4 Simple Steps, When Things are Fall Apart

Things don't always go swimmingly. 

Sometimes I fail. It is not fun. At least not when it has just happened.

But over the years I have learned a few steps that help me to deal with this in a
smarter and healthier way than just feeling sorry for myself for weeks or letting
the failure hold me back from taking action again for months.

1. Just be with what you are feeling. 

When you fail it will most often hurt. Oftentimes a bit, sometimes quite a bit.

And that is OK. Don't try to paint it over with a smile. I have at least found in my
life that it works better to just be with what I am thinking and feeling. To try to
accept it, to let it in and to hurt for a while instead of trying to reject it all and to
keep it away.

Because when you let it in and accept it will go faster and in the long run less be
painful to process what has happened. 

If you reject how you really feel then those emotions will pop up at unexpected
times later on and can make you moody, pessimistic, angry or sad.

Just being with your feelings and accepting them is however not a license to start
feeling sorry for yourself or going deep into the victim role for the next two weeks
or months though. 

It is one of the steps forward from what has happened.

2. Remind yourself that failure is a temporary thing. 

When you have failed it is very easy to start thinking that you will always keep
failing in this area of your life. It is easy to start thinking that you are indeed a
failure.

Don't fall for such a destructive self-fulfilling prophecy.

Instead, remind yourself that just because you failed today or yesterday does not
mean that you will fail the next time. 

The truth is that this won't last for the rest of your life if you keep taking action
and it does not label you as some kind of failure.

 

Seeing what is negative as a temporary thing instead of something permanent is
an essential key to an optimistic attitude and to living a life of fully exploring your
own potential. 

3. Remind yourself that you will not be able to do things perfectly or
do them 100% of the time.

Don't set perfectionist ideals because then it will feel like you are always failing in
some way or that you are not good enough.

Instead, focus on improvement. 

Focus for example on eating healthy or staying optimistic 80% of the time at first.
Then, later on, aim at doing it 90% of the time.

This is healthier for you and your optimism and self-esteem. And it is a more
realistic approach because failure is a natural part of life (especially if you go
beyond your comfort zone).

4. Find the constructive path forward. 

The previous steps help me to move from the initial hurt to rekindling my
optimism. In this final step more fuel is added the fire of optimism and action is
taken to start moving forward again.

What I have found to work really well to do that is to ask myself a few questions
like these:

• What is one thing I can learn from what has happened?
• What is one thing I want to do differently the next time?
• What is one small step I can take to more forward today?

You may find more than one thing that you can learn, that you want to do
differently or steps you can take to move forward. 

But focus one just finding one for each question at first so you don't get stuck in
procrastination because you may feel that answering with a whole list of things for
each question becomes too hard.

Have an optimistic week!

Henry

Craft a Business Plan That’ll Turn Investors’ Heads

Have you reached that all-important and often frightening moment when you realize that your business needs more money to get to the next level?

Whether you’re attempting to borrow a few thousand bucks from Mom and Dad or you want to ask total strangers to pony up several million, you’d better have your ducks in a row before you ask. In other words, you’d better have a business plan.

People have differing views about the import of business plans. I’ve even heard some venture capitalists say they’re not worth the paper they’re written on. Instead, they prefer just an executive summary. Nonetheless, being able to describe your business, the industry you operate in and the potential market for your company is downright vital. And you won’t generally address all of those aspects until you actually sit down and write up a plan.

Here’s a checklist of the minimum information you should have in the plan, along with some nice-to-haves that will increase your chances of getting a “yes” to that dollar request.

• An executive summary: This enables potential investors to quickly determine whether it’s worth their while to read your entire plan. Therefore put as much effort as you can into making it a strong pitch to keep reading.
• Company overview: The main purpose of your company, including products and services as well as any proprietary technology or other unique features. This is also a good place to include information on the company’s history so far.
• Company mission and vision: This is the biggest picture for your company — the “why” behind what you do.
• Investment rationale: Simply, how much you want and what you’re going to do with it.
• Market and competition analysis: This covers the size of your market and who your competitors are for your product or service.
• Marketing plan: This is the four Ps of marketing — product, price, place and promotion. Remember that you’ll want to prove that you know how to generate revenue for your business.
• Organization: The structure and location of your organization are important measures of how well you’ve planned for future growth. This can be a simple organization chart with short explanations of roles, along with the address of your operation.
• Management team: Your expertise and the skills and background of your team members can mean the difference between a yes or no on funding. Even if your experience is limited, talk about anything that makes you and your team — if there is one — uniquely suited to make your company a success.
• Operations: How your organization runs. Consider using a flow chart.
• Project execution: Do certain projects need to be completed before you can generate revenue? List them here with a plan for getting them done.
• Risk analysis and mitigation: This is the section where you show that you are aware of the risks and have thought about how to deal with or eliminate them.
• Financial plan: In this section, you’ll need to layout your funding structure, which tells investors where they fit in the equity of your company. You’ll also need to list your expected start-up costs, along with financial projections for the first five years. It’s helpful if you can offer a realistic estimate of when you will break even and start generating profits.

by Matthew Toren

Matthew Toren is an Award Winning Author, Serial Entrepreneur, and Investor. He Co-Founded YoungEntrepreneur.com along with his brother Adam. Matthew is co-author of the newly released book: Small Business, Big Vision: “Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right” and also co-author of Kidpreneurs.

5 Myths About Being an Entrepreneur

If you’re looking for a feel good post about why you should quit your secure 9 to 5 job and become an entrepreneur, this is not the post for you. Being an entrepreneur is great and I wouldn’t trade it for a desk job, but there are some things aspiring (or existing) entrepreneurs should know.

#1 You’re going to be insanely successful. You are not the next Mark Zuckerberg. Sorry, you’re not and I’m not. If you have the idea that you’re going to sit down and create the next Facebook and be worth billions of dollars in seven to 10 years, it’s not going to happen. Am I saying it’s not good to dream big? No. I’m saying there is only one Facebook and only one Mark Zuckerberg in this world.

#2 Entrepreneurs have a very flexible work schedule. They can work three to four hours a day and have plenty of time to goof off. I know I’m not alone when I say that entrepreneurs don’t have the luxury of ending our workday abruptly at 5pm. When you own your own company or work for someone who does, you have to put in the extra hours and the extra effort to make things happen. If you aren’t ready to work some pretty long days, you probably aren’t cut out for being an entrepreneur.

#3 Entrepreneurs can take off when they want -- after all, you’re the boss, right? Remember all those times you used to be able to party on random nights of the week or just take off for a weekend with your friends? Not if you want to keep your business afloat the first year (or two, three, four, etc). Now I’m not saying you won’t ever get time off, but most entrepreneurs live, eat and breathe their businesses and a lot of times partying gets pushed to the wayside. What’s more important: Doing keg stands with college buddies or generating income so you can pay bills the next couple months?

#4 Working from home means you’ll have more time for your relationship, your pets, taking care of your home, etc. Wrong. Because you work from home, it’s like you live in this constant state of never finishing anything. You start cleaning the dishes and then think of a great idea or feature for your company. Instead of taking your significant other out to a nice meal, you ask to get drive thru so you can get back to work quicker. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked over at my dog and it looks like he’s crossing his legs because he needs to go outside (and I love my dog to death!).

#5 Everyone wants to have your job. I’m guessing it’s because people genuinely don’t love their jobs, but they think you have this perfect setup where you get to work and play all day long. I always hear things like “At least you don’t have to deal with a commute” or “I have so many worthless meetings and calls, you’re lucky”. Do you want to trade the last three days I worked 18 hours and had to go above and beyond to appease clients? No, no you don’t.

For all the starving entrepreneurs out there, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all doing things we love and enjoy, and that’s what matters. I may not be building the next Facebook, but I am excited about controlling my own destiny and knowing the harder I work, the more results I see.

This story originally appeared on Young Entrepreneur

By Jason Sadler

DIY: FOOT SPA @ HOME

I consider my feet as the most worn-out parts of the body. Just imagine how heavy our bodies are which they carry to wherever we feel like going to, we drag our feet just about anywhere! Ladies, imagine how you try to fit your feet into those close pointed or stiletto shoes then have them walk to rough roads, steep stairways, making 'em feel they are being taken advantage of. 

At the end of the day, your feet feels physically abused, having calluses and sweaty feet as end result, and if they could only talk, I swear they want to curse you and say " I don't want to wear those shoes anymore!! I don't want to walk ever again". 

Our feet deserves some pampering to do. Feet also wants to be treated dairly. I'm not talking about going to the salon and having you feet undergo a foot spa from professionals. I'm not talking spending big bucks here to get a foot treatment. 

Yes, you just want your feet to feel that they are important like the other parts of your body, and it just sounds right to splurge on having your feet pampered. But then again, if you can do it at the comforts of your home while curling up on your couch while reading a good book or while watching tv or mobile Facebook-ing, why the heck you have to spend extra on something that can be done on your end, right?

Feet should really be taken cared of. They say that hygiene of a person can be reflected on how the feet looks. All you need are few low-cost foot products and you're good to go.

What you need:

• Basin/tub with warm water to soak your tired and aching feet
• Pumice stone or foot file
• Foot scrub
• Mositurizer/Lotion
• Nail cutter
• Bubble bath or liquid soap
• Salt

 How you do it:

1. SOAK UP AND RELAX! - Soak your sore and exhausted feet in a lukewarm water. Loosen up and let your feet stay in the water for 10 to 15 minutes. You can read magazines or books while waiting, you can even surf the net and create hubs if you want. Put some salt and liquid soap or your bubble bath. make it foamy for a soothing effect.
2. EXFOLIATE DEAD SKIN - Surely after soaking your feet in foamy warm water, skin has become so soft and ready to be scrubbed. To exfoliate, use a pumice stone or a foot file. You can buy such at very reasonable prices on beauty shops. Put a generous amount of foot scrub on your palm and dab it on your feet. Scrub the dead skins on the focal points like the heels and toes which are very vulnerable to calluses and cracks.
3. MOISTURIZE AND MASSAGE - After scrubbing off the dead skin cells, rinse your feet and towel it dry. Then put lotion or moisturizer (moisturizer is better)on your feet. Include the ankles. Massage your feet using yout fingertips, making your feet more relaxed than ever
4. CUT AND POLISH - Your almost done! For the final touch, cut your toe nails and polish it. There, you got a set of "Happy Feet!".

Today is the 42nd EARTH DAY

On April 22, 1970, Earth Day marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Now celebrated in about 180 countries world-wide every year. It is coordinated by the nonprofit Earth Day Network, and is now "the largest secular holid...ay in the world, celebrated by more than a half billion people every year." It is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment.

"Go Green" your lifestyle and appreciate the beauty of nature. What we can do about it? a simple changes to your lifestyle will have a positive impact on the environment. Think green, show, teach & share it, starts at home.

Earth Day is the perfect time to think outside the box. What are the consequences of our choices? What products are better for the earth? What should we avoid?

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Buy locally grown food. Take some time to visit local Farmers Markets
2. Change at least one light bulb to a compact fluorescent. Those qualified to ENERGY STAR use about a quarter as much electricity as a conventional light bulb to produce the same amount of light.
3. Take a walk on the wild side. Go for a day hike on a local nature trail and revel in the beauty and serenity you're trying to preserve for future generations.
4. Turn off your computer when you're not using it. A home computer monitor and printer, it can use up to 200 watts of electricity. 
5. Carry a cloth bag (eco-friendly) or keep one in your car. Avoid plastic bags. Most plastic bags wind up in landfill sites, where they can take up to a thousand years to biodegrade.
6. Plant a tree, go greening your surroundings.
7. Become a vegetarian, or just for today.
8. Turn down the heat, the water heater, air-con or even better off the electricity if it's not in-use. The idea is energy savings.
9. Stop open-fire, burn things that you don't like to see isn't a good idea. The carbon from the burning fire will damage the ozone layer.
10. Stop smoking, burning a stick or two will damage lot more than just yourself.

Instagram 3 Steps to $1 Billion

18 months & 3 simple, not-so-simple steps to $1 billion...

Today, Instagram sold to Facebook for $1 billion. A week ago, when TIME asked Instagram founder, Kevin Systrom, if he would sell the company, he said “It’s not really on the top of our minds right now.”

Kevin is 27 years old and started Instagram 18 months ago with Mike Krieger, in October 2010. The company has grown with just 4 staff, and today has just 9 in the team. With the $1 billion deal that was announced today, was Kevin just plain lucky, or was there some simple steps that he (and others who have had the same luck) have in common?

Here’s three steps he followed. They may not guarantee you exactly the same success - but they will increase your own good fortune:

1. THING BIG FROM DAY ONE - THEN LEARN FROM OTHERS:
It was while Kevin was studying at Stanford 7 years ago that he had the idea of a photo-sharing site, from his passion for photography. That was before iPhones, and before Facebook. Step one is to cultivate your idea by learning from others. He met Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 and talked about his idea. Mark then offered him a job at Facebook, which had just launched (in hindsight, a cheaper option that the $1 billion he’s just paid to work with Kevin). Kevin turned him down but they stayed in touch. He went to intern at Odeo with Evan Williams, who sold Blogger and Jack Dorsey, who launched Twitter. This is where Kevin got to understand the power of social sharing. Kevin later said “Comparing Instagram to photography is like comparing Twitter to Microsoft Word”.

He then went on to work at Google. All in all, it was a full six years after having the idea of a photo sharing site that he worked with others leading the field: Getting paid for his own education before he launched his own start-up. As Kevin says, “I was given the opportunity to be in the middle of a ton of innovation, and meet some of the smartest people doing the coolest stuff in the world. When I finally did it [myself], it just felt so right."

Who could you (and should you) be working with today to lay your own foundation?

2. KEEP 100% FOCUSED ON WHAT PROBLEM YOU’RE SOLVING - AND FAIL FIRST:
When Kevin launched Instagram in October 2010, he explained in his first blog what problems Instagram intended to solve. He listed the top three problems users were having:

“My mobile photos look lame.”
“It’s a pain to share to all my friends.”
“Photos take forever to upload.”

How would he know these were the problems? Just by talking to people? No, by getting it wrong the first time. In early 2010 he launched his first attempt “Burbn” as a location-based photo app, using Foursquare. It was a one-man-band, but after a year of hard work it had failed to catch on. It was, however, a failure that allowed him to learn from his users what would work, and to attract interest from like-minded people, including his future co-founder of Instagram, Mike Krieger.

By focusing on these three problems, Instagram launched in October 2010. Kevin relates the first moments of launch: “It was 12:15am, October 6th and we had been working on the app non-stop, day and night for 8 weeks. With a bit of hesitation, I clicked the button that launched “Instagram” live to the Apple app store. We figured we’d have at least 6 hours before anyone discovered the app so we could grab some shut-eye. No problem, we figured. Within a few minutes, they started pouring in... The night of sleep we were hoping for turned into a few meager hours before we rushed into the office to add capacity to the service. Now, only a couple months later, we’re happy to announce that our community consists of more than a million registered users.”

What problem are you solving, and what are you learning by failing, that is setting you up for your own overnight success?

3. CUT OUT ALL THE NOISE:
Kevin explains the difference between Instagram and Burbn: “We actually got an entire version of Burbn done as an iPhone app, but it felt cluttered, and overrun with features. It was really difficult to decide to start from scratch, but we went out on a limb, and basically cut everything in the Burbn app except for its photo, comment, and like capabilities. What remained was Instagram.”

Kevin cut out all the noise. He then launched Instagram just on the Apple App Store (It just came to Android last week) and focused on sharing on Twitter and Facebook (Three platforms that didn’t even exist when he first had the idea). That’s it: Photo, comment, like. No other platforms. No other noise.

Simpler means sharper means easier to cut through the noise. Instagram went from one million users by Dec 2010 to 30 million users today. In 2011, Apple named Instagram the “App of the Year”. Why would Facebook buy it now for $1 billion? Because Mark already knows it will add more value than that to Facebook when it has its upcoming $100 billion IPO.

If you are already thinking big, connecting smart and focused at the problems you are solving - How could you solve them in the fewest number of steps?


A BILLION DOLLAR STORY

It obviously takes more than three simple, not-so-simple steps to get the pieces lined up and timed right for the kind of 18 month run that Kevin has had. But these three show up again and again in today’s stories of hyper-growth, and the ones I will continue to share here on Facebook and at my Fast Forward events.

As an end to this chapter of the Instagram story, here’s how Kevin relates the beginning of his photo-sharing idea. It is at the heart of his journey, as your story should be at the heart of yours:

“When I studied abroad my teacher set what I do now in motion by saying, “Give me that camera of yours.” He took my camera away and gave me a little, plastic camera. I was studying in Florence at the time and he told me that I wasn’t allowed to use my camera for the rest of the class. I had to use this plastic camera with a terrible lens. He said I was too focused on sharpness and “I feel like you’re more artsy than that.””

“He said, “I want you to use this Holga,” this plastic camera with a plastic lens that had this cult following in the ’80s and ’90. I was blown away by what it could do to photos. My photography teacher was totally right. I was too focused on being meticulous with these really beautiful, complex architectural shots. It helps to see the world through a different lens and that’s what we wanted to do with Instagram. We wanted to give everyone the same feeling of discovering the world around you through a different lens.”

It’s ironic that as Instagram hits a $1 billion value, mimicking the feel of these disposable cameras, the biggest producer of them, Kodak, has filed for bankruptcy.

Each wave that crashes is followed by another. The only question is who is already positioning themselves to surf it. Are you up for the ride?

by Roger James Hamilton