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Friday, January 8, 2016

6 Podcasts That Will Make You Richer in 2016 Brandon Turner Real Estate Investor and VP of Growth at BiggerPockets.com

6 Podcasts That Will Make You Richer in 2016
Last week, I cut my thumb pretty badly while slicing apples. Why? Because I was multitasking! As more and more people in the business world now recognize, multitasking simply doesn't work most of the time. Sure, you can walk and chew gum at the same time, but trying to engage in a conversation with your wife while cutting apples . . . not so much. 
There is, however, one specific area of life that is not only ideal for multitasking, but where applying it can actually increase your net worth this year. And that is . . .listening to podcasts. 
Podcasts can be consumed while you'e driving to the office, walking the dog, standing around the gym pretending to know what you're doing. (that's me) and much more. 
Of course, not all podcasts are going to make you rich. Some will make you laugh, others will make you cry and still others will demonstrate how to keep your dog from soiling the carpet. But a growing number of podcasts are now focused on business, finance, entrepreneurship and other topics designed to make you richer. 
I want to share six of my favorite podcasts that will help you get rich in 2016. 

1. The 'Stacking Benjamins' podcast, with Joe Saul-Sehy and OG

Image credit: Stacking Benjamins | Enhanced by Entrepreneur
Humor and personal finance rarely wind up in bed together, but the Stacking Benjamins podcast is one of those rare shows that makes me laugh and teaches me something new each time. 
Hosts Joe Saul-Sehy and OG (along with other guests) make this show as enjoyable as sitting in your mom's basement, drinking a beer with old friends. In fact, each show takes place in "Joe's mom's basement," which adds to the charm that is Stacking Benjamins. Plus, the "magazine style" format means that each show features numerous topics, keeping with the fast-paced vibe of the show. 
Highly recommended episode: "Live from #FinCon15." Check out the show on iTunes. 

2. 'The Dave Ramsey Show' podcast, with Dave Ramsey

Image credit: Dave Ramsey | Enhanced by Entrepreneur
It would be difficult to talk about money-related podcasts without mentioning the behemoth in the room -- The Dave Ramsey Show podcast. For millions of Americans, Dave Ramsey is a household name, as his popular radio show is heard throughout the country by more than eight million people each week. His podcast has consistently been ranked the No. 1 or No. 2 business podcast on iTunes for as long as I've been watching the list. (And I've been watching a while: Dave... I'm coming for you!)
Ramsey's philosophy is simple: Get out of debt now, live responsibly and grow wealthy. Through its "seven baby steps," (and radio program, TV show, podcast, courses and live events) the Ramsey organization has helped millions of Americans get out from the crushing burden of consumer debt and begin building wealth through smart saving, responsible spending and careful investing. I was one of those millions when I stumbled across Dave's book The Total Money Makeover almost a decade ago. 
I believe that getting rich starts with building a solid financial foundation in your life, and The Dave Ramsey Show podcast is one of the best ways to get that foundation. 
Highly recommended episode: The newest show. Check out the show in iTunes.

3. The 'Smart Passive Income' podcast, with Pat Flynn

Image credit: The Smart Passive Income| Enhanced by Entrepreneur
Online entrepreneurship has swept the globe over the past decade, and one of the leading voices in that movement has been my friend Pat Flynn, with The Smart Passive Income podcast. In fact, of all the shows on this list, Flynn's had the biggest impact on me personally when I first decided to take "wealth-building" more seriously.
Each week, Flynn brings on guests who have achieved significant success in the online business world and who, on air, dive into the strategies and tactics that made it possible. Flynn's show is great for both beginner and advanced online entrepreneurs, and I've never finished a show without several actionable pieces of advice to apply to my own business. 

4. The 'Radical Personal Finance,' with Joshua Sheats

Image credit: The Radical Personal Finance | Enhanced by Entrepreneur
For those looking for greater depth on a variety of financial topics, don't miss The Radical Personal Finance podcast with host Joshua Sheats. Sheats is an incredibly smart financial advisor who holds nothing back as he provides in-depth content and "master’s degree-level education" to listeners. If there is one show on this list that is going to make your brain hurt -- in a totally amazing way -- it's The Radical Personal Financepodcast.

5. The 'So Money' podcast, with Farnoosh Torabi

Image credit: That So Money | Enhanced by Entrepreneur
Are you looking to live a "richer, happier life"? That's the goal of Farnoosh Torabi's daily So Money podcast. 
Torabi, a financial writer and TV correspondent , has a distinct style that is both engaging and informative, which can be difficult to do in the personal finance niche. Torabi also has managed to land some huge guests on her podcast, including Tony Robbins, Tim Ferriss, Gretchen Rubin, Jim Cramer, Seth Godin, Robert Kiyosaki and many others who help inspire listeners to truly take their wealth to a new level.
In addition, each week, Torabi hosts an "Ask Farnoosh" episode, which covers topics submitted by listeners. I find these episodes especially helpful, as almost every topic pertains to something I myself have wondered about!

6. The 'BiggerPockets' podcast, with Josh Dorkin and Brandon Turner

Image credit: The Bigger Pockets | Enhanced by Entrepreneur
Is it okay to include my own podcast in a list?! Perhaps it is, since it is one of the most popular business-related podcasts on iTunes! 
The BiggerPockets podcast is different from the other shows on this list in that it's highly niche-specific about one topic: real estate investing.
Each week, Josh Dorkin (CEO of BiggerPockets.com) and I (Brandon Turner) sit down with a guest to discuss the best ways to build wealth using real estate investing. These guests are not late-night TV gurus, but real-life individuals from the BiggerPockets community. We talk about buying rental properties, flipping houses, marketing, creative strategies, mistakes and more. Each show follows a similar format, beginning with how the guest first entered the world of real estate investing and ending with the "world-famous Famous Four" questions. 
Obviously, just listening to a podcast is not going to make you richer in 2016. For that, you're going to need to take action. 
The good news is, you can get the best advice on what action to take, for free, by listening to podcasts. Even better, you can get this advice while doing your normal day-to-day activites. So, back to multitasking: Podcasts are one type of multitasking that isn't going to get your thumb cut off! 
Do you have a favorite podcast you want to share with us? Let me know in the comments below! 
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Wednesday, January 6, 2016

10 min read How 9 Successful Companies Keep Their Customers

How 9 Successful Companies Keep Their Customers

No one likes to be dumped. But companies are blindsided every day by customers who leave them. Often, companies don’t see it coming: in fact, 91 percent of customers leave without any explicit warning.
To the entrepreneur, losing a customer often seems personal, not just a statistic. But in terms of business success, startups now more than ever need to show not only that they can attract customers but that they can keep them. Increasingly, investors look at customer retention to determine whether an entrepreneur's product or service will ultimately succeed in the marketplace.
Through my work at Sparked, a predictive analytics customer-retention platform, I’ve spent endless hours working with companies to determine if their customers are getting value from their products, whether they’re likely to stick around or not and how to keep them.
There are many examples of successful companies that have innovated to ensure that their customers have a great experience, receive value and stay loyal. So I reached out to colleagues, friends and fellow entrepreneurs who have been particularly impressive at building ongoing relationships with customers. I asked them to share tips that have driven their success.
Their resulting insights about 9 companies provide a wealth of best practices for any entrepreneur looking to establish a growing and loyal customer base:

1. Dollar Shave Club: Know thy customer.

Dollar Shave Club: delivers razors and other personal grooming products
Dollar Shave Club is a viral branding-powerhouse with quite possibly the best-ever startup video (over 18 million views). But Janet Song, SVP of member Services, says she won't let Dollar Shave Club rest on its branding laurels: The company is a big believer in using technology to understand its members. Using a powerful system to integrate its in-house CRM, customer support platform and data analytics, Dollar Shave ensures that it has a rich understanding of its members -- so that it can deliver an outstanding customer experience. “We don’t respond to situations; we respond to people,” is the philosophy that drives the company's member engagement. Dollar Shave Club now has over 1.5 million happy subscribers, who not only enjoy the brand, but also participate in a great relationship with the company.

2. Etsy: Dig deep to find what really drives your customer.

Etsy: global community of entrepreneurs who use the site to sell what they make or curate
While most Amazon and Ebay users go to these sites to purchase a specific item they already have in mind, Etsy knew early on that its users come to explore, discover and buy new, unique things. To facilitate this, Etsy knew it needed to present interesting products to viewers, to personalize the user journey in such a way that visitors see products that resonate with them. According to SVP of product Mike Grishaver, the team has been hard at work on functionality that can recommend products based on factors that go beyond what people have looked at. The result is an experience that surprises shoppers with unique new items and engages them to find more. Grishaver advises other companies to “look beyond the basic mechanics of what users can do on your site. Find the deeper experience that makes them feel more connected and then infuse that into every part of their experience with you." For Etsy, web and mobile-feed engagement jumped immediately after the company instituted enhanced data analytics. They clearly paid off: People have discovered new products that uncannily reflect their personalities and interests.

3. StumbleUpon: Unite internally to improve externally.

StumbleUpon: "discovery engine" that finds and recommends web content to users
StumbleUpon realized that driving user engagement required more communication and better integration across its data, engineering, product and marketing teams. Through a companywide initiative, the data team delivered more actionable insights; the product and engineering teams worked more closely to methodically test how features and fixed functionality affected engagement over time; and the marketing team looked at the long-term behavior of the different types of users StumbleUpon targeted. Annie Gherini, head of marketing, notes that, “The age of departmental silos is over, and the unified efforts of all functional teams ensure that everyone is reading from the same playbook, resulting in an awesome user experience.” The company's efforts resulted in a marked jump in both the frequency and length of user visits to its site.

4. PlentyOfFish: Test methodically.

PlentyOfFish: dating site
Any company’s intuition and anecdotal observation is critical, but methodical analysis and testing takes user experience to the next level. While PlentyOfFish’s team has done an amazing job building a product that’s attracted 90 million users, team members don’t rest on the laurels of a clearly proven, well-liked product. PlentyOfFish may deal in dating and love, but on the business side it's analytically savvy and believes in constant optimization through split testing. Agata Osinska, director of product, notes: “We are methodical about testing. You need to be disciplined about setting tests up to give you clear, accurate results. You can’t try to test too much at the same time or you end up with a jumbled mess.” PlentyOfFish has been optimizing its product with relentless testing, and has seen a distinct increase in user engagement rates since implementing a more rigorous testing process over the past year.

5. Bitly: Educate customers about the full value of your product.

Bitly: URL shortening service
Users don’t always understand the full value of your product. Users, for example, thought of Bitly solely as a link shortener, to be used only occasionally. But the information that Bitly gathered about people who clicked those links -- their motivations, desired content, etc. -- provided powerful insights to marketers. Bitly’s CEO Mark Josephson notes: “I saw the immense power of Bitly and realized that customers needed to rethink who we were and what we did. We refocused the entire company on helping marketers get the extensive value our product offered that they hadn’t realized to date; and it revolutionized our customer experience and value.” Bitly is now perceived and valued as a marketing tool that provides ongoing value via customer insights. By educating its customers, Bitly managed to achieve more frequent engagement for longer periods of time.

6. Cratejoy: Make customer retention a KPI.

Cratejoy: platform for merchants to launch a subscription commerce business 
A comprehensive, one-stop solution, Cratejoy launched just last year but quickly closed a $4 million venture round due to the power of the subscription economy and the company's understanding of how to help subscription enterprises succeed through customer retention. Co-founder Amir Elaguizy acutely understands that customer retention is the key to success, and while recognizing that most of his entrepreneurs are focused on customer acquisition, he’s made customer retention a key key performance indicator (KPI) on the dashboard for everyone who has started a subscription company through the Cratejoy platform. As a result, companies using the service boast higher customer retention than the industry average, ensuring that Cratejoy's company founders keep the early customers they worked so hard to attract.

7. MeUndies: Beware of discounting.

MeUndies: makes men's and women's comfortable underwear
While discounts may attract more customers, MeUndies realized that when customers are initially and primarily motivated by savings, they often make only one purchase (if buying a la carte), or they quit their new membership (if they've chosen the subscription option). But MeUndies had a fun, quality product and a great community of users so it wanted to focus on building its base of enthusiastic supporters and high-value customers. Dan King, head of business development, says: “We found that if users signed up at full price, they were more likely to remain loyal than users who would sign up with a discount. We then gave our ‘full price’ customers discount offers later to reward them for their loyalty, after we already had established a great relationship with them.” MeUndies now attracts new customers with a higher lifetime value, so its marketing ROI is compelling, and its customer base, more active and energetic.

8. Unbounce: Focus on quality customers.

Unbounce: assists startups with landing page optimization
Upon launching in 2009, Unbounce immediately attracted many new customers. However, it soon learned that some of these new customers misunderstood Unbounce and actually didn’t need a landing-page optimization tool. As a result, these particular customers tied up support resources before ultimately quitting. Unbounce is a powerful tool, though, and marketers who actually do a lot of A/B landing-page testing are typically long-term customers. So, Unbounce learned to drive uncertain leads to freemium membership plans to ensure they understood the product before converting to paid membership.This improved the fit of members who ultimately signed up, and the customer success team could focus more on high-value customers. CEO Rick Perrault drove the company’s customer-focused culture and championed this mission to improve Unbounce's customer success efforts and, ultimately, its customers' experience. Says fellow co-founder Jason Murphy: “Startups have limited resources. Make sure you attract customers who really need your product so your time supporting them is well spent. Customers that aren’t a good fit for your company often take a lot of your time, and leave relatively soon.” Unbounce now has a high engagement retention rate, with an active customer-success team working with well-targeted and high-value customers.

9. Insightly: Drive people to your product’s most valuable features.

Insightly: provides online customer relationship and project management software
While many small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) shy away from implementing CRM software because they see it as an enterprise tool, Insightly’s user-friendly CRM system has attracted a large and loyal user base. However, Insightly was not content with just attracting new customers who were curious about the software; instead, it wanted to double down on ensuring that those SMBs knew how to maximize value from software they’d never used. To achieve this, Insightly pinpointed the four product features most influential in driving customer retention. It then monitored which customers were not using these product features, and created outreach campaigns (email, video tutorials, FAQs, etc.) to drive usage. Lynn Tsoflias, VP of customer success, suggests that entrepreneurs focused on customer retention should “guide customers to their goals and help them gain the maximum value from your solution.” By driving people to its most useful product features, Insightly has established high customer retention and customer satisfaction rates.
All relatively early-stage companies call themselves customer-centric, but only actual success retaining customers proves that they've nailed the customer experience. If customers keep coming back, then you know you’ve created a quality product, experience and relationship. From early-stage companies to mature ones, companies are quickly growing their customer success and customer experience teams, using new off-the-shelf technologies to help them better understand their customers.
Their aim is to make sure that customers get value from their products and remain customers for the long term. The above tips will help you keep the customers you’ve worked so hard to attract and engage, so you’ll enjoy a growing, loyal, and energetic customer base.
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Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Hidden Gems: The 100 .edu sites every Entrepreneur Should Read

Whether you’re an ivy-leaguer or a high school dropout, chances are you still have quite a bit to learn from others. Why not learn from the people who do learning best? Check out these .edu blogs and other informative sites for strategies, theory, and concrete resources for building and growing your business.
Marketing
Marketing may be one of the many things you try to squeeze into your business, but for the people behind these sites, this is all they do. Take advantage of their ability to specialize and use their knowledge to better market your business.
  1. Center for Customer Insight & Marketing Solutions: This center at the University of Texas focuses on customer-driven business practices and marketing.
  2. Journal of Consumer Research: Learn more about consumers with this journal.
  3. Marketing Visions & Business Software Solutions Blog: Get an academic perspective on Internet marketing here.
  4. Advertising World: Get linked up with lots of marketing services and ideas in this huge directory from the University of Texas.
  5. Marketing Weblog: Learn about building brands, marketing over Second Life, and more on this blog from Instituto de Impresa.
  6. Research Design and Statistics: Learn about psychology, behavioral economics, and decision making in this blog by Craig Marker.
Innovation
Inside every great entrepreneur is an inventor, constantly thinking of new and exciting ways to solve problems and create new things. These sites support the inventor inside, offering encouragement, resources, and a whole lot more.
  1. Invention Dimension: Invention Dimension, a part of the Lemelson-MIT Program, is full of inventor profiles and resources for innovative entrepreneurs.
  2. The Art of the New: The Art of the New encourages and shares innovative thinking.
  3. Innovation: Jim Moore takes a look at innovation, intellectual property, economics, and more.
  4. Government Innovators Network: Check out this network if you plan to do contract work with the government.
  5. Invention Master Resource List: This resource list from Berkeley is full of links for innovative entrepreneurs.
  6. Center for Innovation in Product Development: This center at MIT promotes innovative products, offering resources from concept to market launch.
  7. The Patriot Entrepreneur: On this blog, you’ll get news about innovation at George Mason University and beyond.
  8. MIT Innovation Club Blog: Read this blog to learn about some of the smart innovations MIT students and alumni have created.
  9. National Technology Transfer Center: NTTC offers assistance to businesses with innovative ideas.
  10. The Lemelson Center: The Lemelson Center at the Smithsonian Institute promotes the study of invention and innovation.
Industries
Educational resources can sometimes be frustrating because they tend to focus on theory, while you’re looking for concrete ideas. Check out these blogs for some specialization in a few industries.
  1. Peter Gordon’s Blog: Find out what this USC professor thinks about the economy and real estate development.
  2. Notes on Design: Learn about design from both academics and professionals on this blog.
  3. The View from Here: The Business of Nascar: Read this blog to understand how business works in a place you might not think of.
  4. The Transportationist: David Levin writes about transportation and the economy.
International Business
In today’s global economy, entrepreneurs must be familiar with the ideas of international business. Learn about law, events, and more issues in international business with these sites.
  1. CIBER: CIBER centers for international business offer events, online resources, publications and more.
  2. Exploring International Law: Read this blog to consider how law and politics may affect international business.
  3. Global Edge Resource Desk: Visit this site for a collection of resources that are useful for international business.
  4. International Business Resource Connection: Check out this site from the University of Kansas, and you’ll find loads of helpful resources for international business.
Knowledge & Information
At the root of every institution of learning is information. These libraries, defenders of free knowledge, and business training sites have a lot of information to offer entrepreneurs.
  1. Information Law Possum: Daniel Haeusermann blogs about copyright, privacy, and more issues in information law.
  2. Knowledge Economy: Learn about the way knowledge is becoming more valuable in this blog.
  3. BizBrary: Get information about business news and more from this business librarian.
  4. Collectanea: Learn about the latest in copyright on Collectanea.
  5. Business Blog: Learn how to better research for business with this library blog.
  6. e3 Information Overload: Librarian Brian Gray discusses strategies for taming the beast of excessive information.
  7. Open Access News: Learn about the movement to make information free and available online on this blog.
  8. InfoMatters: Andrew Dillon asks questions like, "Why do I have to pay for bundled cable rather than just the channels I actually watch?"
  9. Info/Law: Info/Law blogs about the way that law evolves around the commodity of information.
  10. Business News and Resources at the Sterne Library: Stay up to date on business news and resources with this blog from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
  11. Jackson Blog: Stanford’s Jackson Library has a blog that shares topics in business ethics, news, and lots more.
  12. Law and Information: Check out Urs Gasser’s blog to learn about the role of law in information.
  13. IESE Insight: IESE is all about know-how and business knowledge.
Accounting
Accounting may not be your favorite part of doing business, but managing money is essential to your success. Learn about accounting behaviors, tax systems, and monetary warning signs on these sites.
  1. Behavioral Research in Accounting: This resource is full of journal issues about behavior in accounting.
  2. World Tax Database: Visit this tax database for historical data on tax systems worldwide.
  3. Finance Weblog: Read about the subprime crisis, financial markets, and more on this blog.
  4. Forensic Investing Red Flags: Check out these warning signs to make sure you’re handling money responsibly and not scaring off investors.
Law
As a business owner, you can’t afford to ignore legal issues. Consider business law and lots more with these blogs.
  1. Harvard Law School Corporate Governance Blog: Learn about corporate governance from faculty, fellows and board members at Harvard’s Program on Corporate Governance.
  2. Truth on the Market: These law professors write about business law, economics, and lots more.
  3. This Day at Law: Learn about historic laws every day in this blog.
  4. Doc Searls: Doc Searls blogs about a number of different issues in law, business, and more.
  5. Amy Campbell’s Weblog: Amy Campbell discusses the marketing of law firms.
Startups
Getting started is perhaps the most fun, but daunting, part of entrepreneurship. These sites offer assistance, advice, and even training for budding business owners.
  1. Get It Started!: Read Wharton’s Get It Started blog for advice on startups and more.
  2. Starting Up: Get access to this startup column written by MIT Sloan’s Joseph Hadzima here.
  3. University as Entrepreneur: This blog from Arizona State University promotes an entrepreneurial spirit for students and beyond.
  4. start me up!: Ron Graham supports and educates young entrepreneurs in this blog and beyond.
  5. Small Business Development Center: Get seminars, consultation, training, and a lot more from this center at the Fox School of Business.
Management
Starting up is only the first part of the battle—once you’ve launched, it’s time to keep afloat. Check out these sites for a little help with managing your business.
  1. HR and Labor News: This library blog delivers the latest news in labor and human resources.
  2. Online Business Training: Learn about business management and more online with the Arkansas Small Business Development Center.
  3. Working Knowledge: This blog for business leaders discusses everything from globalization to leadership and management.
  4. Harvard Business School Leadership Initiative: Harvard’s Leadership Initiative has lots of great resources, like essays on best practices, a database of American business leaders, and business cases.
  5. Management Consultancy International: Link learning with business success using Management Consultancy International’s approach.
  6. Journal of Labor Economics: Consider human resource issues with this labor economics journal.
  7. MIT OpenCourseWare: Learn about management, social sciences, and much more with these courses from MIT.
Technology
Many of today’s entrepreneurs develop technology-focused businesses. If you happen to be one of them, you’ll appreciate the gold mines on these sites, with insight on intellectual property, the future of tech, and more.
  1. Furd Log: Check out the Furd Log for discussions on intellectual property.
  2. Ramesh Jain: This blog covers experiential computing and next generation search.
  3. Clarifying and Explaining: Clarifying and Explaining discusses implementations of new technology and what they mean for issues like freedom and copyright.
  4. Complexity and Social Networks Blog: Check out topics like social finance, innovation, knowledge sharing, and more on the Complexity and Social Networks blog.
  5. GrepLaw: GrepLaw is a forum for information, news, and commentary on information technology and law.
  6. John Palfrey: John Palfrey at Harvard discusses topics such as intellectual property, copyright, and privacy.
  7. University of Washington Emerging Technology: Here, learn about upcoming technologies for the university and beyond.
  8. Stanford Center for Internet and Society: Learn about legal doctrines information that will affect technology entrepreneurs now and in the future.
  9. Liberty Road: Kevin Morooney blogs about IT, business intelligence, and more.
  10. Berkman Center for Internet & Society: Learn about the challenges and opportunities of the Internet from this center at Harvard Law.
Economics
Market conditions and economic trends in general can have a huge impact on the success of your business. Check out these sites to get a peek at the way it all works.
  1. Planning & Markets: This journal discusses the difference between planned interventions and market approaches.
  2. Unintended Consequences: Check out Mike Ward’s blog about counter-intuitive economic findings.
  3. Theory B: Get a different view on business and economics with this blog.
  4. Finance Weblog: Check out this blog from Instituto de Empresa for news and commentary on current events in economics and finance.
  5. The LockeSmith Blog: Understand the economic principles of individualism, free market, and more using this blog.
  6. Political Economy Research Institute: Learn about how economics and politics can affect your business here.
  7. Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science: Learn about relative prices, inflation, and other topics in economics here.
  8. California Policy Inbox: Get up to date on California’s economy and business with this blog.
  9. UChannel: Check out UChannel to get the latest economic news in academia.
  10. Business Blog: Read this blog for news, research tips, and resources for business and economics from Colorado State University.
  11. The Entrepreneurial Mind: Jeff Cornwall’s blog focuses on entrepreneur issues as they relate to venture capital, finance, and the general economy.
  12. Economics News: Read Economics News to stay up to date on news, events, and resources in economics.
Responsibility
For entrepreneurs these days, it’s often not enough just to be financially successful—it’s important to be socially and environmentally responsible in business, too. Check out these sites for assistance and advice for achieving these goals.
  1. The Nelson Institute: Learn about how your business can be environmentally responsible in this blog.
  2. Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility: Xavier University has lots of resources for socially responsible business.
  3. Center for Responsible Business: This center at Berkeley is a resource for research and advice for businesses who want to adopt responsible practices.
  4. Environmental News Bits: Check out this blog from the University of Illinois that aggregates environmental news.
  5. Students for Responsible Business: This organization offers consulting on responsible business.
Entrepreneur Societies
Whether you’re an alum or just an entrepreneur looking for networking, assistance, or information, these entrepreneur society sites have a lot to offer.
  1. Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship: Rice supports entrepreneurs in Houston, and has helped launch over 150 technology companies since 1999.
  2. Cornell Entrepreneur Network: Even if you aren’t a Cornell alum, you can still take advantage of this network’s collection of interviews and other entrepreneurial resources.
  3. University of Oklahoma Entrepreneur Society: Get help planning for a new business through this society.
  4. Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs: This student-run organization has lots of great links, challenges, and more.
  5. UT McCombs Entrepreneur Society: Get connected with VCs, entrepreneurship guides, and lots of other resources through this University of Texas society.
  6. University of Central Florida Student Entrepreneur Society: UCF’s Student Entrepreneur Society is full of helpful resources, like an entrepreneur network, sample business plans, an idea café and more.
Other
There is so much helpful information in these sites that we can’t possibly fit them into a category. Check them out for discussions on issues like diversity, memory, and writing.
  1. Words on Work: This resource site from the Carlson School of Management offers materials relating to industrial relations.
  2. Talking Biz News: Read this blog to learn about journalism in business.
  3. Diversity Weblog: The Instutio de Empresa’s Diversity Weblog discusses female leadership and more.
  4. Common Errors in English: Effective communication is vital to any business. Brush up with this site.
  5. This is Not a Blog: Learn about online journalism in this non-blog from NYU.
  6. Babson Women’s Business Blog: This blog shares information relating to the advancement of women and business.
  7. Three Percent: Writers considering publishing a book should read this blog about the business of books and international writing.
  8. work/space: Read this blog from Johndan Johnson-Eilola for subjects like memory landscapes, technology, and more.
  9. Dean Bruner’s Blog: Read Dean Robert Bruner’s blog for insight on general business topics.

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Monday, January 4, 2016

10 Interesting Investments to Make in Your 20s ANNA JAMES CONTRIBUTOR Journalist

10 Interesting Investments to Make in Your 20s

Your 20s is a time to set yourself up for debt-free 30s. The money you save now will pave the way for real estate and college funds. In the throes of student debt and low pay, here are 10 ways for a 20-something to start investing in their futures, a few dollars at a time.
1. Gym membership. The U.S. leads the world on medical spending, with $2 trillion spent annually on healthcare expenses. It’s common knowledge that this number could be drastically reduced if people took better care of their health. Getting fit in your 20s prevents expensive health issues later in life, and for around $10 a week, a YMCA gym membership won’t break the bank either.
2. Three bottles of good wine. Wine is a stable investment that can be traded on the Wine Stock Exchange. It takes a minimum of five years for wine to mature for sale, and most wine auction sites sell in sets of three. Stored properly, your investment could make you thousands. Bordeaux and Burgundy are popular drops and in the worst-case scenario, if you can’t offload it, you can drink it.
3. Kiva. Kiva is a non-for-profit microfinance organization that allows you to loan money to third-world business enterprises. For example, assisting a Kenyan in purchasing a bike to do deliveries. Kiva is a personalized approach to charity that helps people help themselves. The minimum investment is $25, and you’re given the option to withdraw or re-invest in the same or another business as soon as you start receiving repayments.
4. Social media strategy. According to a recent study, 18 to 34-year-old Americans spend on average 3.8 hours a day on social networking sites. How much of this time spent on making business connections and profiting from these platforms is unknown. Developing a simple social media strategy by identifying your brand, your offering and who you need to connect with will make good use of this time. An online presence takes years to build up, so it’s best to start right now.
5. An extra set of keys. This may seem like a ridiculous ‘investment,’ but who can argue that they’ve never locked themselves out, creating panic and wasting time. Taking simple preventative measures for when life goes wrong, such as always having a spare tire will save you thousands in the long run. A callout to a locksmith can cost upwards of $200. A spare key will set you back $2. You do the math.
6. Self-insurance. Chances are that in your 20s you won’t have mountains of insurable items or be at the stage to consider mortgage cover, but you must protect what is most valuable. Consider insuring the three technological items (laptop/tablet/phone) that are imperative to your business and find a policy that covers their loss at any location, not just at your home. Consider wage insurance to cover your bills during periods of unpaid sick leave and unemployment.
7. Retirement plan co-contributions. When you’re in your 20s, scurrying money away for your 60s seems impossible, however, there are several incentives to take advantage of a company-sponsored 401(k) scheme where your co-contributions will be rewarded. Some companies will match your deposits; most will give you at least half. If your company doesn't offer matches, or you're self-employed, you must set up your own fund. You won’t have to work forever if you start saving today.
8. An online filing system. Again, this is another common screw-up of a 20-something's life: losing data. Many panicked trips to the Mac store would have been saved if we learn to file our documents online. A decent-sized external hard drive is expensive and runs the risk of getting damaged. Not to mention how onerous backing up one’s computer is. Google Docs provides a filing solution that is safe and reliable with an easy-to-use format. Most importantly, it’s free!
9. Preferred stocks. The idea behind investing in stocks in your 20s is not necessarily to make big money -- unless you’ve got the capital to spend big -- but familiarize yourself with the process for when you do have the dollars to invest. It’s argued that preferred stocks are a good way to whet your trading appetite as their dividends are more stable than common stocks. Look for stable large companies such as Coca-Cola and Disney that will allow you to buy and sell your stock without a broker.
10. Crowdfunding. Although the popularity of crowdfunding has hit an all-time high in the last few years, it’s not a new concept. In 1987, investors who put in $1,000 in the Australian film Crocodile Dundeeearned a reported 730 percent return. Politicians to artists are using the crowdfunding platform to get their projects off the ground. It can be lucrative, as well as help grow your business network.
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