Duncan, Ben, Dave and Jonnie have been traveling the country crossing things off their list of 100 things to do before they die. For each thing they cross off their list they help someone else cross something off their own list.  What started off as a summer road-trip and a blog has turned into more then they could ever imagine…

Follow them:

TheBuriedLife.com

@theburiedlife

What does everyone think of the video interview? What do you like better the video or our text interviews? Please leave a comment!

Interview done by Uptin Saiidi

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What’s with the strut? Psychologically there are many cues that denote the feeling of confidence. They display our intent, betray our falsehoods and reveal our attractions. Many of these actions we cannot control and some of the micro twitches in our face, that we consciously miss, can be picked up by our subconscious which leads to the gut reactions we feel about people. Assume you’re in a conversation with a colleague:

Eyes

The most important indicator of status, the eyes can establish dominance, or subservience. Sounds dramatic but its true, when addressing people it is always considered proper to look into their eyes. For most people this can be difficult, there is an uneasy feeling associated with looking in the eyes of another. Especially in same-sex encounters it is important to maintain eye contact. Most times we know who the more dominant figure is, but when status is in question the eyes are often a deciding factor for the amount of respect you gain from the opposite party. Look away and you’ve lost the battle for respect, the other person feels as though they made you look away or uneasy, a subconscious cue for a bow of dominance. This allows them to take the reigns of the conversation or relationship. This reflects poorly on you as well as makes you seem self-conscious.

Mouth

Second to the eyes, the mouth plays an important role in determining your intent or mood. Disarming a situation is one genuine simile away. The difference between a genuine smile and one that is easily detected as fake or malicious is the micro twitches at the corner of the mouth. When you force a smile these twitches alert the opposite persons subconscious to your mood or intent. Remember this the next time a fake smile is forced, most people can tell.

Chin

Although the movement is not attributed to the chin, the elevation of the chin in relation to the shoulder will determine if a person seems depressed or arrogant. Too high and the prevailing reaction will be that this person has a large ego and knows how important he is. Averting the eyes down along with the chin exposes a mood of depression; chin down with eye contact portrays a sinister intent. One of the most important tips is the continuity of eye contact, this usually insures that the chin reflects the right intent and remains at the correct elevation.

Shoulders

Shoulders back or shoulders forward? Shoulders forward show the world that you are slightly closed off, depressed, shy, or all of the above. The reasoning behind holding the shoulders back is to portray good posture, which is more attractive and authoritative then the opposite. This is just one small piece of the business swagger puzzle.

Hands

In a sense our hands provide a visual cue to describe the words we are saying. The most effective way to use the hands is descriptively to help the listener understand a certain piece of a presentation or conversation. For example the hands could be used to show the difference in height for the comparison of 2 objects.

Walk

Some examples of swagger in a walk motion are to keep the speed of the walk high but not uncomfortable. The walk should portray that you have a purpose, somewhere to be. It should be slow enough to show that the person is not late. Walk with purpose to add an air of authority to your business swagger.

Swagger

Work on each piece of the puzzle and eventually build a complete business swagger portraying importance and authority to all who see it. Remember as much as entrepreneurs hate it, a lot of the authority and status are derived from visual cues.

Brain Cox can be found at AbsolutPurpose.com where his passions include web design, marketing and innovating. Follow him @absolutpurpose

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I know you’re not my biggest fan. I’m one of those pesky GenY twenty-somethings that you’ve called “cocky,” “lazy,” and “incompetent.”  It appears our generation has hit a nerve, really gotten under your skin.  Well, I am writing to you because I feel like we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. Please hear me out.

I’ve thought long & hard about what it must be like from your perspective, and I have some theories about your frustration. I will have to generalize, but from the many papers & articles published about GenY as a whole, I think you will understand.  Here it goes-

Many of you were raised the sons & daughters of hard-working middle class Americans & first-generation immigrants. Growing up, you watched your parents make sacrifices & work incredibly hard to realize the American dream, even when fair employment was rarely offered to those not educated in America. As young men, you faced drafts & as young women you had to break down the barriers of inequality in the work place. You did not have it easy but you were determined to succeed.  Many of you were the first in your families to receive higher education and entered the workplace hungry for success.

For years you worked diligently, providing a lifestyle for your family that you could only dream of as a child. All of the things you had to work so hard to achieve, you happily handed to us, your children.

We gladly accepted the opportunities provided to us and as youngsters, always sought your advice.  However as we enter adulthood, many of us having graduated college; masters programs; and/or started promising careers, some of us are turning away from the path that has been so carefully laid out before us.  As a result, you feel betrayed, taken advantage of, and ignored.  You might assume we are lazy & unwilling to work hard to achieve success the way you did. You think the environment of positive reinforcement you raised us in has created an epidemic of spoiled, self-involved young adults.

Am I close?

If it sounds at all familiar, I think we can clear a few things up. First of all, please know that we are grateful for the sacrifices you made for our generation; we recognize everything you did and know that we could not be where we are today without you help. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

That being said, I’d greatly appreciate it if you could consider the below:

1. You are right that many of us do not want to work the way you did, BUT by no means does that imply we do not want to work hard.  While we may not be following the standard 8am-6pm cubicle job, modern technology allows us to be productive from anywhere at anytime and we are taking advantage of it.  You may not consider tasks like utilizing social media or blogging “work” but believe me, if you are contributing anything valuable, it is!
2. We have different definitions of success than you do.  Many millennials are placing greater importance on quality of life than monetary success alone.  After receiving top educations & gaining valuable experience, we are passing up some very lucrative, respectable careers, but we prefer to be passionate about our jobs and are willing to make financial sacrifices to get there. I understand your frustration- tuition costs have skyrocketed and you want to get your money’s worth.  However, instead of judging the worth of our education based solely on our starting salaries, please try to look at the whole picture. You’ve given us the background to find careers that not only support us but more importantly are fulfilling. Perhaps we are starting our own business or following another, non-traditional career path, but trust that whatever we do, we are not treating it lightly.  With the constant restructuring of modern businesses, we are concentrating on building our individual worth by pursuing careers we are passionate about with the hopes to achieve long-term success.
3. (The one that really gets to me.) We’re tougher & more grounded than you give us credit for. When you have gone through such lengths to prepare us for the real world, how is it that you so quickly assume we are making foolish decisions? We don’t expect success to be handed to us on a silver platter; give us a little credit & maybe even a chance to prove ourselves.
4. And finally, we’ve learned from watching you.  Like every generation, we observed your trials & tribulations and have learned from them. Perhaps we saw marriages fall apart or witnessed our fair share of mid-life crisis among the neighbors. Whatever it was that influenced us, it is time for us to start our own journeys, make our own mistakes, and eventually give the generation after us their very own list of problems to avoid!

The best way for us to understand & maybe even help each other is through open communication. I hope this is a good start.

Sincerely,

GenY

Written by: Tina Paparone is the co-founder & CEO of the unique gift company BeMe, which creates products to inspire girls to embrace their individuality. Find out more about BeMe & Tina’s other projects at www.TinaPaparone.com.

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Photo via Gawker

First things first, how the hell did you make $2million from your college dorm room?

I traded thousands of hyped up penny stocks, discovering several chart patterns that were predictable 90% of the time, taking small gains nearly every day and those gains added up over time. My first million was made through buying these stocks as they hit new highs, but my second million was from short selling, or betting against, that same pattern on the way down–it’s just really pattern recognition…like a pendulum. I’ve never dealt in the corruption part of penny stocks, but I’ve learned a ton about it over the years so now I teach others how to identify and profit from it. You can read one cool story about how I made $123,000 in one weekend during my Freshman year http://www.my10000dollars.com/AnAmericanHedgeFundChapter6.pdf

For more details see my FAQ page http://www.timothysykes.com/faq/ and my book “An American Hedge Fund: How I Made $2 Million…” http://www.timothysykes.com/book

So, you are in college and you have a hedgefund–honestly now, how many times did you use that line out at the bar? Do freshman girls even know what a hedge fund is?

Ha, nobody in college had the slightest clue what a hedge fund was, when I said the word hedge fund, people asked me if I was in landscaping. You have to remember I went to Tulane down in New Orleans so I worked all day and then went out at night–by the time I was chatting with anybody, we were all pretty drunk so it didn’t matter. I can’t stress how important it is to let loose every now and then, whether you’re into drinking, fine dining or even something like fishing…especially if you work 16 hour days like I have always done. Mind you half my days are spent working, the other half are for reading/researching so it’s important.

Your Twitter profile @TimothySykes says “Stock guru to the little people”. Obviously you’ve never lacked confidence.  Tell us how this came to bite you back…

I haven’t always known my strategy would be so crucial for others to learn, but after trading for over a decade and now teaching for the past two years, I have a fairly solid grasp on the curriculum and the problems most people have (90-95% of traders lose money), but yes my confidence does get me in trouble. Because I know what I’m doing is helpful and real (as compared to the industry full of cowards and frauds), I don’t take crap from anybody as my brutally honesty and transparency makes me the friggin messiah of the finance industry. This makes it partnering rather difficult because I can only ever be a one man brand…like Martha Stewart, without the perjury.

Your fund lost 1/3 of its value at one point; how did you bounce back to earn the trust of so many people who take your advice?

As I detail in my book “An American Hedge Fund”, the loss was due to my getting away from my core trading strategy, so it wizened me up which has made me an infinitely better teacher. I would never recommend learning from anyone who hasn’t experienced firsthand such important scarring.

But this isn’t an easy concept to preach so I went back to my core trading strategy and my $12,415 Bar Mitzvah gift money roots to repeat my feat of turning it into $2 million with the goal of detailing every step of the way. Two years and 2,300 blog posts later, I’ve become the #1 ranked trader out of 45,000 on Covestor (a website that verifies all trades and performance) by growing that $12,415 into $115,000….nearly 10x all through the same strategies I employed the first time around…with slight adjustments in order to adapt to current market conditions.

Most people think you are just a trader, but you also operate an internet empire teaching people what you know.   How did you bridge the gap between being an investor and internet marketer?

There isn’t much of a gap at all because my books, DVDs and websites illustrate what I know about finance and trading…they are extensions of the research I normally do except I’m also educating my readers daily…I highly encourage everyone to create businesses around their passion and explore multiple channels of income.

You’ve been quoted by saying “These are the July results of a hardworking internet entrepreneur, think 16-20 hours days, including weekends…it’s all about how bad you want it, f$%^ the 4-hour work week you fat lazy American slobs, working hard, and honestly, is the path to righteousness and fulfillment…” Is money and influence really what fulfills you? If so, give us your most outrageous purchase.

Money and influence are byproducts of success and hard work but they mean relatively little to me. That said, I do love fine dining and have been known to drop a few thousand dollars on dinners at great restaurants worldwide. All starting when I made that $123,000 over the weekend in college and I took my entire dorm out to dinner at Boston’s awesome Fire & Ice. Now some of my favorite restaurants are Sushi Yasuda & Corton in NYC, L’Arpege in Paris, Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo.

Let’s talk about controversy; you write blog posts like: Suck On This John Chow, My Blog Made $45,000 Last Month!, Gawker titled you as “Capital Schmuck”, and you aren’t afraid to speak your mind.  How does this infamy help your personal brand and why aren’t you afraid of it?

I call this strategy “hate marketing” since I know my trading strategy is real, proven and unique, I can say just about anything to get people to remember me and be curious enough to want to learn more about why I am so confident. I wish I could just go about teaching and being normal, but people are dubious of those teaching others to make money so I have to go to extremes to show that I am real. Think about it, my exposure strategy differentiates me quite nicely because all the true frauds can never risk annoying anyone or making so many enemies and risk being exposed. I have ZERO fear because I have nothing to hide and great things to teach. In fact, many of my initial “haters” go on to become my best students–take Michael Goode of http://www.reapertrades.com who I first learned about when he wrote a blog post entitled “Timothy Sykes Is Full Of BS” but now has bought all my instructional DVDs, has profited over $125,000 from my strategy and is my #1 affiliate.

So do you really suggest short-selling penny stocks from your dorm room? What happened to the buy and hold strategy that is so often preached?

Short selling penny stocks when they are manipulated/pumped up is actually one of the safer strategies around because I’m literally betting for frauds and schemes to collapse. Imagine being able to make money off Madoff–that’s essentially what I’m doing Buy and hold was so 1990s…in these dangerous economic times, it’s probably the single riskiest strategy around and it’s sad that so many financial neophytes believe it to be safe. I put all the blame on entertainment-masquerading-as-responsible-financial-advisor outlets like CNBC and Motley Fool.

How can our Under30CEOs get started with their investing empire?

Start learning from all the top rated investment books on my brand new site Investimonials http://investimonials.com/books/ which is gonna be the TripAdvisor/Yelp for the finance world, already with 3,000+ user reviews in the first 2 months since we launched.

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What is the story behind your company?

The recession was just starting to get into full swing in 2008 and I realized that groups like sports leagues, churches, and schools would be feeling the effects of a downward economy and there would be a greater need for fundraising options.  At the same time, the green movement was beginning to gain a mainstream foothold and eco-friendly marketing messages were dominating the airwaves.  By marrying the two concepts together, I created an entirely new niche within the fundraising industry.

What makes your company unique in its industry?

In the fundraising industry, we are one of the largest players to focus exclusively on offering healthier and greener fundraising alternatives.  Candy, cookie dough and wrapping paper have all had their day and customers have long been searching for options which are higher quality offered at a better price.  We aim to provide that to them in a healthy and green package.

Within the green fundraising niche, Go Green Fundraising is the only place where groups can find traditional brochure based fundraisers that utilize earth friendly and healthy products.  Our competitors have focused on online offerings which tend to return less profit back to the groups and has a steeper learning curve than our brochure based programs.

Future plans for the company?

We plan to introduce a revolutionary donation based fundraising program in the very near future which leverages the best practices from a number of fundraising methods.  There are also plans being created right now to work with schools on a national basis in creating healthier food options and promoting more physical activity in school aged children.

What was the start-up budget?

Around $15,000 for initial inventory and brochure printing runs.

Year Founded:

2008

URL:

http://www.go-green-fundraising.com

Founders and Ages:

Jordan Gottlieb 26

Where can people find the company?

On the web at http://www.go-green-fundraising.com and on twitter at www.twitter.com/greenfund

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Ash&Dans was born and quickly has become a known name in the fashion industry with features in things like Teen Vogue, Lucky Magazine and the Wall Street Journal . It took hard work and a lot of motivation but the duo is pushing forward and expanding their brand as we speak.

You have an amazing private label clothing line, you started from your dorm rooms.  What gave you the courage to move across the country to New York and how did you fund the business?

Thank you, Matt. We actually did not start ash&dans in college; we came up with the idea shortly after graduation. Danielle was born in New York City and moved back in hopes of finding a job. Ashley, born in Colorado, moved to New York to pursue an acting career. While Ashley had some luck breaking into the industry, Danielle was not so lucky. As the hiring freezes started, she struggled along with many other recent graduates. However, when things started slowing down for Ashley, and she saw her best friend frustrated with the fruitless job search, Ashley, an entrepreneur and optimist at heart, decided it was time to take action. She knew that we had the work ethic, will power and creative edge to start a business together. When Ashley brought up the idea at first, it seemed to good to be true. But the more seriously we thought about it, discussed and planned, we realized it was going to become a reality. From the day Ashley brought up the idea of starting a company, we have put our all into the brand and have been enjoying success ever since.

ash&dans did not start up with the help of investors. The reason we were able to make things work was because we were extremely prudent with our money ever since day one. We each invested a small amount of our personal savings into a joint business bank account and used that money to grow our business. At the start, we kept our costs down to a minimum- we borrowed a sewing machine from a friend and cut and sewed old t-shirts and sweaters to make the prototypes. Once we had the prototype, we bought just enough fabric and trim to make them professionally. Because we were so careful with our buying, we were able to cover our costs by selling our product and keeping very little inventory

So you started with nothing but fabric and scissors, how did you drum up your first clients?

We were creative and confident. Once we put together our Fall ‘08 collection, a few samples of each style, we carried them in a garment bag around the city and walked into boutiques that we thought would be a good fit for our product. We introduced ourselves and our brand to the people in the store and asked if we could speak with the buyer or manager. If they said yes, we would show them our samples and line sheets and pitch them our collection, right then and there. Of course, it took guts and charisma, but it worked out for the best. We got into our first store this way- a cute boutique on the Upper East Side of NYC.

Roommates in college and now business partners–do you ever get sick of each other? Describe the details of your partnership.

No, it’s a wonderful thing. We spend most hours of the week together but do not get sick of each other. We even still spend our free time on the weekends together, too. Our personalities are different, but we balance each other well, in business and friendship.

So many creative people, designers and artists have trouble with the business side of things.  What advice can you provide for people who have a creative product to sell but don’t know how to turn it into a business?

Educate yourselves constantly and surround yourselves with people who know more than you do. Never be afraid to ask questions or take risks. It is amazing how much we have developed our business savvy since the inception of ash&dans. Even Ashley, who was a business major in the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, believes she has learned infinitely more from her day to day experiences running her own business than she could have learned in a classroom. We learn something new everyday. We enjoy both the business side and the creative side and fill each day with a equal amounts of both.

Have any celebrities been spotted wearing your line and if so, how did you take advantage of this marketing strategy?

Yes, some celebrities have been spotted wearing ash&dans. Gossip Girl’s Jessica Szohr and Leighton Meester have both been photographed wearing our product and Catherine Zeta-Jones and Judy Dench were seen buying ash&dans at Henri Bendels in NYC.

You’ve been featured in Cosmo Girl, Teen Vogue, the Wall Street Journal and inTouch Magazine how did you land the press?

Sometimes we reach out to magazines and sometimes they reach out to us. At the beginning, we found contacts at various fashion publications and emailed them with an intro to our company and images of our collection. Teen Vogue was the first company to respond to our buzz. They had heard of us and were eager to run a story on the up-and-coming brand. We enjoyed doing the interview and the interviewer loved our line. People responded positively to that article, including DailyCandy, who featured us in their New York Weekend segment. Jessica Szohr mentioned to Lucky Magazine that ash&dans was her favorite scarf of 2009. This began a snowball effect- the more people read the interviews, the more people wanted to write about us. The more people wrote about us, the more stores became interested in our line. The more stores picked up our line, the more magazines were interested in doing a write up. And so on and so forth.

How does your distribution strategy work?  Are you guys packing boxes and delivering your scarves across NYC and what are your plans for expansion?

We run and manage all aspects of the business, which includes distribution. We pack boxes and use shipping services to send our scarves to various stores in the city, as well as across the country and overseas.

Your scarf was seen in the presence of Jersey Shore’s Snooki, what does this say about your clientele and how obsessed are you guys with the hit MTV series?

Oh, the Snooki picture. We never expected it to draw so much attention but appreciate that you have visited our Facebook page’s “Spotted” album. We love the Jersey Shore and hope that Snooki is obsessed with ash&dans, too. Our friend (left) sent us that picture after a work meeting with her. Although the scarf isn’t on Snooki, we thought people would enjoy the photo because she is such a character right now.

What’s the most difficult part of scaling a business like this and what are you most looking forward to in the future?

Everyday we wake up thankful for having our own business at such a young age and grateful for being able to spend our days together. We look forward to growing our brand, continually challenging ourselves and coming up with innovative designs.

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How do you turn this idea into a reality? This small business guide is meant to take you through those basic steps of getting your business off the ground.

This guide will continue to be revised over time. Please leave comments on what’s missing or what is unclear. We’ll keep tweaking it!

1. Decide What Products or Services Your Small Business will Offer

Seems simple enough right? Well you would be surprised how many people jump into business with out ironing out this MAJOR detail. There is also a major difference between your mainstream of revenue (which should be your focus) and all of your other ideas for producing income.

Example: Starting a website and saying I’m going to make money off consulting and advertising.

That’s a good start but which is your focus?

Ad dollars means driving big traffic numbers, creating social media friendly posts, and catering your site to meet advertisers goals and needs.

Consulting means you will be better off creating more of a community and forming person to person relationships. You will want to cater your content to serve them which may mean a lack of “viral” posts or mass audience content.

This does not mean giving up on one all together. You can have ad revenue while focusing on consulting or vice versa but you need to determine your focus and let the secondary streams of income develop on their own.

Some questions to ask about your product/service:

• What makes you an expert in your industry or your product different from the rest?
  
• Does the product or service meet a need?
• Have you thought about the future of your market? Where are trends headed? Is your product leading or already being phased out?

Most important question! Are you passionate about your product? Do you love it? Does it keep you up at night? Would you wake up every morning excited to work on this business?

Your business is going to be your livelihood. You need to love it! Success does not happen overnight, it will take time months, even years to make big strides. If you aren’t in love with your business you will stand a good chance at losing the motivation to push forward.

Your energy and excitement will also show through with your clients and customers. It will be a lot easier to make sales and get people to listen to you if you are passionate. You should not have to put on an act when talking about your company or marketplace, it should flow just like a baseball fan talking about the World Series or a music lover talking about their favorite band.

The people that love their business work on the weekends not because they have to but because there is nothing else they would rather be doing!

2. Know Your Market and Your Competition

Understanding your market goes a lot deeper than “I sell coffee so my market is people that like coffee.” The market needs to be broken down so you can develop a clear picture of who your ideal customers are.

Some questions for defining your primary market:

• What demographic are they from?
• What do they do for work and for fun?
• Where do they hangout?
• Where do they get money from? ie. If your market is teenager you may want to look at their parents.
• What traits do they have?
• What are their common goals?
• What influences their decisions?

You also need to define your competition. Spend the time researching your industry to dig up everyone who is doing anything in your field. When your customers say “have you heard of so and so.” you want to be able to say yes and here is how I am different or better.

There are two main ways to find your competition:

1. Google
2. Ask!

1. Set aside some time and just start Googling your market. Try tons of search combination’s and check out each site and learn which ones are the main players. Also check out a site like Alltop.com and research the blogs in your industry. The bloggers will usually be talking about the companies and people already making headlines in the industry.

Tip: When Googling things don’t forget to check out the ads that come up on the top and on the sides! These ads are companies that pay to show up for those search terms you plugged in because they are in that field.

2. Get out there and ask who’s the best in the business. Go to where your market spends their time and see how people are using and buying products/services in your industry.  Ask them what is missing or what they wish could be better. You can also utilize social networks, things like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are great for crowdsourcing.  Markets are conversations. Start listening!

Some questions for beating your competition:

• How saturated is your market?
• Is there a large need for what you are selling?
• What are you offering that is better then the competition?
• How are you different?

Important: Define your Value Proposition and your Competitive Advantage

3. Business Plan (Executive Summary)

An executive summary is very important at the start of a business. It’s a summary of all the main points of your business and is great to help you put your ideas onto paper. Generally an executive summary is 1-3pages. A business plan can be 50 or even 100 pages but develop that in time. First get some basic thoughts straight.

Here are some basic questions to be answered:

• What is your idea?
• What need or want are you filling?
• How are you different?
• How big is your market? (Everyone is not an answer)
• What is your revenue model?
• What are the costs involved?
• How can you measure success?
• What are goals you can reach?

The more specific you can be the better.  This is the most important part of your plan; it should have a hook. You should be able to clearly pitch and describe your entire business in this document so an investor will understand it and see the potential.

More importantly it makes you write down and define your ideas and goals. This is something to hold yourself accountable to so you will have a better chance at succeeding!

4. Choosing a Business Structure

There are a few options when it comes to choosing your business structure. No structure is absolutely right or wrong. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks. While it’s advisable to consult with an attorney to do this it is very possible to setup yourself.

The options:

• Sole Proprietorship
• Partnerships
• Corporations
• Limited Liability Company

The basics of each:

Sole Proprietorship:

Benefits:

• Easy to set-up
• Limited fees
• Limited paperwork

Negatives:

• Your personal assets are vulnerable to creditors and lawsuits
• Don’t get certain tax breaks
• Your company name is not protected from someone else taking it

Partnerships:

Benefits:

• Easy to set-up
• Limited fees
• Limited paperwork

Negatives:

• If your partner messes up you are accountable
• More difficult to raise funds
• Company name is not protected

Corporations:

Benefits:

• Shields you from personal liability
• Numerous tax benefits
• Company name protection
• Flexibility to raise capital
• C-Corp and S-Corp options for different tax structures

Negatives:

• Initial fees and paperwork to set-up
• Maintenance – Annual reports and up-to-date corporate records

Limited Liability Companies:

Benefits:

• Less on-going paperwork then corporations
• Shields you from personal liability
• Tax flexibility
• Company name is protected

Negatives are limited but vary against each type of structure.

Summary: Limited Liability Companies (LLC’s) have become increasingly popular because they combine a lot of the benefits of corporations and sole proprietorship’s with few of the negatives.

How you structure is up to you and it is recommended to consult an attorney or try LegalZoom.com. Again there is no right or wrong structure for most businesses you just have to match up what suits you and your business goals the best.

5. Finding Funding

Any business you start is going to have some funding needs. Even if minimal you need to figure out how you are going to cover them. Funding can range from finding $500 to finding hundreds of thousands. Lets look at a few of the basic options for funding.

Friends, Family and Fools

This should be everyone’s first step when looking to raise some money. Go to the people you are closest to and that trust you. Ask your parents and family members to make an investment in your business rather then those birthday or holiday gifts this year. Also ask them to reach out to their friends who may find it interesting to put up some money if they believe in what your doing.

This method won’t raise you millions but you should be able to come up with a couple thousand even if you have to mow the lawn all summer.

The only drawback to this method is the close knit ties you have to your funding source. If something goes wrong or you can’t pay them back it will feel twice as worse.

Bootstrapping

You can always choose to fund the whole operation right out of your pocket. This is great because obviously you have no obligations to pay off anyone. You can use savings, initial revenue, credit cards, or grab that part-time job.

Of course the drawback here is personal debt. If you use up all of your savings or rack up credit card debt and then your business hits a rough patch you could be in for a tough road. The important thing to remember is to keep it all manageable. It’s ok to rack up some debt but keep it within reason so it can be paid off if needed.

Angel Investors or Venture Capital

Once you exhaust the other types of funding these two sources are next.

Angel Investors are generally individuals who have already made it big themselves and are looking to invest their own money. They take more of a personal interest than VC’s and will also provide consulting and mentoring to your company.  Angels will generally help provide upwards of 1 million dollars for your company.

Angels are a great resource if you can find them..there is a reason they are called “angels”. You will also be giving up equity in your company in return for their investment.

Find Venture or Angel Funds

Venture Capitalists are in investing as a profession. They can provide huge sums of money (10s of millions) but will also take major control of various aspects of your business. Also expect high demands as they want to see return on their investment fast.

VC’s are more likely to invest in established entrepreneurs (ones who have a proven track record). If you have a fast growth business and need major capital to get it off the ground VCs are the way to go.

Read: 6 Steps to the Perfect Pitch

Incubators

Incubators are still a relatively new way of funding and starting up companies. Major incubators like Y-Combinator provide the necessary resources to take your idea to company. Many incubators will offer start-up cash, offices, supplies, financial services and a team of consultants to mold your idea. If you join an incubator you are in the program for a set period of time, maybe 6months or a year.

The incubator will take equity in your company and will also require that you move to their offices so their team can work with you. They can be hard to get into as there are not many and there is a high demand to get in.

6. Name Your Business

Obvious? Well even though it sounds simple the name of your business is extremely important. This is the first thing you will tell people and the #1 thing they will remember you by. It should be catchy, easy to remember, easy to pronounce and easy to spell. Think about how it will translate into a domain name for your website.

Keeping it simple so people can type it into their address bar is crucial. You want to avoid hyphens and odd spellings of words if possible.

Example: Facebook is a great domain name. Not only does it provide a bit of a description of the actual site but it is extremely simple to say and spell. It’s great if you can put 2 common words together like “face” and “book”.

Example: Flickr is not the perfect domain name. This is because of the odd spelling of “flicker”. Now they did not stray to far from the actual word and sometimes its just not possible to get the word you want. But if you can avoid changing the base word to much that is the best way to go rather then changing it just because the spelling looks kinda cool.

The best way to tackle this whole process is to make a list of words that describes your business. Then narrow it down to the 1, 2 or even 3 words that best describe the company. Try to put these words together into a name and of course it also depends on availability for your domain name.

Head over to www.GoDaddy.com to check availability and to purchase a domain name.

It is possible to buy domain names from an owner but that takes time and negotiating. The price will surely be higher then getting a new one off GoDaddy so unless you absolutely have to own it you should try to find something available.

7. Setting up Your Website

A website can look like a daunting task to someone new in the online world. With the right tools and knowledge you can come to find it is very simple to get going.

1. Make sure you have that domain name from the last step section. www.GoDaddy.com

2. Buy hosting. We recommend www.GoDaddy.com or BlueHost.com. Either one will work fine. To start most people just need the most basic plan usually it will work out to somewhere between $6-$10/month depending on how long you buy it for.

3. Setup your site. You have two options here. Go at it yourself or hire a web designer. If you decide to go at it yourself you can generally start off by using WordPress. This platform is great for most basic sites especially blogs but even if your looking for just an informational site you will find it very easy to use.

On your hosting dashboard you should be able to find a 1-click install for wordpress that will take you through the setup steps. It may also be called a 5 minute WP install. Once installed you can begin to play around and navigate the wordpress dashboard. You will also want to choose a theme for your site. There are many free themes available but there are also premium themes. The thesis theme is one of the most popular and reliable premium themes.

It will take some getting used to but give yourself some time and you will realize how easy it is to configure things and update your website.

Like anything if you invest the money into hiring a web designer you will see the results. Depending on how complex your site needs to be this may be the only option.

8. Partner with Great People

The people in your company are your most important assets. Everything starts with the entrepreneur but the team you are surrounded with will be the ones that carry out the tasks. Don’t partner with just anybody, be picky and take your time. Check out how to choose your bootstrapping staff.

One key to look for is someone with a different skill set then yourself. If you are a great salesperson you may want to bring on a great web designer. Now you have two pieces of your company that are powerful and you won’t get crossed up when deciding what tasks each person should do.

It is also important to be extremely compatible with a person. They say having a business partner is like getting a married. You will be talking with this person everyday and most likely working in the same space as them everyday. You also won’t see success right away and will have to get through down times. Most importantly you will have to work through decisions and work out disagreements.

Two heads are always better then one but not if both those heads are constantly clashing.

Learn to lay the foundation for a solid partnership.

How to find them?

Referrals - Ask people around you or other connections you have made in the business world for recommendations.

Hire for small projects - Looking for a web designer? Hire a few designers over time for smaller projects for your company. See who is the easiest to work with, does the best work and is in a situation where an opportunity to join a company would look very appealing.

Network Network Network – In the end the more people you meet and know the better chance of finding that perfect fit. Hit up networking events and prepare yourself to ask people questions that will help you with your search.

9. Brand and Market Yourself

Before you jump into marketing you need to develop your foundation which is your brand. A brand is not just your name and logo…it is your companies identity, personality and appearance. You need to craft your story so that customers stick to your company and are confident in your work.

Think Red Bull: Everyone knows the popular energy drink. How would you describe it? Edgy, exciting, bold, dangerous, hip, exotic…you get the picture. These words and feelings are what they want you to think. They want their customer to have these feelings and its a huge reason for their tremendous success.

What to do:

1. Define your audience’s demographic’s (age, sex, income, education etc.) – should be in your business plan anyway!
2. Define your audiences touch points. What excites them? What makes them tick?
3. Craft a story. What are you going to tell people when they ask about the company?
4. Define colors and get a logo!
5. What is your end promise? What will your product or service deliver at the end?

With these steps you should now have a start on your brand development. Don’t rush! A solid brand takes time to craft and develop as you learn and test your markets. It’s perfectly fine to change things and adjust as you see fit.

Marketing:

Now that you have your brand its time to show it to the world! This is where the marketing comes in. There are various ways to market and you can choose one or a bunch of them.

Grassroots – This is the most basic of marketing that every business should be involved with. Attend local events and network with people. Hand out business cards or brochures. Tell friends and family and let the business spread via word of mouth.

Online Marketing – Being online is crucial in today’s business environment. Your main marketing material is your website. Get a professional and get SEO help so you can generate leads in your sleep! You can also advertise on search engines (it’s how Google makes money) but do the research and understand how to build a solid campaign.

Get involved with social networks like twitter, facebook, youtube and linkedin. There are also a million small niche groups and forums in your industry somewhere online. It’s important to understand how to get involved in the community so you are not mistaken for a spammer! But with the correct methods and the effort these free tools are priceless!

You can also buy banner ads online as I am sure you have seen on sites at some point. While not as effective as other methods if you find the right site with a loyal niche audience banner ads can still prove successful.

Tip: Email marketing can be an extremely valuable tool for your business. You will be building a list of your most loyal customers and fans that you can provide special tips, offers and ideas to.

PR Marketing – While time consuming this can help get your company in front of large audiences. It will also help brand you and your company as experts and increase credibility if you get noted in the right sources. Make sure to take the time to draft up solid press releases or pitch interesting angles to reporters for stories. You can also search online for bloggers and sites that interview startup companies or experts from your industry and ask to be included.

Tip: Sign-up to HARO – Helpareporter.com

Traditional Advertising - While fading traditional advertising still has its places and can still be beneficial. Looks for local publications to buy ad space in or local radio and tv channels.

10. Make the Leap!

In the end it is all up to you! Nobody is going to hold your hand or show you every little step. It takes hard work, dedication and some courage.

But don’t let that scare you! Ask anyone who has made the entrepreneurial leap and they will tell you what an awesome ride it was.

Look to friends and family for support. Make sure you have some people who are behind you in your journey and you will have a better chance at pushing through any hard times.

Good Luck!

Under30CEO offers a full array of small business services including branding, marketing and web design. Don’t hesitate to contact us with questions and to help take that idea or business to the next level!

Related posts:

1. Four Things to Ask yourself As a Starting Entrepreneur
2. The Leap – Three Simple Steps to Unlocking Your Greatest Potential

Today we’re focusing on email marketing.  If you’d like to catch up, you can catch last week’s article on social media here.

Email Marketing

Email is one of the simplest forms of communication in use today.  It is easy to use, save, sort and search through.  Used by individuals and businesses alike, email is the friendly median that lies between a phone call and an IM.  Today we’ll discuss how to use email marketing to grow your business.  We’ll discuss some tactics themselves, as well as share some tools I’m fond of when it comes to email marketing.

Before you can discuss the details of email marketing itself, you have to have someone to send the email to.  You may have a list of users who have signed up through your website, who have enrolled at events, who are sales leads your company has provided, or you may have no one; in which case you may rent an email list.

CAN-SPAM Act.  Getting labeled as a spammer, or blacklisted from email hosting providers (ESPs,) is the quickest way to make sure your message reaches no one.

The most frequent question I am asked after mentioning CAN-SPAM and compliance is “Does that mean we can’t rent email lists?”  The simple answer is no, it doesn’t mean that.  You may still rent email lists, just be sure the broker sending to the lists on your behalf has confirmed that the lists’ members have opted in to receiving advertising messages.

Once you have an opted-in audience and a reason to email them, you can build the email itself.  There are a number of strategies you can use, and they will largely depend on the goal of your email campaign.  To make things simple, we’ll look at the two primary types of email marketing.

True Marketing Messages

A marketing message is akin to a direct mail piece.  It will frequently have a lot of imagery, bold text explaining an offer, and may contain a coupon or link to a special offer.

Sales Messages

A sales message is more closely related to a written letter, perhaps from a sales person.  It is likely just text, explaining the product or offer a salesperson may be selling.  They may include their business card (signature) as well.

Both are perfectly valid uses for email marketing, and the only different in executing a campaign is the actual creation of the email itself.  While a marketing message may include a designer and copywriter, a sales message can be written by the sales person him or herself.

Regardless of your approach, you have a wealth of tools at your disposal to assist you in creating, sending, and monitoring your email campaign.  I will list a few of the systems my firm uses below.  Some are free (to an extent,) and others will cost you.  We’ve found all of these platforms to be amazing tools that have aided our clients’ email campaign significantly.

Constant Contact – http://www.constantcontact.com – Chances are if you’ve considered email marketing, you’ve heard of Constant Contact.  They offer a very easy to use interface and it is one of the most widely adopted email marketing platforms among small businesses.  They make it easy to create and send emails, build a distribution list, and track the results of your campaign.

MailChimp – http://www.mailchimp.com – Mail Chimp is made by the same people behind Survey Monkey and is one of the most versatile and powerful email marketing platforms we’ve used.  The basic process is simple to learn and easy to use.  Those with a little bit of knowledge in the field can manipulate the system to do just about anything you want.  Combine that flexibility with their comprehensive reporting tools and you’ll see email marketing make an impact for you.

JumpReach – http://www.jumpreach.com/ – If you want to build your email list and add an easy to use viral component to your email campaigns, Jump Reach is a terrific tool.  While Jump Reach isn’t an email marketing platform itself, it allows you to easily incentivize (and track) your communications.  An example: You run a car repair shop.  You email me, and if I forward that email to 5 friends who sign up with you, I get a free oil change.

Exact Target – http://email.exacttarget.com/ – Exact Target takes email marketing to another level.  Rather than email large groups, you can set up event triggers and timed emails that are sent automatically on an individual basis.  Sync this up with your CRM or POS system and you’ve instantly created a platform that allows you to reach a hand out to your customers and clients one by one without the huge workload that would normally entail.  The pricing isn’t cheap, but bottom line is if you use it right, you’ll generate a return.

Regardless of what direction you go in, remember the dos and don’ts of email marketing and you’ll give yourself the greatest chance of success:

Dos

• DO provide valuable content
• DO personalize your email campaigns
• DO screen your campaigns
• DO A-B test your campaigns (mix it up!)
• DO link to landing pages
• DO offer incentives
• DO make it easy to share

Don’ts

• DON’T overdo it
• DON’T forget to process opt-outs
• DON’T settle for any open rate
• DON’T use too much copy
• DON’T use boring subject lines
• DON’T just link to your home page

Good luck!

Author Chris Yoko is the president of Yoko Consulting, an interactive marketing firm that helps clients make the most of their web presence, from website development and social media to email and mobile marketing.  You can also find him right here at Under30CEO.

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2. Increasing Revenue Through Search Visibility: Part 2 of 5
3. Increasing Revenue Through Your Website: Part 1 of 5
4. 10 Things to Improve Your Small Business Marketing Results

Like Facebook, Twitter can be used to post updates and useful information in real-time. And like Facebook’s “Become A Fan” functionality, consumers and businesses can “Follow” your tweets on Twitter. Tweets are quick hits in 140 characters or less, which means that everyone is forced to “get to the point”. Essentially, Twitter offers the ability to build a simplified network of strategic partners and consumers interested in what you have to share. No ads, no cause invitations, no photos. Just relevance and opportunity abound.

Develop a Realistic “Tweet Plan”

According to the State of the Twittersphere report, each day about 10,000 new people join Twitter, with a total estimate of over 18 million users in 2010. As a general rule of thumb, professionals should tweet at least 3 times a day. Hey, we’re talking real-time here, not yesterday’s news! Tweeting once per month won’t garner many followers, so my suggestion would be to create a social media marketing strategy.

First, determine if you have the resources to use Twitter strategically – either internally (with employees), or externally (by hiring a firm that offers social media management).

Of all your tweets, 90% should be informative and useful to your followers. Think links to relevant articles, interesting statistics, re-tweets of industry-specific information from other professionals. Reserve the other 10% of tweets for company press like posts about new hires, exclusive offers, recent projects. Starting to get the overall picture?

Twitter for Entrepreneurs

Though many of us don’t allocate enough time or resources to social media, there are some really creative uses for Twitter, especially for entrepreneurs. I’ve personally connected with other SEO experts to learn about their online tools and to keep up with the latest in search engine optimization. I’ve shared our exclusive discount for Facebook Fans with our Followers via Direct Message on Twitter, which led to several new Fans and a new web development client from Twitter just last month.

The days of cold calling or emailing someone you don’t know aren’t exactly over, but they’re less effective than ever before. Twitter can get your company in front of prospects, industry experts and high profile professionals who you may not have had the opportunity to encounter otherwise. Follows can lead to direct messages, which can lead to personal conversations, collaborations or even sales. It’s in the cultivation of the relationship that determines how short- or long-term that relationship may be. As a CEO, by now you know how important strategic relationships are for maximum growth. Twitter should definitely be an integral part of that growth strategy!

Your Twitter Experience, Maximized!

You can also use Twitter to compliment your Facebook Fan Page, saving time and resources by linking the two to update simultaneously with the Twitter for Facebook application.

Using Twitter’s “Direct Message” feature, you can send private messages to any of your followers. Sending an initial “Thanks for the follow…” type of message makes a good first impression and creates a personal connection. Just don’t overdo direct messaging with salesy self-promotion.

TwitterFox enables you to view tweets in a pop-up menu within your Firefox web browser. No need to login to feed your need. And TweetLater lets you schedule your tweets in advance, which is a definite time-saver – but keep in mind that the point is real-time. Use Twitter Search to find out who’s tweeting and re-tweeting (RT) about your business.

Last, but not least, I’ve found New York Times Bestseller, Chris Brogan’s blog on 50 Ideas on Using Twitter very useful. I hope you do too!

Kelly Campbell is President and Creative Director of Liqui-Site Designs, Inc. [www.liqui-site.com], an award-winning, NY-based brand marketing firm she founded at the age of 23. She also hosts the popular weekly podcast, Holistic Health & Wellness, among the Top 20 shows in Alternative Health (iTunes). Kelly, and/or her work, has been featured on numerous radio programs, AOL Health, and in the New York Times, Woman Entrepreneur and Forbes Magazine.

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At only 23 Jack is on a similar path with Milo.com. He attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania which he left early for Palo Alto. It was there that he and a friend began scheming business ideas in the shopping industry. Before long Milo.com was moving from a piece of paper to a reality.

What is your background/story before you started Milo.com? Previous jobs? Career path?

I fell in love with the idea of entrepreneurship at an early age when I watched my father start comScore. I loved the fact that he could take a strong idea, hire a couple of driven and talented people, and transform the idea into a company that employs hundreds and eventually goes public.

My desire to be my own boss was coupled with my interest in data so I wrote software that crawled and analyzed arbitrage opportunities on eBay and traded products in real-time when such opportunities were identified. My eBay arbitrage company was printing money before it was shut down by PayPal.

I also have previous experience helping develop behavioral targeting campaigns for Microsoft and Drugstore.com.

First off could you explain Milo.com? What is it and who is it for?

Milo.com is the free Web site that enables shoppers to research online and buy local – providing the best of both worlds. Milo.com brings users real-time inventory and availability information and essentially combines the advantages of an Amazon-like experience with the ability to touch, feel and get products now at a local retailer.

Milo.com is useful for anyone who is frustrated by the potentially negative aspects of both online and offline shopping. Online shopping means shipping costs, waiting times and an inability to really look at the product before you buy. Buying in-store is often complicated by low inventory levels and a variety of prices across retailers. Milo.com solves this problem by allowing users to research online and check local prices and availability to find the product they want and have the option to buy it now in a local store.

Could you explain the story behind Milo.com? Where the idea came from, how you made the leap into it, what the early days were like?

I noticed a lot of innovation was happening in social networking and video on the web but nobody was innovating in shopping. It was still very Web 1.0. I realized that it was a lucrative space and also extremely beneficial for consumers so I left Wharton early to come out to Palo Alto – it’s where all the big technology companies have been built. I recruited a friend to come with me, rented an apartment off University Avenue and started building. We worked and lived in the apartment, trying out different ideas.

I knew I wanted to do something in shopping because nobody was being innovative in the space. I had several different ideas (mobile apps, web browser options) before I realized the potential of focusing exclusively on local shopping. Nobody was doing local well and it made sense for businesses and consumers to have a local shopping destination since over 95% of purchases are still done in local stores.

I met a lot of entrepreneurs early on who were really helpful for both personal advice and business strategy. I was introduced to Keith Rabois (Slide) and connected to Jawed Karim (co-founder of YouTube) and Kevin Hartz (Xoom, Eventbrite). They became mentors and helped us hone in on our value and make the necessary adjustments to our idea. Milo became the destination for shoppers who did research online but bought in-store.

About a year later, I saw 165 University Avenue for rent. I knew I had to have the space. It’s the same building that housed Google, PayPal, Danger, and Logitech. We moved in and have grown from 2 to 10 employees since then. Milo.com, which started out as an idea in an apartment, now has over 1 million unique visitors!

While running Milo.com have you had any major setbacks? If so could you explain it?

One of the most difficult things for us has been scaling to keep up with the immense growth that we’ve experienced. A little over a year ago, we had about 2000 visitors per month on our site. Now we have more than a million and we have to keep up with that demand by both increasing our site speed and adding new types of stores that fulfill users’ requests. We’re working to include several more apparel merchants and hope to also increase our penetration into specialty stores.

Why do think it finding it local is so important? Isn’t Amazon good enough?

Amazon is great for many things – specifically hard to find specialty items that you don’t mind waiting for. But for many other things – bulky home items, hot new video games, apparel, expensive TVs – people prefer in-store buying. They don’t want to ship a big or fragile item because it’s not only cost prohibitive but also risky, they don’t want to wait for a new game because they want to play it now, and they want to touch and feel items that have a variety of fits or a high price tag. Milo.com helps all of those shoppers by combining the best of the online and offline shopping worlds in one easy-to-use Web site.

“70% traffic growth month-over-month since launch in December 2008″ is on your site. Why do think the site is seeing such rapid growth? Any secret marketing strategies you have to share?

All of our growth to-date has been organic. The only big secret is giving people what they want. Research shows that almost 90 percent of shoppers research online before buying in-store and there hasn’t really been one great place that allows them to do that. Milo.com has become that destination.

Milo.com has an impressive list of investors and advisors. What have you learned about pitching to investors? Are there any do’s and dont’s?

Learn to sell. As an entrepreneur you constantly have to sell yourself, your idea, your team, your product, your traction and your vision. Come prepared. Create a great pitch deck and make sure you are selling something sustainable. I would highly recommend religiously reading and thinking hard about Sequoia’s “Elements of Sustainable Companies” and guide to writing a business plan. Both can be found at http://www.sequoiacap.com/ideas.

Build credibility. Surround yourself with great advisors, hire great people and get introductions from highly trusted sources.

What would you say to a young entrepreneur who is considering raising capital? Is there right or wrong time to do it?

Not really. I would say to never raise money when you need it. Always have at least 1-2 years of cash in the bank. Good times to raise capital are during periods of rapid growth or once you eliminate substantial key investment risks (concept, team, product, technology, market, distribution, monetization).

Start with angels. The more respected/connected the angels you get involved the easier it will be for you to raise venture later on. Don’t waste your time with VCs until you have a product built with great traction. Even with good introductions and a great idea VCs probably won’t invest in you because you’re young and unproven. Prove yourself first!

What would you say has been the biggest factor in your success not just with Milo.com but overall?

The continual drive and challenge to improve is probably the biggest factor. I thrive on being creative and really thinking about what would make both Milo.com and our society better, what services would increase our quality of life and how I can push the frontier of what we think is possible.

Care to brag at all? User numbers? Sales numbers? Big achievements? Press?

We’re extremely pleased with our traffic growth. Our first anniversary saw 70% traffic growth month over month and we hit our goal of one million unique monthly users in December. Big achievements for us also include getting our Series A in a challenging economy and having all the original angel investors reinvest in the round, which was extremely oversubscribed. We’ve also seen lots of interest from the press and have been profiled in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and Reuters to name a few. For a full list of press coverage, you can go to http://milo.com/press

What are your next steps? Either business or personal.

Our next step is to continue fulfilling our mission of bringing every product on every shelf of every store in the world onto Milo.com. We’re now starting to onboard regional merchants in addition to national ones and look to continue moving down this path until we have the mom and pop stores on Main Street.

Where can people find you online?

• @jackabraham
• facebook.com/jackabraham
• jack@milo.com

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