As a dad to two boys – one of which is just reaching the two month milestone while the other is becoming more independent as a newly minted six year old – I’ve quickly become adept at productive time management.  

Okay, so I don’t always manage my time as well as I’d like – I’m usually running a couple minutes behind from one thing to the next – however, the reason is because I’m trying to take full advantage of every minute I have available.  With kids, a spouse, work, etc. there are a lot of forces vying for one’s time.

I’ve found as a busy adult one of my best weapons against, “not enough time,” is utilizing my smartphone to capitalize on every 15 minute wait in the doctor’s office waiting room, every 10 minute lunch/coffee shop line wait and more.

In doing this I’m not trying to stress about working more as much as I’m trying to stitch together 10, 15 or 20 minute time chunks into something productive.  These are time chunks that might be otherwise wasted.

This is how my blogs get written, this is how I consume articles, this how I get tweets out, this is how I email others, this is how I increase my networking via phone (on that last one, I actually mean live conversation on a phone with a new contact vs. meeting for lunch or coffee – I just can’t fit it in right now, but I don’t have to miss out).

That’s what I really wanted to share…you don’t have to miss out because you’re busy.  If you want something, you’ll make time for it.
  That won’t likely be easy to do, and there will certainly be compromises along the way, but a positive end result is definitely possible.

The old saying is that if you want something done give it to a busy person.  The reason, busy people are skilled at prioritizing and reprioritizing their time and effort, uncovering and utilizing every scrap of available time for positive productivity.

Posted by Nick Venturella

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According to the IBIS World website the online t-shirt/apparel business generates $262 million in revenue.  (source url: http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/online-original-design-t-shirt-sales.html).

The site also went on to say that their are 596 business in this narrow niche.  So how do you decide which one to go with when you have a custom apparel project to produce?

One such online provider I recently came across worth checking out is, MyLocker.  MyLocker makes it easy to create and personalize t-shirts, team jerseys, hoodies, golf polos, embroidered fleece and more.  There are no minimums in terms of order size, which make MyLocker a great choice for your order of 1 or 100.

One of the areas that stood out for me with MyLocker is not only the quality of the apparel items and their prices, but the fact that MyLocker makes it easy for high schools to design and produce ‘spirit wear.’  MyLocker even offers some ready-made design ideas that can easily be personalized.

Check out MyLocker for online, on-demand personalized apparel.

Posted by Nick Venturella

The cosmetic market has a lot of revenue opportunity for businesses in that realm.  In fact, according to Statista.com, the U.S. cosmetic industry is valued at over $56.6 billion (URL to actual statistic: http://www.statista.com/topics/1008/cosmetics-industry/).

Thus, it makes sense if you’re an entrepreneur with interest in and/or experience in the cosmetic industry, you likely want a piece of that 56 billion dollar pie.

However, there is a lot to know about the industry and launching your own line of cosmetics.

One resource to help you navigate the cosmetics industry is The Cosmetist (http://thecosmetist.com), a website targeted at educating those interested in the cosmetics and beauty industries.

TheCosmetist.com, is run by a doctor of pharmacy and formulator of custom cosmetics for demanding clients.  The Cosmetist specializes in nutritional supplements and anti-aging cosmetics.

What’s really useful about TheCosmetist.com is that the site answers your questions and explains cosmetics in straight-forward language that anyone can easily understand.  So whether you’re just starting to learn about the industry and it’s various products and services or you’ve been around a while you’ll benefit from this site’s explanations.

Check it out.

Posted by Nick Venturella

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Sometimes I get asked, “ So, you do content marketing...what do you mean by content?”

It’s usually coming from someone genuinely curious and new to the idea.  I welcome the opportunity to share.

Content can really be all forms of communication:

• written - copywriting, blog writing, email marketing, written webinar content
  
• audio - think music, podcasts, audio from webinars, audio form videos, audio books a live keynote speaker at a conference or even a live music concert is a form of content marketing
  
• visual - logos, photos, web graphics, visuals from webinars, cartoons, video
  

Content marketing is using a strategy to produce content about specific topics that a targeted audience will find valuable, or useful.  
The idea here is to build a relationship over time with a targeted group of people that you (the content creator) are providing regular, valuable content to on topics they care about.

As you build a relationship over time with this targeted audience you can periodically offer your products/services or provide calls-to-action in your content to learn more about your products/services, and turn those content followers of yours into customers.

Keep in mind, for content marketing to work for you, you really have to find topics that a targeted audience deems useful and valuable otherwise this may not work so well for you.

Part of how you’re trying to build a relationship with those who consume your content is to get them to sign up on your email list.  This is so you can deepen the online relationship you’re building with your audience.  It will also allow you more direct access to connect with them when you decide to offer your products/services to them.

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Network marketing often gets a bad rap.  You know, those direct sales opportunities have often have an up-line and a down-line?

Well, there are a lot of mis-conceptions about network marketing businesses.  Unfortunately, it’s the few bad ones that seem to get publicized most.  Also, and possibly worse yet, are individuals who bash it because they half-heartily tried one once and it didn’t pan out for them.

Truth be told, when you’re a network marketer, you’re running your own business, and like any other entrepreneurial venture, if you don’t put in the time and effort to build your business it won’t yield the results you want.

That said, network marketing is a proven business model that actually works well.  However, it does take finding the right organization with the right people and products that will excite you -- keeping you interested and motivated -- to build success.

There are some good network marketing organizations to look into if you’re pondering that route.  One is Rodan + Fields, which sells premium skin care products.  You may know the Proactiv Solution from various infomercials.

Rodan + Fields offers compensation better than many network marketing organizations, and they’ve even won the Stevie Award, which was awarded to Apple the year before it was given to Rodan + Fields (and guys don’t be fooled it’s an opportunity for both men and women).

Posted by Nick Venturella

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Often businesses will join their local area chamber of commerce to get connected to other businesses, build synergistic partnerships and most of all network to grow their own business.

Well, if you have an internet business, what chamber of commerce do you join?  I mean, you technically can provide your product or service to anyone, anywhere in the world.

Well, I just came across a site called, the Internet Chamber of Commerce. The Internet Chamber of Commerce is a dynamic, independent business network. It lists vital information about more than 100,000 businesses and organizations across the United States.

The Internet Chamber of Commerce lists companies of all shapes and sizes. It represents a wide variety of business sectors. The Internet Chamber of Commerce’s mission is to increase its services into an indispensable online resource for growing businesses.

The way the site is set up a visitor can select a business category like, the Automotive Industry, Construction, Health, House/Home, Professional Services, Retail, Technology, and more, and look up companies’ business contact information in any U.S. state within that business category.

It's definitely not your normal chamber of commerce.  Check it out for yourself.

Posted by Nick Venturella

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I came across a website recently called, Long Live the Internet (LLTI).

As it turns out, this is a powerhouse online entrepreneurial resource.  If you are an entrepreneur or even simply an aspiring entrepreneur, you should check out LLTI.

The two founders of LLTI, Robert and Jonathan, have both stumbled and succeeded throughout the last couple of decades.  Regardless, they have a lot of first-hand experience of what works and what doesn’t in business.  The beauty is, they share a ton of that knowledge on LLTI.

You will be hard pressed not to find some useful information on LLTI.  It is a resource covering online business, ecommerce, online marketing and SaaS products.

Whether you’re just starting your entrepreneurial venture or you’ve been at it for a while, your knowledge will certainly grow with LLTI.  Learn things like how to make an audio book, how to translate your book into Spanish, how to make more money with your SaaS products, why the freemium model sucks and much, much more.

So go check out Long Live the Internet.  You can even sign up on their email list and get 50 secret resources we have used to make over $1,000,000 online. (INCLUDING OVER 23 THAT ARE FREE).

Posted by Nick Venturella

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I recently read the Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco (Amazon affiliate), and while I originally thought with a title like that the book was going to be fairly lame and full of get-rich-quick schemes.

That was not the case.

This is a very practical book about creating wealth as a producer -- someone who creates something that fills a need for others.

While this book talks about getting rich quickly, it's a reasonable 'quickly,' in 3, 5 or even 7 years of dedicated work building something useful that positively affects many people either in scale or magnitude.

That last part (scale or magnitude) I really liked.  It just seemed to make a lot of sense to me.  The idea in the book is that if you want to make a million dollars (or more) you need to positively affect a million people with your business either in scale or magnitude.

What DeMarco means by scale is simply reaching a million people and positively fulfilling a need they have.  You have a widget that solves a specific problem and it only costs $1 and you reach and sell that widget to a million people, you're a millionaire (technically).

The idea of magnitude is a bit different.  With this idea DeMarco uses the example of real estate.  If you own rental properties you can earn significantly more money from renters than the $1 widget from our previous example.  With that rent you're providing someone, maybe an entire family, a place to live -- that's a bigger positive impact on others than selling a $1 widget.  In both cases a need may be fulfilled, but their is more 'weight' with the real estate example, and that's what DeMarco means by magnitude -- you're selling something that has a bigger impact and thus yields more money per sale.

So if you own 100 rental units that you charge $900 in rent per month, over the course of 12 months you're a millionaire.

Definitely, an interesting read that I would recommend to others.

Posted by Nick Venturella 

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When I think about traveling, I don’t typically think about Croatia.  However, the city of Split, Croatia is supposed to be a hidden gem in Europe.

In fact, Split is located in the center of the Adriatic coast.  It is one of the rare European countries that has kept its sea clean and pristine, which is one reason it’s an attraction for tourists.

There are several people I know within the blogging community who like to travel, often working from their laptops as they do so. Split seems like an ideal place to work and relax.

If you’re considering such a trip, you may want to check out split-rentals.co.uk/en/, where you can find a place to stay in Split.  There are several areas around Split that offer great places to stay at reasonable rates.

If you can work from anywhere and you’re looking for your next jaunt, Split, Coratia may be the destination to review. Get some sun, some swimming and possibly even get some work done...or not.  Either way, from the pictures I’ve seen, it looks like you’ll have a good time.

Posted by Nick Venturella

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What if there was a social network that made you feel good about participating and ultimately did good for others?

It seems that the big named social networks that we’ve come to know and rely on are saturated with all sorts of people and messages -- some good, some bad, some really negative and hurtful.

Recently I found the social networking site, iKareCare.com, which is dedicated to the idea of spreading positivity and happiness.

iKareCafe.com is striving to connect people in meaningful ways that encourage and uplift those who participate to do good things and share happy moments in their lives.

At iKareCafe.com, you won’t find a bunch of casino games or dramatic chain posts or pictures of cats. Well, okay, possibly some cat pictures – but not grumpy ones.

More than anything else, the most interesting part of iKareCafe.com is that they donate at least 60% of their advertising income from their site to charities of your choice.  The people who participate in this social networking site are truly connected to doing something good while building a positively online community.

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