If you want to make a difference in the world, consider pursuing social entrepreneurship. How is this different from standard business, you might be wondering? And what kind of change can you bring to the world through business innovation? Keep reading to find out how you can take your first steps into social entrepreneurship and effect real-life change in your community.

What Is Social Entrepreneurship?

Social entrepreneurship shares many characteristics with regular entrepreneurship. After all, it incorporates all of the standard business practices. However, it’s the reasons behind why one enters into business where the real differences can be drawn. It is the practice of applying fundamental business ideas to the task of improving the world around you in some essential way. It’s about social responsibility and community service.

Taking Money Out of the Equation

Unlike standard entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship does not focus on building monetary gain. Of course, income must be generated, but that money is typically cycled right back into the business to serve the greater good. Personal profit or wealth creation is not a part of this practice. All profit is used to generate social programs and enrichment for people in your local or global community.

The World Needs More Social Entrepreneurs

Many people around the world are suffering now more than ever. With economic issues come bigger challenges, like poverty, unemployment, lack of access to healthcare and proper education, and more. If there was ever a time to invest in a socially conscious business venture, it would be now. Truly, the world needs social entrepreneurs to fill the gap between federal social safety nets and the experience of the average person down on his luck.

Why Should I Invest?

As a young entrepreneur, you’re probably wondering how you can make a difference. After all, isn’t it enough that you’ve built a business from the ground up? Do you really have to serve your community, too?

Of course you don’t have to do anything. But a part of being a responsible business owner is being a responsible member of your community. And being a responsible member of your community means recognizing when you’re at a unique advantage to lend a hand to those who are less fortunate than you. It also means knowing there is more to life than just making a profit. If you know you can make a difference in the world, why not take that opportunity? Use your business savvy to identify and solve a problem in your community. It could be something as simple as hosting a beach cleanup to as complex as funding a family shelter. Move on an issue that means something to you and that you know could use assistance.

Doesn’t knowing you can do something to affect change on people’s lives make you want to act?

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

It’s easy to get overloaded with social media, but if you feel like you’re drowning, it might be time to start simplifying your routine and finding ways to cut back on your time spent without sacrificing your level of community engagement.

1. Pick a Management Tool

Balancing all of your social media accounts sometimes comes down to switching back and forth between different applications and websites. This can waste your time, especially if you have to manually go to the Facebook and Twitter websites to see if you’ve received any comments or mentions. To combat this, download a social media management tool like HootSuite or TweetDeck. These applications allow you to monitor and use all of your social media profiles from one convenient interface. Of course, the constant messages popping up on your desktop to inform you that you’ve received a new comment or mention can be distracting. To save time, turn off these notifications.

2. Focus Your Efforts

While the primary thing you should be doing on social media sites is being social, don’t let this distract you from your overall goal: to interact with customers and market your business. Your first priority should always be to relay a specific message to your target market. Don’t try to speak to everybody, everywhere. Speak only to those that would be interested in purchasing your product or service. Seriously, generic status updates and tweets are the bane of businesses. Be specific and you’ll be interesting.

Also, avoid checking social media sites over and over again each day. Set aside a specific time to check them and post updates. Schedule them if you have to. Just don’t cut away from your business tasks every five minutes to check comments on Facebook. That’s a super productivity killer.

3. Use What Works

If you have no need to use Tumblr or Pinterest for your business, don’t. There’s no law saying you have to use every social media site out there. Instead, only use the sites that work for your company and that are easy to manage. You should be getting more out of your social media efforts than what you’re putting in. If that’s not the case, it may be time to reevaluate your approach or ditch that specific site.

4. Take a Break

If you still feel up to your ears in social media, it may be time to take a break. We have a tendency of being connected to our networks too often, in both our personal and business lives. To cut down on the noise, set aside 30 minutes a day to shut off your phone and close your browser. Take some time for yourself to think uncluttered thoughts. It can do wonders for your productivity once you switch your connections back on.

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

This year I got the chance to see the new consumer electronics and tech industry trends from three lenses: that of a journalist, an entrepreneur, and a marketer working with EachScape, an application creation and management platform.

This year’s gadgets and exhibits confirmed the expansion of the tech market as a whole. This results in large opportunities in the application space, which is now trending well beyond smartphones and tablets. The result? The app landscape is becoming increasingly complicated to navigate.

What is “App”lification?

One of this year’s pre-show trend predictions from Shawn DuBravac, research director for the Consumer Electronics Association, was that we’re moving from “Amplification” to “App”lification. Amplification of a company or brand’s message used to be a top KPI (key performance indicator) in the digital space.  Now, content creators have the ability to use apps on a number of different screens in their audience’s life to create a robust and interactive user experience to share their story. In other words, “app”lification closes the gaps that historically have fallen between content creators and hardware or product manufacturers, resulting in a frictionless experience that seamlessly integrates with everyday life beyond just mobile phones.

Emerging App Screens

We are seeing the three-screen trifecta of the pre-tablet era disappear with more products being app-enabled than ever before.  This year, CES showcased everything from cars to toys to traditional household consumer electronics like refrigerators sporting screen interfaces with built-in apps.  With more screens becoming part of the daily user experience, there are an increasing number of creative solutions for entrepreneurs to consider for new products or extensions of existing products.

So what does this mean for entrepreneurs?

Fragmentation. Whether you’re creating an app that is your product and core business or you’re using an app to share content and market your business, you have multiple screens to take into consideration in your mobile and digital planning. You may decide that you need to have an application for every screen or that your target audience is primarily on one or two of the available screens.

“Both on the business and technology front, fragmentation and mobile are two sides of the same coin. Fragmentation has many dimensions – the code (iOS, Android, HTML5 etc.), the type of screen (phone, tablet, TV), and the content format (video, photo, etc.).  At EachScape we are trying to help our clients solve the fragmentation problem by allowing them to create and manage across the entire landscape,” explained Ludo Collin, co-founder & CEO of EachScape.

To minimize fragmentation, EachScape lets you create, customize and/or manage apps across multiple platforms.  As a marketer and entrepreneur, I found their solution to fragmentation issues to be the gem of their product. EachScape’s platform allows content producers with or without development skills to create highly customized applications that can be configured for the requirements of multiple screens, across iOS, Android, connected TV and HTML5.

Browser Preference and HTML5 Apps

Another emerging trend in the app space that assists with the fragmentation issue is the use of an HTML5 app, as Google opted to do with their iPhone app. They created an iPhone app that has limited functionality but gives the user access to many of their other products (Calendar, Docs, etc.) in their own HTML5 apps. In Google’s case, their iOS app allows users to have all their products in one place and then click a link out to the appropriate HTML5 app. In addition to iOS and Android users, we also see some users that still prefer using web browsers on blackberries and connected TVs. Apple’s operating system upgrade particularly encourages this type of user behavior by allowing you to save a web browser as a badge to your home screen.

The Key Takeaways

Expect to see more industry-wide collaboration and focus on the user interface in 2012. “App”lification is reducing barriers between content creators and manufacturers, creating a wealth of opportunity for entrepreneurs who want to get into or expand their presence in the app space.

Lauren Perkins is the CEO and Founder at Perks Consulting, a full-service marketing agency specializing in the fusion of lifestyle and technology based in New York City. Read more about Lauren here.

In fact, just the opposite is true.  When you anticipate losses for the first year or two, it is more important to properly document all expenses, including tricky ones like business travel, business meals, and your home office. Sloppy documentation and reporting of these expenses is an open invitation to an IRS audit, which is the last thing you need or can afford during the busy startup period.

Expense accounting is just one of the key record-keeping requirements for a successful business:

• Expenses and income. You’ll need a check register, a cash receipt system, and a record of bills. Also you should include tax records, bank statements, cancelled checks, bank reconciliations, notices from and to your bank, deposit slips, and any loan-related documents. Keep good backups of all computer files.

• Corporate records. Include here articles of incorporation, bylaws, shareholder minutes, board minutes, state filings, stock ledger, copies of stock certificates, options and warrants, and copies of all securities law filings. In all cases, don’t forget permits, licenses, or registration forms required to operate the business under federal, state or local laws.

• Contracts. All the contracts you have, even expired ones, should be saved indefinitely. These would include equipment leases, joint venture agreements, real estate leases, and work-for-hire agreements.  It is also good to keep correspondence sent and received by mail, faxes, and important e-mail that you might want in hard copy.

• Employee records. Include here completed employment applications, employee offer letters, employee handbooks or policies, employment agreements, performance appraisals, employee attendance records, employee termination letters, W-2s, and any settlement agreements with terminated employees.

• Intellectual property records. This is an especially important category. Make sure you file a copy of all trademark applications, copyright filings, patent filings and patents, licenses, and confidentiality or nondisclosure agreements.

Of course, these days you need a personal computer or laptop dedicated to your business with some basic software tools. You should investigate the wide variety of software systems that are on the market, and pick one you makes you comfortable, since you will probably be doing the basic data entry yourself.  This not only will save you money, but it will keep you intimately aware of all expenses and the condition of your overall business. In my experience, the most common small business accounting system I see in startups is QuickBooks Pro by Intuit.

Even if you have the money to hire an accountant, you should keep a grip on your business financial affairs. You should be able to explain to yourself how much money you owe out to others, how much others owe you, and how much cash you have on hand. Don’t be shy about investigating local classes as adult education, or even a seminar with the SBA on bookkeeping.

An accountant may not be necessary, but you still can’t skip the tools. You can’t walk in with a bag full of receipts. The more organized you are, the more organized you will be when presenting this material to an accountant. That translates to reduced bills from the accountant, and a reduced tax bill from the IRS. You will save time and money, and be more confident about your status.

Good record-keeping practices are required to comply with tax laws, and to operate your business properly. When you incorporate your business is the right time to establish the records system. Don’t let your dream get killed by ignoring business basics.

Martin Zwilling is the founder and chief executive officer of Startup Professionals, a company that provides products and services to startup founders and small business owners. Check out his daily blog at http://blog.startupprofessionals.com Read more about Marty here.

That’s not to say it’s foolproof. As with any marketing strategy, it  pays to do your homework. We’re sure that Ford wishes it did a little more research before launching its Caliente car in Mexico. The name is slang for “streetwalker” – perhaps not the image most car buyers aim for!

From picking an offensive product name to falling foul of internet censorship in China, there are plenty of pitfalls waiting to trip up would-be global entrepreneurs. But the good news is, the payoffs can be huge if you get it right.

While the number of foreign language internet users is growing rapidly, most content is still in English. This means it’s much easier to rise to the top of the search engine rankings in other languages, simply due to less competition. And with growing opportunities in emerging markets, such as the CIVETS (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa) it can represent a much higher ROI.

1. Don’t let your website get lost in translation

We’ve all heard amusing translation errors, or product names that simply don’t work  in other languages. Anyone wondering why Clairol’s hair-curling iron, the Mist Stick, sold poorly in Germany should know “Mist” means “human waste”. And most users are turned off by poorly-written websites that are difficult to understand.

There’s no doubt Google Translate and similar tools have their uses. But when  it comes to translating your website or marketing materials, it’s worth hiring native-speaking translators to ensure its word-perfect. Internet marketing or localization specialists can advise on countries to target and any potential issues with brand names or slogans.

Don’t follow the example of Pepsi’s Chinese advertising campaign, which claimed the drink could (literally) bring ancestors back from the dead!

2. Don’t ignore local or cultural differences

It might seem cheaper to set up a single website to cover France and Quebec, or assume your European Spanish site will do for Latin America. But there are significant differences in language and culture. For example a “coche” means a car in Spain, but a “baby stroller” in much of Latin America.

It doesn’t take a huge amount of effort to localize each website for a specific market. This also allows you to choose products and advertising aimed specifically at each country. Plus, adding local references helps build trust and inspire confidence in your company.

3. Keep it simple.

For small companies, setting up a foreign website is far cheaper than establishing an on-the-ground presence in a new country. But many fall flat by failing to have an easy system to deal with enquiries or take payments.

If you can’t afford international sales staff, then restrict communication to email or online forms. Cut costs by using free translation tools to understand emails, then hire freelance translators to ensure the replies are accurate. And make sure you have an easy payment system – whether that’s credit cards, checks or Paypal.

4. SEO doesn’t always translate well

There’s no point having a beautifully designed, easy to use website if no one can find it. Many companies think they just need to translate their keywords into different languages, but this isn’t always the case.

Taking time to research popular keywords and commonly-used search engines in each country will pay off in generating extra traffic – and sales. For instance, did you know many Italian users often search for English words and phrases?

Tools such as Google Global Market Finder are a good place to start. But remember, Google isn’t king everywhere – the Chinese prefer Baidu, while Yahoo still leads the way in Japan.

5. Don’t forget non-English speakers closer to home

Around 34 million people speak Spanish at home in the United States. But if your website’s only in English, they probably won’t read it!

There’s no doubt people prefer to browse the internet in their native tongue. A European Commission report found 82 per cent of online shoppers were reluctant to make a purchase if there was no information in their own language. This applies just as much to non-English speakers at home as abroad.

Christian Arno is the founder of professional translation services provider Lingo24. Launched in 2001, Lingo24 now has over 160 employees spanning three continents and clients in over sixty countries. In the past twelve months, they have translated over 60 million words for businesses in every industry sector, including MTV and World Bank.

I am now the proud author of one really crappy novel, but it’s a completely written crappy novel. And one day, after much editing and revising, it may move from “complete but crappy” to, simply, “complete.”

I learned a few things through this novel-writing process. Like most of you, I don’t have the means to dedicate my days to a creative outlet, or hobby, or side business, or start-up. I have to squeeze the work in on the edges: in between feeding my four kids something other than mac ‘n’ cheese, keeping up with my freelance writing business, and making sure my house doesn’t get on the HAZMAT radar.

Know how that novel got written? One single, small word at a time, with lots of mistakes along the way. I learned what not to do, and through that, I learned what works.

The Top-Ten List of What’s Keeping You From Your Goals

1. No planning, bad planning, or too much planning.

Oh, the power of the plan. “Plans are useless,” said Dwight D. Eisenhower, “but planning is indispensable.” The act of planning helps you to figure out where you want to go (the goal) and how you’re going to get there (the next action you need to take). The best plans cover just that much information and, really, not much more.

No planning can leave you wandering. You aren’t committed to one goal or course of action, so you waver and accomplish nothing.

Bad planning can leave you overwhelmed by details, a rigid schedule, or a totally unrealistic view of the daily distractions and obstacles you will encounter. A good plan allows you to be flexible, deal with the details as they arise, and keep moving forward even when things go wrong.

Too much planning is just you wallowing around in your planner and task list instead of taking that next action you need to take. Trust me, you won’t make much progress that way.

2. Too many goals.

You only have so much time, energy, and availability. If you spread yourself too thin by pursuing too many goals at the same time, you’ll make minimal or no progress in each. That’s just plain discouraging.

Instead, focus on one to three “big” goals, and keep the rest of your life in maintenance mode. Once you make significant progress, or reach a goal, you can tackle another. Success breeds success, so you’ll build on your momentum as you complete one goal and go for the next.

3. Goals you don’t care about.

Your mom, your spouse, your brother, and your ten best friends may all think it’s a great idea for you to start a business or lose weight. But if you don’t really care, there’s no point in setting that goal. You’re the one who has to work for the goal, so you’re the one who needs to want to get to it.

4. Organizing in lieu of doing.

Reaching goals requires that you take action, not spend time eternally preparing to take action. Orderliness is great, yes, and serves its purpose; but your ability to take action does not depend on how organized your stuff, space, or schedule is.

Give yourself a limit on organizing and prep work; when you reach the limit, it’s time to start moving forward, even if things aren’t as neat as you’d like them.

5. Too detailed or ritualistic.

Writers fall prey to this one all the time. You can read dozens of biographies of writers known for their various rituals and tics, from only writing while laying down in bed to using a particular type of pencil to having the right odor in the room.

While those rituals are interesting to read, in real life all they do is slow you down. When you commit yourself to a ritual, you handicap yourself psychologically. “I can’t work unless _____________.” But that’s not true, is it? You can work, as long as you possess the physical and mental ability to do the work itself. Even if that means you have to skip your ritual, or work in a space that doesn’t look, feel, or smell right.

6. Lack of supplies.

So simple, I hate to mention it, but if you’re going to do something requiring special supplies, go get your supplies. Now. Set them up. Now. Then you can actually do the work: whether that’s pen and paper, a laptop, running shoes and a water bottle, paints and brushes, or a piano.

If you set a goal but refuse to arm yourself with the supplies you need to reach it, you’re not really serious about the goal. Either switch to a goal you are serious about, or set yourself up for this one.

7. Tracking results instead of progress.

When you’re working toward a long-term or “big” goal, like, say, writing a novel, it’s easy to get discouraged. In my case, the result – a finished novel – was far-off in the distance when I first started writing. So instead of measuring my success by a result, which was still in the distance, I learned to measure by the progress I made.

For example, I would track word counts or minutes spent writing. Sometimes I would push myself to complete 1000 words a day, every day, for a week or a month. Other times, when life got busier, I would just focus on putting in 20 minutes a day.

Tracking progress allows you to see that you are moving forward, even if slowly, and that knowledge helps you to keep pushing through.

8. No milestones.

Larger or long-term goals need milestones along the way. Training for a marathon is a big undertaking, but if you break it down into certain training milestones, you can keep your focus.

Your first milestone could be running two consecutive miles; your next could be running three; and so on, until you reach your goal. Starting a business, another big, unwieldy goal, works well with milestones. First milestone: setting up an LLC. Second milestone: setting a budget for your business. Third milestone: launching your first product. And so on. Tweak as needed for your big goal.

9. No accountability.

I am, by nature, a private person. And writing is a private endeavor. Talking about my novel made me feel like it was silly to attempt it, so for a long time I avoided letting anyone but my husband know what I was up to, hunched over my keyboard in the corner.

That was my mistake, as it turns out: my husband is not a private person. Pretty soon he was casually mentioning to anyone within earshot that his wife was working on a novel, at which point I would stammer out some sort of acknowledgement while silently vowing to kill him as soon as we got home.

But a funny thing happened…

First, I learned how to own what I was doing. Was I a real writer or not? Did it matter? I was writing, so I might as own it, and stick with it.

Second, I learned that people are intrigued when you set big goals. They want to know why, and how, and what motivates you. They start getting inspired. They start sharing their own big goals. Pretty soon, you’re checking up on and encouraging each other.

Before long, I was sharing daily word counts on my Facebook wall. The accountability and encouragement I got, first from my husband and then from many friends, helped me to stick with it on many days when punching out a few more paragraphs was the last thing I wanted to do.

10. No rewards/acknowledgement.

You know the great thing about having accountability? Once you reach a goal, accountability shifts to acknowledgement.

When I finished my novel, I got to brag about it, on Facebook and to anyone who would listen. Public acknowledgement is a powerful motivator, but that’s not the only kind of reward out there. For bigger goals, promise yourself a reward for every milestone. Make it something fitting with the goal so you stay focused.

The Path to Progress

The path to progress is not going to be an easy walk. You know that, right? When you set big goals, you set yourself up for an uphill climb. You’ll be working against a culture that encourages mediocrity as well as your own tendencies to procrastinate, be lazy, and question yourself.

But you can still reach your goals. Focus. Work on one or two big goals at time. Act instead of planning or organizing. Don’t over-complicate things. Get what you need to get the job done. Track your progress along the way, celebrate each milestone with rewards, and share what you’re doing along the way. The path to progress isn’t easy, but it’s fulfilling, invigorating, and the views are a heck of a lot better than anything on YouTube.

Annie Mueller enjoys creating a personal yet professional voice to render complex topics understandable. Her passion is helping home, small, and micro businesses succeed. Read more about Annie here.

That’s not to say, however, that each salesperson couldn’t benefit from some help.  A change in mindset can be all it takes to change the course of your ship – and your company’s.  Here are the six laws that each sale hinges on:

1. The Law of Vibration

Everything carries a frequency or vibration, and the highest form of vibration is thought.  Things in the same frequency will resonate and attract, while elements in different frequencies will repel or oppose.  This means that fixating on positive thoughts will attract more of the same, while ruminating on negative thoughts will prevent you from bringing positivity into your fold.  Great entrepreneurs have command over choosing the thoughts they’re aware of, and therefore, giving the most energy toward.  Focusing on thoughts that empower you attracts more deals, better customers, and high-quality team members.

2. The Law of Cause and Effect

Ralph Waldo Emerson called this “the law of laws.”  The concept of cause and effect doesn’t begin at the physical action/reaction level, despite what you learned in high school physics.  Rather, it begins at the conscious thought level.  The cause (the ideas or perspective you choose to focus on consciously) creates feelings (vibrations) that lead to an effect (the frequency you are in).  Again, this attracts opportunities and challenges that are in line with the vibrations you’re giving off.  You and I bring about our thoughts the majority of the time.  To change your results, you must first change your thoughts.

3. The Law of Engenderment

Everything in life has an incubation (engenderment) period.  Babies, for example, incubate over an engenderment period of approximately 280 days.  Deals and sales cycles are the same way.  Some sales cycles and products move on impulse; others do not.  A good rule of thumb for entrepreneurs and salespeople is to remember that you’re always 90 days away from your income potential.  This means that what you’re doing today will not likely manifest into real income potential until 90 days from now.  To jump-start this incubation period, be proactive.  Start calling and visiting prospects – you never know which sale will mark the beginning of your big 90-day period.

4. The Law of Rhythm

There’s an ebb and flow to the universe.  Great entrepreneurs understand that this rhythm applies to their business and sales as well.  They work to cash in on the high tide in their business or industry so they can create cash reserves for the low tide.  There’s one constant: change.  Don’t assume that the good times will last forever – or that the bad ones will, either.  Accept that you will encounter both, and prepare accordingly.

5. The Law of Compensation

Compensation is a function of 1) the need for what you do, 2) your ability to fill that need in comparison to others, and 3) how difficult – or easy – it is to replace you.  For salespeople, this encourages you to take ownership of your job.  You certainly need to focus on your customers and their needs, but you also need to ensure that you have the skills and confidence to tackle their needs head-on.  Focus on your abilities and your growth as a seller, and you will attract more success.

6. The Law of Minimums

A phenomenon that I have witnessed over my work with no fewer than 10,000 entrepreneurs and salespeople over the last decade is that of big goals.  Most people who meet with great success set large goals, which is key to stretching their comfort zones.  This, in turn, forces them to increase their awareness.  However, the vast majority will stop when they achieve what I call their “acceptable minimum,” rather than their actual goal.  This is important to remember.  When all five other laws are in play, we are operating on autopilot, and the target destination will invariably be some minimal acceptable standard we fall back on that’s in the general direction of our most-desired dreams.  With this in mind, the purpose of goal-setting outside of our current performance level is two-fold: 1) it requires us to increase our awareness and grow, and 2) it ensures that our acceptable minimums from yesterday do not remain our acceptable minimums of tomorrow.  We have to continue to move ahead.

Great salespeople produce 90% of an organization’s sales.  They’re operating from a higher level of minimums within their subconscious.  They may or may not set goals, but all of them inherently have “acceptable minimums” that exceed the status quo.  This causes them to default to a higher autopilot level, and therefore, receive more than the majority of their counterparts.

Why shouldn’t you be one of them?  Following these laws of selling will not only strengthen your thoughts and abilities as a salesperson, but your sales will also grow as a direct result of the changes you’re making within.  Gandhi said it best: “Be the change you wish to see.”  It will also be the change your company wishes to see – and you’re the one who can make it happen.

Chris J. Snook has spent over 11 years as an author, entrepreneur, and venture catalyst and has spent the last 5 years in the investment community incubating media startups as the Managing Partner of TLEC Ventures. He co-authored three international best-selling books entitled Wealth Matters 2007 and 2011 (2nd Edition) and Burnout: How to Transform Frustration to Fortune in 2005.

One way to deal with the workload and manage stress is to compartmentalize your life.

When you start a business, you will likely wear many different hats, and in many cases wear all of the hats. You might be in charge of marketing, sales, legal, HR, operations, finance, accounting, IT etc. And you might add on top of all that a personal life of some degree.

When you add up all of the responsibilities from these different areas, you end up with a very heavy workload. Not only can all of this work create a lot of stress, but there can also be stress from the uncertainty that simply comes with owning and building a business.

By compartmentalizing your life, you can try to break down the week into different compartments and then assign your different areas of responsibilities to the different compartments. The key to this working is that you shut down your attention to a particular area to a certain degree when it is not time to work in that area and when it is time to focus on that area, you shut down thoughts and attention to all other areas.

Below are some examples of common compartments that can be built. By segmenting the week, we can not only improve focus and effectiveness, we can also stand to greatly decrease stress.

Accounting / Finance

Unfortunately, there are accounting needs that come with starting and owning a business. Whether it is paying bills, paying employees, balancing the books, or dealing with vendors, there is simply accounting and bookkeeping tasks that need to be done each week and month. If we don’t stay on top of these items, not only can it have a negative impact on our business, it can also stand to create a decent amount of stress.

One way to deal with this is to pick a segment of hours during the week where everything else is shut down and attention is solely placed in the area of accounting, bills, payroll, etc.

Sales

In order to truly be successful, sales is something that you will need to do a little of everyday when building a business. But to pick a day (or days) of the week where we focus solely on sales, we can position ourselves for more success in this individual area.

This can be a good tactic when picking up the phone and making some sort of sales calls is a component of our sales strategy. This is something that we can often procrastinate on. But if we block out a compartment for making calls and shut down everything else during that time, we will likely increase the amount of sales activity we are getting in each week.

Marketing

Two powerful marketing tactics for starting a business can be search engine optimization and social media. And effectively executing with either of these tactics can also be extremely time consuming. Setting time aside side specifically for blogging, improving the website, and interacting on social media can help to make sure enough time gets spent in this area.

Personal Time

While we spend so much time taking care of the business, we should not forget about spending some time to take care of ourselves. Since starting a business can sometimes mean working everyday and sometimes all day, this can take a toll on both your mind and your body. To help with this, you can set time aside to turn everything off and focus solely on working on you. This could be time spent relaxing, with family and friends, physical fitness, etc.

Do you compartmentalize?  What do you do to get the most out of your limited time? Share your insights in the comments.

Michael Halper is Founder and CEO of Launch Pad Solutions, LLC, a sales consulting and outsourcing firm that helps businesses to take off and get to the next level. Read more about Michael here.

Think again.

Adding e-commerce video online is no longer the domain of top retailers. Shrinking costs and increasing benefits of using video is moving many smaller businesses to give the flexible and entertaining platform a shot.

In fact, 73 percent of online retailers in 2011used video on product pages, a 55 percent increase from 2010, according to research firm eMarketer.

However, uploading a hackneyed, homemade project onto your website isn’t likely to improve your ROI, and might even scare away a few potential customers, however with a little effort you can deploy and clearly measure success with four basic metrics – conversion rate, shopping cart abandonment rate,  site traffic, and view-through rate – and even adjust your efforts accordingly.

Measuring conversion rates

Measuring conversion rates should be top priority for any online entrepreneur. A smartly placed – and produced – video on a product page is a proven way to increase the chances that shoppers end their visit with a purchase.

According to online retailer Zappos, product page videos have increased their online conversions up to 30 percent.

If you’re preparing to begin the video process, you should spend time testing to determine what works and what doesn’t.

Consider measuring conversion rate data through A/B testing. First create a product page that includes a video 50 percent of the time the page is served and one that has no video the other 50 percent of the time. Comparing the conversion rate for customers who viewed a video with conversion rates for those that did not have that option will provide you’re answer. This type of test could also be used to compare the success different videos.

If you’re feeling very testy: Take the analysis one step further by comparing the conversion rate of shoppers who watched at least a portion of the video to the conversion rate for shoppers who did not watch any portion of the video.

No carts left behind

A recent report from eMarketer shows adding video lowered the number of abandoned shopping carts, reduced return rates, and resulted in higher sales.

Shopping cart abandonment is widely thought to be due to customer uncertainty: If you’re not Amazon or Zappos, users might hesitant when it comes time to post their credit card information – they either don’t trust the merchant; or suddenly are unsure of the product’s value; or worse don’t understand the product.

The addition of a well-thought out product video can go a long way in shaping shoppers’ opinions and proving that your business is legit.

History Tests: Much like measuring conversions, you can gauge the affects product videos have on shopping cart abandonment by comparing historical data, using A/B tests, and monitoring differences in abandonment rates for shoppers who watched compared to those who didn’t watch a video.

View-through rate

Visitors who view product videos are 85 percent more likely to purchase than visitors who do not, according to a study from Internet Retailer. Clearly demonstrating that  product pages with video have higher conversion rates than product pages without video.

Once you’ve put video on your site, don’t underestimate the importance of measuring performance in terms of view-through rate (VTR), which VTR is the number of videos watched divided by the number of impressions (times a page loaded with a video). Optimize for VTR and you’ll increase your conversion rates.

Monitoring metrics: If you monitor the VTR metrics, it will help determine the effectiveness of your video placement. These metrics will also signal the effectiveness of your calls to action, as well as other elements that ideally will keep viewers watching.

Pump up it up!

According to a recent study conducted by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, 42 percent of marketers said bringing traffic to their sites is the main goal of employing an online marketing plan.

Search engines are designed to provide the most relevant content among a seemingly endless stream of interconnected pages on the Web. By adding a video element to an e-commerce site you will improve SEO performance for the keywords associated with the video, as well as content around the video.

In order to monitor the video’s success, observe traffic from search engines such as Google and Bing after adding a video and compare to the page’s performance before the video.

Conclusion

According to Cisco, online video will increase from 30 percent of all Internet traffic to 90 percent of Internet traffic by 2013. Of course, a lot of that traffic will be attributed to product page videos.

It’s been proven that video drives conversions, traffic and sales while reducing returns- so what are you waiting for?

Tim Gray is content strategist with Blue Fountain Media. He has wide ranging background in the online marketing space and writes about his experiences with SEO, Social Media, and all aspects of Web design for the company’s blog, The ROI Factor. Read more about Tim here.

Boasting over 900 million accounts – both personal and business, Facebook has now gotten to the point where it feels cluttered at times. How can you break through the clutter and make your target audience aware of what you have to offer?

Below are 10 tactics that will help your business achieve success on Facebook.

1. Create a Profile That Works

Make sure your profile is completely filled out. Never leave your profile looking as though it’s only half complete. Maintain a level of professionalism while making it clear that you care about your customers and will be there to answer any questions they might have. Your default photo needs to be professional looking. If you don’t have an actual photograph to use, your logo can take the place of a photo.

2. Involve Visitors in Discussions

A great way to get visitors to “like” you on Facebook is to involve them in conversations. Start discussions about your business and how it’s able to help people. This will keep them coming back to add input and read what others have to say on the matter. For example, if you sell yard care services, start a conversation about landscaping, different types of flowers that will grow in certain areas, and landscaping on a budget. Encourage people to join in the conversation and include them in any way you can.

3. Personalize Your Page

Allowing your page to look exactly like all of the other Facebook pages out there doesn’t benefit you in any way. Customize your page so it’s more suited to your business and your customers. Use images to make your profile memorable in a way that helps to brand you.

4. Special Events and Contests

An effective way to bring your page to life and insure you’ll have repeat visitors is to host special events and contests. Any time one of your visitors RSVP’s to an event, their friends will see their RSVP on their Facebook page. This is a terrific way to reach an audience that you might not normally reach.

5. Sales and Offers

Who doesn’t like a sale or special offer?  By offering sales and offers to your visitors, you’ll be piquing their interest. By offering sales, you are showing your customers that you care about their needs by giving them the best deal you can.

6. Multi-Media

When possible, integrate audio and video content on your Facebook page. Doing so can be very affective in grabbing the attention of your visitors as this type of content has been proven to be much more effective than simple text.

7. Personalize Tabs

Do away with the default tabs which are fairly boring and drab. By making the tabs more personalized to your business, your visitors will be more likely to remember you and your efforts. If you don’t know how to go about personalizing your tabs, there are tutorials that can be found online that will make personalization much easier.

8. Take Advantage of the Sidebar

The sidebar of your page is the perfect place to put things like customer testimonials and bulletins. Placing links to any special offers you have going on in the sidebar is another way to effectively utilize the space.

9. Put a Survey on Your Page

By placing a survey on your Facebook page, you are telling your customers that their opinions matter. Not only do surveys capture the attention of your visitors, but they also encourage visitors to interact with each other and your business.

10. Update Your Page Regularly

One of the biggest mistakes people make is to let their Facebook page sit without any new content for extended periods of time. Make sure you’re regularly posting content to your page. This means posting new content and looking for ways your page can be improved every single day. Social media is one of the best ways to get noticed these days, so make sure you aren’t being left behind by failing to update your page regularly.

By implementing these tactics, your Facebook page stands a much better chance of gaining new customers and keeping your current customers happy.

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