As you may have guessed by the title, I have officially moved into college! I’ve been at my college Bentley University for about two weeks now and I’m loving it. I miss people from back home, but I still like the freedoms (and parties) at college. Despite the obvious college atmosphere during the weekends, the weeks are all about studying.

Bentley University, being a business school, has great resources for everyone interested in creating their own businesses (like I’m sure all of you are!). Their main business core classes, referred to as GB 110 , GB 112, GB 212, etc., are all about getting to know the business world. And although they are definitely the harder classes, they are the ones I feel like I’m getting the most out of. I mean I’ve been interested in business for so long, it’s not surprising (as you can read in  my business story).

So this is my new home for blogging, Bentley University. I’m not sure what this experience will bring and the content ideas I’ll get for my blog due to their resources. But one thing is for sure, don’t miss college for anything. It’s so much fun! And you never know who you could meet to change your life forever. May it be love interests or business partners.

I hope to get many opportunities through Bentley University. I want to get an internship this year (which reminds me that I need to go to my academic adviser). I want to be an intern for Social Media Marketing, just like I was with my Rogers & Gray Insurance Agency internship. No matter what field, the more experience the better. And with something as new as Social Media Marketing that isn’t being taught in schools, it’s even more important.

So stick around for great content upcoming from Bentley University! I won’t share information from my classes, because I’m paying a lot to get that information. Can’t give it away for free (not to mention Bentley probably wouldn’t be too happy with me). But I may share some of my experiences.

Bentley University: My New Home for Blogging is a post from: Simply Learn Business

But really, why is it so important to have that LARGE audience. With a large audience, you get more clicks. Hmm… Well I understand that. But that sounds funny to me, more clicks. I think that’s where the problem lies. When you get that big audience you start focusing on statistics rather than individuals. Instead of Johnny Appleseed and Ms. Mary Mack bought my product, you think wow 10% of my audience bought my product.

You see the difference? You start to lose touch with your audience and start to think more strategically. Which is good…in some ways. With that big audience, you start to run your business more automatically. Customer service and your own engagement with the individual goes down. With that larger audience, percentage-wise, less people will buy your product.

The Availability Effect

With a small audience, you can actually sell more. This is with something I call “the availability effect”. You are more available to each of your individual readers! That is something you have over a Pat Flynn sized internet business. (NOT PUTTING DOWN PAT AT ALL, HE’S ACTUALLY AWESOME WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE) With the availability effect on your side, you can build a community of loyal followers and customers.

Cherishing Your Small Audience

You need to cherish your small audience while you have it! The first 100 loyal followers are the most important. They will spread the word and more then likely buy your products. So you need to cater to their needs the best you can. Make sure these people are happy!

Cherish them by:

• Responding to their Comments
• Responding to their Emails
• Making Posts that Thank Them
• Listen to their feedback and act upon it

By cherishing your base following, that will help you grow the bigger audience. They will be so happy with you that they can’t help but share your content and spread the word about your blog. And even if it takes a while for that audience to grow, you will still have that small following that are your own personal “zombies” (lack of better term, sorry to my zombies!). Only instead of killing you, they will help you… Yeah, okay, I understand the term wasn’t the best. But I think my point is made.

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If you are my “zombie”, please contact me through the contact form! I would love to chat and help you in any way I can. Besides, I usually respond to emails during school. Save me from my classes! Feel free to comment below as well, I read every single comment and respond to almost all of them!

The Availability Effect: Cherish Your Small Audience is a post from: Simply Learn Business

Pat Flynn, the owner of the Smart Passive Income Blog, has mentioned a video in his last few posts called Caine’s Arcade. I finally watched it and WOW! It literally brought tears to my eyes. I imagined if that had happened to me when I created my little businesses such as Golf Ball Cleaning and Picture Drawing. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

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Caine is the greatest kid ever! Check out his video to be inspired! [embedtweet text="(Tweet this)" tweet= "Caine is the greatest kid ever! Check out his video to be inspired! http://bit.ly/L7So9S via @SimplyLBusiness"]

And a quick little update. I have chosen a college to go to! I’m going to…. Drum roll! …… Bentley University. I plan to major in marketing! So, with that I will say good-bye and have a great week! More posts to very soon! Time to bring this blog to life again!

Simply Inspiring Stories: Caine’s Arcade (Video) is a post from: Simply Learn Business

This may seem like a strange thing for me to say. But social media may be actually doing you a disservice. In order to gauge whether it is or not you have to answer these two questions.

• Have you gotten more responses, as far as quantity and quality, on social media platforms than on your blog or website? 
• Have you pushed off starting your email list and focused more on social media?

If you answered “yes” to either question then you better listen up! If you didn’t, you may still follow along if you see fit. But you may be better off then most of the readers. So “high five”!

So what’s wrong with answering “yes” to the questions? They both create a “Pat on the Back Effect”. My definition of the “Pat on the Back Effect” is a clouding over reality that is put forth by a success that doesn’t translate to your ultimate goal. In simpler terms, you succeed but it doesn’t actually help your goal of more readers or money.

In-Depth Explanations of the Questions

The questions I chose to ask were carefully selected to hit on specific portions of the “Pat on the Back Effect” I explained earlier. This is an effect you don’t want to fall into while working on your projects. It can cause your progress to slow down and loss of focus on your end goal.

Have you gotten more responses, as far as quantity and quality, on social media platforms than on your blog or website? 

The first question hits on the “Pat on the Back Effect” directly. If people are talking to you on Twitter or Facebook it gives you a wrong sense of how well you are doing. People may be interacting with you on Twitter, but they might not even go to your blog. It makes you feel good that they are talking to you. But that doesn’t actually help you earn any money or make a difference.

Social Networking websites is somewhere that a lot of people go and stay. So it’s natural for them to interact on these websites. But they may not take the jump to your blog. So, if you get trapped in feeling great for 50 likes on Facebook that may give you a feeling of success. But, in reality, you only have 4 people reading your blog. In this case, social networking websites become a distraction from reality and create the “pat on the back effect”.

Have you pushed off starting your email list and focused more on social media?

This is a mistake that most bloggers make (and that includes myself) when they start out. They don’t add a form to get their reader’s email addresses. This is a HUGE mistake. Sending emails gives the best conversion rate and acts as a way to get back to your blog. Where Twitter or Facebook is almost a different community off your blog. Also, Facebook and Twitter can take away your accounts at any time. But you have those emails, you can save them to a Word document and have them forever.

Social media provides you with a distraction from the all-important email list. It is a mistake that a lot of bloggers in every niche are making. Be better then all of them and start an email list. It will really help you in the long run.

A Clarification on Social Media

Social Media is a great tool, there is no doubt about that. But, as I’ve stated in this blog post, it can also be a great distraction. It may seem to go against a lot I’ve said in past posts, but it really doesn’t. All I’m saying is make your email list your first priority. Then add in Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Linkedin as extras. It will help you grow your blog and your influence.

Are you building your email list right now? If not, what are you going to do to make it more of a focus? Leave your thoughts below in the comments.

The “Pat on the Back Effect” – The Flaws in Social Media is a post from: Simply Learn Business

Today, Friday March 9 (when I’m writing this post), was the beginning of the festival that will last about two weeks. It’s like 6 hours into the first day and it’s already clear: I am one of the youngest ones here. That was to be expected though. As this was the case for the Business Connect conference I went to. Same soup, different bowl.

I have absolutely loved the event so far though. It’s amazing with all the people and it’s clear that tons of work that goes into it. It’s a little bit bigger then Business Connect that I went to with the insurance agency I work for Rogers & Gray Insurance. I have been to two sessions so far (posts on individual sessions coming soon) and they were both really well run.

If you are at South by Southwest: Send me a message, my name is Nick Purcell in SXSW Social, or @SimplyLBusiness me and tell me you are here. I’d love to meet someone who reads my blog.

If you aren’t at South by Southwest: Follow me on Twitter for updates on sessions I am in and all the different things I pick up from the sessions. Then check back to this blog and subscribe to get in-depth details of important take-aways from the best sessions.

But overall, just from the first day, I am very impressed by South by Southwest and tomorrow is packed with awesome sessions. I better get a good night sleep tonight! So I’ll end this post short.

Thanks for your support!

Do you know what South by Southwest is? Are you here? Tell me about it in the comments below!

An Update from Austin, Texas and South by Southwest is a post from: Simply Learn Business

Although you can build up to a four-hour work week scenario, it isn’t easy to get there. Blogging can take a lot of your time. And in order for it to grow, it will take constant upkeep. It’s not a set and forget business model. Due to the constant work, blogging takes a specific kind of person. A successful blogger isn’t usually just an average person. It takes certain characteristics for a person to become a successful blogger.

Characteristics and Traits of Successful Bloggers

Successful bloggers didn’t get where they are today just by luck. I mean you definitely need to be lucky, as well. But, just luck will not make you a top blogger. There is a certain psychology of blogging that allows a person to become successful. The field they are in effects the traits and how easy it is to become “successful”.

Creativity

A blogger, among many other skills, needs to be a good writer. It takes a creative person to write posts and add their own flair to them. Especially for people who are writing on dry topics like history or math. Along with just the writing piece, a lot of bloggers make their own website design. This requires immense amount of creativity. And even for those who don’t make their own layout, they need to think of the type of style they want their blog to take.

Entrepreneurial Mindset

Now, not every blog is built to make income for the blogger. So technically, this characteristic isn’t really required for a blogger to have. But if you plan to make money from your blog, then this is a skill that would be ideal for you to have. To me, an entrepreneurial minded person is someone who just always seems to go where the money is. As I said in my introduction to the Simply Learn Business blog, I had a baseball card creation company when I was around 8 or 9. It was just one of my countless zany business schemes when I was younger. I was always going to the money. Therefore, I believe I do have that trait.

Independence

Unless you are creating a partnership or a group blog, you are probably going to need to know how to work independently. Independence is important in life, along with in business and blogging. I would hope most people wouldn’t need too much help in this area. But independence will allow you to effectively work alone and make the most out of your online business. And this is something important for an internet entrepreneur.

Social Nature

I think this is the biggest piece of the puzzle that is a blogger. They want to be social. A blogger puts their text out there to be heard. I mean that’s why we do it in a public forum. This social nature is what inspires us to write. We write so that we gain an audience. For some bloggers, it may be for money, but for the more successful ones it is most likely to be heard. They have information they want to give out to people and since it’s quality people want to consume it.

Do you agree with the traits I have listed or would you add some others? What inspires you to write your blog? Leave a comment below expressing your thoughts. Be heard!

The Psychology of Blogging – Who is Behind the Blog? is a post from: Simply Learn Business

Although, I don’t believe Pat Flynn went from sleeping on a couch to making thousands on the internet in one night. But I still find his story and the man behind it to be very inspirational…er, I mean Flynnspirational.

Pat Flynn’s Impressive Post, Podcast, and Video Archive

In order to spread inspiration and honor the great man that is Pat Flynn (also credit to the Grammy’s and Jeremy Lin for the idea), I thought I’d make a Top 5 of his most inspiring posts, podcasts, and videos. There are so many options because he knows the advantage of multiple income streams. So here it goes:

5. Backlinking Strategy – This post is pretty long, so be prepared for a hefty read. But the content is well worth it. It’s how I learned most of what I know about getting backlinks. This is one of his unofficial best posts so far on his blog. It inspired over 1,000 comments to his blog. This is the primary inspiration, behind the great content, he created a great discussion that every blogger dreams of. It inspires me to write controversial posts to get people to comment and discuss while providing value.

4. How to Create a Facebook Landing Page – This has been a helpful video to all who have seen it on Youtube. A lot of people hadn’t taken advantage of this option on Facebook and Pat allowed them to do it. This is something that I plan to do very soon, but haven’t gotten a chance to yet.

3. Types of Passive Income Streams (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) - This is a three-part podcast series that is telling you all about the types of Passive Income Streams that you can pursue online. This is obviously very helpful and makes you want to take serious action really fast. Not a very good podcast to listen before bed, it’ll keep you up while you think of all the possibilities.

2. Presentation Mess-Up – This is a post on his blog that really inspired me and it’s all about how he MESSED UP. First of all, I couldn’t believe that Pat Flynn could mess up. But, also he took it in such stride. He actually used it to his advantage. Since public speaking isn’t my strong suit, as most other people can relate to, this was especially helpful for me. I now try and take mistakes and make them work for me. Although, my presentations in school barely allow me to do this. But I try nonetheless, thanks to Pat!

1. How to Be Everywhere – This is a re-recording of the presentation that had to do with being everywhere on the internet. You can find it in video and podcast form. It is very inspiring and makes you want to take action. So I suggest you listen to it during hours you can work on your blog. Take the inspiration it gives you and use that to turn it into production.

Pat Flynn – The Source of All Flynnspiration

Pat Flynn, the owner of Flynndustries, is such an inspiration! Do you think I’ve made that clear yet? He is the only blogger that I would write a whole post in the hopes to honor their fine work. In fact, I wrote my college essay based off of his slogan “It’s all about working hard now, so you can sit back and reap the benefits later.”

It’s not hard to believe that he has gotten such a huge following so quickly. He is one fellow you may want to check out if you haven’t already. You can find him on the Smart Passive Income Blog. Here’s to you Pat! Love all you do! And feel better man! (He had his wisdom teeth out recently)

What do you think are some of Pat’s most influential and inspiring posts, podcasts, and videos to date are? Leave a comment below to voice your opinion.

Flynnspiration – Top 5 Most Inspiring Posts, Podcasts, and Videos from Pat Flynn is a post from: Simply Learn Business

I’ll start by saying: Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Hope you had a great and romantic day. Now onto the post:

I actually got the idea for this post while watching a Criminal Minds episode, called Snake Eyes. It had to do with a serial killer who had an addiction to gambling. It obviously ended up destroying his life and turned him into the killer he was. While, I won’t be talking about serial killers, I do want to turn you into a serial internet entrepreneur. Don’t worry it’ll make sense by the end of this post.

Personally, I didn’t start out with a blog, I started with Swagbucks, a search and win website. I used the money I made from Swagbucks to fund my first blog and this one. So I started out with different revenue streams then just simply a blog.

Internet Entrepreneur’s Diverse Portfolio

Different revenue streams are very important for a successful internet entrepreneur. Creating a diverse portfolio is part of becoming solely an online earner. In other words, unless you create the next Facebook, you need to be making money from more then just one source online.

What Types of Income Streams can be made Online?

The internet has become a huge job creation service! Turning your website into a billboard for other companies allows you to make money online, just like offline. But there are a lot of different ways to make money online that aren’t so similar to offline business. Here are a few of the possible income streams:

• Article Writing - You can write articles on certain websites to make money online. These websites are referred to as websites for Revenue Sharing Article Writing. This is a great way to learn the basics of making money online. Since you need to learn keyword research and social media to earn from your articles. Those are some of the basics that you will need in any type of income stream you generate.
• Blogging - Blogging is obviously a good income generator. I mean “all the cool kids” do it. I digress, by monetizing your blog with advertisements, you can earn quite a bit from your blog. This requires a lot of time and effort though. So people who can’t commit, beware!
• Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate Marketing is when you provide links to people’s products and then you earn a commission if someone buys it from clicking through your link. People often write reviews and comparisons to draw people in. This method is often combined with blogging to become a primary income stream for the internet entrepreneur.

The are way more income streams to be made online. But those are some of the big ones and this article would get too long if I tried to fit them all in.

Why Expand your Revenue Streams?

Expanding your Revenue Streams online is actually a pretty simple process. But why would you need to do it? I mean isn’t one revenue stream enough. People usually only have one job, right? Well, that’s true. But the risk in most people’s lives is really unsettling. Here are some reasons why you should expand your revenue streams:

• More Money Possibility – With more income streams, it’s pretty obvious that you have the ability to make more money then you would have otherwise. Having a bunch of income streams going into your main bank balance, you can make quite a bit of money.
• More Security – Say one of your income streams is stopped because Amazon closes down. Well, if that was the one  source is income, you need to completely rebuild. But if you have multiple streams, it will still hurt. But it’s not like you are getting fired. You just have to find new opportunities while relying on your other streams of income.
• More Chance to Be Noticed – If you have more of a presence online, it will be easier for people to find you. Then you can cover more places that people can be. So if someone is on Linkedin but not Twitter, then you can still reach them.

The Real Internet Entrepreneur

Creating a diverse portfolio is a way to make yourself a real internet entrepreneur. A real internet entrepreneur covers all of the necessary fields such as a website, social networks, and search engine optimization. Although an internet entrepreneur may outsource the work it still needs to be covered. It also allows the person to be more secure while making more money. By doing this you may become a prolific serial internet entrepreneur

What do you think about making multiple income streams? What income streams have you gotten caught up in? Leave a comment below!

Gambling for the Internet Entrepreneur – Expand your Revenue Streams is a post from: Simply Learn Business

Stress can affect your performance or the quality of work. And in an industry when one bad post could lose you readers, stress must be controlled

Managing Stress

Stress Management is crucial, but few really succeed in it. It’s all about mindset. I mean, as far as school, I don’t get stressed out very often. There are two reasons for this and they are: lack of care and the ease of control.

Lack of Care

I have never cared enough about school to get stressed over it. Now, I’m an A and B student so don’t get me wrong. It is still a priority. But to be honest, this blog has more meaning and is more valuable to me. You can’t learn about keyword research and Twitter Marketing in school. There aren’t any courses in it. So a lack of care prevents serious stress from occurring.

Ease of Control

Some problems have simple solutions and some are hard to solve. The ease of control of a situation is how simple it is to get rid of the stress. A 2-page paper that counts as a homework grade is easier to manage then a 15-page research paper

Back to the Internet Entrepreneur

Well, take those principles and apply them to an Internet Entrepreneur’s life. The lack of care shouldn’t affect a successful internet entrepreneur, because I truly believe you need to love what you do in order to become that successful. But the ease of control is an interesting piece to apply to an internet entrepreneur. An Internet Entrepreneur manages all of his online presence, unless he outsources or is in a partnership, so they have to cover from the ground up. They have to manage everything from writing in the blog to paying the bills for hosting. All the weight is on their shoulders.

Prioritizing your Tasks

Finding time for each of these tasks can be harder then it may seem. You need to be able to prioritize each task. High priority tasks such as paying expenses and submitting the content to your readers that they expect need to be first. Remember that content for your readers is a high priority task. You need to supply for your readers what they expect, otherwise they will stop coming to your business. The customer always comes first, so think of them when you are prioritizing your tasks. On the low priority end you have upgrades to your business or changing a setting on your blog. Although you should definitely get to these eventually, you do need to put other tasks before them.

Creating a List

I won’t lie, I’m quite the procrastinator. One of the techniques I use to avoid the evils of procrastination is creating a list. A simple to-do list, actually. You can write it out on a piece of scrap paper or on your iPhone, which is a great business tool. But it’s very important to write it down. This will give you something to look at and make you stay on task. Put the high priority tasks at the top of the list to get done first. As you cross off items from your to-do list you will begin to feel more accomplished and it can get you to become more productive. It’s just a nice feeling to put a strike-through something that may have been at the back of your mind.

Take a Deep Breath

At some points there is going to be too much stress that you aren’t going to be able to work effectively. This is a time where you need to take a step back and just breath. Think about what you need to do rationally. Your mind tends to make things seem harder then they are when you are stressed. I don’t recommend you use this strategy as much as the others, because it is a lot less productive. But you should use it at some point. It can allow you to refocus and then get back to work and be productive again.

Ending Stress

I got the idea of this topic because I have been stressed out lately, due to college scholarships and multiple other assignments. That’s why I haven’t been very prolific in the past couple months as far as posting in the blog. But I am near the end of my work for college, so this blog and my Internet Entrepreneur life will become a high priority task once again. But I do love writing these posts and there is no plan to stop. You’ll be reading more from me very soon.

What is your strategies for managing stress? Tell me about it in the comments below and maybe I’ll start to use them.

The Awful Moment when Stress Hits is a post from: Simply Learn Business

Well I challenged my supervisor to a little competition. Or, at least, one of her old posts. My intentions is to beat that post as far as views and comments. This is part of my New Year’s Resolution for my internship that is making the blog more of a priority. I only have an hour during school time to work there so managing my time is going to be very important.

The Details of my Internship Competition

This little informal competition was designed to create a sort of hype around the blog. I tried to get people to realize that the blog will be getting more posts and be more helpful. I told them to hit that subscribe button, so they don’t miss out! So that drew in a few more subscribers to the Rogers & Gray Insurance blog.

Now, I mean this is not a like planned out contest. It doesn’t even really have any rules. I just thought it would spice up the Business Development department motivation. At first, I thought I would just have to beat that one post. But of course, Lynn had a response post, to my challenge post. So now, we are both trying to beat that first post with one of our own.

That post got over 180 views and 13 comments. So that’s the mark that we are going to try to surpass. My competition post has 101 views, as I post this, so it’s almost reached the view goal. But, not only did it bring us over 100 views, it also sparked more life in the blog. Ever since then, Lynn and I have been posting much more regularly as there is something to work for.

That’s the lesson I would like you to take out of this post. You should try a competition in your workplace. Humans are naturally competitive and it can help the motivation of your employees or coworkers. Besides, it’s fun. Lynn and I are only vigorously blogging for our bragging rights, but if you want put a lunch into the mix. Spice up the work! I’m sure the people you work with will appreciate it.

And if you are just working alone on a blog. Then set some goals and compete with your past performance. This can really help to motivate you. And a first idea for a post, your goals for 2012 post. That’s where you can become accountable for keeping up with your goals. Your readers can motivate you!

But, before I let you go, make sure you take a look at my competition post….

My Internship – The Challenge and Response! is a post from: Simply Learn Business