to anticipate a party-goer’s every need before they even have […]

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How to Boost your Business’ Internet Presence

How to Boost your Business' Internet Presence

  Having a strong internet presence is pivotal to the financial well being of your business. Sure, you can go above and beyond to create a unique customer experience and send out an army of current customers recruiting new ones on your behalf. But at the end of the day, those prospective new clients are going to use the ‘trust but verify’ method when it comes to recommendations from their friends and family. And the ‘verify’ portion will be done by typing (your business name here) into Google.    Go ahead, take a minute, and do the same. See what those potential customers see when they search for your business. Do they find anything at all? And if they do find you, does what they see compel them to click on your website and eventually reach out to schedule an appointment?   The truth is that we can all get […]

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The Ins and Outs Of Solar Panels

Solar panels are quite easy to come by – from major hardware stores to online suppliers and specialized businesses, upgrading to a solar life is generally within quick reach. Some companies specialize only in supplying solar panels, while others can assist with both the supply and installation.  Thanks to the upfront installation cost of solar panels being unpleasantly high, many companies are now also assisting customers with financing options for their solar panels, to assist in affording the initial outlay. Generally, this form of finance will require a monthly repayment until the amount of the cost has been recovered. The good news, depending on where you live, is that solar installations are often eligible for tax rebates and other incentives that make the installation worthwhile.  Grid-tied or off-grid – the considerations When you are planning your home solar panel installation, you will need to decide whether you will be going […]

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