Chris Ducker

Expert Business Growth, Virtual Staffing & Personal Branding

Think PROGRESSION… Not Recession!

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This year has been a bit of a rollercoaster, hasn’t it?

Looming recession. Political unrest. War. Oh, and we’re stilling handling a pandemic, right?!

Don’t get me wrong… I’m not going all ‘Debbie Downer’ on you. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

PROGRESSION - NOT RECESSION

I’m writing to you today to tell you that we should be thinking about progression – not recession.

Here’s why… For instance, did you know that 57% of the companies on the Fortune 500 list were founded during an economic downturn? In addition, 92% of patents are filed during, or just after a downturn.

The fact is… we’re here right now – 2022 is one of these moments.

The shake-up of Covid has led to consumers driving new agendas, businesses embracing new sales, marketing and operational models, and new leaders are rising up.

Chances are we’re looking at more change in the next 10 years than in the last 100 years.

And… 9/10 times change is a good thing.

Looking ahead isn’t easy, especially in todays fast paced world. However, a way forward, complete with buckets of new opportunities to grow better businesses, better memories – heck, a better world – is just around the corner.

We need leaders to see and shape this future, and help us get there.

I’m doing my part – and I hope you’ll do yours.

YOU CAN’T HAVE IT ALL - BUT, YOU KINDA CAN!

We’ve all heard of the “you can’t have it all” myth. I’m here to bust that myth.

Actually, you can have it all. You just can’t have it all at the exact same time!

Zig Ziglar said “You can have everything you want in life, as long as you help as many other people as possible get what they want!”. The guy was right. I mean, it’s scary how true that is.

The more people I help build profitable businesses around their expertise, the more of my personal goals and dreams come true. But, they come to fruition in a ‘drip by drip’ cycle… not all at once, and I’m okay with that.

START PLANNING 2023 - NOW!!!

Q4 of every year is a time on my schedule that I’m busier than pretty much any other time throughout the year. Why? Because while others are starting to take it easy, I’m putting my foot down on the gas even further.

In the next 60-days, I am holding a 2-day retreat for my Round Table Mastermind, I’m opening the doors to the Youpreneur Incubator for our annual launch and I’m hosting another one of our popular 1-Day Business Breakthrough events.

Oh, and as the proud father to four kids… getting ready for Christmas!

If you’ve not done so already start reflecting on what you need to do to build a business around your life – not the other way around.

If you’re tired and burned out from coming out of the ‘Covid Cocoon’, hit the pause button and start planning what you need to do to go from burned out business owner, to an elevated entrepreneur, going into 2023.

I’m here to help you. Promise. But, you’ve gotta help yourself, too.

Start now.

Reconnecting with Nature for Creative Solitude

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In this video, I share 3 reasons why entrepreneurs should be reconnecting with nature for creative solitude and what it can mean for overall output as a business owner.

After living in the beautiful country of the Philippines for almost 18-years and not being able to stay outdoors for too long due to the hot climate, when we moved back to the UK 3-years ago, I fell completely back in love with nature.

It’s had a direct impact on how I feel day-to-day, my overall output when I’m working and as an added bonus, it’s kept me fit!

I hope this video gives you some motivation for making sure you get outdoors today and I promise, you’ll feel instantly better when you do!

Catch you in the next video.

Thanks for watching

There are a lot of videos you could be tuning into today, but you chose mine, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s video, please share it by using the social media buttons you see on the player at the top of this page and don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more videos like this.

How to Turn Fans into Customers with David Meerman Scott

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Marketing strategist, David Meerman Scott joins me to talk about how to turn fans into customers! We deep dive into David’s book, Fanoracy: Turning Fans into Customers and Customers into Fans, why he wanted to write this book with his daughter, the challenges they learned during the writing process and how they took it in turns to write the chapters. David also explains why it’s so important for businesses to create fans and why we should focus on creating more personal relationships with our customers.

Essential Learning Points From This Video

  • Why David wanted to write his 11th book with his daughter
  • David explains why fandom is for every kind of business
  • Why people feel safe when they're with their 'tribe'
  • How we can continue to stay truly connected in today's digital world
  • Why it's vital to build personal relationships with our audience

Click here for more information about my Youpreneur Incubator online coaching platform and how being part of this group in 2022 will help you achieve your best year ever!

Thanks for watching

There are a lot of videos you could be tuning into today, but you chose mine, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s video, please share it by using the social media buttons you see on the player at the top of this page and don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more videos like this.

How to Develop a Profitable Speaking Career with Pete Vargas

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Founder of Advance Your Reach™, Pete Vargas joins me to talk about how you can strategically takes stages to build your business, what you can do to become a better speaker and the different business models when it comes to developing a speaking career!

Essential Learning Points From This Video

  • Why Pete doesn't believe in the "road warrior" mentality of being a speaker
  • Pete talks about the five different types of stages out there and why the free stage is his favorite
  • How you can book more shows using the 1-2 punch method
  • The eight different digital and offline stages
  • How you can improve your own speaking skills

Click here for more information about the Youpreneur Incubator online coaching platform and how to become part of this group of high achieving, action-taking entrepreneurs, when we open the doors for a brand new intake of clients soon!

Thanks for watching

There are a lot of videos you could be tuning into today, but you chose mine, and I’m grateful!

If you enjoyed this video, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel where I regularly post tips, strategies, random musings and ‘behind the scenes’ vlogs and more!

How to Build a Successful Brand with Gary Vaynerchuk

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In this video, I’m joined by my good friend, Gary Vaynerchuk where we deep dive on how to build an extremely successful brand in the 21st century! We discussed everything from monetization strategies, Gary’s take on how he’s built his personal brand and SO MUCH MORE!

Essential Learning Points From This Video

  • Gary talks about where he thinks Youpreneurs are now in today's market and what they should be focusing on
  • What Gary thinks about comments that say he's going to burn out
  • What is one of the biggest differences in the personal brand space between the people at the top of the tier and people in the middle tier
  • Gary talks about a tactical mind-set when it comes to business success
  • Why you need to use the long-term approach when it comes to your brand and monetization

Click here for more information about my Youpreneur Incubator online coaching platform and how being part of this group in 2022 will help you achieve your best year ever!

Thanks for watching

There are a lot of videos you could be tuning into today, but you chose mine, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s video, please share it by using the social media buttons you see on the player at the top of this page and don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more videos like this.

Finish Up the Year Strong – 3 Things to Do Now!

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We have six weeks left in the year, and I have never been more excited about a six week period than I am about the next six weeks! Yes, we have Christmas and New Year and all that fun stuff to come our way, but honestly I’m teaching all of my coaching clients right now that put their foot down on the gas, more than ever before in this year. 

I just wrapped up a training session with some of my Youpreneur Incubator coaching clients, and I was reminding them of three things that they absolutely must keep doing between now and the end of the year, and as I do with all of our coaching sessions I was recording it. However, I believe that the message behind this should be heard by everybody right now, particularly those of us who are building businesses based around our expertise and our personal brands. 

Here are the big three things that everybody should be doing, that many people will not be doing between now and the end of the year!

#1 Don't Stop Marketing

Many people are going to hit that pause button and you do not want to stop your marketing, you’re going to keep crushing! Keep emailing, keep selling, keep posting, keep launching everything that you’ve got plans to do, make sure that you go ahead and actually do it – push through with it. Many people that I’m working with are doing this, and I know that you can do it too. 

#2 Carry on Providing Value

Secondly, over the Christmas and New Year period, carry on providing value. Carry on showing up with your podcast, carry on showing up with your videos, carry on showing up with the weekly digest newsletters and things like that, keep providing value because many people in your industry will stop! You don’t want to do that, you don’t want to lose that ground, so keep providing that value. 

#3 Don't Forget About Q1

Lastly, don’t forget about quarter one of next year. You don’t want to come back from this break and you’re two weeks into January and you’re still trying to figure out what you want to do for that first quarter of the year. Don’t let that happen. Spend some time to sit down and actually start planning out that first quarter of next year and if you do that, there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s going to mean that you hit the ground running and you’re really springboarding yourself towards that success finish line going into next year!

There you go! Three quick tips that can ultimately make sure that you have a very, very strong finish to the year. Remember this, way too many of your competitors are going to take their foot off that gas pedal in the next four to six weeks or so. I’ve seen that happen over and over and over again, as you probably have yourself. 

My advice to you is don’t follow them, put your foot down on the gas, push harder, not in a sleazy way, but push harder, have more energy and positivity and close out this year strong. Six weeks left, we can still make 2020 count more than ever before. 

Essential Learning Points From This Video

  • Continue marketing even when as we come towards the end of the year
  • Carry on showing up for your audience during the Christmas period
  • Make sure you plan the first quarter of next year before the year is up
  • A lot of your competitors will take their foot off the gas, make sure you carry on pushing!

Click here for more information about my Youpreneur Incubator coaching and mastermind program and how being part of this group in 2021 will help you achieve your best year ever!

Thanks for watching

There are a lot of videos you could be tuning into today, but you chose mine, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s video, please share it by using the social media buttons you see on the player at the top of this page and don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more videos like this.

5 Ways To Accelerate Your Entrepreneurial Vision [How to Go Further, Faster!]

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Have you ever thought to yourself that your business is not progressing the way you had hoped, that you are trying everything you can possibly think of and yet you still find yourself disappointed with the speed of the outcome.

Have you considered that there may be things that you’re doing or not doing, unintentionally or subconsciously, that could in fact be slowing you down, when it comes to your entrepreneurial vision.

Here are five potential reasons why you may not be doing as well as you’d hoped, and how you can speed up your progress as an entrepreneur and go further, faster!

1. You’re Not Outsourcing

Are you trying to do everything yourself simply because you can? It’s great that you can do everything, but that doesn’t mean to say that you should be doing everything. There are only so many hours in a day that you are available to work on your ideas, your projects and your business.

We would all like more time, and we can all get it, by investing in other people’s time to get our jobs done. The quicker you can finish what you started, the quicker you can start generating an income from it.

So start delegating to virtual staff and more.

2. You’re Not Giving Yourself A Break

Serial entrepreneurs, especially those of us building a business around our expertise, are renowned for working ‘every waking hour,’ and while to many of us who love what we do, we don’t mind putting all these hours in to nurture our ideas, it’s a simple fact that eventually, if you don’t take a break – you will burn out, and if you do burn out, things could grind to a halt.

Look after yourself, so that you can look after your business and keep the ball consistently rolling. Underneath the surface we are all built the same, (unless you are one of Stan Lee’s “super-humans” of course) and we all need to give our minds and our bodies time to recharge so our own performance doesn’t suffer and slow us down. 

For example myself and my wife take 10-days off at the end of Q1 and the beginning of Q4 each and every year.

In addition, each August we take the entire month for a full-blown sabbatical.

It helps to re-energize us, and personally, from a mental bandwidth perspective, I need it at that point in the year!

3. You Are Working Harder Rather Than Smarter

Many entrepreneurs, when they are going through the learning curve, tend to take the scenic route – we all need to learn from trial and error, and that’s often what makes us such experts at what we do, however we also need to find a way to limit the potential impact from the duration of this learning curve.

Many years ago I had a revelation after reading The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss – “eliminate” and “automate”, what a simple yet outstanding concept, but once you have done this and outsourced whatever you can, you then need to “prioritise”, for example, if you’re a start-up, you may want to begin investing your time and energy only into things that will bring in a profit as quickly as possible.

Whatever your primary goal is, prioritise the things that are going to get you there, the fastest. That’s focus on your entrepreneurial vision.

Your “to do” list will seem far less overwhelming this way.

4. You Have The “Protection” Mindset

Collaboration is not just for teams, or for people working together. If you are in the mindset that you have created something wonderful and unique, yet you are desperately trying to protect your idea from the competition, and you are trying to build an empire all on your own, you could be “trying” forever.

You need to network and collaborate, and in many cases working directly with your competition is the best way to accelerate your growth, as they already have the audience you need and there could be a way that you can work together for mutually beneficial gains. Switching to the “abundance” mindset, will likely accelerate your growth.

5. You’re Not Taking Big Enough Risks

It’s virtually impossible to get where you want to be as an entrepreneur, as well as constantly developing and growing your entrepreneurial vision, with any kind of speed, without taking a few risks and stepping outside of your comfort zone.

If you’re always going to do the same thing, then you will most likely always get the same results.

What’s got you to ‘here’, won’t get you to where you want to go.

Look at your business honestly and objectively, study your return on investment, and if something just isn’t working for you, no matter how many experts say it should, “scrap it” and do something new and infinitely more exciting that what you were doing.

Raise your game, change your strategy, and you will eventually succeed!

What Exactly IS Your Brand? Here’s the Answer!

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your-brand-not-aroundClick HERE to Tweet this Value Bomb!

As an entrepreneur, making it a priority to build my own personal brand has quite frankly turned out to be the best business move I’ve made in my entire career – and I don’t say that lightly, believe me. It’s brought about more opportunities than I could shake a stick at, and helped me grow my businesses bigger than I ever thought possible in the process.

Building your Brand is SMART because it:

  • Creates awareness of what we, as entrepreneurs stand for.
  • Gives us opportunities to become liked and followed consistently.
  • Elevates our credibility, because we embrace being ‘out there’ for the world to find.
  • Allows us to gain trust – which ultimately leads to more business!

Over the last few months I’ve talked a fair amount on the subject of personal branding, as well as the importance of building a brand online on a number of occasions – all of the content has been very well received and I’ve got lots of positive emails and tweets on the subject for the readers of this blog.

What I’ve Experienced Thanks to My Personal Brand

Here are a handful of amazing things that have happened to me, as a result of consciously building my own brand a few years ago:

  • I’ve become the number one go-to source in my industry.
  • I’ve been featured, countless times, in Entrepreneur Magazine.
  • I’ve been featured by Inc.com, Forbes.com, Huffington Post, Success Magazine and other press outlets.
  • I’ve launched and catapulted a speaking career.
  • I’ve landed a traditional book deal (which has since become a bestseller!)
  • I’ve netted a large social media and blog following.
  • I’ve grown an active mailing list of well over 50,000 subscribers.

If all that wasn’t enough, like I said, I’ve also been able to grow my three businesses to a level I never would have imagined, with over 400 full-time employees working for me, and clients from all around the world.

10 Quick Tips to Branding Building Brilliance

  • #1) Have a Unique Blog Design – Don’t copy anyone. Create something new looking, and stand out. People want to do business with innovators.
  • #2) Get a Proper Logo Designed – Cheap (home-made) logos always look bad. Invest in a good one, use a service like 99designs.com.
  • #3) Think About Creating a Tagline – You don’t ‘need’ it, but it might help get your message across quickly, especially in a crowded niche.
  • #4) Create an ‘About Me’ Page – Tell people about who you are, and most importantly how you will help them. Think about things properly and then do it. Check mine out here, too.
  • #5) Add Links to your Social Media Channels – Facebook, Twitter, Google+ – take the conversation off your blog.
  • #6) Publish a Podcast – The ability to literally be inserted into someones earbuds is untouched online today. It’s a medium that everyone loves.
  • #7) Publish Online Video via YouTube – YouTube is just like another search engine. Provide it some good content and people will find you.
  • #8) Create Unique, Compelling Content – Listen to your audience, they will help you solve problems and answer questions for them.
  • #9) Have a Unique Free (Opt-In) Offer – Work hard on building something you could charge $100 for, then give it away to build your email list!
  • #10) Be Yourself – Always. People can read right through the ‘Online BS’. So, be you. People want to do business with other people.

Build your brand, people. Build your brand.

If you enjoyed this post, please let me know on my Facebook page or via Twitter. And… if you have some likeminded friends, I’d love for you to share it with them. Thank you!

Why Every Entrepreneur Should Invest in a Stand-Up Desk

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stand-up-desk

What if you burned out, and put in place a one year goal to remove yourself from your business completely?

What if, after achieving that goal and enjoying a couple of years of entrepreneurial freedom, you ended up in hospital with a blown L5-S1 disc in your lower back, along with the fact that you needed invasive spine surgery that was going to have you on the operating table for 6-hours and facing a recovery period of 6-months, to a year… to fix it?

Well, welcome to my life!

All that happened to me in 2012, and I’m happy to say I came out on top of it all with a fixed back and a new focus on health and wellness.

During my recovery I started researching into stand-up desks. I had heard of them before, and even knew of a couple of people that were already using them, but, I had never tried one for myself – how I wish I’d decided to invest in a stand-up desk years back (pun intended!), as it probably would have saved me from needing surgery.

The importance of looking after our health as entrepreneurs is often swept under the rug. Ignored. Pushed to one side.

It shouldn’t be that way.

I invested in a stand-up desk shortly after my recovery period had come to an end and I ‘graduated’ from physiotherapy – it was one of the best moves I’ve made towards living a healthier lifestyle as an entrepreneur, and it’s one I wanted to introduce to you, properly, so that you can perhaps give it a serious thought.

My Personal Stand-up Desk Gear

Now, I agree that we all have different tastes when it comes to things like furniture – especially when it’s in our home.

However, I thought a suitable place to start ‘showing’ you these desks would be to simply show you mine. And not just the desk – the full ‘set up’ that I’ve adopted with the main component – the standup desk itself.

desk full shot

desk side shot

The Desk

The one I have is the MultiTable Adjustable Height Standing Desk with Manual Base. This is the base only, which means its totally customizable. I picked a smooth table top with a slight design to it, but I know several other business owners that have this and just picked up a simply desk top from Ikea for next to nothing. It’s super easy to put together, and just as easy to operate.

As you can see from the side view image above, there is plenty of room on the desk to work in comfort and I find that standing also gives me a slight ‘birds eye view’ of the desk and therefore helps me keep it cleaner and less cluttered!

desk mat

The Mat

An additional, important part of my personal set-up is the standing mat that I use. Mine is the Imprint Comfort Mat Nantucket Series and helps with supporting my foot arches (I have high ones!), as well as easing any back and neck fatigue. This is the perfect addition to when you decide to invest in a stand-up desk. I thoroughly recommend you get a mat if you go down this route – it makes the transition so much easier, and just feels great – in, or out of shoes! 

desk chair shot

And… The Chair

Obviously, I’m not standing all day long. The chair I have in my home office (I also have the exact same chair in my company HQ, too – it’s that good!) is the ErgoHuman ME7ERG Black Mesh Executive Chair w/ Headrest. I use it for around 30% of my working day… the rest of the time I stand.

What if (lack of) Office Space is an Issue?

I’ve been around enough startup’s and entrepreneurs to know that sometimes space is a constraint – especially if they’re working from home. If you’re working in a small environment, you can try grabbing a mini stand-up desk.

The one I like the look of is this one from X-Elite Pro. It fits a laptop perfectly, along with space for a mouse and additional bits and pieces, too. However, the really cool thing about this desk is that it folds up, so you can really save space.

Another couple of cool resources for standup desks are:

  • This great article on Lifehacker
  • The brilliant selection of standup desks from the guys over at Varidesk
  • These sweet dsigns from the team at Updesk

No matter what way you decide to go with getting a standup desk into your office, the fact that you’ll be doing it is all that really matters.

I love my standup desk and wouldn’t be with it now – and I’m pretty sure that you’ll feel the same way, too!

What did you think today’s post? I’d love to know. Please tweet me, or drop me a message on Facebook. If you have entrepreneurial friends that you think could do with this post as a resources, please share it with them. I’d greatly appreciate it!

How to Boost Your Productivity When Working at Home

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productivity-at-home

As many solopreneurs will tell you, working at home definitely has its perks. You don’t have to worry about traffic or commuting. There’s no supervisor, or boss that you have to report to and your office is where you want to make it – in most cases your home.

However, it does have its challenges – the lack of interaction with workmates, not being able to disengage from work as regularly, the many distractions and temptations that come from working at home can make it difficult for an entrepreneur to concentrate and maintain a steady level of productivity when working at home.

When I first started working for myself, I was practically non-existent to my family. I would work 70-80 hour weeks and barely have any time to spend with them. After working for myself for 12-years though, I’ve developed a schedule and some best practices that I follow to make sure that I get everything done – and have plenty of time to spend with my family and doing the things I love most.

Here are some of my tips to help increase your productivity and focus throughout the day in your home office – and believe me, they are all tried, true and tested!

There you have it, those are my tips to being super productive as an entrepreneur who works at home. In case you’re wondering, here’s a quick snapshot of my own home office environment:

Landing page copywriting mode! #onlinebusiness #youpreneur #standupdesk

A photo posted by Chris Ducker (@chrisducker) on

I probably should give it a bit of a clean-up!

If you enjoyed this video lesson, you might also enjoy checking out this super-popular infographic, where I include even more tips to a productive home-office experience. And to boost your personal productivity when working at home even more, there’s this additional infographic that’ll help you hack your way through your email inbox!

Remember, it all boils down to self-discipline and making sure that you work smarter and not harder, so you can make the most out of your work day and enjoy the benefits of working at home – it’s not for everyone. But, if you’re committed to becoming a productive, profitable entrepreneur doing your own thing, in your own way… you’ll be on your way to a very happy lifestyle – a lifestyle that I’m personally not giving up anytime soon!

What did you think of this post? I’d love to hear from you. Please drop me a tweet, or a quick message on my Facebook Page! And, as always, if you know of someone that might benefit from seeing this, please do share it with them – they won’t be mad at you for providing them value. Promise!