3 Success Traits Underrepresented in the Business Blogosphere!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAWPfUzdbq0

Chris: Today I am very excited to feature the first of hopefully a long, long line of posts here at the VBL Blog by our first ever ‘Regular Contributor’, Dan Andrews. Dan and I have been friends for a while and have many things in common. The strongest trait for me, by far, is our mutual love for entrepreneurship. So, over to you, Dan!

Along with todays video, which focuses on the 3 success traits for entrepreneurs that I feel are underrepresented in the business blogosphere, I’ve included some further reading if you are interested in some of these ideas:

Ambition

Discipline

Teaming Building

  • Maverick by Ricardo Semler. I won’t suggest another because you need to read this book. Seriously.

Chris: If you feel you could contribute 2-3 quality posts to the VBL Community each month and would like to be considered as a ‘Regular Contributor’, please contact me with your proposal. Please note, that there are no more ‘guest post’ spots open, and that all Regular Contributor content MUST be related to the VBL Core4 concepts of Entrepreneurship, Passive Income, Outsourcing and Mobility.

Comments below for Dan, as mentioned in his video…!

Ask the Readers: What is an Entrepreneur Out For, More Than Anything Else..!?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr3E6Z9ynm0

What is an entrepreneur, exactly? I’ve said it lots of times – we’re a strange breed. We are the masters of our own domains (both online and off!) and bring a lot to the table of life, thats for sure. Crafting ideas and marketing like mad. We all want different things. But, the big question here is what are we really out for..?

Asking the question ‘What is an Entrepreneur’ might be easy enough to answer, you can check out the dictionary definition, if you like! However, as individuals, there are a lot of different things that come into play in regards to what we really want out of being the king of our own castles, such as:

  • Money
  • Fame
  • Power
  • Recognition
  • To build things
  • To promote our OWN things

The list is, literally, endless. What is an entrepreneur thinking when he/she starts his first company? Why do they aspire to make the jump from 9-5 robot to ‘own boss’ status. What is an entrepreneur striving for with each and every idea that they come up with, manifest into something awesome, and then unleash it upon the world..?

Check out my thoughts in the quick video clip above, and then I’d like to hand this one over to you guys. As you know, I value your input, insights and feedback more than anything else (even a good Starbucks!).

What is an entrepreneur out for, in your eyes?

Capturing Entrepreneurial Ideas to Boost Productivity… and Sleep!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6MnDz2Gr2c

It’s been a while since I recorded one of these quick videos. It’s not because I havent had the questions – believe me, I’ve HAD the questions, but mainly because I’ve been getting back to people a lot more via the VBL Facebook page – the community there is really starting to grow – thanks to everyone who has ‘Liked’ us, and if you haven’t – what are you waiting for, seriously…?!

Today’s Question

So today I answer a question from Michael in New Zealand on the subject of capturing entrepreneurial ideas so he can, amongst other things, get a better nights sleep..! I actually went into this a little a while back in a post, but the question pops up quite regularly, so I figured a little video might not hurt…

It’s tough being an entrepreneur – but, stick with it Mike, and the rest of you – it’s one of the  the only way to create a great ‘New Rules’ of Lifestyle Design, as I discussed on Monday.

I’ll be doing more of these in the future, and might not necessarily put them all on the blog, so be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, VirtualCEO.tv (which is now also available in the sidebar of the blog, too!).

Please leave your own ideas on the subject below, as we can all learn a little from each other! See you Monday.

Lifestyle Design: The NEW Rules!

Lifestyle Design: The New Rules!

Before Tim Ferriss authored his first bestselling book (I’m not even going to quote the title, everyone knows what book I’m talking about!), the term ‘Lifestyle Design’ was barely searched for on Google. Even though the concept of designing a lifestyle against the ‘norm’, one that gave it’s exponents the ability to live life on their own terms, was being practiced by a select few, it wasn’t until Tim started promoting and marketing his book online, and it’s subsequent launch, that the term itself became one of the most searched for phrases online.

However, a lot has changed since the release of the book, and the concept of Lifestyle Design isn’t so foreign to the masses anymore. Its mainstream. It’s ‘out there’ and there are hundreds of blogs you can read that give you all the info you need to start designing your own dream life.

What actually is Lifestyle Design, anyway..?

Lifestyle Design is fundamentally working towards designing a life that is against the norm. Its about sticking it to ‘the man’, being your boss, and living life on your terms.

This can mean different things for different people, of course. But, ultimately, I strongly believe that the most important factor of designing your dream lifestyle is to be your own boss, first and foremost. Some might disagree with this, and thats okay – it’s just my opinion, I’m sure you have yours.

The reason behind this is that by becoming your own boss you are the master of your own universe. You call the shots. You make the decisions. Worked 14 hours today, been crazy productive and want to take a day off tomorrow to spend more time relaxing and decompressing – do it. Want to travel to the other side of the country to spend more time with your number one client – do it. And all on your own terms, and at the speed that makes you happy.

New Rule #1 – What if you have lots of employees..? Delegate.

Fast forward. Let’s say you have your own business, and it’s got to the point where you have several people ( or several hundred people, like myself!) working for you. The idea of leaving the office, and becoming a mobile entrepreneur might scare the crap out of you. But, that’s what Lifestyle design is all about.

The first step to freeing yourself of the responsibility of not having to ‘be there’ all the time for your staff is to start delegating. Fast. The more delegating you do, the less ‘work’ you’ll be doing, and more strategizing, marketing and planning you’re going to be able to focus on. Which is exactly what every business owner should be working on… Not packaging the orders to customers. And certainly not answering the phone, sending invoices to clients, or other admin related tasks.

You’ll find that the more you delegate to your staff, the better they will become at what they’re doing for you, and the more they will enjoy their jobs because of it. People get bored, and stagnant in their roles as employees. Mix things up a little, and give them some more responsibility. The act of delegation alone plays a big role in the design of your overall preferred lifestyle.

And if employees put up resistance, and prefer for you to not delegate task to them, replace them ASAP. These types of employees will bring your business down eventually, not help you grow it.

New Rule #2 – What if you have kids…? Plan.

Having children is probably the best feeling in the world. For me, it doesn’t get any better than being woken up in the morning to the word… ‘Daddy!’.

Some parents that practice their own lifestyle design concepts will travel seamlessly around the world, home schooling their kids. If that works for them, then that’s great. For me, however, because of my other responsibilities, both personal and business related, that is not a possibility. And I’m not the only one in that boat, too.

The fact is that you can still design an awesome lifestyle with kids in tow. First things first, the kids should always be the most important factor in your lifestyle design equation. If you don’t agree with me on that one, as a fellow parent, I’d prefer it if you go read another blog. Seriously.

The great thing about being a kid is the school holidays. They are huge, compared to what they used to be! And by being a self employed parent you can enjoy those holidays and the immanent travel that comes with them. All schools will give you a calendar at the beginning of the school year, listing all the holiday dates. So, start planning your travel and trips immediately.

Book your flights and hotels/resorts early, and then start planning what the mice will be doing in the office (see New Rule #1, above!), when the cat is away on vacation, living the lifestyle he/she is designing for their family.

New Rule #3 – Laptops on Beaches is soooo yesterday! Get Mobile.

Right, first up… I’ve never been able to figure this one out. Who wants to actually WORK on a beach in the first place…? Seriously! Firstly, going to the beach is supposed to get you away from the office and work, and computers, so you can de-stress and switch off. Secondly, getting sand inside your laptop isn’t ideal..!

But, seriously… The idea of working on the beach is very much the ‘yesteryear’ of lifestyle design. That’s your down time. That’s your rebooting time. Use it properly.

Now, that doesn’t mean that you can’t escape to a beach resort, or go stay at a beach location, or apartment for a period of time, and work whilst you’re there. It simply means – leave your laptop in your room whilst enjoying yourself on the beach!

Last year, I spent a whole week at a beach resort in amazing Boracay. I worked an average of 5 hours a day, inside my air-conditioned apartment, shot a great series of VA video tips and enjoyed the rest of my time with my wife, as we decompressed, relaxed, enjoyed happy hour cocktails, and generally created lots of fond memories.

I conversed with my management team via Skype and email, and things flowed nicely. Not only this, but the entire time I was away, I was speaking with clients consistently and none of them figured out I was not in the office. Now, THAT is what I call the Virtual Business Lifestyle!

The new rules of lifestyle design are not black and white. They are not for everyone. Some of you might agree with these rules, some might not. The most important thing is that you recognize that the concept of designing a life that you and your family will really enjoy and appreciate living, is ‘out there’ for you all to discover.

I have, and continue to. And you can, too.

Some of you might have your OWN new rules of lifestyle design, and I would love to hear them from you. Please feel free to comment below, at will, so we can ALL learn from each other on our relentless journey’s to creating lifestyles we love to live!

Finding Your Niche in 20mins or Less, with 3 Simple Steps!

finding-your-niche

Note: I strongly suggest you check out my Resources Page for information and convenient links to lots of resources that’ll help you build your online niche based business. Check it out!

This is a post a lot of people have asked me to write. So, here goes!

Finding a niche as an aspiring lifestyle designer, digital nomad, web entrepreneur, internet marketer – whatever you want to call yourself – is about as important as remembering to take your skiing equipment on a visit to Switzerland! If you don’t, you won’t get very far.

I’ve been in the ‘real world’ of marketing for 20-years. It’s only over the last 18-months that I have become a huge student of everything internet marketing related, as part of my quest to become a Virtual CEO – leaving me to not only live the life I want to, but continue to grow my brick ‘n mortar business, as well create and launch a huge amount of online business entities as well.

I know what my ‘overall’ niche is. It’s mobile entrepreneurship. However, that’s just the beginning. If I want to create and market successful online products and services, I need to focus on finding a niche, not just once, but over and over again, to be able to create countless business opportunities for myself online.

Lets face it, when you start something new for business (anything!) there is always a lot to take on board. And if you’re like me, you really look at every angle so that when you do launch something it has the absolute best opportunity to succeed. Finding your niche and getting to the point of finding niche market keywords isn’t any different. Trust me.

However, instead of getting bogged down with all the flashing lights of plugins and software you can use and techniques the ‘pros’ promote and make money from, I decide to keep it surprisingly simple. Easy. Quick.

Step #1 – Finding Niche Market Keywords to Work With

This is the really fun part when it comes to finding your niche! You get to play around here, and search for niche ideas, which is super-easy with Google’s External Keyword Tool. This is a free tool that allows you to find out both local and global search volumes for certain keywords, related keywords, as well as the competitiveness of those keywords, too.

For this example, I’ve chosen the keyword ‘how to kiteboard’.

kiteboard-monthly-searches

It’s invaluable for the entrepreneur wanting to focus on finding a niche to exploit and make money from!

You’re basically going to want to find keywords that pull in an absolute minimum of 1,000 global searches a month (some people chose this number to be affiliated with local searches, however – its a global economy, right!?), but preferably, twice that amount. You’ll also want to be sure that they are not overly competitive, too.

Out chosen example of ‘how to kiteboard’ has a global monthly search volume of 3,600. Perfect!

Step #2 – Checking Out the Competitiveness of Your Keywords

Once you’ve spent some time finding niche market keywords that you want to work with, and subsequently figured out what keyword you’ll focus on, you can then check out how competitive is really is!

Do this simply by going to Google.com and typing in your chosen niche keyword. You then get to see how many other pages get listed in the results for the keyword, along with any PPC competition, too!

checking-competition

You should also spend a bit of time checking out the video and image search results, too – not for any major reason, but its nice to see what other type of ‘competition’, other than the organic results and PPC customers, is out there when finding your niche in general.

Step #3 – Deciding on ‘No’, or ‘GO!’

Based on the results of the competitiveness test you’ll be able to figure out if you are going to move forward with your niche idea.

Here’s the deal – in our chosen example of ‘how to kiteboard’, there were just over 96,000 websites that popped up in a simple Google search on the keyword. Plus – I hit the refresh button 10-times and the only two PPC ad’s for the same keyword were the only two ad’s that were shown on each attempt. Meaning, there is very little ‘paid for’ competition.

This leads me to believe that because the organic competition is low, and there is very little paid advertising on the keyword, in this case, it would be a ‘GO!’, rather than a ‘No’. If there had of been a boat load of PPC ad’s on the sidebar and at the top of the results page, I probably would not have gone forward with this as a potential niche.

Once you’ve decided its a ‘Go!’, select a domain name that fits your keyword perfectly if possible. Also – try and include a few different keywords all within the same keyword. For example, with our keyword ‘how to kiteboard’, we could select and register any of the following:

  • howtokiteboard.com (includes our primary keyword and ‘kiteboard’)
  • howtostartkiteboarding.com (includes our primary keyword, plus the domain name itself is a keyword, ‘kiteboarding’ and ‘start kiteboarding’)
  • howtogetstartedinkiteboarding.com (includes our primary keyword, and lots more!)

Your Domain, Hosting and Developing Your Niche Site

Registering your domain and hosting your site – Once you’re ready to go ahead and register your domain name, seriously consider doing so through BlueHost (be sure to watch my free step-by-step tutorial to setting up your Bluehost account in less than 10-minutes!), as you get your hosting taken care of at a great price and the domain name is on the house! I personally use these guys for pretty much ALL of my websites and blogs.

blogging-tutorial

One of the really cool features from Bluehost is their one-click WordPress installation. You need know absolutely ZERO coding or programming, it does everything for you!!!

Designing and developing your blog / niche site – When it comes to themes and designing your blog/website, if you want to go big, and get real pro right out of the gate, I suggest you look into the Rainmaker Platform, which is what THIS website is built with. To keep things a little more simple, once you’ve got started with Bluehost, you can visit StudioPress to get your site looking pretty.

Passion Will KILL Competition – Always!

Here’s the deal… If your chosen niche keyword has a certain amount of competition, more than you would usually be happy with, but you are super passionate about the niche you’re thinking of getting involved in, go for it! In my mind passion will always overcome plain old competition. It’s the passion behind Zappos that’s made them the driving force behind shoe sales online – even though there are a ton of people selling shoes online.

So, I hope my simple 3-Step process to finding a niche has got you all excited and about ready to click over to the Google’s External Keyword Tool to start checking out your own ideas. Remember, finding your niche is just the beginning, however.

Once you’ve done it, and the domain is registered, and your theme is installed – then its time to start creating your content, building your links and kick-starting your email marketing list.

Good luck!

Ask the Readers: How Important is Setting Goals if You Work from Home?

Messy Home Office

No – this is NOT my home-office! But, I have been in some like this before!

If you’re an online business owner, or a virtual entrepreneur, or anyone who earns a living working for themselves, you’re bound to experience a lot of challenges despite freeing yourself from a nagging boss and getting to work at a time and place of your choice, let’s face it!

The absence of a boss – and their breathing down your neck – can still take you off course from your desired timeline. Even if you ARE the boss, like myself, a lot of home-based entrepreneurs that have full control (or perhaps the lack thereof) of their work tend to procrastinate at one point or another; it can even sometimes be an ordeal to just get started on one particular task and then stay on it until the job gets done!

For me, setting goals is absolutely, without a doubt, the most important thing for entrepreneurs to do, to be able to become successful at what they set out to do for a living (or even in their personal lives). Whether they work from home, or not.

As a full-time Virtual CEO I’ve started working at home more and more (and will even be remodeling my home office soon, as I mentioned in a recent post), and I’ve found that I tend to do things more spontaneously than I did last year, when I would work at home for perhaps 2-3 hours at a time (usually on one focused task).

It’s become clear to me that setting goals, regardless of their size, or time-sensitive nature, is of great importance for home-based workers, myself included, since it not only gives you a time frame for completing your tasks, but more importantly, keeps you motivated.

I’d love to hear your take on this subject, everyone. Perhaps we can help each other out with a loads of tips and tactics.

Over to you guys!

 

The Top 10 Online Entrepreneurial Resources!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6MhAwQ64c0

We all need a little inspiration and motivation from time to time – especially us entrepreneurs. This inspiration can literally come from anywhere nowadays. Books, magazines, TV, radio, podcasts, mastermind groups – you name it.

However, recently I’ve been turning to the internet more and more for my daily dose of entrepreneurial motivation and so I have pulled together my favorite set of resources for you guys, so perhaps, if you aren’t already, you can check them out and become, er, well, inspired… Keep in mind, these are MY favorites, I’m sure you’ve got yours too – so please share them with the rest of us!

So, without further ado, in no particular order, I present to you my Top 10 Online Entrepreneurial Resources!

1. Entrepreneurs Can Change the World

If you haven’t watched the above video, you’ve already let yourself down as an entrepreneur. It is incredibly good, with a very clear message. With almost 600,000 views on YouTube, its popular – I reckon about 20-30 or them have to be mine. I love this video. Check it out above.

2. Inc.com

About as solid of a resource as they come, Inc.’s website is a treasure trove of entrepreneurial goodness. Everything from book reviews to tech reports, what I love about this site is simply the HUGE archive of articles and thought provoking opinions, across all entrepreneurial subject matters. Check it out.

3. The Rise to the Top

Last year I was lucky to make contact and become good buddies with David Siteman Garland. I’ve interviewed him for an episode of the VBL Podcast and was also fortunate enough to have been a guest on David’s awesome web TV show. RISE absolutely rocks my entrepreneur mindset with excellent guests and a great ‘conversational’ format. Be sure to check out his awesome new book, too! Check it out.

4. Gary Vay-Ner-Chuck

Gary is no stranger to the internet – I made a great point in mentioning him on a post I did a while back on the subject of Personal Branding and Promotion. His passion and flair as an entrepreneur is contagious and his energy is awesome. His book, Crush It adds to his website perfectly, as a huge database of inspiration and branding tips that every self-concerning entrepreneur should, and simply must, embrace. Check it out.

5. 37 Signals Blog

Otherwise known as Signal vs. Noise, Jason and David’s (and the rest of the 37 Team!) blog is just as outstanding as their book, Rework, which I just finished reading for the second time on my iPad. Everything from excellent exclusive content, right the way down to them intergrating their just as good podcast, 132,000+ subscribers cant be wrong! Check it out.

6. The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

Worth checking out just for the title alone (like I did for the first time!), David Michalowicz’s inspiring-to-say-the-least blog is outstanding, and his book is a great companion to it, too. Another super enthusiastic and passionate entrepreneur, its hard not to jump out of your seat and start making and creating stuff after devouring each and every post! Check it out.

7. The Big Red Tomato Company

Disclaimer: Matthew Needham is a friend of mine. But, that isn’t the reason why his site is on this list. I’ve also interviewed Matthew on the VBL Podcast, and regularly jet over to his fantastic blog, focused around business growth, for an entrepreneurial boost to my system. Check it out.

8. Young Entrepreneur Blog

Aimed towards, er, the younger generation, this site has been online for over a decade and its popularity speaks for itself. Great content on everything from info for start-up’s to marketing and sales advice. Also a friendly place for old guys with no hair, like me to enjoy! Check it out.

9. Seth’s Blog

Fact – Seth Godin is a God. Plain and simple. With the way he tackles marketing trends and teaches us to create our own tribes, whilst becoming part of his, he is a massive entrepreneurial force to be reckoned with! I love his books, his speaking videos and never miss a post at his blog. Check it out.

10. ????????????????????

This is where you guys come in. I’d love to hear about your fave’s, so comment at will, and lets all help each other find a little inspiration!

Are YOU a True Entrepreneur..?

Are You are Real Entrepreneur?

The following is a Guest Post by Stuart Mills of UnlockTheDoor.net

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John C. Maxwell

A lot of people love The Simpsons. I sure do. But would we turn to them if we need serious advice? Would we turn to Apu and his Kwik-E-Mart for entrepreneurial advice? I wouldn’t; the poor man works 23 hours a day, and has too many kids to count. He’s the dictionary definition of stress.

So who can we turn to? A lot of people want to start up their own businesses because they hate working ‘under’ someone, but when they finally start a business, they quickly sink because they aren’t sure what they’re doing. They’re missing something. They aren’t true entrepreneurs.

Three Questions

You want to be free from your boss, right? Live the entrepreneurial lifestyle. Well this leads back to the title, “Are you a true entrepreneur…?”

Ask yourself these three questions, and let’s find out.

1. Do you find yourself daydreaming of a glorious future for yourself and others?

In other words, can you see your business empire in detail, even if you haven’t started? Can you see yourself as a millionaire, multi-millionaire, or even billionaire, whilst still helping others? Can you reach your goals?

2. Can you adapt yourselves easily to change?

Can you deal with the many, inevitable setbacks that WILL occur? Can you change your strategy if the need arises? Can you drop something that just isn’t working, even if you truly, deeply love it?

3. Do you see yourself as someone who can inspire and lead others?

Can you inspire others to believe in your dreams? Will you convince them to give up their time and efforts for your cause? Could you keep their support through the rough times?

I hope I haven’t scared you off with these questions. The truth is, even those wildly successful entrepreneurs can’t always give positive answers to these questions. No-one is perfect.

And even if you said “no” to any of these questions, it doesn’t matter. Actually, even if you said “no” to all three questions, it doesn’t matter. Why? Because these questions are about traits that you can develop with practice and experience.

We can all reach the level where we can say “yes!” to all three questions. After all, you can’t climb a mountain until you’ve walked up a hill.

Four Attributes

Having said that, it’s essential to have a plan to becoming a true entrepreneur. If you’re going to be a leader and inspire others, even in stormy weather, then you’ll need to develop some attributes. Some ‘true entrepreneur’ attributes. Here they are:

Risk Taking

An entrepreneur doesn’t get where they want to go by doing the same things day after day, week after week. They take risks, they stretch themselves.

I remember hearing Lord Alan Sugar, of The Apprentice, talk about how he took risks when he was small, once using half of his life savings to buy equipment for his Amstrad business. He took risks, and by doing so he shown that he was a true entrepreneur, even if it wouldn’t have paid off.

How can you take risks? It’s simple, you only have to change one thing. Put your fear aside. That’s it. Move your fear out of the fore-front of your mind when you’re faced with a risk, and just go for it. If you think it’ll work, do it. If it works, brilliant! But if it doesn’t work, don’t let that deter you from the next potential risk. No two risks are the same.

Passion

James Dyson has a passion for vacuum cleaners. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have passions for technology. Walt Disney had a passion for cartoons. Every true entrepreneur out there has a passion for something, and I bet you, that something is what they’re in business for.

If you want to be highly successful, if you want to be a true entrepreneur, then you need to have a passion. It’s passion that will keep you going when everyone else has deserted you. It’s passion that will fire you up to work that extra hour or three to finish an important project. Passion is essential.

How do you find passion? You don’t. Your passion has already been set, even if you don’t know what it is yet. Do what you love to do, that’s your passion. And if you know your true passion, then what are you waiting for? Put it to use in business! With technology today, there’s a business for everything. No matter what your passion is, you can make an income out of it.

Tough Skin

Everyone needs a tough skin. Entrepreneurial types, too. Everyone needs the skin of a rhino to help them charge through obstacle after obstacle. If you don’t have tough skin, then how can you expect to get anywhere that is worth going to? Having a tough skin will not only help you survive the many blows that’ll come your way, but it’ll also send a message out to everyone that can see. That message will say: “I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to stay.”

How can you develop thick skin? I used to have thin skin, but I developed a thick skin when I realised that other people don’t have your best interests in mind. They aren’t going to clear the road ahead for you. If you want to do something, then YOU must make it happen.

And by doing the hard work, a tough skin will come naturally. Scratches and knocks will come, but they won’t get you down, they’ll only harden you up. If you have the passion, as mentioned earlier, then your skin will toughen up almost magically.

Discipline

This attribute is perhaps most important, because even if you have the previous three in abundance, they won’t matter one jot if you don’t have discipline.

Discipline is the backbone of your business, the supporting pillars. It’s so important to be disciplined throughout your days, as everyone will be looking to you. If you don’t behave the way you want others to behave, why should they?

You can develop discipline, that entrepreneur mindset, even with baby steps, by being consistent. The key is to be consistent. It’s far better to spend 7 days in a row on small improvements, then spend just 2 days in a week on massive improvements. I say this because, otherwise, you won’t grow. You’ll just have growth spurts, then return to where you were before.

With consistent discipline, your business will climb mountains, one step at a time.

Finally…

Everyone can become a entrepreneur, because everyone already IS a entrepreneur.

If you can nurture your spirits and your dreams by developing these four attributes, and if you keep asking yourself these three questions on a consistent basis, then you can achieve whatever you want. Because that’s the secret of a true entrepreneur; they already know they can do it.

Phew!

I’d like to thank Chris for offering me the chance to write for his amazing website. He does a lot of exceptional work on forging your entrepreneurial path, and I wish him the best.

And for reading this post, I thank you! 🙂

[Chris Here! And, thank you, Stuart for writing such a great guest post. You’re bang-on, my man – anyone and everyone can become an entrepreneur. It all comes down to passion, having the right attitude, being innovative and to become ultra-successful – a little bit of good old fashioned luck! Thanks for contributing, bud. If you would like to be featured on the VBL Blog as part of our Guest Post Friday series of authors, feel free to let me know!]

Ask the Readers: What Should Virtual Entrepreneurs Embrace in the New Year?

Opportunity

With the dawn of the New Year comes a new set of plans for our businesses.

God knows I have a TON of projects planned for this year – which will obviously become more and more apparent to you guys as the year goes on.

For myself, these plans are usually made with my SWOT’s (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) in mind. As virtual entrepreneurs, we should take advantage of each of these to further build our business empires, both online and off. I take advantage of my business SWOT’s on any given day throughout the year, but I tend to do more so during the New Year – particularly the first month of the year.

Perhaps it’s because part of what the new year brings with it are things such as new enterprises, new services, new partnerships, or new products to be launched. And what naturally comes with these fresh outings, are things I can make the most out of.

So, following on from that insight, today’s VBL Discussion asks what is the foremost thing virtual business owners should take advantage of during the New Year. For me, it’s going to be capitalizing on the fantastic following that I amassed here on the VBL Blog last year.

Not necessarily to make money from (though it would be nice!), but more so to focus on growing the trend of virtual entrepreneurship and spreading the word, in general, of the Virtual Business Lifestyle and its CORE4 concepts.

Over to you guys!