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3 Reasons to Start Using Snapchat to Grow Your Business

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snap-to-grow-business

Update: As of January 2017 I have decided to move ‘snapping’ over to Instagram Stories. However, everything below is still relevant to IG Stories, so carry on reading / watching!

It took me a while to be convinced that Snapchat was going to be worthwhile for me to invest time into, from a business perspective.

Earlier in 2015 my good friend Lewis Howes was in town to speak at the conference which I host in the Philippines each year, Tropical Think Tank. One evening as we were sitting on the beach chatting away, he took out his phone and starting ‘snapchatting’. I’d heard of the app, but had no idea what it was really all about – he tried to convince me it was awesome and that I should get active on it. He didn’t do a very good job of it, as I dismissed it almost immediately.

Later in the year when I was in the UK keynoting an event with my favourite online video darling, Amy Schmittauer, she also started talking about it, and was openly ‘snapping’ in front of me the entire time we were hanging out. She also tried to show me how to use the app – again, I was confused as hell and dismissed it very quickly.

Then, just recently, as I sat at the table enjoying a post Christmas snack and drink with my 17-year old daughter, Chloe, she took out her phone and starting ‘snapchatting’. This is it, I thought, I’ve gotta get to grips with this bloody thing, and figure out why everyone is going so goo-goo of this app.

10-minutes later, I was hooked.

She was able to achieve what Lewis and Amy had failed at – show me exactly how easy it was to use the app (I had downloaded it before 4-times and given up each time, deleting it over and over) and how fast I could be consuming content from people that I cared about, and wanted to learn from.

I instantly followed Lewis and Amy. Then Gary Vaynerchuk. After I watched a few of his videos, I needed no more convincing.

I’ve been ‘snapping’ daily ever since.

To learn how to quickly and easily setup your own Snapchat account, check out this excellent tutorial by Kristi Hines on Social Media Examiner.

Behind the Scenes

As mentioned at the top of the post, I’ve decided that I’m going to use Instagram as my ‘behind the scenes’ platform. People often ask me what a regular day for me looks like, where I work, what I do, where I go, etc. So, that’s what you’re gonna be getting from me on IG.

Please download the app (available for both iOS and Andriod) and add me.

In the meantime, check out the quick video above (which I took from a much longer #DuckerScope broadcast) which gives you three very, very solid reasons as to why you should be using Snapchat to grow your business in 2016.

Hit me up on Twitter and let me know what you thought of this post!

7 Email Hacks That’ll Turn You Into an Insanely Productive Entrepreneur [Infographic]

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Let’s face it, there isn’t an entrepreneur on this green earth of ours that wouldn’t want to cut down the time they have to spend managing their email on a daily basis.

It’s a subject that I’ve blogged about countless times, as well as covered on the podcast, too. Yet, for some reason so many ‘productive entrepreneurs’ continue to be bogged down by the never ending abuse that their inboxes battle with – and not all that productive in the process!

Nowadays, email has become the go-to source of communication. Some of us have learned to handle it in ways that doesn’t stun our productivity, some haven’t.

To help in the struggle, I decided to put together this infographic with my top tips and hacks to help you manage the inbox madness and become an insanely productive entrepreneur in the process.

If you enjoy it, please consider sharing it with your other business buddies!

EMAILHACKS

What do you think? Grab any new tips?

Again, email is a tool – it’s not something that should control your day.

Keep that in mind, practice some of these hacks and I promise you’ll be spending more time on the things that really matter, both business and personal related. Being a productive entrepreneur is one thing – but, being a productive father, mother, husband, wife, mentor, coach, boss… whatever… is even better!

If you liked this post, please reach out to me on Twitter and let me know!

I’d love to hear from you.

30 Online Videos in 30 Days – I Must be Nuts!!! (The #Vidtember Challenge!)

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Note from Chris: There are two ways to consume the content within this post. Either carry on reading, or watch the quick clip above!

I used to do a lot of online video. Tips, tactics, me waffling on about something I’m passionate about, or irritates me – you know, the usual stuff.

However, last year as I was writing Virtual Freedom, I did less and less video. It wasn’t because I no longer liked doing video, but because I was simply too busy writing to find the time to get in front of the camera.

Now that the book has been launched and I’m over the initial promotional hurdle (with great results – thank you to everyone that’s purchased a copy!), I’ve decided that it’s time to get back into the video saddle again.

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10 Social Media Tools That Make Everything Easier!

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social media tools

While social media is definitely a huge part of many small business marketing plans, it is still one facet of a much bigger picture and many entrepreneurs find themselves wishing there were more hours in the day to focus on the other aspects of their business.

To help give you a little more time in your day, yet continue to promote your social media presence, here’s a list of ten of my favourite social media tools that I use (some more regularly than others) with my team, that can help your business top on top of things a little more.

If you’re wanting to get your social media to even higher heights without being involved every step of the way, you should also check out my guide on How to Work with a Virtual Assistant to Manage Your Social Media – #justsaying 🙂

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10 Lessons Learned Writing My First Book

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virtual-freedom-is-comingWe all have a book in us.

Ever heard that? I had, a lot.

In late 2011 I got offered my first book deal. I turned it down. I wasn’t ready. I was busy doing other ‘stuff’. I simply didn’t know enough about the topic. Who would buy a book written by me, anyway…?!!

You name it, I came up with every excuse under the sun to NOT write the book.

Then in late 2012 I teamed up with a literary agent, and put together my first ever book proposal document for a project entitled ‘The Freedom Factor’ (what was I thinking…!!!?). After a few name changes, Virtual Freedom was born and sent out to 16 publishers.

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Going Virtual: How to Work with a Virtual Assistant to Manage Your Social Media

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socialthumbsupA while ago I started a series of posts called ‘Going Virtual’ here on the blog, where with each post I’m focusing on a specific topic when it comes to running a business in today’s marketplace, as well as whats possible when you team up with a virtual assistant to help you manage that particular aspect of your business and the types of tasks they can handle for you.

So far in the series we’ve looked at working with virtual staff to help you manage your blog, as well as marketing your blog and handling email for you. Today I’m going to show you how to work with a virtual assistant to manage your social media.

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4 Ways to Work with Virtual Assistants to Build Your Online Personal Brand

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chris-ducker-tbex-speakerA couple of days ago I presented at TBEX, the worlds largest Travel Blogging Conference, in Toronto, on the subject of working with virtual assistants to make the transition from ‘blogger to business owner’ as easy and productive as possible.

One of the talking points was the importance of building a personal brand.

Building a personal brand online with the help of a virtual assistant is a start way to add value to your online presence. In fact, it’s needed into today’s business landscape, more than ever in the history of business and entrepreneurship.

A ‘personal brand’ is synonymous with your reputation, and refers to the way other people see you. Ask yourself what you want people to say about you when you’re not around – the answer is directly related to your personal brand.

It takes time to build up a reputation and become a trusted authority, or expert in your field – which is necessary when building any type of successful brand. However, there are certainly a few simple first steps to building a personable image, creating rapport and gaining trust as an online entrepreneur that you can have virtual staff handle for you.

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Website Pick-Me-Up #2: Getting ‘Social’ in the Right Way (Video)

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Website Pick-Me-Up!About a month ago I posted on our Facebook page that I was wanting to do some free website coaching for subscribers and readers of the blog. What ensued was an onslaught of people wanting to have their sites looked over by me, which was awesome!

That first session highlighted three websites, and we focused on the importance of opt-in integration on a site, amongst other things.

I had so much great feedback from that first session that I decided to do it again. Again, I posted the alert on the Facebook page (if you’ve not liked the page yet – this is one of MANY reasons why you should – now!), and had another bunch of sites to choose from – which I do randomly, by the way.

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I’m Speaking at New Media Expo in Vegas and Want You To Come, Too – For FREE!

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Come Hang Out in Vegas!The biggest, most respected industry conference for Bloggers, Podcasters, Web TV show hosts, and anyone else that has anything to do with making things happen online is just around the corner, and I’m happy to say I’ve been invited back (for the 2nd time) to speak again!

But, what I’m even more excited about is the fact that the sexy folks over at the New Media Expo have given me TWO All-Access Passes to the 3-day event to give away to members of my awesome, butt-kicking entrepreneurial community… Woot!

To find out how YOU can win a pass, and come hang out in Vegas with me and thousands of other movers and shakers, just watch the quick video below.

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How to Easily Share an Individual Facebook Status on Twitter, or Anywhere Else!

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How to Share a Facebook Status Elsewhere OnlineFollowing a recent video tutorial that I did on How to Update to the New Twitter Profile, which was well received, I thought I’d do another quickie for you, based on a really cool Facebook ‘cheat’ that I discovered recently.

It’s so cool and has the ability to really get people to ‘tune in’ on a specific status you post on your Facebook page – instead of having to roam around your entire page to find something.

I appreciate that some of you might have already discovered this for yourself – if so, please feel free to check out any of the other great articles on the site!

However, I know that a lot of my readers / followers online are really only just getting started with discovering all this ‘online stuff’, hence me getting all excited about bringing this tip to you! Plus, it goes to show you… I’ve been getting more and more active online over the last few years and I only just discovered this myself a few weeks ago (yes, I appreciate that this admission might make me look a little silly – oh, well..!). Check out the short video below for all to be revealed:

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