9 Prime Rules For Running A Successful Online Business

Here’s the bad news: Thousands of people start an online business every day. However, only a small percentage of these online businesses actually succeed.
Here’s the good news: There are certain basic rules you can follow to turn your online business into a successful one. Here are the 9 prime rules for running a successful online business.

The 9 Golden Rules For Running An Online Business

1 – Keep Your Website Design Simple and Well-Organized

People have a tendency to want to over-design their website in an effort to make it stand out or look cool. They may add flash animation, sound in the background, and load the site up with large graphics. This is a huge mistake, especially for business-oriented websites. It is much more important to make sure your design is organized in a way that visitors can easily find what they are looking for at a glance. Music blaring out is actually a pet peeve of many internet shoppers, especially if they are surfing at work as many do. You also want to make sure that the text is easy to read. Dark text on a simple light background is the safest way to go.
Apple.com is the perfect example of a well designed website. Apple.com has some of the best web designers in the world who develop their website, check them out and also other big company sites for ideas if need be.

2 – Respond To Your Visitors Promptly

When a visitor, a potential customer, emails you or fills out your contact form, it is imperative that you get back to them as soon as possible. People always take mental note of how long it takes an online business to get back to them. Even if you are on vacation, you should either have an employee answering the emails in your absence or take your laptop along and answer the emails while your out-of-town.
There is way too much competition out there now for you to let potential clients slip through the cracks because you weren’t diligent enough to follow through.

3 – Engage Your Visitors

If you can turn your visitors into active participants on your website, you will increase loyalty and sales. The simplest way to do this is to add a blog and open it up for comments from your visitors. Advertise your posts in your newsletter and ask for comments. For larger sites, you may want to add a discussion board where your visitors can create their own topics.
Set yourself up on a number of Social Media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or LinkedIn and conversate/share/inform your customers with high quality answers and content. Also make sure that you have a follow, Fan Page ‘Like” widget or a Pinterest badge on your website so that people can follow you through their favorite social media platform and stay in tune with your progress and updates.
Checkout Gary Vaynerchuk’s advice on growing your business using social media, Gary is an Ace! and definitely someone you should look up to in the Online Business world.

4 – Give Your Visitors a Reason To Come Back

Repeat visitors to your online business will increase sales for sure. You can give your visitors a reason to come back in many ways. For example, you can let them know that once a month you post a one-day only sale. Another example might be to write an article and let the readers know there will be a follow-up next month. Make the topic of the follow-up something that people really want to know.
Just adding quality content on a regular basis is a good way to get repeat visitors.

5 – Do Not Over-Sell To Your Visitors

No one likes a pushy salesperson in a brick and mortar business. Online business are no different in this aspect. People hate to feel like they are being overly pressured to buy something. You can point out the advantages of your product or service but try not to over-sell. Watch out for superlative spammy language too. It will usually backfire on you!

6 – Do Not Over Optimize Your Website

You have probably heard of the term, “search engine optimization” or SEO. This is where people design their webpages with the intent of ranking higher in the search engines, particularly Google. Many online businesses push this way too far. Their sites end up being demoted or even banned from the search results because the search engines view their efforts as spam. Over optimizing pages also makes them less likeable and readable by real human beings.

7 – Do Not List Your Website In Bad Neighbourhoods

For a long time, it has been well-known that Google and other search engines look at how many links there are to a website as one important factor in determining how to rank that website in the search engine results. This has prompted online business owners to want to get as many links as they can. Sometimes they even pay for links in directories and blogs. However, in most cases, these paid links are sites that are known as bad neighborhoods by the search engines. In other words, they are spammy sites and having your website listed in them can actually hurt you, not help you!

8 – Maintain a High Quality Mailing List

Ask your visitors to sign up for your newsletter when they come to your online business site. Give them an incentive to do so such as a free report or free e-course on a topic related to your business. Having said this, respect your visitors and their time. Be sure not to send out your newsletter too often, perhaps once a month and occasionally send a special announcement. Also, make sure to put quality content in your newsletter and give your subscribers an easy way to opt out.

9 – Remember At The End Of The Day Your Customers Are STILL Real People

A lot of people forget this, they are not treating their customers as real human beings and are not putting themselves in the customers shoes. Customer service will always be around, that’s why we need to stay good at looking after our clients. If you can’t help them with their request, get back to them and let them know that you have exhausted every avenue to find a way and maybe even refer them onto someone who can help them. Even though you may not be able to help them at that very point in time, they WILL remember you went the extra mile for them and will tell their friends via word of mouth or by social media (which would be great promotion for you), either way, you can rest your head at night knowing that you are doing everything you can to hold a good name for your business and that every one that deals with you is satisfied. Tony Hsieh has his staff at Zappos practice this commitment with their customers and he has managed to build his online retail store to a $1.2 Billion Dollar company.
This is how you secure yourself as the “go to guy in your industry”, and as time goes by and all these “short attention span, new comers” are so use to ONLY dealing with their customers over a keyboard and text conversation, they will be skimming over life long customers and potentially huge clients for the future.
No matter how digital the business world gets, you are and will always be DEALING WITH REAL PEOPLE. Reputation is everything, don’t forget that.

Article By Joel Brown | Addicted2Success.com

10 Cold Hard Facts About Buying And Selling Shares

Are you ready to buy and sell stocks & shares? It is common knowledge that share market investments yield the best returns over a long period of time, if one knows how to go about it correctly. Success in the stock market depends a lot on the capability and mindset of the investor rather than the market. The same market rewards some people and causes losses to others mainly due to this difference.
Here are ten facts that you should not overlook if you are buying and selling shares.

10 Must Know Facts Before You Try To Make Money Selling Shares

1. Set your expectations right:

Many people start investing in stock markets hoping to double their money in a year or less. While this is sometimes possible by pure luck or taking insane risks, it is a rare phenomenon and not sustainable over any reasonable length of time. Stock markets give good returns over long periods of time that will be in the range of 10 to 12% annually. If you are looking for something more, you are speculating, not investing and that is a very risky thing to do. Stock market returns are also not fixed, but come with a lot of volatility and even with some short-term losses. So get the expectations right or your emotions will get the better of you and you are very likely to make irrational decisions.

2. Stock market investment is a long-term activity:

Short-term movements of the market are just noise or knee-jerk reactions to company or economic news. They are what they are – short-term. There is nothing more to read from it. Benjamin Graham (known as the father of value investing) put this across nicely when he said that in the short-term the market is more like a popularity voting machine and in the long run it is a value weighing machine. Don’t bet on the popularity which goes up and down every other day, bet on the substance. In the long run the markets and stock prices move towards their fundamental valuations. It is unfortunate that many investors bark up the wrong tree and lose money in popularity contests rather than looking for value.
Warren Buffett once said that he would only buy something that he would be happy to hold even if the market stops trading for ten years. This is the kind of long-term view that is required to focus on quality stocks.

3. Turn a deaf ear to free investment advice:

Business channels on TV are 24 hour animals, they need to be fed. You will find a lot of analysis going on about why this stock went up or that went down or about which direction it may take based on some future events or predictions. As discussed above, these are most likely short-term movements which may not represent any real change in valuation. Any event that doesn’t affect the valuation of a stock or does not have a long term economic impact does not matter to the long-term stock investor. Keeping out all this noise about short-term market volatility will give you more time to focus on real changes that affect company performance which are the real issues that a smart investor should be focusing on.

4. Think and act like the owner of the company:

When you buy a stock, you are buying a share in the company however small it may be. Think about buying a stock like you are buying a company. This means you have to do quite a bit of research about the company, its business, its past performance, checking out its competitive advantages and forecasting future trends in the light of the company’s strengths and the likely economic scenarios. Deciding to buy or sell a stock should not be an impulsive decision, it should be a well thought out decision.
Peter Lynch one of the best in the mutual fund business said that to buy a stock, the company has to be profitable, the business should have a strong competitive advantage and the stock price has to make sense.

5. Buy when a stock is cheap and sell when it is high:

This seems to be the obvious thing to do, but knowing when a stock is cheap and when it is time to sell needs an understanding about valuations. Novice stock investors assume that what goes up must keep going up and use the price direction to make their investment decisions. They usually end up buying when the stock is expensive and close to its highs and selling when it is cheap. They thus do the opposite of what they are supposed to be doing. Making investment decisions solely on the basis of price movements is like allowing the tail to wag the dog. Only a person who thinks like an owner and understands valuation will be able to time the market properly.
Benjamin Graham, known as the father of value investing advises that one should never sell in panic just because the prices have fallen and the market is undervaluing a stock, as the prices will bounce back.

6. Don’t give undue weightage to a company’s management:

Even the best management team cannot run a company profitably if it has a bad business model and financial position. Management teams can change many times during a company’s life and so it should be given only due weightage and the company’s strengths and weaknesses should take precedence over it. Even an ace driver cannot win a race if the car he is driving is a slow dilapidated vehicle with partially inflated tires.

7. Patience is essential, but it is very different from being stubborn:

Never forget the original analysis on the basis of which you purchased a stock. When the outlook of the economy or the company changes check how it impacts the original analysis, valuation and forecasts. If you would not buy a stock based on what you know today, there is no great reason to hold on to it even if you already own it. Patience is when you hold on to a stock in spite of price fluctuations and this will usually be rewarding. You are stubborn when you keep on holding to a stock just because you don’t want to take a loss or want to be proven wrong. This can lead to big losses.

8. When an investment is obvious to everybody it is usually time to exit:

Recognizing the signs of the top of a market move allows you to exit when the prices are high. It is a familiar pattern when stock prices go up. When the prices are low, only the smart investors notice it and accumulate it. Then the prices go up, more people start to take notice and buy, pushing the price up further. Next the TV channels start talking about the stock and more people on the sidelines start rushing in. As prices go up further, everyone, their drivers and gardeners are also aware of the stock and there is a mad rush to jump into the bandwagon. This is when the stock is trading at many times its fair price and smart investors quietly sell the stock. When the stock is obvious to the whole world, it is a bad sign and a time to exit. Recognize these signs of a top, because after this point a huge correction is around the corner.
Hedge Fund Manager Jim Cramer emphasized this by saying that bulls and bears make money while pigs get slaughtered. Stocks which are overvalued and still rising are just climbing up a tower to take a suicidal jump.

9. A safety margin is always necessary:

The future is always unpredictable and however skilled an investor is in analyzing valuations and forecasting the future, there will be surprises. This could be due to unforeseen events or changes in a company’s internal or external environment. All great investors keep a margin of safety to prevent major losses in the event things don’t go as expected.

10. Never put all your eggs in the one basket:

Diversification across many different industries and sectors is the key to a healthy portfolio. Economic events usually impact different sectors differently. Having all stock investments in one or two industries could result in a disaster if an event that impacts them adversely occurs.
It is possible to make money selling shares and obtain handsome returns in the long run, but you must go about it like a businessman and not as a speculator. The ten things mentioned above are cold hard facts that you should always keep in mind while investing in stocks.

Be sure to checkout our 22 Must Know Investment Quotes By Some Of The Worlds Greatest Investors for some unforgettable investment advice.



Article By: Neil Cloud | Addicted2Success.com

20 Ways To Maximize Your Levels Of Motivation

Feeling De-Motivated?
Here are 20 ways you can maximise your level of motivation right now!

20 Effective Ways To Stay Motivated

1 - Find your personal mantra

Think of a short slogan to keep your focused (It doesn’t have to be 3 paragraphs long, just a couple of powerful words will do) .Motivational quotes are a good mantra springboard, check ones these out when you need a head pump of motivation.

2 - Get enough sleep

Make sure to spend at least eight hours of your day in deep sleep to allow your body and mind to relax in readiness for the demanding journey ahead. The more R.E.M sleep the better, so make sure you rest your head at a suitable time, preferably before 11pm.

3 - Whatever you eat matters a lot

Whatever you eat can affect not just your physical health but also your psychological wellbeing.
If you are wondering how to get motivated it’s time you started choosing your meals more carefully – especially breakfast. Stick to high energy foods such as fruits, vegetables, eggs and low-fat yoghurt etc. to get the right supply of energy to keep the momentum you need to reach your goals.

4 – Plan your day out

Failure to plan is planning to fail! Get up in the morning and spend about 15 minutes planning your day. Keep in mind that this is a flexible plan just to provide you with a rough sketch of what to do during the day. This way you mentally know what needs to be done and you won’t float around the place with no direction.

5 – Get your swagga up!

The way we dress has a significant bearing to the way we feel throughout our day. Make sure you get out of your PJ’s, do your hair, brush your teeth, so that you are getting your mental and physical into the idea of being ready for something.

6 – Pump up the jamz

Music is a powerful source of motivation. Make it a habit to listen your favorite pumped up tune to inspire a little motivation and power to fight on.

7 – Your body deserves to be rewarded

If you want to stay motivated against all of life’s tides, you have to learn to love yourself first. Treat your body to something nice after achieving certain goals along the way, stretch, pamper your self or grab a massage from a nearby and willing friendly.

8 – Don’t just sit there, get active

If you see yourself spending the most part of your day sitting in front of the TV, you are likely to lose the zeal to take on various life challenges. Hit the road, smash the weights, bounce a ball or skip to get your blood flowing.

9 – Remember some of your best moments

Take a couple of minutes to rush through your peak moments to create a sense of fulfillment. This is a fast and effective positivity technique that really does work.

10 – Don’t just dream; dream biggest

If you can dream it, you can achieve it! So, dream on… and wake up ready to actualize your dreams.

11 – Subscribe to motivational newsletters and emails

Keep feeding your mind with positive content. Identify some top-notch inspirational names on the net and subscribe to their mailing lists to receive constant support messages. Or just visit Addicted2Success.com on the daily

12 – Associate with positive minded people

If you tend to spend the bulk of your time around negative, de-motivated and short-term friends, chances are that you are also going to lose your focus. Invest in inspired and optimistic friends. Jim Rohn said it best when he said “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

13 – Share your goals

To create a sense of responsibility, share your goals with close friends and accomplices.

14 – Don’t do it single-handedly

Don’t block your path to success by locking out important people out of your life. Make sure to invest in a stable support network. Strength in numbers baby!

15 – One step at a time

Being successful is something gradual. Take small but smart steps and before you realize it, you’ll have achieved a huge milestone. Remember, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

16 – Look at the glass as half full, not half empty

Pessimism can ruin your motivation greatly. Learn to stay positive in your quest by focusing on your positive achievements rather than on your failures. From each failure we learn how we can do things even better the next time. Embrace your failures and keep your head up because you are one step closer than you were yesterday.

17 – Get real with yourself

If you feel de-motivated, find a mirror and give yourself a good look. Urge yourself forward by saying something like…”James you can make it!” Affirmations work, they pump you up and help you psych yourself into the state of mind needed to make things happen.

18 – Read inspirational books

Books are golden gems as far as motivation building is concerned. Read motivational books, listen to audio books while you drive, read auto biographies of those who you admire, the greats, those who have persevered through thick and thin.

19 – Take a deep breath

Take a second to chill, breathe in deeply and exhale slowly ten times. As you do so, take time to think of good things in your life (as suggested in tip 9). We are more effective when we are not scatter brained about things, you want to be as clear minded as possible to focus on your goals for the day, week or month.

20 – Invest in others

This is actually the most powerful motivation tip of them all. If you help others, it will empower you with a fulfilling energy to achieve great things yourself. You are someone of value, your confidence levels will be boosted and you will have more faith in what you are capable of because you have shown to yourself, and others, that you are a man of value heart and skills.
As you continue to move towards your life goals, we wish you all the best, every step of the way!

Soerce: http://addicted2success.com/motivation/20-ways-to-maximize-your-levels-of-motivation/

The 7 Biggest Web Design Errors And How You Can Avoid Them

A web presence is a must-have for any 21^st century business, but newcomers to the field can often be led astray by trying to do too much with their site.
In this guide, we’ll help you sidestep some of the common pitfalls that plague those making their first forays into website design.

7 Common Errors

1 – Busy pages make bad pages

Trying to cram too much on to a single page is a sure fire way of putting visitors off. Not only is this practice generally a bad idea, but it can actively impede users logging on via a mobile device (of which there are ever-growing numbers).
White space is a good thing and gives users valuable breathing space to digest content. Make sure you’re spacing out columns, graphics, text and especially links. Above all, don’t try and do too much on one page.

2 – Hiding your links away

Links are arguably the most important feature of your website, so don’t hide them away or obscure them. First and foremost, you want to be consistent with how you highlight links, then apply this format across your entire site.
The opposite also applies, so don’t make un-linked text look like linked text. Some easy ways to distinguish links from regular text are with colour, underlining or bolding.

3 – Needless navigation is a no-no

It’s hard to overstate the importance of navigation on web design. This element will impact how easy and ergonomic your site is to get around, so spend some serious time putting yourself in the shoes of a new visitor.
While arty navigation (e.g. turning the page on a virtual book) is both pretty and tempting – and was fashionable for a period – it’s remarkably unintuitive to use. When setting out navigation for your site, bear in mind the key tenet of content being easy to find with the least amount of effort.
You should apply this doctrine to every aspect of your site, from drop-down links to images and beyond.

4 – Where’s your call to action?

Having a brilliantly designed and easy-to-navigate site is all well and good, but if it doesn’t prompt visitors to do the thing you want (i.e. click on something, share something, sign up to something), then it’s of no use at all.
You need to make sure that you include a clear call to action in a relevant place. However, this should by no means be intrusive, nor should it annoyingly interfere with navigation.

5 – Search and ye shall find

If you’re running a website (and particularly an e-commerce site) there is no excuse not to include a search function. Whether you have the resources to create this yourself or outsource it to a specialist, this is a necessity in the 21^st century.
Not only will this improve the functionality of your page, but it will also help to keep visitors who couldn’t immediately find what they were looking for on-site. One easy solution for newcomers to site design is Google’s Custom Search. By simply copying over the appropriate HTML code, you can incorporate a custom Google-powered search box for your users.

6 – Testing

Like GLaDOS from Portal, this should be your watchword. People will visit your site via a growing variety of means and it’s more important than ever to ensure an ergonomic experience for all.
Some common issues to look out for include being able to view the site in different environments, browsers and with different settings (e.g. having JavaScript disabled). There’s a vast variety of tools for such tasks available for free or at a marginal price, so there’s nothing holding you back from getting stuck in and keeping your website functioning at its peak.

7 – Keep your content coming and current

If you do opt to include a news, blog section or social media feed on your site – make sure to keep it up to date. If you fail to keep content relevant, it can make it appear like you’re out of businesses or are vastly behind the times.

Even if you have nothing to say yourself, it’s always possible to curate content you – and ideally your target audience – will find interesting and relevant.

Conclusion
Successful web design is more of an art than a science, but what doesn’t mean you can’t be empirical about the process. Look at your competitors’ sites and see what they do well – and badly – and then co-opt or discard these elements as needed.
Test the functionality of the site on those who’ve never used it and above all, have empathy. When viewing your work, try and put yourself in the shoes of a first-time visitor and alter elements accordingly.

This article was brought to you by Gerald Heneghan on behalf of Custard, a bespoke online PR agency, which provides a comprehensive range of tailored services.

Soerce :  http://addicted2success.com/success-advice/the-7-biggest-web-design-errors-and-how-you-can-avoid-them/

The Top 25 Millionaires & Billionaires That Are Using Their Money To Save The World

When you think of the word “Philanthropist“, people such as Bill & Melinda Gates, Warren Buffett & Oprah Winfrey may come to mind. These are just a few of the many super rich that have devoted their lives to changing the world for the better through the riches and Success they have made over their lives. Read on to see the list of the Top 25 Richest Millionaires & Billionaires giving away their money to make this world a better place.

 

#25 Lee and Jane Seidman

Amount donated in 2010: $42  million

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiary: University Hospitals in  Cleveland

Background: Seidman is the retired founder and president of  the Motorcars Group, a Cleveland-based conglomerate of car dealerships. He  pledged in 2010 to  give away 90% of his wealth before the end of the  year.

#24 Larry Ellison

Amount donated in 2010: $45.1  million

Net worth: $39.5 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: Ellison Medical  Foundation

Background: Ellison, the founder of Oracle, started his  foundation in 1997 for biomedical research.

#23 Bennett S. LeBow

Amount donated in 2010: $49  million

Net worth: Not available
Beneficiary: Drexel  University

Background: LeBow is the chairman and CEO of Borders and  chairman of the Vector Group, a holding company for manufacturers of cigarettes.  He’s a graduate of Drexel and the university’s business school bears his  name.

#19 (tie) P. Roy and Diana Vagelos

Amount donated in 2010: $50  million

Net worth: $535 million (via the National  Herald)

Beneficiary: Columbia University Medical  Center

Background: Dr. Vagelos is the former CEO and chairman of  pharmaceutical giant Merck. He’s an alumnus of the medical school associated  with the hospital.

#19 (tie) Paul Ichiro Terasaki

Amount  donated in 2010: $50 million

Net worth: Not available
Beneficiary: University of California at  Los Angeles

Background: Dr. Terasaki is a pioneer  in the field of organ transplant medicine. In 1946 he developed the test  that became the international standard method for tissue typing. He conducted  his research in the university’s  laboratories.

#19 (tie) Ming Hsieh

Amount donated in  2010: $50 million

Net worth: $1.6 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: University of Southern  California

Background: Hsieh founded AMAX Information Technologies, a  computer server and storage systems maker, and Cogent, which develops automated  fingerprint-identification systems. He’s a graduate  of the school, as well as a trustee.

#19 (tie) Ned Evans

Amount  donated in 2010: $50 million

Net worth: $6.5 billion (via Boston  Magazine)
Beneficiary: Yale  University

Background: Evans, who passed away last year, was a private  investor and the chairman of publishing company Macmillan from 1979 to 1989. He  was also a well-known horse breeder, as well as an alumnus of  Yale.

#18 Charles E. Kaufman

Amount donated in 2010: $53.3 million (estimated bequest)

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiaries: The Pittsburgh Foundation and other  charities

Background: Kaufman, who passed away last year, was an  investor and the former director of purchasing at pharmaceutical company Merck.  His gift will support research in biology, chemistry, and  physics

#17 Bill and Karen Ackman

Amount  donated in 2010: $59.3 million

Net worth: $700 million (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: Pershing Square  Foundation

Background: Ackman is the founder of New York-based hedge  fund Pershing Square Capital Management. Along with his wife, he created  the Pershing Square Foundation in 2006 to support education, human rights,  social entrepreneurship, and other causes.

#16 Pierre and Pam Omidyar

Amount  donated in 2010: $61.5 million

Net worth: $6.2 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiaries: HopeLab, Humanity United, Omidyar Network,  and the Ulupono Initiative
Background: Omidyar is the founder of eBay. His wife is the  chairwoman of HopeLab, a  nonprofit that develops technology to benefit chronically ill  children.

#15 Henry C. Jr. and Jane Woods

Amount donated in 2010:$67  million (bequest)
Net worth: Not available

Beneficiaries: Lawrenceville School and North Shore Country  Day School
Background: Woods is the heir to the Sahara Coal Company  fortune. The bulk of last year’s donation went to the Lawrenceville School, a  private school in New Jersey from  which he graduated and where he was a longtime teacher and chair of the  English department.

#14 David and Patricia Atkinson

Amount donated in 2010: $80  million

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiary: Cornell University
Background: Atkinson is a former partner of Miller, Anderson & Sherrerd, a money management firm. He now runs Atkinson & Company, a  private investment business he owns with his wife. Their gift went  towards a research center focusing on energy, sustainability and the  environment.

#13 Juanita Kious Waugh

Amount donated in 2010: $83.7 million  (estimated bequest)

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiaries: The Mayo Clinic, Saint  Joseph’s College in Indiana
Background: Waugh, who passed away last year, managed her  family’s farms and was the heir to part of their cattle, farming and banking  fortune. She and her parents had  been patients of the Mayo Clinic.

#12 Terrence and Kim Pegula

Amount donated in 2010: $88  million

Net worth: $3.1 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: Pennsylvania State  University

Background: Pegula founded East Resources, an oil and gas  exploration and development company, which he sold to Royal Dutch Shell in 2010  for $4.7 billion. The donation from Pegula, an alumnus, will go towards the  university’s hockey program.

#10 (tie) Mark Zuckerberg

Amount donated in 2010: $100  million

Net worth: $17.5 billion (via Forbes)
Beneficiary: Startup:  Education

Background: Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, made a huge  donation to his own foundation, which will support programs that benefit the  school system in Newark, N.J. The sum will be paid out over five  years.

#10 (tie) Marc and Lynne Benioff

Amount donated in  2010: $100 million

Net worth: $1.9 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: University of California at  San Francisco Children’s Hospital
Background: Benioff is the founder of Salesforce.com. His  daughter was born at the hospital, and he is a member of its  board.

#9 Meyer and Renee Luskin

Amount  donated in 2010: $100.5 million

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiary: University of California at  Los Angeles

Background: Luskin is the chairman of Scope Industries, a  major maker of animal feed. He is a graduate of UCLA and the  couple’s gift will go towards a variety of academic  programs.

#8 T. Boone Pickens

Amount  donated in 2010: $101 million

Net worth: $1.45 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiaries: Oklahoma State University and other  charities

Background: The founder of oil company Mesa Petroleum and  energy investment firm BP Capital, Pickens is a graduate of OSU. His donation  will endow need-based scholarships for  students.

#7 Frances Lasker Brody

Amount  donated in 2010: $110 million (estimated bequest)

Net worth: Not available
Beneficiary:The Huntington Library, Art  Collections, and Botanical Gardens

Background: Brody, who passed away in 2009, was the heir to  both the fortune of her father, an advertising pioneer, and her husband Sidney  Brody, a real estate magnate. She was a member of the library’s board of  overseers, and her donation was largely funded by the sale of her vast art  collection.

#6 Leonard Blavatnik

Amount  donated in 2010: $117.2 million

Net worth: $9.5 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: University of  Oxford

Background: Blavatnik is the founder of Access Industries, a  major holding company. He did not attend Oxford, but decided  the university was the right choice after learning that it wanted to create  a school dedicated to “improving government and public-policy practices  globally.”

#5 Edythe and Eli Broad

Amount  donated in 2010: $118.3 million

Net worth: $6.3 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: Broad  Foundations

Background: Broad is the founder and chairman of homebuilder  KB Home Corporation and financial services company SunAmerica. The couple’s  foundation supports civic programs, contemporary art museums, education, and  medical and scientific research. Broad  is also funding a new art museum in Los  Angeles.

#4 Irwin and Joan Jacobs

Amount donated in 2010:  $119.5 million

Net worth: $1.15 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiaries: University of California at San Diego Health  System, Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of San  Diego
Background: Jacobs is a co-founder of Qualcomm, the wireless  communications company. The bulk of their donation went to the UCSD health  system, which is building  a new medical center to be named after the  couple.

#3 T. Denny Sanford

Amount donated in 2010: $162.5  million

Net worth: $600 million (via The  Daily)

Beneficiaries: Sanford Health Foundation, Sanford-Burnham  Medical Research Institute and the Florida Hospital for  Children
Background: The noted philanthropist is chairman of United  National Corporation, a banking business in South Dakota. His most  recent gift to his foundation will establish a national institute for  research and treatment of breast cancer.

#2 Michael R. Bloomberg

Amount  donated in 2010: $279.2 million

Net worth: $19.5 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiaries: Arts, human services, public affairs, and  other groups
Background: The founder of Bloomberg LP and Mayor of New  York city gave to 970 different nonprofit groups in 2010. Since 2004, the first  year the Philanthropy list was published,  he has given away well over $100 million  annually.

#1 George Soros

Amount donated in 2010: $332  million

Net worth: $22 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: Open Society  Foundations
Background: Soros is a financier and the chair of Soros Fund  Management, which manages hedge funds. He’s also the founder of Open Society  Foundations, which supports human rights organizations and democratic  institutions.

Source: Chronicle of Philanthropy
 http://addicted2success.com/news/the-top-25-millionaires-billionaires-that-are-using-their-money-to-save-the-world/

Why It Pays To Be An Entrepreneur In This Day & Age

This is the era of the “omnipresent” entrepreneur, with more selection, more novelty, more transformations, more opportunity, and more possibilities. What’s driving the rise of the entrepreneur today?
Many are beginning to realize that they cannot depend on companies to offer the necessities life requires, in order to subsist; they must get it for themselves.

A New Breed In Times Of Need

Many factors have contributed to the need for individuals to “go it alone,” and try to make ends meet. From December 2007 and June 2009, the US experienced its largest economic collapse since the Great Depression. Named the “Great Recession,” the economic retrenchment saw GDP decrease 4% and unemployment doubled from 4.9% to 10.1%.
Now, more than ever, individuals are being encouraged and motivated to start their own businesses and become self-employed. The world has already experienced the likes of the Eastman’s, the Ford’s, the Carnegie’s and the Westinghouse’s. These entrepreneurs became successful during a time much like today; however, they created jobs; therefore, jobs were plentiful. It’s not the same today. Jobs are being created but outsourced, leaving a whole group of people behind who must now learn to play “catch-up.”
Reports show that 70% of high school students aim to become entrepreneurs at some time in their careers. Becoming an entrepreneur today is widely regarded as the best move one can make because it adds new products and jobs to the populace. Unmatched throughout history, entrepreneurs are becoming a factor in the political fixture. According to the Kauffman Foundation, entrepreneurs create 60% of all new jobs in the economy.

From Nothing to Something

Everyone likes to think of an entrepreneur as someone who came from nothing and stumbled upon millions of dollars. Yes, there are many who came from nothing, but stumbling upon millions of dollars is rare, if it actually happens at all. In addition, studies show that women entrepreneurs are on the rise. For example, Sara Blakely has shown us “the proof is in the pudding”, she has just been labelled the Youngest female self-made billionaire with her panty hose line “Spanx“.
Lisa Hufford launched Simplicity Consulting after many years as an employee, Vicky Thompson established the Valuation Management Group, and Crystal Culbertson launched Crystal Clear Technologies. These businesses have a combined annual profit of more than $50 million!
Then again, you have Steve Jobs (R.I.P), founder of Apple Computers, Bill Gates founder of Microsoft, and the new kid on the block, Mark Zuckerberg who founded Facebook. The entrepreneurship of these individuals led to a revolution of software programs that we use today. Nevertheless, miracles aside, what happens to the average person? An entrepreneur can just as well be the person who sets up their own vegetable stand or one who sells handmade tablecloths at craft shows. If you have created a business around your passion then you are an Entrepreneur.

Becoming an Entrepreneur is an Inside Job

Many people today feel something extraordinary is about to take place in the world, in fact, it is taking place right now! The days of depending solely on companies for our livelihood as our parents and grandparents once did are over. The days of finding the “perfect” job with guaranteed employment for the next 30 years is extinct. Company and employee loyalty seems to be a thing of the past. Nonetheless, becoming an entrepreneur is not an elite occupation requiring credentials to join. Anyone can become an entrepreneur; the only requirement is an idea for a business. Your idea can be:

• Something totally new or an invention that resolves a difficulty
• A modification of an idea started by someone or from somewhere else that does not violate any patents, trademarks, or copyrights
• An existing concept catered to a new market
• Creating something customary like opening a shop

What is without doubt is that having an idea is not the only requirement to become an entrepreneur. Together with their idea, an entrepreneur must draw qualities from within while utilizing outside resources. Essential qualities include willpower, zeal, ambition, keen intelligence, good timing, and momentum of execution. External necessities include finance, exploration, and support.
Entrepreneurs need to recognize their potential market, or at least have an intuitive understanding of the market they are attracted to. In addition, they will need to know if their product or service has the possibility to accommodate the demands of a commensurate number of people in order for their idea to pay off.
With Computers, Smart phones & Apps out nowadays, this means that aspiring entrepreneurs have access to millions of tools and resources at their finger tips. Which means that becoming a well equipped entrepreneur, just got easier!
Social Media networks make it easier to link and network with like-minded people and have proven to help entrepreneurs and startups raise the funds they need to juice up their business.
Checkout a great crowd funding website by the name of Kickstarter if you are looking at acquiring some funding for that new great business idea.

Conclusion

Building a business does not happen overnight. It will require all the willpower, ambition, persistence, and zeal that you can muster. You will need to believe in yourself when it seems like the odds are against you but you must also have the keen intelligence to know when to modify your plan. There is a saying “failure will never overtake you if your determination to succeed is strong enough.” Being an entrepreneur is an “inside job,” with a few outer hurdles to cross along the way.
If your mind is made-up, you will jump over those hurdles and succeed!

 Article By: Debra Jenkins | Addicted2Success.com

How To Find The Perfect Name For Your New Business Or Website

Finding the best name for your business or website is a crucial first step. A successful name can not only define the character and values of your organization but will also play a vital role in attracting visitors’ attention.
Selecting the perfect name can be confusing, with some businesses splashing out as much as $80,000 to get their brand title professionally designed by a naming firm. Fortunately for those on a more modest budget, the following methods can help your business or site develop a memorable and effective name for free.

Creating The Best Business Name Or Domain Name

1st Option: Brain Storm

Brain storming is a great way to kick-start the ideas process. Begin by creating a list of 4 or 5 key words that relate to or describe your business. You can then start playing around with combinations of these words and add prefixes, suffixes, and modifiers to set the name apart. For instance, if you are setting up a mortgage company, you could experiment with words like ‘mortgage’, ‘house’, ‘property’, ‘finance’, or ‘home equity’ until you find a good match.
You could also come up with a few slightly more abstract words relating to your business, and use them to develop some fun and interesting titles. This works especially well for businesses seeking a young and playful image. Here a couple of good examples:
“Spoon Me” – The name of a frozen yogurt brand that now makes almost as much money selling branded t-shirts as it does from its food sales.
“Eat My Words” – A naming firm
“Pugs and Kisses” – A dog grooming spa and salon

2nd Option: Think Sensibly

If you are struggling to narrow down your choice of possible names, there are some generally held rules that apply to most successful company names:
- Let Visitors Know What To Expect
Have a name that allows visitors to understand the function of your business before knowing anything about you. Sites like Autotrade.com and CareerBuilder.com let visitors know what the site does without even needing to access it. Companies like Monster.com (a job search website) on the other hand, are equally successful but need to funnel much more money into advertising so that customers recognize what they do.
- Make Your Name Easy To Say and Spell
Whether a person is searching your company name on Google or typing out your domain name in full, a long and confusing title is likely to be typed out incorrectly by visitors and can put potential customers off. Avoiding any use of the letters z and x can also make typing easier.
- Don’t Limit Your Future Growth
A name that is too specific about what your business or site does can limit your growth into other areas of the market. For example, a website called Buyantiquebooks.com may start selling new books or vintage records as well. Consider the future direction of your company when you are deciding on a name.

3rd Option: Be Inventive

If you’re struggling to find a unique name or domain address in your area of the market, then developing a new word is an interesting option. These creative website names are guaranteed to be original, but you also run the risk of confusing your target audience. Instead of grouping random meaningless letters, consider twisting a word which has significance to your company. Here are some great examples:
Acura – A luxury car brand name derived from the word ‘accuracy’.
Compaq – A computer company name based on the ‘compact’ technology they produce.

4th Option: Put Your Name To The Test

Once you have narrowed down your choices to a list of 4 or 5 favorites, it is time to put the options to the test. Hiring a trademark search firm to see if your name is already in use is a good way to avoid any potential lawsuits in the future. For those establishing a new website, you will need to check whether that domain name is already taken. There are a number of online sites which offer a .com, .net, and .org checking feature for free. You can also checkout Bust A Name which automatically generates domain names for you, some are already taken, some are new and fresh, personally I would recommend trying to come up with your own domain name first, this way you will appreciate that YOU actually came up with the domain name/business name yourself.

If all else fails and finding the perfect business name becomes an impossible task, then it is worthwhile considering the services of a professional naming company. Trained designers and market researchers can be hired to quickly come up with creative, memorable, and expressive names, and many also offer additional services like logo design.

Article By: Amy Montgomery | Addicted2Success.com