Evolution Magazine September October 2014

Issue 13 | Sept/Oct 2014

E

volution Business, Tech and More

2014 Power Player Edition

Do People Enjoy Being

Sold?

Stephan Aarstol Serial Entrepreneur Shark Tank Success Story

5

Tips For A Successful Crowdfunding Campaign

Build A Business You Can Be Proud Of

e¡volve /i’ välv/ verb 1.. develop gradually, especially from a simple to a more complex form.

Innovative Marketing Solutions To EVOLVE Your Business

E

VOLVE MEDIA GROUP INC.

www.TheEvolveMediaGroupInc.com

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volution Business, Tech and More

Evolution Magazine September/October 2014

Published By Evolve Media Group Inc.

Evolve Media Group Inc. DARNELL G. DAVIS - CEO Editor In Chief DONNIE BRYANT Photography EVOLUTION MAGAZINE Staff Editors DONNIE BRYANT Graphic Designer EVOLUTION TEAM Evolution Contributors DONNIE BRYANT KATRINA STARZHYNSKAYA KEVIN WILSON SLYVIA BROWDER KAREN JETT CESAR RAMERO MARK EDWARD BROWN CAMRI ELLIS

Evolution Magazine is a trademark of the Evolve Media Group Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in part or in full is strictly prohibited. Evolution Magazine is a monthly digital publication with limited print copies available in designated markets. Evolution Magazine welcomes all contributions. Evolution Magazine assumes no responsibility for content or advertisement. No representation is made as to the accuracy hereof and is produced subject to errors and omissions.

Questions and feedback:

Evolve Media Group Inc. 29 South Law Street - Allentown, PA 18105 Phone: (347) 669 2EVO Email: info@Evomag.co Online: www..Evomag.co 4 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

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featured articles

8 11 27 do people enjoy being sold?

Shark tank success with stephan Aarstol

meet our 2014 evolution magazine power players

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27 social media experts share their #1 facebook page management tip

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from the publisher Evolve Media is growing rapidly, and with great success comes great adversity. Over the past few months we have been working on “Team Development” and expanding our staff. The development of leadership skills are essential to the growth and health of any company – that includes yours.

A

s we begin to head into a new season of life, I would like to walk with you into the new season of your business. I would like to leave you with four foundational stepping stones, answering this fundamental question: “How would you describe the perfect leader?”

6 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

You probably used words like control, insight, and poise in your description. The next question I want to ask is: “Is it possible that these qualities could actually hinder great leadership?” According to some leadership coaches, the answer is yes. So, in order to remain effective as a leader, it’s valuable for every leader to develop a repertoire of different leadership qualities.

Stepping Stone #1 - Knowing When to Hold Them...

And When to Fold Them...

Stepping Stone #3 - Understand Your Own Strengths and Weaknesses

Ascertaining when to fight or when to let go is very important in laying a foundation in effective leadership. Often great people gain a position of influence but they fall into habit of micromanaging. The desire to control can be a leader’s largest temptation and can bankrupt your company if not properly dealt with.

Talk to most leaders and they will gladly tell you they have weaknesses. But most of them cannot tell you what they are. Most leaders don’t know their weaknesses because most leadership positions encourage managers to consider the weaknesses of others more than their own personal shortcomings. Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses will allow you to build a team that will support you and fill in the gaps.

Most control comes from fear: fear of the unknown and fear of the level of ability of those whom you lead. These fears will cripple your ability to make decisions that affect your business. For example, a business owner notices that a project is showing inherent weakness. However, instead of cutting his or her losses and moving forward, he or she begins to throw more resources towards it in hopes to MAKING it work. The end result is a frustrated staff and a financial loss.

Knowing when to hold and when to fold will do more than preserve sanity in the business environment; it will save money and allow growth simply because you stop paying attention to dead situations.

Stepping Stone #2- Consider Suggestions from Unlikely Sources Another trap leaders fall into is to assume they are the only ones within their organization with great ideas while overlooking the wealth of information available from their employees.

One of the worst things a business owner can do is to assume that their employees are incapable of making meaningful suggestions. Most problems that develop within your organization are experienced by those who are on the front line. These employees often see these issues with surprising clarity because they deal with them on a day to day basis.

Your team can be your greatest asset against problems and breakdowns. Listen to your employees and consider their insight. It could save you a lot of time and money.

Stepping Stone #4- Place The Right People in the Right Positions Your team plays a major part (if not the most important part) in how effective you are as a leader. The hardest part is getting to the point where you are able and willing to place the right people into key positions. As a business coach, I have seen companies with great business plans en route to total collapse because of failure to put the right people in the right place to carry out the plan.

Getting to know your employees individually and your team as an organic whole is essential to becoming an effective leader. It doesn’t make sense to have someone who is a great organizer working a sales position while your current administrator isn’t working out. You will never know that you are making this mistake unless you know your team. By taking the time to identify the right people for key positions, you can improve your company’s performance and eliminate the unnecessary cost of training people who don’t last.

Entire libraries have been filled with books written to help leaders be more effective. In my experience, many leaders want to learn the most advanced techniques while they’re still falling short in the basic fundamentals. These 4 stepping stones, if you really meditate on them and start to put them into practice, will create a strong foundation that will support an impressive organization.

Sincerely, Publisher Darnell G Davis CEO/ Evolve Media Group Inc. Publisher,

www.evomag.co

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editorial

Do People Enjoy “Being Sold?”

Somebody Sell Me Something, Please!

Donnie Bryant Editor-In- Chief

“People hate to be sold.”

You've probably heard that statement more times than you can count. And it seems to make sense.

The quote may be helpful, but it isn't entirely accurate.

It's really just an oversimplification used to illustrate a point.

Think about it: do shoe aficionados hate hearing about the new Air Jordans? Crowds gather outside Foot Locker's door hours before store opening, each person hoping to be one of the first to buy a pair.

It's true that people generally dislike being pressured to do anything. When we don't know what we want, we don't like to be sold. When we don't trust the salesperson's intentions, we don't like to be sold. But when we do know what we want (and we can afford to get it), we end up practically begging someone to help us relieve the tension of pent-up desire.

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Video game fans can't wait until the next PlayStation console is announced, right?

You may be thinking to yourself, Nike and Sony aren't "selling." I disagree. Selling is, as I see it, any effort to get someone to take a defined course of action. Nike isn't making commercials just for the fun of burning through millions of dollars. They want customers to buy stuff. And their customers WANT to buy stuff, too.

What Does This Mean For You?

How can you practically utilize this information as you attempt to connect with your customers and should-be customers?

Focus on Customer Identity Runners, musicians, gamers, weight lifters, mothers of newborns, et. al, LOVE to buy stuff to enhance their lifestyles and display who they are to others. They love to pursue their passion and embark on the newest adventures (often through products and programs they can purchase).

They're practically obsessed. They LIKE being sold stuff that augments their personality, like the athletes in the video linked to above.

You may have heard me tell the story about a manager I had years ago who kindly informed me that "every man should have a Rolex." In his mind, a fancy timepiece is part of what defined masculinity.

• You have to know your audience. Perhaps that means going after customers in an audience that's already been defined, like Rush Limbaugh listeners or subscribers to wine magazines. Tailor your offerings and messaging to appeal to their perceptions of themselves and the things they've indicated they like to do and buy.

• Gather your own "tribe." Be vocal and courageous about what you stand for and/or against to rally other like-minded people. Make ambiguous concepts concrete. Make technical concepts easy to grasp.

Give them unique names to develop a common language. (One of my favorite examples of this is Dan Sullivan's "ceiling of complexity." Look it up.)

promises and puts buyers in a better place to buy from you again in the future.

Foster Loyalty People are going to be loyal to the companies who continually help them get what they want. Businesses that come across as self-serving make selling harder than it already is. Demonstrate your desire to add value to Make the Benefits Impressive your customer's life. Your marketing and sales messages Blow your customers' minds with the value you deliver, should always address "what's in it for me?" from the the wonderful way you treat them and the risk you perspective of the potential buyer. absorb on their behalf. Never settle for giving the bare minimum. Don't try to be "competitive." Do what no If you have a loyalty program, please do better than all one else in your industry is willing or able to do for your the companies whose loyalty cards are stashed in your customers. wallet. They are more concerned with collecting data than winning hearts. A loyalty program can, and should, Referring again to Road Runner Sports, imagine giving do both. customers a 90-day guarantee on athletic shoes (which is one of the benefits of their VIP Family Membership What kind of special treatment can you offer your best program), then sending reminder emails to your clients? Consider how much their loyalty and referrals customers to get out and run! will mean to you and decide accordingly.

This is a fantastic example of making it easy to buy from you and building trust in the process.Also consider offering a done-for-you service if appropriate. That eliminates risk, proves that you can back up your www.evomag.co

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2014

Power Player

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Stephan Aarstol Serial Entrepreneur Shark Tank Success Story

Interview and Photos Katrina Starz

Mark Cuban would invest into his business after an eventful appearance on the television show “Shark Tank.” However, that is not where it all began nor is it where it all ended. In fact, it was just one more stop on the long road to success.

Stephan is a serial entrepreneur that has been tried and tested and Evolution Magazine’s Katrina Starzhynskaya had the delightful opportunity to sit down with Stephan and pick his brain and learn how he did it.

Evolution Magazine: Give us a quick background of your business and how you became an serial entrepreneur?

I

Stephan:

got out of grad school in 1999 at the height of the Internet boom and they were handing out jobs at Internet companies with your diploma. I went to work in business development for a pre-launch start-up called AuntMinnie.com. It was a news and information portal for the medical imaging industry. We were going up against stiff competition for the same space with journals in the industry that had been established for decades, a company called radiology.com, and a well-funded effort from GE Medical Systems.

Even though they all shrugged us off, we used guerrilla and online marketing tactics to become the dominant industry leader within 3 years.

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I was the young kid in the company. It was just myself, the president, and the CEO in San Diego, both of whom were established professionals with 20-30 years industry experience. As the new kid, I jumped on figuring out web marketing.

I was doing PPC for a penny a click years before Google Adwords even existed, with the originator of the model, Goto.com. And I learned content marketing and SEO from ground zero.

2014

Power Player AuntMinnie was acquired by Eastman Kodak in 2002 and they kind of squashed the growth mentality and wanted to operate us for cash flow, which was stupid. It's no surprise to me that Kodak imploded only a few years later. I lost interest and used my evenings and weekends to start a side business selling high-end poker chips called BuyPokerChips.com. There was a boom in the popularity of poker due to it being televised. Within 9 months from launch I was making more in my side business than I was making at my day job, so I jumped ship. My wife at the time was 3 months pregnant, so it was a big leap of faith to jump, but the opportunity was too compelling. The month my son was born 6 months later, I made more in that month that my job at AuntMinnie had paid me in a year.

After a few years, I read the 4-hour work week and it really resonated with me. I tried to optimize my effort and figured out how to run my company with only about 10-12 hours of work a week. I worked on something else entirely on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then just did half days on the business Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Suddenly I had all this time to pursue other businesses. I tried a several. On was a toy company called Discmo, which was basically poker chips with kids images one them arranged in topical sets like trucks, African animals, fairytale characters, etc. It was designed as an education toy, and was quite good. the first tradeshow we exhibited at was the biggest specialty toy tradeshow in the world and we won an award for "Top 10 Educational Toy" at the show. Unfortunately, my partner and I didn't have a clue how to sell them through the toy distribution channel. And it was a product that had to be explained to people, so they didn't sell themselves. After a year or so of effort, I bailed on that and just sold it cheap to my partner.

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I pursued other businesses, but none with any significant degree of success.

In 2010, I was about 6 months into developing a portal for the green energy industry and a friend took me out paddle boarding and I fell for it immediately. It was obvious to me that this would be a sport with extremely broad appeal, so I check the web search statistics and I saw an industry that was exploding. It was like 100% growth every year for 5 years. Also, there was no brand doing a good job with a direct to consumer approach, something identical to what I had success with in the high-end poker chip business. Where the green energy portal was a huge opportunity, it was also a huge question mark and likely involved me having to raise a significant amount of capital, which I had never done before. So I shelved that and went all in the paddle board business. I financed the start by discontinuing my most profitable line of poker chips so I could free up about $30K in inventory cash. I knew this would kill about 30% of my poker chip business, but I had to make a bet on the future as the poker chip business was waning. I was actually looking for a job about this time as well to keep paying my bills. It was a rough spot.

Things worked out well. Our first container of boards sold out before they even hit US soil, and that's right about the time that Shark Tank called me out of the blue. I had only hired my 1st employee about 3 weeks earlier. Six weeks later we were on Shark Tank and got an investment from Mark Cuban. The rest is history!

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Evolution Magazine You use SEO as a way to find business ideas. Please tell our readers how that changed the dynamic of your business model.

Stephan There are two ways to start a business, what I'll call a good way and a bad way. The bad way is you come up with a product or service idea, build it, and then try to sell it. This is what I did with the Discmo toy company and it failed miserably.

The good way is to simply find unmet demand and simply fill it. This is what I did with the poker chip company. Good chips were in demand, but hard to find, expensive, and they took months to get once you did buy them. I just solved all of those problems and filled that unmet demand that existed.

The interesting thing about SEO, or search engine optimization, that most people miss is that half of the equation is first figuring out what people are searching for. Most people think they have a product and then they need to use "SEO" to bring in customers. But it doesn't work that way. You have to see what people are searching on and then just make those products and make them findable.

Thus, the first step of SEO is keyword research, where you learn what things people are searching on around your topic. Searches are expressed demand. If 1000 people per month search on "clay poker chips" and 500 search on "ceramic poker chips", which one do you think you will have more success selling? It's obvious. And to size the potential of a market, you just compare it to other markets. At the height of the poker chip boom in 2004, the term "poker chip" was getting searched about the same amount of times as the word "mp3 player".

When I look at a business, I usually look at demand first and SEO keyword research is a good clue. That's how I proved the viability of the paddle board business. From there, it was just a matter of execution as I could basically see into the future because the business was very similar to the poker chip business.

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Evolution Magazine: You are more than just a "Shark Tank' success.” What are you doing NOW? Stephan: We leveraged Shark Tank to get a bunch of media, which really helps you on the SEO front. We get about 50,000 unique users to our website each month because of all the links we generated over the years from our roll-up-your-sleeves PR effort, which started from our Shark Tank airing in March of 2012. Fast forward two years and we’re on pace to do $5M in sales in 2014, and we were recently listed as the fastest growing private company in San Diego. I’ve also been published in many top publications including Fast Company, Forbes, Entrepreneur, the Washington Post, and many others. I’ve also write a weekly column for INC. Magazine.

Evolution Magazine: Every success story has its ups and downs and it is in the down times most want to quit. Give our readers 3 things they can use to stay the course in spite of the down times.

Stephan: While my business looks very successful on the surface, the rapid growth is challenging in many ways. I'm still trying to just pay my taxes and make payroll. It's touch and go. And this is with a business that will do $5M in revenue in its fourth year of existence, and we'll probably make nearly $1M in profit on that. We're the fastest growing private company in a city of 3 Million people and it's still a grind it out thing with no guarantees.

From a lot of people, I get the assumption that, "Hey, you were on Shark Tank. You're going to be an overnight success." They assume it's game over, and that happens pretty quickly. But if you trace things back, I've been working this out for 15 years. The foundational learning I did in the late 90s and early 2000s is the basis of my success today. That accumulation of learning 16 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

an experience allowed me to capitalize on the opportunity that presented itself in the form of a paddle board company and Shark Tank.

Overnight success, not quite. And this 15 year journey is pretty descriptive of many entrepreneurs.

So my recommendation is if someone finds themselves running up against a wall, they need to just ask themselves where they are likely at in that 15 year process focused on being an entrepreneur. I was trying to start a business while still in grad school, but without money I took a job to get by. Maybe they're a year one, and so they've just got 14 more years of struggle to look forward to if they want to achieve something. And if they don't have that in them, maybe quit now, and just work for someone else, which is pretty easy. Entrepreneurship is a grind, so you've got to enjoy the grind. It's a journey, not a destination.

www.towerpaddleboards.com

Lead Yourself We are all leaders – regardless of whether we run our own business, work for someone else, or are unemployed. That is because leadership is about influence and true leadership starts with leading yourself.

to be self-reflective. This activity is what enables a leader to truly understand herself, identify what she values and make informed leadership decisions that guide or lead her behaviors.

Harry Kraemer, professor of management and strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, asserts that the number one task for all leaders is

When was the last time you spent time quietly reflecting on your beliefs? Was it for longer than five minutes? I know, this is challenging to put into the calendar. And it doesn’t feel much like work, let alone important work. And yet, it is critically important.

Karen Jett Red Knight Consulting www.redknight.com

I’m going to keep this article briefer than most. I’d like to encourage you to take the time you would have used to read a longer post and pause for a moment of self-reflection.

If it’s early in the day, think about what is most important to accomplish. And then think about why it’s important to you. What is the lasting impact that this is going to create in the world - or in your personal world? If your day is mostly over, think about the tasks you accomplished today. What impact will they have in the future? Did you place your priorities in the right places? What would you do differently if you had the chance?

Mr. Kraemer likes to do his self-reflection at the end of the day. During this time he reviews his day to see what went well and what didn’t.

He thinks about both what he would Now shhhhhhhh! Enjoy your quiet do again, in the same way, and what reflection and have a great day! he would do differently the next time. He also thinks about what he didn’t accomplish that he would like to have completed. Why is that task important to him?

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There are things in your business you are good at ...and there are things that you are not so good at.

Do you know what they are?

Do you know how to make them really work for you?

The Good How to Leverage Both for Success This 45 minute webinar will enable you to: • Complete a SWOT analysis on your small business • Identify key opportunities • Grow your small business income!

Date of the next Almost Free Webinar: Thursday, 9/18/14: 3:00pm - 3:45pm ET, 12:00pm – 12:45p PT C O N S U L T I N G

Investment: $10.00 • Register at: RedKnight.com/GoodBad www.evomag.co

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An Authentic WomanOf

Influence Kevin Wilson

G

o-getter Rhonda Aker Wilkins has been an improviser since adolescence. In fact, if she were to author a best-selling autobiography, the title would be, “The Art of Making Things Happen.”

Born in San Pedro, California, to Ronald and Delores Aker, Rhonda was a Navy brat, moving to South Carolina at age 4, then relocated to Marietta, Georgia three years later until age 10, with her mother and four siblings after their father was shipped out to sea for three years.

The family relocated to Rome, Georgia when Rhonda turned 10, so that supportive grandmother, Lillian Jackson could lend a helping hand to the family.

“The Early Days” As a kid, Rhonda had aspirations to become a nurse, but the sight of needles spoiled her desire.

The second child of four, Rhonda attended East Rome High School, a mixed academic environment, where she became an honor roll student, a Math buff, a hoop star who was nominated Homecoming Court Queen and captain for the Color Guard. She attended the prom with her best friend, Wayne Bailey.

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Prior to early graduation, in 1988, Rhonda received the Most Athletic Award.

called, Night Shift. As an independent background singer, Rhonda recorded with Slave, in 1995 and the Masters of Fungk, with Mark Adams from 1996-1999.

Dr. Willie Mae Samuels, an English teacher, always encouraged Rhonda to excel in the community. Her Her artistic voice became an asset in 2000 as a advice was respectfully heeded. telephone operator in Marietta, just outside of Atlanta, while living with her elder sister. She Rhonda voluntarily visited the sick and shut-in at a eventually landed a job at a daycare center, where nursing home, helped out at daycare centers and she got a tip about a telephone operator vacancy. read to the kids and raised building fund money for a church. Enjoying community service work, she also Arriving at the orientation site, Rhonda cleverly engaged in cookouts and bake sales at the age of 16. acted as if she belonged there. Every applicant was During school and in the summer, she represented checked in. Although Rhonda’s name wasn’t on the the Red Girl Circle, gained experience as a front hiring list, the hiring managers requested that she end manager at Wendy’s and counseled girls at the redo the paperwork that they assumed she had recreation center. initially completed. Rhonda complied, aced the test and began working immediately. “I know I stole In 1990, Rhonda completed a year and a half at Floyd a job, but I had to take a chance on me,” she told College concentrating on Early Childhood Education Evolution Magazine, with a chuckle. She worked as in Rome, Georgia. She then abruptly quit, left Rome a telephone operator three years. and moved to Atlanta. In Atlanta, she returned to counseling girls and recorded music as lead singer www.evomag.co 21 at nights for a year at night with a local band

“Finding Her Niche” Exploring the world of fashion, a photographer friend invited Rhonda to all sorts of castings. At one particular casting, he submitted her photo to the director without her knowledge while she patiently waited for him. Surprisingly, the casting director announced her name.

Rhonda fearlessly rose to the occasion, auditioned and was selected for the fashion show,” For Sisters Only,” sponsored by Radio V-103. To prepare for her debut, Alison Perry, owner of Model Mayhem, coached her for three weeks on how to walk with a group of slim line models.

“On the day of the show, at the Georgia State University Student Center, the little kids and the plus size models stole the show,” says Rhonda. A challenge surfaced for Rhonda when the show producers forgot about the plus-sized models’ wardrobe and makeup. The show was on the brink of cancellation.

“We were new to the scene and nobody really knew what to do with the plus-size models,” Rhonda added. The full-figured models were often forgotten. They were the last ones to get make up done, and sometimes, the models were never furnished clothes, so they would be prepared by bringing their own "all black "outfit.

Following that episode, and a few more like it, Rhonda created Divas Unlimited, Inc. in 1997.

Rhonda says, she believed that plus-sized women were unlimited, with untapped potential. She hired five employees and a few interns. In seeking more seasoned walkers, she also hired Alison Perry, the same woman who taught her how to walk the runway, to teach the new models.”

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The inaugural fashion show in March 1998, featuring “The Big and Tall”, at the Georgia World Congress Center, drew 900 people.

Amy Pederson, now CEO of Slimpressions, was so impressed, she arranged a meeting with Rhonda and requested that her team produce Slimpressions’ annual fashion show for the Lupus Foundation.

Rhonda found yet another calling: fashion and entertainment consultant.

Divas Unlimited, Inc., has been so many things, but we never left the core of what we were, always consultants in the entertainment industry” says Rhonda. Fashion show clients include, the American Cancer Society and Kenny Anderson Foundation.

Rhonda attended American International University in Atlanta in 2006, but stopped after one year and a half, because everything the professors were teaching, she already knew. “I had the fashion piece, but I needed the marketing piece,” she said.

Rhonda lives with John, her husband of 20 years, and her son, Paris, in a secluded brick home in the suburbs of Atlanta. Her fully-decorated fifth-floor highrise office complex is only 10 minutes away.”

Both John and Rhonda are loyal supporters of other businesses and non- businesses. They split P.T.A. meetings. “He’s a big help,” says Rhonda of John.

Rain, sleet or snow, there’s no stopping her show.

Her day starts at 5 a.m. She drops her son off at school by 7 and she’s in the office before 8:30. She routinely conducts meetings until noon, engages onsite visits for potential customers, and leaves the office by at 4:30 p.m., in order to pick up Paris, a two-sport athlete and boy scout, by 6.

“It feels great to be with my mother, she encourages me,” says the football enthusiast. When karate practice concludes, the two are homeward-bound, as Paris’ homework must be completed by 9 p.m.

“Rhonda returns to the computer to check emails and finish the day’s business and usually hits the sack by 3:30 a.m When NBA Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins turned 50 in 2009, he hired Rhonda to organize his birthday party, which turned into a four-day event.

Despite all of her awards from the Atlanta Business League and Who’s Who in Black Atlanta, Rhonda was knocked back on her heels after she lost her father just 10 days after he attended the Legendary Awards with her in 2013. Her father was her life. " I was the epitome of daddy's little girl. I am still struggling with his death. I just pretend, I am that little girl again. He is back in the Navy and away at sea and I am waiting the anticipation of his return," Rhonda shared.

But Rhonda rebounded this year, picking up right where she left off. She selected Kendra C. Johnson The following year, Rhonda, introduced the from Tyler Perry’s sitcom “Love Thy Neighbor” to Legendary Awards Event to the City of Atlanta. co-host the Legendary Awards Event, along with The brilliant concept was to honor the career of comedian-actor Rodney Perry. legends,within their industries and communities, locally, nationally and internationally. Each recipient Jim Kelley, former quarterback of the Buffalo Bills is recognized with a proclamation by the Atlanta and Hall of Fame inductee, pugilist Sugar Shane City Council for contributions to the Arts, Health, Mosley, Cameo, a funk group formed in the 70’s, and Humanities. and Madeline Nelson, a senior vice president of A&R at Sony, were just a few of the recipients.

“It’s a black tie affair and our theme is, “Together We Can Make A Difference,” says Rhonda of the event, The Legendary Awards, yet another one of Rhonda’s held at the lavish, fabulous Fox Theater in February. projects which tip the scale of excellence,is where our business relationship took off. It’s been a Pursuing sponsors immediately is a necessity, but exciting learning experience and great business trek getting honorees to commit early is tough. ever since, said Tara “Brie” Wilson, a brand manager, writer and producer, who met Rhonda after hearing “Can’t market until you get your honorees,” Rhonda about her accomplishments. Together, they now points out. manage recording artist B Angie B. The three day affair in February comprises a fundraiser, fashion show and the legendary event.

“We try to give something to everybody, from health educators, doctors, chefs and entertainment for young people,” says Rhonda, who hopes to acquire television and radio rights for the show in 2015. www.evomag.co

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On March 1, Rhonda was chosen by longtime businesswoman Sonja Young to be an advisor for the Woman to Woman Inaugural Conference, featuring keynote speaker, Dr. Maya Angelou at the Marriott Marquis Conference Center in Atlanta.

“This was a first time involvement; I chose Rhonda simply by word of mouth, and I was highly impressed.

She was very pleasant and helpful along with the other powerful advisors,” Young said.

The event was a fundraiser for the Angelou Teen Center and the Andrew and Walter Young Family YMCA, along with other programs that benefit girls, women and families. More than 600 women attended the affair.

On April 12, Rhonda was a featured speaker at the Intercontinental Buckhead Hotel for the fourth annual “Women Rise Up” Spring Summit Event to empower women, sponsored by Anthony “Spark Plug” Thomas, publisher of “You Need To Know” Magazine. The red carpet summit consisted of photo ops, a business expo, fashion show, awards and presentations, including networking opportunities.

“We selected Rhonda, because she thinks big, she thinks bigger and she rearranged her schedule to be here after having a prior engagement in New York,” Thomas said.

Beautiful, big-boned and bold, Rhonda is an avid reader of marketing books, loves to travel and attends the movie theater with her son. Her favorite book is “Think Bigger,” by Jonathan C. Maxwell. She considers Facebook, Linkedln and Twitter a tremendous help, as well as working with great teams.

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Four years ago, Rhonda cleverly discovered lyrics that openly assailed Nigeria’s corrupt and women to honor on Facebook, who influenced oppressive dictatorship.

Her. Eventually, those 30 women became the host members for her "Influence" Her event.

A company out of New York recommended Divas Unlimited, Inc. as the marketing partner for the The third annual affair was held May 15 at the Atlanta area. In order to secure the three-month Spring Hall Global Forum in Atlanta. Rhonda acts as contract as the official marketing partner for FELA, executive producer, but the host members select a proposal had to be submitted. FELA chose rapper/ the recipients. actor Ludacris as ambassador and Rhonda managed the flow of activities.

“I have honored them and now they’re honoring others,’’ Rhonda said.

The press conference for this event was held at the Mayor’s Office, which included an opening night This gathering supports the March of Dimes and ceremony. Rhonda was named keynote speaker.

March for Babies. The honorees included: Janice During the press conference the City of Atlanta was Mathis, attorney at Rainbow Push, Linda Dean, CEO locked down,” said a local reporter. of Shaking Off, Yolanda Hughes, executive of the year at UST Global, and Ramona Debreaux, radio The event was produced as a Broadway musical personality at V103.

by Jay-Z and Will Smith at the Fox Theater The FELA event in Atlanta presented a spectacularly inspiring and triumphant tale of courage, passion and love. It’s based on the life of Fela Kuti, who created an Afro beat, a blend of jazz, funk and African rhythm along with harmonies- mixing sensual electric rhythms with simple but powerful

Rhonda’s effective business philosophy is clear and simple,” It takes a village people to believe in your vision, to tap into your thought process and deliver what you want by finding the right people.”

www.evomag.co

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26 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

2014

Power Player

Edition

Sandra Fan www.evomag.co

27

“Adapt to having nothing; but thrive to obtain everything.�

28 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

“Made in Taiwan”; “Brewed in New Zealand” – as Sandra likes to introduce herself to new people she meet.

Sandra Fan – a “Kiwi-Asian” moved to the United States (from New Zealand) in May 2011. From only knowing just a couple of people in this foreign country when she first arrived, to now being one of the most well-networked and connected person in the Salt Lake City community. There isn’t any business or entrepreneurial events she goes to that she wouldn’t meet someone she knows or knows her.

Within 18 months of living in the United States, Sandra was listed by LinkedIn to have one of the “Top 5% Most Viewed Profile in LinkedIn for the year 2012” - that's out of over 200 million members LinkedIn has at the time.

people to do door-to-door cold calling sales. As a result, her greatest skill mastered from being in these industries was the ability to talk to absolutely anybody and everybody – and have people notices her presence, drawn to her personality and compelled to connect with her, instantly.

Since moved to the United States, Sandra works with a global entrepreneurial organization called CEO Space International (www.ceospaceinternational).

A by-invitation-only private business club where with a one-time investment fee, business owners and entrepreneurs can become lifetime members of CEO Space and enjoy the benefit of the powerful business network that can help accelerate their ventures nationally and internationally. The lifetime members would meet in Las Vegas five times a year to learn, get educated, network, mastermind, and receive free coaching and mentoring from experts of all industries all week long.

Sandra’s professional background and success in the past decade have mostly been in the direct sales and marketing industry. She had built a very successful Generation Y team with her first network marketing business, followed by leading one of the top B2B sales team with one of the largest direct Sandra’s ability to relate to people of all walks of life selling company in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and helped moved her to the top of the "relationship Europe which specializes in training young sales pyramid" within a very short period of time. She not www.evomag.co

29

only knows a lot of important people, she made sure these important people know her. Her relationship capital has become so enriched with diversity and resources that she rarely comes across anyone that she could not help. Sandra enjoys helping people and believes in the philosophy of “If you can help, why not?” In her mind and her world of selling, there’s simply no such thing as a “cold-call”. There are no “strangers” in this world, just friends you have yet to meet.

Sandra is now building and running the CEO Space Utah Chapter - one of the fastest growing CEO Space chapters in the entire nation. Through her fun, whitty and “not afraid to tell it like it is” personality, she’s built herself a little fan base through social media platforms. With about 4000-7000 business owners, entrepreneurs and investors following and subscribed to her events – Sandra is building her own “Sandra Fans Club”.

Sandra’s favorite philosophy is: “Adapt to having nothing; but thrive to obtain everything.”

30 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

Learn more about Sandra at www.sandrafansclub. com or follow her on Facebook at https://www. facebook.com/theultimatesandra Sandra mentioned on Forbes December, 2013: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ cherylsnappconner/2013/12/12/can-cooperativecapitalism-succeed/ Forbes article on Sandra Fan in May 2014: http:// www.forbes.com/sites/ cherylsnappconner/2014/05/20/business-lessonsfrom-immigrant-entrepreneurs/2/ Paul Duane Show Sandra Fan interview July 2014: http://www.paulduane.net/2014/07/sandra-fan-ofceo-space/

www.evomag.co

31

David Rachal III

2014

Power Player

Edition

In 2007, David entered the corporatefitness industry as he formed and incorporated HealtheFit, LLC. With HealtheFit’s formation, David expanded his client base to property management companies and law firms in Washington, DC. HealtheFit’s growth enabled David to provide many employment opportunities to some of the best personal trainers in DC.

S

The success of HealtheFit provided David with and opportunity to nurture his entrepreneurial spirit and thus he opened the first commercial gym at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center in Washington, DC. With it, David created Fighting Trim the Gym and openedits doors June 2012. Unfortunately, for reasons out of his control, David was forced to close the doors of his new gym less than a year into his contract but, he didn’t allow that to slow his commitment to changing lives. He has since gone on to become a sought after fitness business consultant, he has co-founded Tactical Performance Corps, LLC,formed Fighting Trim Fitness, LLC, and most recently became the Fitness Manager of Gold’s Gym in Fredericksburg, VA.

ince graduating from Grambling State University, David has dedicated the last 14 years to the health and fitness industry.

During that time, he earned a reputation for innovative strategies and success in the fields of Recreational Therapy, Fitness Management, and Personal Training.

David hasmastered almost every possible technique of fitness delivery through over 12 certifications David’s impact has come through the many roles spanning from Certified Biggest Loser ® Pro to he has served,beginning as a Certified Recreational Certified Tactical Strength and Conditioning Therapist and later as the Senior Operations Facilitator. Most recently, he has transitioned into Manager for 12 Bally Total Fitness gyms in DC, VA and teaching the world’s fastest growing reality-based MD.In addition, heis known as the "Trainers’ Trainer," self-defense system, Commando Krav Maga with working as a Fitness Presenter and Certification students ranging from stay-at-home moms to Specialist with several organizations including the members of the Military. David insists that despite Aerobics and Fitness Association of America(AFAA)- his high level of expertise, he is a full-time student the worldwide leader in fitness certifications. and a part-time instructor.

32 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

www.evomag.co

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Lisa Torres

B

orn on July 4, 1970, in the Bronx, New York, Lisa Torres started to pursue her career as an Entrepreneur at the age of 19.

She turned to Network Marketing as a way to create freedom in her life. When she was introduced to the Direct Sales industry, she was fascinated by the idea of working for herself in the comfort of her own home and not having to wake up early to fight the daily hustle and bustle like every other average American. To her, the idea of working for someone else for the rest of her life was simply not an attractive.

In 2007, Lisa was laid off from her corporate banking job where she was making $55K per year. But, when she got her freedom papers, it was the happiest day of her life.

34 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

2014

Power Player

Edition

When Human Resources called her into the office to give her the news that they were letting her go, she asked them to please hurry so she can get out of there.

The following day, Lisa made a decision to figure out how to make money on the Internet because she saw that there were other people doing it too.

So, she started watching other people’s videos on YouTube and was following 3 people who were talking about making money online. She followed these people for about a month and made a decision to join one of them.

A couple of more years passed by and by the time Lisa’s extended unemployment checks ran out, she was already making a residual income of $1800.

And from there she started joining other programs getting her feet wet with the online marketing world.

“I really didn’t care why they were letting me go, I just knew this was my opportunity to work on being a full time Entrepreneur”

She said, “My Mentor told me that if I wanted to be successful, I had to start working on my mindset because success was an inside job and that I needed an income structure set in place that would allow me to have the income breakthrough that I deserved”.

And 90 days after taking her Mentor’s advice, Lisa finally had her first BIG breakthrough and earned over $25,000 and moved her family from her tight 2 bedroom apartment in The Bronx, to a huge 5 bedroom 3 bath house in Atlanta In her first 12 months, Lisa became a 6 Figure Earner and is now one of the TOP 200 Income Earners inside of her company. She had the opportunity to share her story in front of 1200+ people at her company event and is now teaching other Network Marketers how to finally have their own Breakthroughs.

You can visit Lisa Torres’ Blog at www.LisaTorresSpeaks.com

Despite all of the marketing knowledge she acquired over the years, there was still something missing but she didn’t know what it was. In 2013, she found herself 3 months backed up in rent and living in a tight 2 bedroom apartment with her husband and 10 year old daughter. She just could not figure out how to have an income breakthrough and found her residual income checks decreasing month by month.

Then she found a 7 figure Mentor and started learning certain skill sets that Network Marketing companies simply do not teach.

www.evomag.co

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Franklin Cruz

2014

“The People’s Mentor”

Power Player

Edition

I Screwed Up…So You Don’t Have To”.

His new book coming out “How to MAXIMIZE Profits with America’s Rent to Own Program: Now your DREAM can be Realty HOME-OWNERSHIP.” Franklin’s also is a Managing Member of Bentley Private Real Estate Investment Firm and Founder of LandOwner Club, which is Tampa’s Largest Online Community of Real Estate Investors.

In addition he is the owner of several Internet Marketing Businesses and former co-owner of * TradeMark Property Management.

He and his wife, Bridgette started TradeMark Property Management with 0 clients in built it to over 500 units in less than 5 years. The company was later sold to an Investment company.

Franklin Cruz is an entrepreneur who specializes in Real Estate Investments, Property Management and Property Rehabilitation. He is the founder of several Real Estate companies and projects such as Bentley Private Fund.

Describing MR. FRANKLIN CRUZ is simple because his credentials speak for themselves. The character of a man is defined by the ways in which he lives and conducts himself both personally and professionally. Franklin hits a home run in both fields.

But not only did he beat the odds, he smashed through adversity with a sledgehammer.

Franklin is a decorated military veteran, having served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He has appeared on several television programs; “Millionaire Mindset” and “Success Made Simple.”

Author of the book titled, “How To Do Everything WRONG in Real Estate and Still be Successful: 139 Ways 36 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

Abigail Kessler Gabriel Jude

2014

Power Player

Edition

co - founders

Raising Reptiles Evolution Magazine had the opportunity to interview Abigail Kessler and Gabriel Jude, co-founders of Raising Reptiles. They are reptile enthusiasts, firmly dedicated to producing and sharing well-rounded, quality information on reptiles and how to take care of them.

Evolution: Tell us a little bit about your business and how you got started.

Abigail: The business was officially started back in September of 2013. Gabriel and I met on Facebook in August. We quickly realized that we had a multitude of similarities, most notably that we are both givers who care about making a positive impact in the lives of others and that we’re into self-improvement.

I already had the initial idea for Raising Reptiles.

Through many brainstorming sessions, we made that idea a reality, forming a terrific partnership and co-founding the business.

The reality is, the reptile industry has a shady past. It has slowly moved forward, but we haven’t moved forward enough. People’s standards for the treatment and care of these fascinating creatures are still drastically low. Big-name pet stores, breeders, product developers, suppliers and manufacturers continuously spread horrid misinformation that can result in the death of a child’s beloved pet. Hobbyists still settle for bare minimum care. The general public is afraid and critical, and there is a gross lack of funds going to pursue research and wildlife conservation efforts.

www.evomag.co

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2014

Power Player

Edition

People fear what they don’t understand and they seek to put a stop to it. If this industry continues down this road, hundreds of thousands of people will lose their jobs and livelihood. Animals will suffer and die. Raising Reptiles was born because it’s time to revolutionize this extraordinary industry. It’s time to raise the standards, change the game and work so future generations can experience the wonder of nature and the reptiles within it.

We begin by creating unique, comprehensive, top quality care guides that genuinely add value to reptile lover’s lives, pushing them them to do what’s best for the animal and share that knowledge with others.

Our mission is to continue developing innovative products and systems, to sponsor herpetologists (reptile scientists) and researchers to travel the globe, studying reptiles and their habitats in depth and to open up the world of travelling to dedicated young people. We want to inspiring this generation and the next to properly care for the reptiles in their homes and protect their natural environment.

Evolution: We know when we do work we love, we never really work. How does it feel to be an entrepreneur doing what you love?

Gabriel: I feel blessed and grateful to be an entrepreneur, doing what I love and working with the people that I love to work with.

My parents taught my brother and I three principles to succeed in life. They are 1) serve people, 2) make a difference, and 3) add value. Being an entrepreneur, I get to do exactly that. And by doing that, money comes in naturally.

38 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

The greatest feeling being an entrepreneur however, is waking up every day and working with your partner and the team on ideas and solutions to the problems that are prevalent in your industry.

Knowing what we do is making an impact is what makes me feel blessed and grateful.

Abigail: To be perfectly honest, it’s been an incredibly challenging, stressful, wonderful journey.

The world of entrepreneurship is different from nearly every other career path. The challenges and the stress is 100% worth it, though. Why? Because being an entrepreneur means growing massively as a person and making a difference in the lives of others. Helping and serving them! What greater feeling is there than that?

Evolution: Give our readers 3 things that they can do today that will change their tomorrow.

Abigail: 1) Express gratitude - for what is in your life, for what lies ahead, for the brilliant mind that you have, and for the ability to serve.

2) Go somewhere quiet, away from the hectic buzz of life, and simply think. Recharge a little. Enjoy the silence.

3) Start looking at work like a game. Figure out your objectives, your quests, and celebrate your achievements. Don’t be afraid to give yourself a pat on the back when you’ve done well. Recognize all of the small successes throughout your day, and your life as a whole, smile about them!

Gabriel: 1) Know that you are already successful.

There was a point in your life that you couldn’t do something. It could be walking, talking, passing an exam, driving a car or making friends. But today, those very things are second nature to you. Our lives are filled with success stories of what we could not do initially, and what we can do today. This is

affirmation that whatever goals, dreams and visions we set for ourselves for the future are definitely achievable.

2) Know that every failure and learning from that failure is preparing you for even greater success.

There is no such thing as failure, only feedback.

The first six companies that I started all failed majestically. I learned a lot more from my second company than I did my first, my third company more than the second and so on. I truly felt that all I was getting was feedback that something didn’t work. I learned and tried again.

I believe that if I am not “failing,” I am not learning.

If we are not learning, we are moving backwards, because the world will move forward with or without us.

3) Be in a room of people who are smarter, richer and more successful than you. If you are the smartest, richest and most successful person in that room, you are in the wrong room. I have been blessed by being surrounded by people who are much smarter, richer and more successful that I am. My speed in growth and progress is attributed to these epicsaucesome people. One of the reasons is that true spending a lot of time with them, I “become” like one of them. It is the Law of Conformity, a natural process.

www.evomag.co

39

Michelle Murphy

2014

Power Player

Edition

Michelle Murphy is a driven businesswoman balancing two successful careers while raising two sons; Zachary and Damian. Michelle, a licensed and bonded Public Adjuster, is the Director of Business Development for a remediation company and an Independent Business Owner with Wake Up Now; a publicly-traded company that provides products and services centered on saving families money every month. It’s Michelle’s passion for helping others that drew her to Wake Up Now, where she leads others toward their own personal and professional goals.

Michelle was born and raised on Long Island and moved to the Poconos in 1999. After a successful career in banking, she resigned her position as the executive assistant for the V.P. of Operations for a New York bank, to concentrate on raising her family in Pennsylvania.

The ambition that fueled her rise through corporate banking has fueled several successful businesses, including Wake Up Now. Her skills with territory management, training, public speaking and a natural ability to build relationships, allows her to secure new partners while helping families save money. And saving money is making money!

When she’s not working or enjoying her family, Michelle loves volunteering, reading, cooking, fitness and wellness education.

For more information on how to help yourself and your family in a meaningful way, contact Michelle at win4lifewun@gmail.com

40 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

Brian Wright

2014

Power Player

Edition

Brian is also the host of the internet radio talk show “Success Profiles Radio” on the Toginet Radio Network. Each week on the show, he explores different aspects of success and how to apply them to your life. Guests will come from many different backgrounds, including expertise in leadership, business, relationships, careers, networking, health, overcoming adversity, and much more.

Success Profiles Radio can be heard at www. successprofilesradio.com on Mondays at 6pm EST, and is consistently ranked on the "What's Hot" list on iTunes in Careers and Self Help.

Brian K Wright is the founder of Brian Wright International, whose mission is to motivate and inspire others to discover their unique talents and follow their dreams in life. With extensive experience teaching and training in academic and corporate environments, he understands that many people live far beneath their potential, primarily because they don’t really believe they deserve success.

Through his experience and research, Brian has learned and practiced the principles he teaches in his book “Student Leadership Strategies: 21 Easy Ways to Become a Center of Influence in Your Group.”

Brian grew up in Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Communication Studies, and holds a Masters degree in Adult Education from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He discovered a passion for speaking and influencing audiences by speaking competitively in high school and in college, and by being heavily involved on campus while in school.

Throughout his career, Brian has been a top performer in the areas of sales, customer service, training, and has also written resumes professionally for students, working professionals, and executives.

He is available to speak on the topics of motivation/ inspiration, leadership, careers, and goal setting. He resides in the Phoenix, Arizona area.

www.evomag.co

41

Jenn Kahan “The Ninja”

2014

Power Player

Edition

Born and raised in Southern California. Grew up in a standard, broken, American family with 4 parents and 6 siblings. Got her first real job at Time Warner Cable and became nationally recognized as the #1 agent nationwide. From there she got a start in insurance where she met her fiancée, Richard, for the first time.

She joined the Army and soon after became a recipient of the Army Accommodation Medal for exemplary service and spent the majority of her military career in Savannah, Georgia. She also received her Bachelors of Science degree in Sales and Marketing. In between all of that she had two sons, named Evan and Troy, now 8 and 4. She went back into insurance when she got out of the Army and eventually opened up her own insurance agency with Farmers Insurance. It was then that she was reintroduced to network marketing by one of her clients. It made sense to her and she succeeded rapidly within the company. She explored many different companies and met lots of people before finding her home in the industry.

Jenn is notoriously know for her sarcasm, wit and realness on Youtube and other social media platforms. Her passions are training and watching others succeed because of her impact and education

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Greatly improving the way you buy energy and manage your exposure to energy costs over time.

Call 855-ASK-FIVE (275-3483)/Fax 855-FAX-FIVE (329-3483) 130 E. John Carpenter Fwy. Irving, TX 75062 www.5-five.com

A conversation and a cup of coffee can do amazing things

5

Tips To

Crowdfunding

Success F

or every successful crowdfunding project, there are hundreds that go nowhere.

Many of these projects are devoted to responsible social causes like feeding the poor, paying for medical bills, providing access to basic needs, etc. Other projects have an awesome product that took months to design, yet they end up missing their goal and walking away with nothing but disappointment.

Why?

To help answer this question, I sat down with my friend Luis Moreno and asked him about how he was able to run two successful Kickstarter campaigns and the lessons he learned from them.

Luis moved to China in 2009 to study the language and pursue his MBA. While in China, he realized the poor quality of the materials and work conditions in the fashion industry. This realization gave him the drive to start a company that puts its primary focus on the quality of the products, the authenticity of the materials and the work of the artisans.

Cesar Ramero

Luis is the co-founder of Mamahuhu, a Colombia-based fashion company producing high quality leather shoes and bags, employing over 15 artisans in disadvantaged areas of Bogota, Colombia. From their start in 2010, Luis fell in love with the Colombian fashion scene. It afforded him a rare opportunity to exercise complete control over the entire process – from design to material selection to production.

This enables Mamahuhu to ensure a superior quality and offer unique products based on customer feedback.

I asked Luis to share lessons from his experience with Evolution community. He was more than happy to tell me the five most important lessons his team has learned from running two successful Kickstarter campaigns

46 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

1 – It’s All About How You Tell the Story On Kickstarter, it is not just about the product, but also about the story behind it.

The Kickstarter community is very aware of current worldwide issues and projects that address some of those problems tend to be perform better than projects without such consciousness.

Having just a product probably won’t work. Founders should shoot videos and speak personally about the why, what and how. People want to know the whole story behind the project. Backers will appreciate updates and comments on how the project is progressing. Moreover, if a project seems dead, even backers that already pledged might go away, fearing a lack of commitment from the team.

Mamahuhu’s team appeared in the video and explained the concept, the project and their needs. They also showed the process of making one shoe. They made it personal and let their passion speak for itself.

2 – Reach out to Your Family and Friends First During the first week or two, try to reach as many family and friends as you can. This is an effective way to you get your pledge numbers up and enter the Popular Section quickly. Otherwise, the general public won’t see your project at all. Without visibility, the project won’t get very far.

Once in listed among the Popular campaigns, you will see how the backers come quickly if the project is compelling. The crowdfunding community is extremely active when they like something. By the third day of its campaign, Mamahuhu’s had over 35 backers from friends and family. That put them in the Popular Section, which in turn allowed them to reach 30% of their goal by Day 5.

3 – Be Realistic with Delivery Time A major problem that plagues successful projects is delayed deliverables. It is essential to make the right numbers and to be realistic on how many units you can deliver by a certain date. Limiting the numbers of pledges per item might be wise if your products are handmade or take time to produce. Your backers will understand if you need 3 months to prepare great products, but will kill your project if you delay the delivery date too much.

Mamahuhu wanted to be realistic in their first campaign, so they allowed 2 months to produce and deliver the products. That turned out to be not enough time for some of the items. They made adjustments in their second campaign, estimating 3 months to deliver the rewards.

Even if the product is amazing, many backers are turned off by this failure to deliver.

4 – Don’t Aim Too High on the Final Goal Given that Kickstarter is an “all or nothing” platform, setting a high pledge goal might be dangerous. Setting a more humble target is recommended. It’s better to under-promise and over-deliver.

Mamahuhu’s first project aimed to $15,000, which made them feel the pressure until the last week. If they had chosen $30-50,000 like many projects in the fashion category do, their brand probably wouldn’t exist today.

It’s better to be able to initiate the project with a reasonable budget than to lose the opportunity to even start because of too.

5 – Don’t Panic The last week in a campaign is the most important one.

Those final seven days are when the project really fires up and will make the whole difference to the goal reached.

Having one or two slow weeks in the middle of a project is somewhat normal. Still, it is said that by the first 10 days you should be able to raise at least 35%. A good approach for that is to offer an “early birds” tier, so the first 30-40 backers come quickly because of the limited bargain.

Luis has been so successful with crowdfunding that he’s currently running a 3rd Kickstarter campaign to expand the line of handmade leather bags. You can find out more about the campaign here: http://kck.st/1rqBIPk Crowdfunding is going to be an increasingly popular way to finance projects and start businesses in the months and years to come. These lessons from Mamahuhu’s success can be foundational to helping you put together your own successful crowdfunding campaigns. www.evomag.co

47

Principle

Centered Marketing Mentorship

W

hen I set out to become a coach I was already a leader.

However, being a leader and demonstrating leadership does not make anyone a coach.

The generalized term for the type of coaching I wanted to get into was "life coaching." I couldn't help but think to myself how generic this term was. I created my own terminology for the brand of coaching that I do and I've never looked back.

Mark Edward Brown

At the very root of all that I do with a client is a principle that is based in service and value.

Dictionary.com defines "principle" as: a “guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right conduct."

48 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

The bottom line is that my clients want success whether they live in India, Malaysia, Canada, Europe, or the USA. Because I provide principlecentered marketing mentorship to clients around the globe, I dubbed myself an "International Success Strategist." (Sounds better than life coach, doesn’t it?)

After further specialization and many case studies, I discovered that a majority of clients that I choose to work with fall into 3 categories of needs: 1. Personal Confidence - not to be confused with self-confidence, personal pride, etc.

2. Wealth Creation - how to live the “internet lifestyle� with a successful business of one's own.

3. A combination of the two.

Let me share a story with you that encompasses the development of both personal confidence and wealth creation.

Edward Hagwood recently become a client of mine.

He has overcome tremendous obstacles in his quest for success and his drive is so inspiring that his story must be told in as many venues as possible.

Edward and I teamed up to create a message that will reach a segment of the population that has been underserved when it comes to starting and enjoying an internet-based business. More on that in a second.

We began by getting him involved in an internet lifestyle mastermind group where he could become immersed in principle-centered marketing mentorship. Once he was exposed to the people, concepts, and value available in this community, he started creating his own platform for connecting with a specific niche of business men and women.

Edward is hearing impaired so when he shared with me his goal to create a video of himself sharing his passion and his message about his online success www.evomag.co

49

using sign language, I thought it was a brilliant idea.

I was in his corner 100%.

Ever since his video was published, he has been busy connecting and mentoring clients of his own.

I convinced Edward to sit down with me and answer these three questions, which I think you’ll find helpful:

the way, I notice some impaired hearing people who want to see strong proof of real income because they are very sensitive.

I think that is good challenge, but I am up for it. That is why I convince them that it is not as difficult as they might think. I really teach them to be trust me and our leaders for excellent business and marketing training. I believe that I have to help my team grow 1) What inspired you to partner with Coach Mark in better businesses for great futures. business?

My goal is to set good examples for my team and to show everyone that we can do anything we set our I am truly lucky to be a part of the Internet Lifestyle minds to except for hearing.

Mastermind Group because it has really inspired, thrilled and motivated me. The community keeps 3) What motivated you to create your first business my spirits up, gives me high personal confidence related video? and joy. I know that if I stay plugged in to Mark's coaching and mentorship my future is going to be I created my video to demonstrate and display my successful. motivation. When I shared my video out to Facebook I was hopeful that a few people would see the value 2) How do you see yourself filling the needs of the that I have to share and partner with me in this hearing impaired community in an online business business. I believe that anyone who has the will to capacity? win and be successful online can and will be when they apply our team’s teaching to their lives.

I can see myself in this business creating elegant, value-driven experiences that are important to business owners who are also hearing impaired. By

50 Evolution Magazine September / October 2014

Small Business

Boot camp series No matter how skilled and experienced you are, no matter how impressive the results you’ve produced for your customers and clients have been, your ultimate success will be determined by your ability to sell yourself and what you have to offer.

Fortunately, you don’t have to stoop to the level of that stereotypical high pressure pitchman you often see on television.

There really is a better way.

You can promote your services: • •

without resorting to hype without looking or feeling like you’re begging for the sale

• without using deception or unethical tricks • without being obnoxious • without being passive, hoping clients will decide to sign up.

Darnell G. Davis

Author / CEO Evolve Media Group Inc.

www.theevoinc.com

27

Social Media

Experts Give You Their #1 Practical

Tip

For Managing a

Facebook

Page

Is your business struggling to see results on Facebook?

Does it feel like not enough people are seeing the content or engaging with your Facebook page?

With so much information out there it can often be tough to decide what to follow or who to listen to. That is why I believe one of the best ways to learn and grow your business is to listen to those who have already achieved success using Facebook marketing.

So to help you out I have gathered a great list of social media experts who have all experienced success with their Facebook pages to reveal their #1 practical tip for managing a Facebook page.

So get your pen and paper ready or open up that blank word document and get ready to be inspired! www.evomag.co

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1. Vanessa Lewis, Social Catapult Get into the minds, and hearts, of your target audience. Put yourself in their shoes… what do they want and need in terms of relevant information, ideas, inspiration and entertainment? Notice what they respond to and tailor your content accordingly. Be social and make relationships! It’s only by doing all of these things that you establish trust, and in turn yours will be the first business they turn to when they have a need you can fulfill.

2. Andrea Vahl, Andreavahl.com Managing a Facebook page happens best when you participate both on your Page and on the Pages of others. Make sure you are replying to comments or at least acknowledging comments with a Like. Then also watching the Pages of your community members. Tag them in a post, post a comment on their posts, or participate on Pages where they are participating. Widening your community space to include other Pages will help your visibility as well. You can use tools like AgoraPulse to show you your Top Users to help you keep track of.

3. Mark Schaefer, Businessesgrow.com Consider “engagement” strategically. It is not a goal in and of itself but a tactic that leads to awareness, connection and eventually loyalty. Engagement comes at a cost, both in terms of time, attention and content creation resources so consider that engagement needs to support a metric for the business. Engagement is not necessarily the metric that matters.

4. Emeric Ernoult, Agora Pulse My number 1 tip for managing a Facebook page is to understand that this will require the same amount of time and efforts as it takes to build and nurture a “real life” network: – it will not be great overnight – you’ll have to give a lot first before you can expect to receive – you have to invest in maintaining the relationship alive. People forget you quickly when they don’t hear about you for a while – some people will give back after 2 weeks, some after 2 years. But you’ll have to treat them all the same (i.e., very well!)

– people will come and go, don’t get mad, that’s normal. – when you care about your people, have their problems at heart and think about them before you think about yourself, it always pays off, always!

5. Scott Ayres, Postplanner My #1 tip for managing a Facebook page is to be human.No one likes to follow a page that never responds or responds with a regurgitated answer over and over.Call people by their first name and give them the respect they deserve. Make sure you tag every comment with your name so people know who they are talking to and they are reminded there is a human behind the brand.Part of being human also means to not delete negative comments or posts just because it makes you look bad. Own up to it and respond. You’ll get more traction and respect from doing that than simply deleting/ hiding the comment.

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6. Robert Caruso, Bundle Post If you’re not paying to play there’s little to manage.

7. Aaron Lee, PostPlanner Sometimes it’s easy to forget to post daily. The way we do it for our Facebook page is we plan and schedule our content calendar with a variety of content 2-3 weeks in advance. By doing so it helps us to save time, focus on building quality content and most importantly focus on getting social and building an authentic relationship with our fans.

8. Joshua Parkinson, PostPlanner The Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously said “No man steps in the same river twice” — referring to the fact that every time you dip your foot in a river, the river has changed. So it is with your Facebook community. You never really post in the same community twice — because (1) The community is constantly evolving (fans are coming and going) and (2) A different subset of that evolving community sees each post.

This is why you MUST continue re-posting your evergreen blog content on your Facebook page.

Each time you re-post an evergreen article, it’s reaching fans who’ve never seen it before — and thus sending new traffic to your website. So that’s my #1 tip for managing a Facebook community — to not be afraid of posting the same content multiple times on your page.

9. Christian Karasiewicz, Christiankonline.com When building a community on Facebook, one of the best ways to do this is to engage with your audience.

You can do this a number of ways: Respond to posts and messages from fans Respond to comments Tag fans in posts, photos, and videos Share quality content Ask your fans what they want to see Building a community on Facebook isn’t a one-way street.

By taking the time to connect with your audience through discussions on posts or engaging with them to find out why they came to your page and how you can help them.

You can start to build a loyal following and strong community presence on Facebook.

10.Francisco Roles, SocialMouths Use Audience Insights to learn more about your own community I think the best way to manage a Facebook page is to start by learning more about who its members are. I mean, beyond the demographic data. This might sound a little “basic” but you’d be surprised to see how many community managers fail to take the necessary time to understand who they’re talking to.

Page Insights and Graph Search can help you get started, but the new Audience Insights will take you even deeper to learn things like other interests, occupations, purchasing behaviours, and Facebook activities among other things that were not available before.

Once you have a good understanding of who’s behind your community, you’ll be able to create a better strategy to SERVE them.

11. Mike Gingerich, Tabsite

Jay Baer says that people use the Internet for 2 reasons…

To solve a problem, or To be entertained I think he’s pretty much right on! So if you want to do well on Facebook you need to understand that most people are not there to solve a problem. They want to be entertained. Your Facebook page content needs to connect with them. It is a social network! To do this your posts must create an emotional connection and that connection will then be associated with your brand. Posts that prompt a laugh or a even tear can do this. And what communicates that way? Stories. How can your posts tell a story? Imagery. That’s why images continue to win and that’s why Pinterest and Instagram (and tools like Canva) are on the rise!

Let’s put it another way. Author John Maxwell notes that, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” It’s about the connection! Companies on Facebook need to keep this in mind. It’s critical and underlines the importance of connecting emotionally with your community. You can’t be all “selly sell” (Chris Brogan speak) on Facebook. Users are on Facebook mostly to be entertained. So to connect with them you must entertain. The more you connect, the more they engage, the more they will see your other posts that click through to your website and apps, and the more likely they will be to click through and go! Do NOT overlook the need to connect and entertain on Facebook. It’s the gateway!

12. Ian Cleary, Razor Social Pay for advertising on Facebook.

We pay our email marketing tool provider to email our email subscribers; we pay Google if we don’t rank organically for content so we should pay Facebook for increased reach of our posts. Provide content that is only relevant to your target audience and promote the most relevant content through paid advertising. If you deliver great content relevant to your brand you will increase trust of your audience but if they don’t see your content you won’t build that trust.

13. Michael Todd, xeeme.com/michaelqtodd Talk regularly on the pages of other businesses in your niche and/or locality.

This will put your brand in front of the people you want to connect with and be seen by and you will only be a click away from getting new business. Be fun, friendly and educational and you will have great success with this strategy.

14. Hugh Briss, Social Identities The power of social media is not in selling directly but in inspiring and motivating others to do it for you. That doesn’t mean you only need to post content your fans and followers will share but first and foremost, you need a quality product they can believe in and a solid brand behind it. When you have that, your followers will create their own content There’s only so much any of us can do with a few social pages but once you have hundreds or even thousands of brand advocates, that’s when you’ll see the true power of social media.

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15. Jenny Brennan, Virtual office Worx Running a Facebook page is a full time job. Like any other community you need a strong leader who understands the needs of the fans. Define a vision for your community and you will find it easier to create and curate amazing content that people will want to engage with and find value in! Having committed fans is the key to your success but you don’t need hundreds of thousands to be successful. Attracting the right fan that believes in and can be part of your vision is your ultimate goal!

16. Pam Moore, Marketing Nutz Always focus on the needs of your community. It is what happens “after the like” that matters most. Inspire them to connect with you with a goal of helping them achieve their goals. When you help your fans achieve their goals, you achieve yours by default. Inspire, connect, achieve. Don’t make it harder than it has to be.

17. Kim Garst, Boom Social The #1 tip for managing my Facebook page starts with a solid content plan. The key to a content plan is to develop a list of types of content that you think your ideal customer will relate to. For me, this includes social media and business tips, related blog posts, inspiration and motivation, personal or brand stories, humour and, of course, my marketing message.

I recommend an 80/20 split on your content. Eighty percent of your content should be useful and value based to your ideal customer and the remaining twenty percent can be used to weave in your marketing message. Once you have a content plan in place, consistency is critical. I post relatable content that ties back into my content plan, 6-8 times a day; sometimes more. This content strategy has helped me build a great community of engaged fans!

18. Dennis Yu, BlitzMetrics Change your setting to be fully open in terms of letting people comment, tag, reply, and so forth. Unless you are absolutely vilified, you’re opening yourself to a lot more growth and positive feedback. If you have a large email list, you can invite them (up to 5,000) people and run custom audiences.

19. Blake Jamieson, Pool Supply World Facebook changes so often – and the changes are entirely out of the page manager’s control. It’s important to stay up-to-date with platform changes, but even more important to diversify your points of contact with your fans. Leverage your Facebook page to grow your other social media channels, as well as email list. On the PoolSupplyWorld page I manage, we offer a coupon to our fans, but collect an email address before sending them use a coupon. This gives us the opportunity to stay in touch, even when Facebook throws us a curve ball.

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20. Brian Carter, Briancartergroup.com My number one tip would be to really get + know who your audience is by keeping track of the engagement rate you get when you post to them. Divide the likes by the reach.

You should get at least 1%, then try for 3-5% and I have some pages now where we’re trying to hit 6-9% regularly. It’s painstaking but each month, look at the list of posts and their engagement rates, then sort them so you can see which posts got the most and which got the least. What do the least engaged with have in common? Avoid doing that in the future. What do the most engaging post have in common? Try more of that. Every audience is different. Make sure you’re really talking to who your unique audience is. Also, use graph search to find out what other interests and pages they like- that can be a great way to start!

21. Liz Azyan, Liz Azyan’s guide to engagement online & research There are so many things we could do to really excite our Facebook communities. We can share valuable information, recognise our community members creatively by putting the spotlight on our members, run contests and interact with them on a daily basis. But the main common thread that runs through any successful Facebook community is their ability to create unique and memorable experiences for their members. Understanding their connection is not only with you, but with each other and the wider Facebook community. The core of it all lies in NOT what type of post they like, or comment on or share. It’s what type of post makes them FEEL happy, sad, excited, awesome, motivated, inspired and most of all what makes them FEEL connected and have a sense of belonging to your community. So ask yourself, how did you make your Facebook community FEEL today? If you can answer this question, you’re on your way to creating a Facebook community that is one of a kind.

22. Juan Felix, Felix Relationship Marketing My number one tip for managing a Facebook page would be to spend some time to use the right visuals for your content. You know, as social visual communication is becoming more important, you need to search for high quality content and visuals at the same time. So spend enough time to find the appropriate visual before you share an update on your Page. By doing that consistently you develop a sense of what type of content resonates with your Facebook community. Plus you can check your stats to see if you were right or not! And to find the right visuals you need to think out of the box and use your imagination. To give you an example: you could use an image of a delicious dish with fresh Thai food and add a text overlay that says something like ”Six key ingredients to create the perfect Post”. It makes total sense to use the image of colorful Thai food in this context and it will ignite emotional reactions. So, spend some time to curate high quality images that move people emotionally and tell your story 23. Zsusa Kecsmar, Antavo Promotion Builde We see that our customers use contests and sweepstakes successfully to build a vibrant community on Facebook. They deeply involve fans with a photo contest, or run a lighthearted sweepstakes where fans can enter with a single click. A good Facebook contest has multiple, lower value prizes (so the chance of winning is higher), allows public voting (so those people who don’t upload their own entry can participate), and promoted well (unless no one shows up).

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24. Alex Houg, BlitzMetrics Let the community do the work for you. Promote trusted members to admin, share their statuses, and elevate them. Public praise and encouragement shows you have a true twoway community. And nobody is going to do a better job in demonstrating expertise or passion than your best fans. So recognize them!

25. Rosh Khan, SocialRankMedia.com

As many brands have seen on Facebook, there has been a dip in organic reach. It’s also no secret that FB has moved more towards the “pay to play” model. And in an attempt to ‘stay connected’ with their Facebook communities, many brands spend a lot more on promoting their posts. However…

My social media agency has had the unique opportunity to test a variety of strategies for our client and we’ve found that you need to be STRATEGIC about the TYPE of content that gets promoted (either through “Boosts”and/ or Page Post Engagement ads). For us, the trick is to determine if your content falls under one of two categories — it’s either ENGAGING or it’s for BRAND AWARENESS. An engaging post will fuel conversation, increase reach, and drive up your overall EdgeRank. This also has a direct effect on your organic posts — if Facebook’s algorithm notices that a certain amount of folks have engaged with your post, they will serve the next post to more people. Also, by having huge engagement, your post will show up on more peoples’ newsfeeds. A brand awareness post will display products, testimonial graphics, and/or a direct product/service promotion. This assists with “immediate ROI”. (After all, you’re running a business and it’s always great to see some direct measurable “return on investment”.) So once your post is either ENGAGING or for BRAND AWARENESS, it’s worthy of being promoted. The basic premise here is to ensure that you get the “most bang for your buck” by being strategic. How much you spend per post will depend on our budget, your current audience size, and the potential reach you’d like to hit. At the end of it all, study the stats and modify the plan accordingly — the numbers don’t lie.

26. Jon Loomer, JonLoomer.com Experiment with publishing at non-peak times! I’m finding that I get the most reach and (most importantly) engagement from posts that are published in the middle of the night my time. I will schedule posts for 2:15am and wake up to a flurry of activity. While I have an international audience, the number of fans online during that time is only 70% of peak times, yet I get far more engagement when I publish late at night. My theory is that due to less competition, my content is less likely to get filtered out, resulting in reaching more people. And since it gets early engagement, that could be momentum to help it be seen when people on the East Coast in the US wake up (thanks to Story Bumping).

This won’t necessarily work for everyone, but my main point is that you should experiment with publishing times!

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27. Keri Jaheing, Idea Girl Focus On Your Target Market This may sound so simple.

We all imagine our ideal customer reading our posts and loving (liking) what we send out into their Facebook news feed. Don’t we?

For big brands it is fairly easy to grab the attention of their target market on Facebook, as they already have brand recognition and a large base of brand ambassadors willing to interact with them online.

But for the small to medium sized brand, it is a bit more difficult.

And even harder still for the start up and solo entrepreneur. It takes investment of time and money to attract your ideal target market to your Facebook Page!

As you’re personally networking on social platforms and socializing our brand pages on Facebook, it is quite easy to fall into a friendly pattern of marketing to our competition.

The liking, sharing, collaborating – Of course you will see your friends and colleagues. It is natural to want to extend goodwill and cooperate. However, these actions alone can leave your marketing efforts fruitless. And, unfortunately, I see this all too often.

Avoid that scenario by: * Networking – Online and….Offline! Live handshakes keep it real – Especially with those most likely to purchase your product or service. * Attending Facebook Friday Parties Strategically – Not every week, and vary your visits at different online gatherings. * Advertising – Even a small budget for promoted content can attract your target market to your business on Facebook. * Finding Collaborators – Identify and nurture working relationships that are in your industry and in a complimentary niche (rather than competing).

Eventually you can be supporting each other with referrals.

Until then, you can team up to combine efforts where it fits, and also to reduce some promotional expenses. * Putting A Facebook Like Box On Your Blog – Your content is what magnetizes your target market to your website.

Capitalize on this traffic by placing a “Like Box” on your blog’s side bar. This encourages your ideal customer to click the Like button. In turn, they will see your content in their Facebook news feed will be more likely to interact with you at your Facebook Page community. From there, you can warm up your relationship so they move into your sales funnel.

There are indeed more ways to focus on your target market at your Facebook Page. The above five ways will get you started in the right direction.

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How to Get

'Lucky' In Finding

The Mentors You Desire "I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.� - Thomas Jefferson

If you want to get 'lucky' in finding mentors, you need to know how to play the numbers game. In this post, you will read about how Noam Kostucki, a successful coach and serial entrepreneur, managed to find one of his mentors who gave him his first executive coaching client at 21, and a series of practical steps to effectively find the mentors you desire. Take the time to write down the answers (paper, Evernote, etc.) and do the tasks you are given because both will take you a step closer to finding the mentors you are looking for.

Lujie Chen

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"When I went to Poland to set up my business, I really struggled.

For 6 months, I didn't get a single meeting. Everyone told me 'you don't speak Polish, you are too young, we are not interested'. After 6 months, I decided to change my strategy. I wanted to meet the best corporate trainer and executive coach in the country to learn from him. I found what seemed like an endless list of names. After a brief research on each, I contacted all the ones who were even remotely relevant. One of the most influential of my years in Poland is Piotr Tymochowicz. Piotr was said to be the best business coach and PR specialist in the country. Some loved him, others hated him, yet everyone seem to agree he was the best.

Within 6 months of research and contacts, I had a track record of hundreds of emails I never received a reply to, dead end phone calls and meetings with improbable mentors. I felt as if I’d never find any executive coach who’d understand me. I felt that they were all so patronizing, dismissive and that they kept sending me to the back of the line: “you’re too young, too inexperienced and you need to get 30 years of business experience before doing what I do.” I read Piotr Tymochowicz’s company website and I was impressed. My judo teacher says “it doesn’t matter how often you fall, what matter is that you stand back up and that you keep going”. Remembering his teaching, I gathered all my energy and enthusiasm and send Piotr an email.

that he took 2 hours a week to teach me one-on-one his “Open Communication” technique. After completing the programme and proving my ability to learn and implement this new communication technique, he gave me what I had asked for: the opportunity to coach a CEO of a company. After teaching him the 30 hours coaching program one on one, the university drop out in me was very proud: I was 21 and I successfully coached a CEO whose children were older than me and who earned more in a day than I had in my entire life.

This experience changed my life as a coach because I had finally done what I wanted to do.

Through this experience, I learned that finding the mentor you’re looking for is a numbers game. In Within a couple of hours of sending Piotr an email, I retrospect, Piotr seems like a “God-sent”. In reality, I was invited for a meeting the following week. Half an contacted and met with hundreds of people before I hour into conversation, he told me he is impressed by met Piotr. Piotr was a “lucky draw” in the sense that I my ideas and wants me to meet the rest of his board. The had no idea he would be a better match than others I following week, I met the rest of the board and he took had met. This situation is a perfect illustration of what me under his wings as his protégé. I am very grateful Thomas Jefferson said 'I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. www.evomag.co 63

How can you start getting 'lucky' and play the numbers game Create an excel sheet and make a long list of names of people who have at least 1 characteristic that makes them a potential mentor (e.g., they’ve got the kind of job you want to have). As a rule of thumb it is good to start with a minimum of 10 names. If you can collect over 100 names, it will make the rest of your work easier and more comfortable.

• Look into your personal network (phone, address book, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc) • Ask everyone you meet if they know someone who has this characteristic (friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, etc.)

• Research the Internet for influencer in that field (practitioners, experts, bloggers, journalists, speakers, writers, researchers, business owners, etc.)

Contact your networks to ask for people with the characteristic from their current / alumni networks (schools, universities, former bosses, former mentors, trade associations, student societies, etc.)

Next to each name, add a column with a number from 1-3 for how close you are to this person (3 = closest, 1 = farthest) and another column with natural connection (3 = you feel the most naturally connected, 1 = you feel the most distant). Sort the columns to see the most naturally connected and the closest people at the top.

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Contact the first 10 people on your list starting from the top and tell them what you want to talk about (e.g. you want to find out about their experience in the industry, how you can get the job they have, what they think the next “big thing” in the industry will be, etc.). Ask them for something specific like 10 min / 30 min / 1h to talk over the phone, meet for coffee at / near their office or grab a lunch.

• If they’re the right match, continue the conversation and ask to meet again (more details in the book Seek to Keep) • If they’re not the right match, ask for people they can introduce you to who also have the characteristic you’re looking for, continue to grow your list Repeat with the next top 10 people on your list Start now and get 'lucky' by beating the numbers game!

To Learn More, Get a Copy of ‘Seek to Keep: How to Find the Best Mentors and Keep Them’ at www.bit. ly/seektokeep.

To Learn More, Get a Copy of ‘Seek to Keep: How to Find the Best Mentors and Keep Them

www.SeekToKeep.com

Learning How To Invest On The

GridIron

Canari Ellis

It is that time of year once again when the wives and You have two teams on the field. One team is on ofgirlfriends leave their men to scratch, belch and drink fense and the other plays defense. The overall goal beer all day on Sundays, without too much complaint. is for one team to outscore the other. The team on offense has control of the football and is looking to Football is America’s greatest sport. It is athletic in score points. The defense’s job is to stop the offense nature, but full of mental strategy. Many have said from putting points on the board. The team with the that football is not just a ball game, but a game about most points wins the game. life.

The ultimate goal of every team is to defeat all chalThis article will help you score extra points with your lengers and win the Super Bowl. significant other during game time. Just let her know you’re getting some valuable investment to help you For your average investor, the Super Bowl could retire early. mean exotic travel in their retirement years or paying of a grandchild to go to college.

The Game Every aspect of this game can be linked directly to The Players investing.

For investors, the job of the offensive players is to make money. This is considered a wealth accumulaFor starters every football team is a collection or tion role. Defensive players have the exact opposite portfolio of players. Just like every financial portfolio role: to protect money, or serve in the function of is a collection of various investment vehicles. capital preservation.

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Offensive lineups in investing could be made up of stocks whose companies have great management, excellent business models and huge potential for growth. For example, an upstart tech company that has created a revolutionary technology. These stocks have the possibility to score a touchdown.

Scoring touchdowns in football is like having a winning stock in the game of wealth accumulation.

On the other side of the ball, the defensive lineup is built to protect the wealth that has already been accumulated. Many investors use stocks and bonds to protect their wealth. For example, a utility company with operations in booming metropolitan areas, with stable revenues, but not looking to do anything spectacular from a growth standpoint. This company could be a great player in a defensive position on your investment team.

Each position in football in has a set of characteristics that are needed to support the team’s winning

efforts. This is also true in investing. Every player is chosen for a specific reason, to do a specific job. Every investor should build their portfolio for a specific reason as well. Some teams run the ball extremely well, others throw the ball excellently. A team could be known for their excellent defensive play. An investor’s portfolio should follow suit; where some portfolios are built for aggressive growth, other are built to generate predictable income or protect capital.

Every portfolio should be built with a purpose in mind. If you are younger, you can be more offensefocused. If you are approaching retirement, your defensive game should be a priority. Using the football team model, you can build a customized portfolio to suit your needs. You will find that your investments can be quite successful utilizing these principles Ultimately, you are building your team to help you win the Super Bowl, whatever that means to you. www.evomag.co

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HELPING BUSINESSES SUCCEED THROUGH EVENT, MULTIMEDIA AND DIGITAL MARKETING SOLUTIONS.

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CREATIVE IDEAS DESERVE CREATIVE SOLUTIONS TO MAKE THEM A REALITY

www.epicenterus.com www.evomag.co

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