Crowdfunding Shipping Fulfillment Software - BackerKit. Income Management. Tech. People. Mone... How to (Really) Make $1,000,000 Selling E-Books – Real-World Case Studies. Who will be the JK Rowling of self-publishing?
Better still: who will be the legions who make an extra $1,000-$1,000,000 per year? (Photo: The Telegraph, UK) This is a guest post by Ryan Buckley and the team at Scripted. I have added my own tools and recommendations after “TIM” throughout the piece. Enter Ryan Buckley and Team Barry Eisler writes thrillers about a half-Japanese, half-American freelance assassin named John Rain.
Having conquered all that needs to be conquered in the world of commercial publishing, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Eisler’s publisher offered him $500,000 deal for a new two-book deal. The surprise was that Eisler turned down the deal and decided to tackle self-publishing instead.
Is Your Business Better? It Doesn't Matter. Who is the best competitive swimmer in the world right now?
Michael Phelps. You knew the answer, I’m sure. You might not even follow the Olympics, or any sport, but you still know who Michael Phelps is. We remember him and his record-breaking eight gold medals (and maybe we remember him for another, slightly less impressive reason). But what about the swimmers who only won one gold medal? What if one of the Olympic swimmers did a cannonball into the pool instead of diving? Big data for online retailers: Best practices on selling “sized” inventory. Are you a small business selling clothing or shoes online?
Startups have turned into big businesses in this industry, including Gilt, Fab, and Rue La La, but one thing they all have to deal with is managing inventory. These companies all deal with “sized” products, or products that could come in small, medium, or large. And it’s not just clothing and shoes — if your online marketplace sells hats, gloves, or even bed sheets, you need to have the right amount of each size ordered.
It sounds like common sense, but Stitch Labs, an inventory management service, notes that inventory costs account for 45-90 percent of all business expenses. It’s important for online retailers to understand how to stock sizes and how customers buy based on size. Achieving success through ‘accidental entrepreneurship’ A successful career is often defined by the salary one earns. As such, it’s not uncommon for would-be entrepreneurs to focus on how they’re going to earn a big paycheck or raise their profile, and then shape their business around whatever they think will help them reach those goals the fastest.
In reality, those motivated by creating “the next big thing” aren’t usually the ones to do it. Entrepreneurs are increasingly achieving lasting success not by determining what product will help them “get rich quick,” but rather honing in on a problem they’ve experienced personally and engineering a solution to address it. This has been the case for companies like Mint, Airbnb and Dropbox, among others, and it’s also how my company got started. When I co-founded Bomgar with our CEO, Joel Bomgar, we’d recently graduated from college where he earned extra money as a part-time IT rep. Nathan McNeill is co-founder and chief strategy officer at Bomgar. [IMage credit: orangesky3] Getting a good deal on SEO? Think again!
Last week, a former client reached out to me and wanted to discuss re-engaging search engine optimization services for his business website.
He asked me for a proposal based on a budget of $1,000/month, which in the SEO industry is considered a small budget. I gladly put together a proposal that addressed his needs and delivered excellent value. Dutifully, he shopped around and gathered quotes from other agencies as well. However, it soon became clear to him that my proposal was significantly different than the others he was receiving. “Why are you only offering me seven new inbound links when everyone else is promising thousands?” At that point, I realized that, like him, many business owners are stumbling around a minefield of misinformation about SEO which is being propagated by snake oil salesmen littered across the industry. More is Not Always Better Intrigued by the other proposals he was receiving, I asked him to share them with me.
Did I leave anything out? Three things we've learned in the last year: Alejandro Velez & Nikhil Arora at TEDxPresidio. This is why I’m not backing you on Kickstarter. This post was written by entrepreneur Dan Shapiro.
I want to buy some clothes. From From Holden (not a typo). And I can’t. Because they’re full of Kickstoppers. More and more, I’m seeing exciting, fun projects on Kickstarter that make me think they’re being run by the cast of Community. In case you just landed from Planet Preorder, Kickstarter is a site where you can “back” projects and get “rewards” in return. I’ve backed a few projects before: Romo the Robot (in front of me), Stack Soap (in my shower), LadyCoders (in progress), DIY Spectroscopy Kit (in the mail), and Pebble (in schedule la-la land). But more and more I’ve been seeing the same set of mistakes that just leave me sighing wearily, hitting the back button, instead of kicking start. Because examples are precious, I’m going to pick on the good folks from From Holden.
Kickstopper 1: Dodging Details Are these shirts machine washable?