40 Unusual Websites you should Bookmark

1. beFunky – Awesome web app that turns images to cartoonized paintings and videos to cartoons.
2. DisplayWars – Incredibly simple tool that helps lots of people. Want to buy a new screen? DisaplyWars lets you compare screen sizes by mapping one display size on top of the other. For smaller items see SizeEasy.
3. [NO LONGER WORKS] DocSyncer – Synchronize office documents in your ‘My Documents’ folder with Google Docs account.
4. JotYou – By using this service you can send messages to others so they get them only when they are in the area you specify. [Video]
5. Keybr – Online keyboard to practice your touch typing skills.
6. Mint – The simplest way to manage your finances. More about Mint.
7. Numbr – Free disposable phone numbers.
8. PDFHammer – Merge, edit and rearrange PDF documents online.
9. PhoneSpell – Ever wondered if you phone number spells something memorable ? PhoneSpell will find it out.
10. SecondRotation / BuyMyTronics – Want to cash in on your old iPod ? Or mobile phone ? Both of these services will buy your old (broken) gadget, regardless of its condition.

Other

11. [NO LONGER WORKS] BeamIt – Send pictures, music, videos, docs or any other file to your cellphone.

12. BooksInMyPhone – Download and read copyright-free books on a mobile phone. Comes with its own book reader.
13. CallTheFuture – Schedule text messages and get them delivered (as a voicemail) on any desired date in the future.
14. CameraSummary – Extracts so called EXIF data from the images. Shows what model of digicam was used, image creation date and time, resolution settings, location and so on.
15. CanYouRunIt – One-click web app that inspects your PC’s hardware and software settings to determine whether or not it meets gaming requirements for a game of your choice.
16. CellSwapper – Transfer your current mobile contract to someone else. Or get a free plan with only a short term contract.
17. CivilAnswers – Free legal assistance.
18. ControlC – This small cross-platform (Win, Mac, Linux) monitors your clipboard and saves everything online.
19. Definr – Incredibly fast online dictionary. It takes abt 14 ms to lookup a word.
20. Drop.io – By far the coolest service for private file collaboration and transfers. Add files by email, send voice messages from phone, etc.
21. File-Destructor 2 – Generates files (Doc, PDF, … ) that look genuine but won’t launch properly. Basically, it’s a tool that helps you put all the blame on your “faulty computer”.
22. [NO LONGER WORKS] File-encryptor – Secure encryption tool to freely encrypt/decrypt sensitive files online. Quite handy for sending over sensitive files.
23. [NO LONGER WORKS] FlashPhone – Free flash-based SIP-softphone. Simply add your SIP account and you’re good to go. No need to install anything.
24. Google Mobilizer – Makes your fav. websites mobile friendly. Must-have for your mobile bookmarks.
25. GetMyFBIfile – Here you can generate letter templates that you can use to request for a free copy of your FBI file.
26. LetterMeLater – Offers one feature that your email doesn’t have, “˜the ability to schedule when an email should be sent’. Coolest part about, you can use it directly from your email program (GMail, Outlook, etc.).
27. [NO LONGER WORKS] Mailbucket – Finally, a tool to help you forward emails to your feedreader.
28. Mobical – Over-the-air mobilebackup and restore service. Backup phone contacts, calendar, bookmarks and settings.
29. [NO LONGER WORKS] MoDazzle – Access Facebook, LinkedIn and dozens of other web services (weather, stock quotes, etc.) via email or mobile text messaging. Update Facebook ‘status’, get un-read messages from Facebook inbox, get someone’s profile info from LinkedIn, and lots more.
30. Nanoscan – Super fast yet compehensive online virus scanner.
31. OhDon’tForget – It does only one thing, but does it really well: Schedule text message reminders to any phone.
32. ProQuo – Reduce junk mail by removing your personal data from telemarketing lists.
33. PPCalc – Comprehensive Paypal fees calculator.
34. Rondee – Fast, easy and free way to arrange phone conference calls with as many people as you want.
35. SpokenText – Convert PDF, Word, plain text, PowerPoint files, ,RSS news feeds, emails and web pages to speech.
36. Sullr – Obtain information about telephone lines in reverse mode. Get address, location, owner’s name etc.
37. WakerUpper – Schedule wake-up phone calls. Lots of useful features.
38. WebMarkers – Adds additional option to your ‘Print’ menu that lets you print documents (or webpages) directly to the web. [Screenshot]
39. WhatShouldIReadNext – Book recommendation service. Simply enter the author and title of your latest book and it will give you a list of recommended readings.
40. WorldTaxiMeter – Calculate the cost of a taxi ride in a number of top cities worldwide (London, New York, Rome “¦). Accessible both from the web and mobile phone.

8 Ways to Make Your WordPress Perform Much Better

WordPress is one of the most celebrated platform for developing web applications and blogs etc. It is user friendly, search engine friendly and is such a power packed development framework that it hardly comes as a surprise to find out that it is the most popular and frequently downloaded system for powering web applications.

However, if you feel stuck with this application, for the pages are taking longer than usual to load and there isn’t anything that you can do about it, you have stumbled upon the right place. Below we shall discuss 8 amazing ways with which you can greatly improve the performance of your WP application. Kindly read ahead to discover more:

8 Great Ways to Boost up WP’s Performance

First up, Update your System 

We go to the ends of the world in order to optimize our WordPress based web applications, and yet we are the ones causing the leaks in its performance, by still using the older and stagnant versions of the platform and its various plugins. In order to boost up the performance, ensure that you have employed only the latest version of the platform, and all the plugins and other functionalities that have you deployed, are running in their latest and most advanced version.

Updating the WP blog or website is not only a better practice, but also ensures higher and much advanced functioning and security of the application. And there is no reason why you should decide against keeping the backend architecture well updated.

Now, Get a WP Caching Plugin 

If you have not gotten a Caching plugin in the backend of your WordPress, we really doubt whether you are serious at all regarding boosting the performance of the website or not. For any WordPress user, the sure shot way to significantly improve the performance of the website is by getting a caching mechanism right in the backend structure. W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache are two widely used plugins which you can utilize to leverage from the same.

Also, optimize the images for better results 

Images play a key role in both – bringing more and newer visitors to your website, and boosting up the performance as well, if only you don’t fail to capitalize upon the same. Firstly, it completely fails us to understand why bloggers and WP site owners would not use IMG ALT tag to optimize the images with proper keywords and make the images appear meaningful for the search engine crawlers.

Furthermore, you must resize and filter the images prior to uploading them, and do not rely on the browser to that for you. Use image manipulation software and adequately resize them prior to uploading them on the website. This way, not only would the images attract newer visitors from myriad sources, but would also not make the website clumsy in loading etc.

Replace PHP queries with HTML, wherever possible 

The browser takes an irritatingly long span of time to load and work around with PHP queries. What you can do instead is to replace these queries with static HTML, wherever you deem perfect. HTML is easily read and accessed by the web browsers, and hence more the HTML, better is going to be loading speed, and hence the performance.

Update the database at regular intervals 

When you keep the database optimized time to time, you save yourself hefty amount of data which otherwise would have been wasted to optimize the database and the site, after the damage had already begun to happen. The plugin which you may want to use for this step is ‘myPhpAdmin.’ This plugin updates the database before you may even drop your hat and makes it look perfectly seamless.

Kick out all the plugins that you don’t require 

At times we download various plugins in jiffy, perhaps as an act of impulse, but we make no bones about it when we tell you that extra plugins are only going to make the web page heavy and hence lethargic. These plugins are not any old fond memories which you would cherish. If you do not use them, kick them out of the system RIGHT NOW! Most of the plugins are free anyway, and so you may install and utilize them again, as and when you require. Likewise you may consider opting for offshore WordPress development, and hire well learnt and skilled offshore experts to customize the plugins, and get them to completely meet your requirement set.

Rethink the choice of your web hosting service provider 

If you have taken almost every major step that we or someone else mentioned, then probably it is time to break the ties with your web hosting service provider, and hire a new one, or perhaps revise the hosting plans for now. Whether you confront the current hosting services provider to own up to the lack of performance, and provide a better deal, or you get in touch with some other services provide, that is your call, but if you wish to boost up the performance, this is a step you are eventually going to have to take.

Finally, keep a regular tab on the performance of the website 

We all understand that performance optimization is not a onetime affair and you probably would have to be at the top of your game at all times, in order to check any anomalies and weed them out of the architecture. We shall leave you with a code which you may include in the backend of the website, and it will let you know as and when the optimization work is needed to be carried out next with your WP website.

Just mention – ‘ queries in   seconds’ in the backend of the template and you would get all the required insights regarding the performance of the website.

This brings us to the end of this post. We hope that these tips would help you enhance the performance of your WordPress website. For superior quality results, please hire WordPress developers from an offshore center. And do not forget to share with us your opinions about everything that we just discussed above in the article. We shall await your comments and feedbacks.

Author Bio: 

Jason Roiz is an eminent online marketer, who researches on search engine optimization efficiencies of WordPress Development websites. He is associated with OSSMedia Ltd as an online marketing consultant. Notably, OSSMedia Ltd is a leading opensource software development company . Hire WordPress developer for custom WordPress development services.

Why Is Ukraine a Cage for Entrepreneurs?

The challenges of doing business in Ukraine

All Ukrainians wanted to cast off the yoke of the communist dictatorship and the planned, ration-based socialist economy. What did they obtain after succeeding in doing so? Most people did not receive a better life. The “reforms” were such that fraud and embezzlement of public property were not just permissible but even prestigious.
How can Ukrainians come to terms with this fraudulent and largely criminal business? Most importantly, how can things be put back on the right track? Without a free market and the energy of entrepreneurs, Ukraine will continue to eke out a miserable existence. In this series of articles, I attempt to expose the main problems faced by Ukrainian business and show what alternative paths of development exist. The first instalment is about the importance of free entrepreneurship for the economy and how Ukraine affects it.
It is often said that privately owned companies seek only their own benefit, and the country's economy can do well without them. Following this line of reasoning, state-owned enterprises are the only ones that secure the welfare of the entire nation. Most Ukrainian politicians and government officials subscribe to the idea of seeking an optimal balance between the two types of companies.
Another widespread opinion is that private companies require efficient owners. It follows that, lacking such owners, companies must remain property of the state. There is also the well-known view that all forms of property need to be supported and developed. Is this really true? Evidently, it is not that simple.
ENTERPRENEURIAL PROFIT AS COMMON GOOD
If there is no economic profit, there is no accumulation of capital or investment nationwide, and this  means that the conditions for growth in production, more jobs and R&D are not in place. This is axiomatic. Profitability can be found only in a market economic system with private property.
With few exceptions, there was no economic profit under feudalism and previous social systems. The dynamic of economic development was essentially nonexistent. Some people noted that both profitability and investments were part of the planned economy under socialism. Yes, profits indeed existed. But were they economic profits, i.e., the result of economic initiative put into practice? No, they were obtained by confiscating the property, goods and labour of peasants, urban workers and scientific institutions and by expropriating private capital accumulated in tsarist Russia. The Soviet government also claimed land rent and in-kind rent, exploited the military and convicts who did penal labour and earned income on war indemnities and the lend-lease in the Second World War, etc.
The profits were reaped not by enterprises that were economical, innovative or otherwise economically efficient, but by those whose products were sold at prices centrally fixed at a level higher than unit cost. Meanwhile, some other enterprises were forced to sell their products below unit cost, so they were unprofitable according to the economic plan.
Prices were fixed in a centralized fashion, which was the fundamental distinct trait of the planned economy. Profits were reaped by the state and the state then distributed them among certain economic entities. As the sole proprietor of all profits, accumulated capital and investments, it did not need other entities willing to seek and obtain them. That system was fundamentally flawed and could not be successful, because it failed to stimulate entrepreneurial activity, which is the human initiative that leads to the production and realisation of innovative consumer values, the application of innovative production technology and/or the opening of new markets.
The means of production and labour have no sense without entrepreneurial ideas and actions. It is only jointly that means of production, labour and the organisational efforts of entrepreneurs create value and become part of it. Land and monetary capital that are involved in creating value also need to be factored in. This pertains to any industry or type of economic activity, such as the manufacturing industry, commerce, transport, construction, communications, utility services, hotel and restaurant business, legal services and so on.

Some companies receive profits exclusively due to special entrepreneurial qualities, and these profits are the difference between revenue and production costs after interest has been paid on the capital received. Without ownership of a company, a person will not show entrepreneurial qualities. Nor will he channel his own and borrowed money to establish a new enterprise and develop it.
Notably, entrepreneurship plays an active, creative part in the economic process unlike other, passive components.
Entrepreneurship should be distinguished from scientific research, the creation of innovative products, design, branding and building a typical technological process. All these elements are prerequisites for manufacture and business, but without entrepreneurship, they remain on paper only.
Entrepreneurs are producers, but they do not simply implement what has already been designed and developed. On the contrary, they themselves initiate and implement the best of possible products rather than simply promote their own ideas. They also advance their products on the market, seek the best and most favourable markets, and create and increase value.
This special entrepreneurial process yields better products, the highest productivity, minimum costs and the best supply/demand ratio. The output may include any consumer goods – products, services, information, etc.
Another important trait of entrepreneurs is their contribution to creating value and generating revenue. Other components – land rent, equipment cost, payroll and bank interest – are relatively stable quantities determined by average market values.
Entrepreneurial profit, just like the efforts of entrepreneurs, is in no way linked to average values. This performance indicator is always individual and depends on the specific invention as well as on consumer perceptions.
Entrepreneurial profit is, as a rule, short-lived. Its maximum value is achieved at an initial stage when new production ideas are implemented or a new good is manufactured, as long as it is unique.
With time, others begin to master the new production methods, production volume grows and higher demand for such innovations is met. Then the size of the entrepreneurial profit decreases, while other components of net profit (rent, interest, payroll and depreciation) remain virtually unchanged.
Entrepreneurial profit disappears completely when organizational and technological improvements spread throughout the industry and when no one has an individual advantage in terms of economy, or when a new product begins to be manufactured by all competing companies and consumer demand is fully met.
Thus, entrepreneurial activity as such is creative, because it develops production. An entrepreneur cannot afford to rest on his laurels. His stimuli are of a special and extraordinary kind. Entrepreneurial profit may be superhigh if his proposal is revolutionary, as was the case with the railway and the steam engine or, more recently, the Internet and its new operational capabilities.
By standing still, an entrepreneur risks losing everything and going bankrupt. There is no development, organization, enrichment and progress of society without entrepreneurial activity.
ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY AS AN ENEMY OF THE PLANNED ADMINISTRATIVE ECONOMY
Why did socialism remove entrepreneurs, and can the CEOs of Soviet plants and factories (and chiefs of ministries and agencies) be called entrepreneurs? In some cases, Soviet directors exhibited entrepreneurial qualities: they reequipped their plants, implemented better technology, serialized new products, optimized production capacity, etc.
But they never became entrepreneurs. First, they did not receive any of the profit resulting from their innovations. Instead, they only received their salaries which, truth be told, included various bonuses and stimuli, special one-time payments for technical upgrades and personal benefits awarded by ministries.
In other words, such improvements could never materialize without the consent of the owner (the state, or its ministry), which viewed plant directors exclusively as hired labour. Second, the changes made at state-owned enterprises were not, in essence, innovations because they only replicated — in a planned economy — the achievements of other entrepreneurial entities, which were normally located abroad. Typically, they did so inaccurately, because foreign models often had to be modified or altered.
These Soviet novelties simply propagated innovations already present on other markets. The best equipment used in the most advanced sectors of the Soviet economy (microelectronics, radio electronics, electronic engineering and rocket construction) was foreign-made.
In general terms, three waves of technological import may be singled out: during industrialization; after the Second World War (American lend-lease and war indemnities imposed on Germany); and in the 1970s and 1980s, when a strong flow of petrodollars after crises in world energy allowed the USSR to purchase new equipment in the West.
Soviet constructors who designed products that were serialized by the industry, from footwear to cars to ships and nuclear reactors, were copied from foreign specimens, including those procured by the Soviet special services.
ENTREPRENEURS NEED THE OPEN SEA AND FINANCIERS NEED QUIET HARBOURS
What is the connection between entrepreneurship and investments? Where do investments come from to meet the needs of entrepreneurs? The source of these investments is citizens, groups of citizens or nations that invest in manufacture, business and transactions in order to receive profits. If investments are made by private individuals who seek the highest return, they will most likely go precisely to entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurial activity and financial business are fundamentally different. The former seeks to bring together factors and components of the production process to create supply on the market of consumer goods, while the latter is aimed at profitable and risk-free investment of money and is not much concerned about where to invest – manufacture, bank deposits, stocks or bonds, precious metals, real estate, financial, currency or other speculations.
An enterprise is designed to make new products, search for markets and select the best technology, means of production and methods of its organization. It is, in essence, a producer of commodities. The goal of business is to preserve the value of money by receiving passive income – interest, discount, rent, etc. This type of economic activity is passive in that it only reacts to changes in prices, profits and value of capital all of which are secured primarily through entrepreneurial activity.
An entrepreneur is not afraid to take risks. He does not even give thought to risk when he starts a business. In contrast, financiers shun risks, because they do not know all the capabilities of enterprises and markets; they cannot be sure what a particular government will do or how key financial markets will change. Even in these conditions they have to meet their commitments before investors.
They are mediators with interest in financial stability and predictability. Of course, financial profiteers earn precisely on “risks” – they like instability and abrupt currency and price fluctuations which enable them to buy lower and sell higher. Entrepreneurs are interested in innovations and their implementation, while financiers are very cautious about innovations. They would rather wait until a new thing is fully implemented and guarantees stable positive results. Investing financiers spread, rather than introduce, innovations.
Entrepreneurs need free access to resources and markets, laissez-faire and independence from the state, land owners, trade unions and creditors. In contrast, financiers are not interested in freedom and resources. They are ready to cooperate with the authorities, land owners, or anyone for that matter, in order to reduce risks and share them with others. This is why bankers, exchange brokers and investors do not, quite unlike entrepreneurs, seek political freedom and instead try to find ways to cooperate with the existing government regardless of how corrupt or totalitarian it may be.

In the USSR, there were no entrepreneurs or profit-oriented private investments. The economy was deprived of an ability to generate profits by cutting production costs and offering new consumer values on the market. In socialist times, the Ukrainian community reverted to a social system in which the economy was unable to self-improve, obtain entrepreneurial profits and efficiently use them, while Soviet society was incapable of cultural and intellectual growth.
IS THE PROFIT-ORIENTED ENTREPRENEURIAL ECONOMY WORKING TODAY? IF NOT, WHY NOT?
Several prerequisites must be in place for a profit-oriented entrepreneurial economy to function. First, prices must not be set on an individual basis. Instead, an average price should result from the interaction of all sellers and buyers of a certain product on the market. This price correlates with average costs in the industry and goes up or down depending on the supply/demand ratio. This is market, rather than administrative, pricing at work. In this case, price is an external factor for a specific enterprise and a common quantity for every player, independent of individual costs.
Second, entrepreneurial profit emerges only in companies that outperform others by installing newer or more productive equipment, using better or cheaper materials or organizing the production and administrative processes more efficiently.
Another source of profit is pricing: when an entrepreneur first comes out on the market with a fundamentally new product, he sets a price that is much higher than that of traditional products.
The same thing happens when a businessman opens new markets for his traditional products. Other entrepreneurs who have not achieved similar results incur production and marketing costs that are on the level of market prices or higher, and thus their activity does not bring that much profit.
In this case, entrepreneurs are content with bonuses for special managerial functions (formulating the overall conception, finding markets, landing large contracts, involving highly qualified CEOs, etc.) or receive rent payments as owners of land, minerals, buildings, communications and so on. The corresponding expenditures are, of course, part of production cost. Entrepreneurial profit is only one part of all profits received by company owners, so when it disappears, other components remain.
Third, entrepreneurship as a special type of human activity has a special existential niche. It brings together components of the manufacturing process and marketing procedure and secures the operation of a company established for this purpose. Success depends on how well the components are made to fit together, as well as the choice of equipment, labour and technology.
Entrepreneurial activity is also special in that it involves a constant search for new businesses and technologies; other (better) use of old equipment, buildings and land; closing old unprofitable companies and creating new ones in terms of the manufactured product, branch of industry and method of production. All these changes are innovative.
A true entrepreneur lives by innovating. Innovations are what enables businesses to put products on the market whose value greatly exceeds that of similar products made by other suppliers. Products of this kind bring the owner temporary entrepreneurial superprofits. (This highly important conclusion was first formulated by Joseph Schumpeter who once taught at the University of Czernowitz and served as the Austrian Minister of Finance.)
Those who fail to constantly innovate lose the initiative and zeal and soon stop being entrepreneurs as such, because their business loses its competitive edge, becomes unprofitable and eventually goes bankrupt or is closed.
Fourth, the entrepreneur is not, for all intents and purposes, a creditor, investor or financial partner. A person who seeks to accumulate and save money, receive interest on capital and make successful temporary investments never turns into an entrepreneur. He is a financier. The goal of an investing financier is to reduce the risks of capital placement (if possible), diversify investments, pull out of unsuccessful investments in good time and move his money elsewhere. A person who has accrued savings is primarily interested in investing in property, stocks, land and whatever else might secure the highest interest, dividend or rent.
None of the above pertains to the entrepreneur. His task is to organize and improve a specific business. Thus, if he has to also search for money needed to implement his business idea, solve tasks to minimize investment risks, etc., it will only hamper him and will hurt the economy in general.
Therefore, it can be concluded that financial business has to be a separate and specialized sector. Entrepreneurship cannot develop and be successful if the economy does not have favourable conditions allowing easy access to credit and investment market resources.
Fifth, anyone can become an entrepreneur, but he must have an intellectual, businesslike, socially and politically independent personality. This enables a businessman to carry out an objective financial analysis of existing production facilities, do marketing research, select the best new ideas in terms of design, technology and production and invite highly qualified specialists.
This kind of freedom is impossible in an unfree, closed, undemocratic, utterly bureaucratic and corrupt society. It also follows from this that a government employee, a law enforcement officer, a serviceman, a tax inspector, etc. cannot be an entrepreneur. Where people like that do “business” social goods are embezzled, bribery is forced upon citizens and criminally punishable abuse of office is rampant. Moreover, if an enterprise is launched and controlled by bureaucrats who cannot possibly have entrepreneurial qualities, it will not bring profits. In other words, n most cases it is impossible to adjust Soviet enterprises to a competitive market economy.
Sixth, a profit-driven entrepreneurial economy requires a competitive environment and a free market. The entrepreneur has to seek profits that arise from new combinations and improved business. If he is a monopolistic supplier of a special product on a certain market, he will objectively be able to set a much higher price compared to products in the same group on the same market. This price will reflect the real value and will include entrepreneurial profit as payment for innovation. However, a monopoly on innovation is short-lived in conditions of a competitive market economy.
Other producers also desire to receive innovation-generated profits and will try to start producing the unique product themselves as soon as possible. The growing supply will meet the spiking demand, and a monopolistically high price will go down. In this way, the price will begin to reflect production costs. Thus, competition destroys innovation-generated superprofits, and this is a positive phenomenon. The initial monopolistic supplier will be forced to come up with new types of products.

In other words, the entrepreneurial function would not be performed without competition, and a monopolistic supplier of a certain good would be content to receive stable superhigh profits and, instead of generating new business ideas, he would abuse his position by independently hiking prices, reducing the product’s quality, misreporting his profits, etc. So the entrepreneur himself is not idealist. He wants to maintain his monopolistic position as long as possible and tries to eliminate competition.
Artificially created and natural monopolies and their protection under the government, which was part and parcel of the socialist economy (and could not be otherwise because the state, as the sole owner, also craved for monopolistic superprofits) and survives, to an extent, in the current Ukrainian realities. However, the above suggests that this is a road to degradation. Moreover, entrepreneurial activity alone – without the government's involvement to support competition and overcome monopolism – may fail to produce positive social results and may, to the contrary, lead to economically unacceptable business structures and skewing the market.
Seventh, society must work out a tolerant and reverent attitude to entrepreneurs, both at the everyday and state level. This is the starting point for the mental and physical attitude of government officials, tax inspectors and policemen to businessman as a social group and to entrepreneurial expenditures and profits (including superprofits). If these financial resources that entrepreneurs have are viewed as undeserved, unfair and earned at the cost of “exploiting the working class”, taxes will be superhigh; policemen and inspectors will be unduly biased; and the investment and business climate will be unfavourable.
Social acceptance and intolerance have to be based on the understanding that entrepreneurial profit originates from labour. In contrast, monopolistic superprofits and corrupt political rent generated by certain businessmen must become a target of social obstruction and punitive persecution on the part of government, law enforcement and judicial bodies. Therefore, it is important to discriminate socially useful types of profits, such as entrepreneurial and innovation-based profits, and harmful and illegal profits (resulting from monopolies, corruption, profiteering, etc.) and stimulate companies to focus on the former. This may not be an easy thing to do, because profits, just like money, do not smell.
UKRAINE AS A CAGE FOR ENTREPRENEURS
Does Ukraine possess the above features and meet the requirements set for a profit-oriented entrepreneurial economy? A hostile attitude to private entrepreneurs – independent, innovative and creative – is undisguised and widespread in Ukraine. The public has formed an image of in impudent and greedy fraudster. Most people perceive the state as the sole benefactor that guarantees justice and develops the manufacturing industry. Mentally, Ukrainian society tolerates entrepreneurs as the unnecessary addition to the freedoms and property rights enjoyed by the citizens. Tax inspectors and policemen have been set on entrepreneurs like hounds. Fiscal pressure has cut off energy supplies to entrepreneurs.
Only those who cooperate with officials and those who have billions command respect because they can nicely reward a judge or a journalist. Entrepreneurs are not being raised or educated in Ukraine. Specialized colleges and institutes equip students with technological expertise and knowledge of economic relations in their respective industry (manufacture, construction, transport, commerce, tourism, the restaurant and hotel business, design, etc.) but not with the skills needed for entrepreneurial activity. Neither are individual approaches or nonstandard solutions encouraged. Thus, it should not come as a surprise that college graduates look for jobs only in existing organizations and fail to find them. They do not even think about starting their own business.
Our country lacks the cult of inviolability of a private individual and the protection of personal information. The rights and freedoms of people are not a supreme value like in the Western world.
The entrepreneurial sector in Ukraine is very narrow, sparse and marginal. The authorities view it as a place for small-scale flee market transactions and related industries (delivery, transport and financial services). The entire system of financial and legal relationships between the authorities and entrepreneurs is built on this foundation.
It is still “permissible” to engage in individual activities that involve providing various intellectual and other professional services. There are few other sectors where entrepreneurial zeal can be seen: residential construction and business property development, entertainment centres, resorts, shopping malls, etc.
Due to destructive privatization and government-backed elimination of competition, the new owners of industrial, communications and agricultural enterprises inherited by Ukraine from the USSR never turned into entrepreneurs. They are content to receive other types of net profits – corrupt and monopolistic profits, various subsidies and soft loans, rent on mineral mines and fertile land, etc. Thus, most of them continue to lose their markets and revenue.
Unfortunately, entrepreneurs are unable to obtain sufficient financial means to develop production. The state is of no help, not even in R&D and socially significant projects. Instead, it sets tax traps to freeze revenue and confiscate property. Moreover, since Ukraine became independent in 1991, sky-high bank interest rates have made bank loans unaffordable. Bank loans do not account for even one-tenth of the demand in the national economy. The annual increase in credit resources has been at a mere UAH 60-70 billion in the past several years, which is less than five per cent of Ukraine’s GDP.
But independent entrepreneurs have received virtually none of this money – it is distributed among those who are close to the government, own financials institutions and who are not entrepreneurs by definition. When resources are lacking, there is no sense to seek innovations, manufacture new products and build the necessary equipment. That is the reason why there are no Ukrainian-made innovative goods to be seen.
The entrepreneurial sector accounts for an unacceptably low part of the national economy and is mostly marginal, which hampers the profitability and progress of Ukraine’s economy. An extremely heavy burden is placed on the national economy by unprofitable companies – at least 45 per cent of the total number in some years and 56 per cent during the crisis in 2009. This means that true entrepreneurs did not have access to such companies. It is also worth noting that the lion’s share of profits is secured by the financial and credit sector of the economy. Approximately one-third of enterprises in the industrial sector make any profit, and of these no more than 10 per cent are entrepreneurial, according to my calculations.
Another roadblock is the non-market character of Ukraine's economy: prices are set by the authorities, certain commodities are regulated in an administrative fashion; the central government interferes with the distribution of financial resources; the government puts restraints on foreign economic activity and so on. Therefore, Ukraine has found itself in an impasse — there is no future without entrepreneurship.

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Copywriting based on the science of persuasion

If you’re ever going to sell anything online, copywriting is a much needed skill.The conventional copywriting wisdom says that you should more or less try stick to the following formula:

1. Tell the reader you understand their need,
2. Tell your prospect why your product is the best solution they can buy,
3. Offer all kinds of proof like testimonials, charts and so on,
4. Explain all the ways the product will benefit the customer,
5. Present the price in a way that makes it sound like a great deal,
6. Give a (better than) money-back guarantee,
7. Add bonus products to really motivate the customer to buy,
8. Make it a limited time or quantity offer,
9. Ask for the sale and tell them exactly what steps to take.

Is the exact sequence that persuades people or why should this work? What scientific data is available to use about persuasion? Which research can we rely on to make our writing more persuasive?

Here’s a summary of the most prominent books and publications on the matter.

The work of Robert Cialdini

Mr. Cialdini is undoubtedly the biggest authority on the field. His books are bestsellers and have been in the “must-read” list for marketers and copywriters for years.

Cialdini came up with six scientific principles of persuasion that will help guide you to become more effective at getting people do what you want. In case you have no idea what those principles are, then here’s the summary:

Principle 1: ReciprocityPeople feel obligated to give back to others who have given to them.
How to use it: teach your prospect something useful in your copy, give away free stuff and better yet – add value to your prospects long before you even start to sell them something.

Principle 2: LikingWe prefer to say “yes” to those we know and like.
How to use it: talk/write like a human, connect with the reader, share details about yourself. Blog. Be friendly and cool (like Richard Branson).

Principle 3: Social proofPeople decide what’s appropriate for them to do in a situation by examining and following what others are doing.
How to use it: show how many others are already using your product. Show off your numbers. Use testimonials. Link to 3rd-party articles.

Principle 4: AuthorityPeople rely on those with superior knowledge or perspective for guidance on how to respond AND what decision to make.
How to use it: Demonstrate your expertise. Show off your resume and results. Get celebrity (in your niche) endorsements.

Principle 5: ConsistencyOnce we make a choice/take a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressure to behave consistently with that commitment.
How to use it: Start small and move up from there. Sell something small first (a no-brainer deal), even if you make no money on it. They now see themselves as your customer, and will be much more likely to return to make a larger purchase.

Principle 6: ScarcityOpportunities appear more valuable when they are less available.
How to use it: Use time or quantity limited bonuses. Limit access to your product. Promote exclusivity.

SEOmoz has a great illustrated article on all of these principles. Naturally you can get the full picture of these principles from his book Influence. His other book – Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive – builds on that and adds some practical ideas. See the list of these 50 ways here.

Robert Gifford and five elements of an effective message

Mr. Gifford is a professor of Psychology and Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. He is co-author of a relatively recent American Psychological Association report that examined the interface between psychology and climate change.

He explains what makes people receptive and how to get messages across effectively:

• It has to have some urgency.
• It has to have as much certainty as can be mustered with integrity.
• There can’t be just one message: there must be messages targeted to different groups.
• Messages should be framed in positive terms. People are less willing to change their behaviour if you tell them they have to make sacrifices. If you tell them they can be in the vanguard, be a hero, be the one that helps — that works.
• You have to give people the sense that their vote counts and that their effort won’t be in vain.

While his work focused on the message of climate change, it will work in your sales copy too.

The art of persuasion by Angela Lee and Brian Sternthal

Research by Kellogg professors Angela Lee and Brian Sternthal offers insight into effective messaging. In a study in the Journal of Consumer Research, Kellogg professors say the key to an effective message is finding the fit between the consumers’ goals and the level of abstraction.

The researchers found that when consumers aimed to fulfill aspirations and satisfy achievement goals, more abstract messages — for example, those highlighting the freedom TiVo provides — stimulated favorable brand evaluations. On the other hand, consumers who sought to fulfill their responsibilities and satisfy their security goals were more persuaded by concrete messages, such as those emphasizing TiVo’s replay and slow-motion features.

So this means that first you have to figure out the emotional vibe of your prospect – or figure out what kind of motivations you’re targeting with your product. If you get it right and the level of abstraction fits the goal, people understand messages better and are more easily persuaded.

Messages that stick

Mark Twain once observed, “A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.”

Isn’t that true? Some stories – especially urban legends, conspiracy theories, and scandals circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people who really try to spread their ideas – businesspeople, scientists, politicians, journalists, and others – struggle to get anyone to remember what they said.

Two brothers, Chip Heath (a Stanford Business school professor) and Dan Heath (a corporate education consultant at Duke) found after extensive research that the ideas that ‘stick’ all share the following six principles:

1. Simplicity – Your message has to be simple – stripped down to it’s core intent. You must come up with a profound compact phrase that would summarize your whole premise.
2. Unexpected – In order to capture someone’s attention, you need to break a pattern – in other words to present the unexpected. You need to understand and play with two essential emotions – surprise and interest. Surprise gets our attention and interest keeps our attention. Got a conventional product? Get a new one.
3. Concrete – People won’t remember vague stuff. What helps people understand new concepts is concrete language. Concreteness is an indispensable component of sticky ideas. Don’t say ‘fast acceleration’, say 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds.
4. Credible – You need somebody who people trust to confirm your case. The trustworthiness of your source makes all the difference. People need something / someone credible in order to believe you.
5. Emotional – Feelings inspire people to act. If you story does not invoke any emotions, you’ve lost.
6. Stories – How do you get people to act on your idea? A credible idea make speople believe. An emotional idea makes people care. Put both of them together into an idea as stories have the amazing dual power to stimulate and to inspire.

Remember to read their excellent book ‘Made to Stick‘.

Buy buttons in the brain

Research in neuromarketing (put together in this book) reveals interesting things about our brains. As it turns out, we have 3 brains. Well, not really, but the brain does have 3 layers. Each layer has it’s own functions: the “New Brain” thinks, the “Middle Brain” feels and the “Old Brain” decides – it reviews input from the other two brains and controls the decision making process.

The ‘Old Brain’ is the part that humans (and it’s predecessors) have had the longest – like 160 million years or so. So the part of the brain that controls decisions is pretty primitive and mostly concerned with survival.

We’re usually trying to talk to the ‘New Brain’ – the sophisticated one – but it’s the brute that makes all the decisions, so we need to dumb it down. Here’s the formula:

Selling probability = Pain x Claim x Gain x (Old Brain)³

First you need to identify the prospect’s pain (the greater the pain, the higher the chance of sale) and make sure they acknowledge the pain before you start to sell them anything. Second, you’ve got to differentiate your claims from your competitors. The strongest claim is the one that eliminates the strongest pain.

Next you have to show convincing proof of these claims. The ‘Old Brain’ is resistant to new ideas and concepts, so your proof must be very convincing. Show tangible evidence, data, testimonials, case studies.

And finally – deliver to the ‘Old brain’. You need to start with a ‘grabber’ – something that really gets the  attention (‘if you’re selling fire extinguishers, start with fire’, like Ogilvy said). Second – the ‘Old brain’ is visual, hence start with a big picture.

Remember – the ‘Old brain’ is concerned with survival. So it only cares about itself and not anyone else. Your message needs to be entirely about the prospect.

Get the book to find out about all the other ways to push the right buttons in the brain.

Last but not least

You can find lots of good stuff from a book that is now freely available (as it was written in 1923) – Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins. Here’s the link to the free pdf download.

6 Ways to Make Your Own Luck BY NICOLE CARTER

While luck isn't an exact science, there are certainly ways to make yourself more open to opportunity. Here are six easy ways.

Many entrepreneurs believe their success is in part due to a little bit of luck-- that chance meeting with a potential investor or that dinner conversation that sparks a new idea. In fact, a new study by networking site LinkedIn found that 84 percent of 7,000 professionals they surveyed say they believe in career luck.

But let's face it: There isn't an exact science to luck. You can't predict it. However, there have been plenty of successful entrepreneurs, authors, and even researchers who've tried to map out just what makes someone lucky.

Here are a few of the top tips for cultivating your own luck. 

1. Be humble. Part of cultivating luck, writes author and venture capitalist Athony Tjan for Harvard Business Review, is increasing your influence. And the best way to do that is through cultivating something counterintuitive: humility. He added: "People can mistake humility for weakness and avoid it so as not to lose perceived power...You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."

2. Roll up your sleeves. This seems pretty obvious to those who consider themselves lucky. According to the LinkedIn survey, a whopping 70 percent of those surveyed said a strong work ethic was the number one thing that makes someone lucky. But to work hard, you also have to be skilled. Nearly half of the respondents in the same survey said that skills were another contributor to career luck.

3. Be generous. Tjan also writes, "Never lose the spirit of generosity; instead, allocate it appropriately. Remaining a mentor to others, connecting with community activities, simply saying more 'thank-yous,' and doing more things without over-thinking the potential 'value-exchange' equation, is a pay-it-forward attitude that in the long-run usually pays off in spades. Plus, it just feels good to be generous."

4. Be ready. Good to Great author Jim Collins has said that if one cannot predict luck, the question to then ask is: "Do you have a high return on luck?" In a New York Times essay he revealed this concept using Bill Gates as an example. He wrote: "Thousands of people could have done the same thing that Mr. Gates did, at the same time. But they didn't...How many of them changed their life plans--and cut their sleep to near zero, essentially inhaling food so as not to let eating interfere with work--to throw themselves into writing Basic for the Altair? How many defied their parents, dropped out of college and moved to Albuquerque to work with the Altair? That’s not luck--that's return on luck."

5. Go with your gut. Who better than the late Steve Jobs to describe why trusting in your gut instincts may be the best way to ensure your luck in the future? In his famous speech to a graduating class at Stanford he said, "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life." Add to that, according to the LinkedIn survey, nearly half of the respondents said that "using your intuition" has been an important factor in their career luck.

6. Simply believe that you are lucky. A recent study from psychologist and University of Hertfordshire Professor Richard Wiseman found that simply believing you are lucky can create positive outcomes. He took two groups of people: one that considered themselves "lucky," and another that considered themselves "unlucky." He gave both groups newspapers and asked everyone to report back how many photos were in the issue as quickly as possible. The lucky people came back with the answer in seconds, much faster than the unlucky group. Why? Because on page two of the paper, there was an ad that read "Stop counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper."

Wiseman concluded: "Unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner, and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through the newspaper determined to find certain job advertisements and, as a result, miss other types of jobs. Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there, rather than just what they are looking for."