Chris, Author at ChrisDucker.com

When Enough is Enough… AKA: The Day I Became an Entrepreneur!

As I approach the end of each year, I always start looking forward to my company’s Christmas get-together, where almost 300 teammates come together for a night of fun, laughter, music and a little mayhem!

This weekend, as my youngest celebrated his fifth birthday, I started thinking about how blessed I am to be at this point in time, in my life. None of what I have around me today would have happened if I’d have decided to stay in a ‘job’, and not be a creator of them (among other things), instead.

So, today I’d like to tell you a story. It’s my story. About the day I realized I was destined to be an entrepreneur. I’m sure you’re gonna relate to it in some way!

And at the end of the post, when you’re done reading, please comment and share YOUR STORY – I’d love to read them all.

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Going Virtual: How to Outsource Your Online Video Marketing Effectively

I’m back with the fifth installment of my Going Virtual series of posts in which I zoom in on a specific aspect of marketing a business in today’s fast-moving business world and show you exactly, step by step, how you can get on top of this one topic, even taking it to the next level – all with the help of virtual staff.

In this post I’m going to show you how to outsource your online video marketing, to become super productive and way more successful than you thought possible, when it comes to this particular medium. Online video is huge, we all know this, yet so many small business owners that I sit down and chat with, still haven’t got started utilizing the power of web video and what it can do to catapult their brand, and ultimately increase their profits.

My goal in this post is to help YOU get started with online video marketing, by sharing with you the following strategies for producing and promoting videos. We are going to discuss brainstorming ideas for content, all important video SEO and how you can free up your time while growing your business with the help of a virtual assistant focusing on helping you with your online video focus. Let’s begin.

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The Easy-to-Follow Guide to Building an Online Brand

Nowadays more than ever before, being a successful business owner is about making sure that your company name, identity, brand and even your personal brand (if you want to make it part of the attraction of doing business with you) can be found in every nook and cranny online.

Just over 4-years ago I launched this blog.

It wasn’t my first blog, but it was my first real step into personal branding. I knew and appreciated that a personal brand is something thats needed in today’s market, and did spend a bit of time on building my online brand throughout the few years prior, but never really focused on truly building my own unique brand online.

Since then I’ve landed opportunities for myself in the speaking industry, consulted and coached many amazing entrepreneurs, landed a book deal, started my third company and spent more than enough time replying to over 60,000 Twitter followers, 18,000 Facebook fans and an average of 120,000 readers to this blog every month, not to mention enjoying 300,000+ downloads to my podcast.

And, I have to say – I freakin’ love it all..!!!

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Mastermind Update: How One Entrepreneur Got Razor Focused, Launched a Podcast and Dominated an Entire Market!

Not so long ago, I featured one of my coaching clients here on the site, Fern Camacho. He attended my New York Mastermind in July this year and since then has been making some serious moves in his business.

There were so many positive comments on that post, that I decided to invite another of my mastermind tribe to come onto the site, and tell his story.

Enter Germany-based leadership coach and entrepreneur, Bernd Geropp.

I originally ‘met’ Bernd when he signed up for one of my coaching sessions last year. We then met in person at New Media Expo in January, and then he attended my London Mastermind, in May. Bernd is a guy that takes action, this is clear – but following the London session I had no idea just how much action he was going to take!

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Don’t Wait for the New Year, Start Planning Your 2014 – NOW!

While a lot of people wait for the New Year to come around to plan out what they want to achieve in the next 12-months, I plan for the upcoming year in the last quarter of the current year. It’s something I’ve done for a long time, and it’s always served me well.

A lot of business owners leave the planning of a fresh, new year of opportunities until the beginning of it.

I believe, however, that planning a full quarter in advance (if not longer) has been the difference for me becoming more successful in my pursuits, as well as more rounded and experienced from a business ownership standpoint. I just love seeing any type of plan that I put in place come to life, and thrive.

As as example, here are the last few years for me:

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The Top 10 Small Business & Entrepreneur Blogs of 2013

As a small business owner myself, I know how important it is to stay up-to-date with the ever changing trends that the business world throws at us.

I watch very little TV and I don’t read the newspapers. I rely entirely on the internet, and my iPad to stay up to date with whats going on in the world. When I want to focus on business, and the developments that affect me as a small business owner myself, I turn to blogs. Bloggers have the ability to express themselves in somewhat ‘real time’. They can keep their content fresh, and their opinions can be heard quickly.

However, in the world of business blogs there is a lot of noise. A lot of people are trying to get your attention, and with only so many minutes a day to devote to learning and consuming content (personally, I put aside around 30-45 minutes daily), you’ve got to be very strict with who’s content you make time for.

This is the reason why I’ve put this list together. This is not about online business, or online marketing. That’s another list entirely. This collection of blogs are my personal favorite / go-to people in the world of small business blogging. Individually they strike a chord with me enough to keep me coming back for more – over and over again.

Note: These blogs are listed in no particular order of preference, or influence.

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Mastermind Update: How One Business Owner Got Clarity, Gained Confidence and Started Taking REAL Action!

In July this year I had the pleasure of holding two of my ‘Ducker Mastermind’ sessions in the USA, while I was there for the month attending a few events, handling a couple of speaking engagements and generally hanging out a little.

Both LA and NYC were fantastic mastermind events. I mean, serious stuff. There were so many highly enthusiastic and super smart people in attendance that I genuinely felt humbled to be the guy leading the discussions on both days.

There is something about getting a bunch of likeminded people together, in one room, for the day – and talking about nothing but business! Things happen. And for one particular entrepreneur that was part of the NYC session, a lot of things have happened since that day. And I wanted to give you all an update on his progress, so that you can see what happens when you embrace the power of taking action.

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6 Reasons to Hire Virtual Staff Closer to Home (Instead of Overseas!)

I often get asked if I only use Filipino VA’s, being that I am based here in the Philippines, and that I do employ a lot of local staff. The answer is a simple ‘no’.

There are certain things that I pretty much always look to outsource overseas (in reverse to the ‘norm’!), and in this post I thought it might be a good idea to discuss the main reasons why I ‘go overseas’, and the reasons why sometimes it’s a good idea to stay closer to home.

Before I get into things let me state very clearly that there is no right, or wrong way to outsource, as a ‘standard’. You’re going to do whatever you think is best for you, your business and your bank balance, at the end of the day. So keep an open mind, understanding (and respecting) that everyone has their own way of doing things.

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Going Virtual: How to Work with a Virtual Assistant to Manage Your Email

After a short hiatus, today I’m back with the third installment of my ‘Going Virtual’ series of posts in which I zoom in on a specific aspect of running a business in today’s marketplace and show you exactly, step by step, how you can get on top of this one topic, even taking it to the next level – all with the help of a virtual assistant.

In this post I’m going to tackle the one subject that I see entrepreneurs struggling with more than anything else – managing their email.

In a study released by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. in January of this year, it was revealed that C-Level executives considered to be ‘online junkies’ spend an average of 38% of their time stuck in their email inboxes – in my eyes, small business owners are the same – if not worse!

I was just like this (although I’ve never been C-Level, baby!) – and in 2010 I did several things that took me from an average of 6-hours a day in my inbox, to approximately 1-2 hours a day. A level that I still maintain now – even though I get twice the amount of emails today, than I did back in 2010.

I’m gonna show you how I do it, so that YOU can do it yourself… If you’re up for the challenge, that is.

And it is a challenge. Not because it’s particularly tough (it really isn’t nowadays, because of reasons I’ll highlight below), but because email is the one thing, more than anything else, that most entrepreneurs are most reluctant to give up control of – even though it drives us crazy!

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