Sharing our tried and true methods for growing your startup.
(Recorded Live on Clubhouse July 9, 2021)
In this session, we turned to the audience to hear their best tips for growing a business! We discussed how to find your niche and build a community, the right ways to invest in your brand, and many more practices to implement to advance your startup.
Moderators:Colin C. Campbell, Michele Van Tilborg, Rachael Lashbrook, Jeff Sass
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As you may know, at Serial Entrepreneur Club we are deep decoding the minds of serial entrepreneurs and figuring out how they start, scale, and exit their businesses and then rinse and repeat to do it all over again.
This week Roy Morejon joined us to discuss crowdfunding best practices and Kickstarter campaigns for physical products. He is an expert in crowdfunding, digital marketing, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
“We’ve had the amazing opportunity to launch over 2200 successful products on Kickstarter, raised over $350 million, and we’ve had 80 of our clients raise over a million dollars during their time on Kickstarter.”
The beauty of crowdfunding is to launch something by bringing early adopters that are willing to invest in the idea before it exists, letting the market validate the idea, as Roy explains.
The ability to do research has changed the game drastically over the last 10 years.
The research stage nowadays is the most critical phase of launching products because it gives you a headstart by seeing what products are out there, which were successful during a pre-launch, and how they actually managed the campaign.
There is so much data for everyone to see, you can start understanding your audience and what they are trying to solve through comments, feedback, and reviews for other products.
After doing some research and understanding the market and the audience a little better, a great way to make the most out of this process is by trying to answer these questions:
How can I make this product better?
How does it make everyone’s life easier or better?
Is it solving anyone’s problem?
Pre-launch Campaign
The main goal of a Kickstarter campaign is to drive consumers to your new innovation, and the right way to do that is by first understanding their needs, as we mentioned. Once you understand what they need and you have a great product to offer, you just have to tell them about it.
A Kickstarter campaign will also test possible prices, launch dates or let them know when the product will be available. It’s key to not only put your product out there and get it validated by early adopters but also to spread the word.
If you want to learn more about campaigns and crowdfunding, listen to the full episode above!
For this week’s show, the topic was targeted toward SEO, as Norm explained some simple SEO strategies to better assist companies in getting the most out of SEO.
Before anything else, it takes a team of members with unique specializations to successfully excel in SEO.
It is essential to establish a proficient working team by…
Establishing performance indicators
Assigning each member an appropriate task (different tasks require different experts!)
Holding every member accountable and ensure you hit your KPIs and goals are established across all disciplines
Title Tags
Once you have a specialized team, title tags can become an important component of improving your SEO. The truth is, many websites don’t have the right title tag. Know the space you want to own on Google and then add five or six keywords to your title tag.
Applying the key title tag principles can help boost click-through rates and improve SEO.
Branding
A good SEO expert understands branding, in the sense that content is not solely being put out, but a fan base is still being retained as well.
In a brand-driven SEO strategy, you must acquire a brand angle (positioning) that is to be prioritized over non-branded keywords.
When striving to improve SEO, it is vital to remember that it is all about how people are interacting with a listing on a search engine. If your listing stands out, you can get a click. As long as you hold contentment when it comes to assets like site security, mobile friendliness, and such, then people will stay. Google will notice this behavior and view your search result as a good result.
For an entrepreneur, if there is one thing you have in common with all entrepreneurs of the world, it is passion. Now as an entrepreneur, you naturally have a key role in leadership. You must lead a team of people that align with your passion as they work towards a unified goal. But how can you best achieve a successful team?
It is of great value to learn the profile of potential employees because…
“If you can identify their profile, you can identify their potential.”
Have they done their homework before entering an interview?
How do they approach problems in the workplace? Get a sense of their “creative problem-solving flare” because it is not always about what they get done, but how they get things done!
As a beginner startup, you can’t show success but what you can show are your vision and passion. How do they resonate with your vision and passion? Is there a noticeable spark in their energy level?
Once you hire people, it is vital to develop a culture that can handle the chaotic reality of a beginner startup. It is of your best benefit to teaching employees to “do crazy things, not stupid things.” Assure them that they are free to try things without a possible result of punishment, as long as actions performed aren’t brainless. Giving employees permission to fail will prevent them from holding back their full potential.
To hear more useful tips and information on this important topic, listen to the full session above!
This week with Coach Yu, we discussed and shared the best advice we’ve gotten in life. Coach Yu opens up the conversation by advising on receiving advice.
Just because someone gives you advice doesn’t mean it is good advice.
So before taking the advice, you can ask yourself these three questions:
Have they actually done what you are trying to do?
Is the source of the advice believable and credible?
Do they have your interest at heart?
The top 5
Focus on your LEARNING curve, not your EARNING curve.
If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Be more interested rather than interesting.
There’s nothing more important than integrity.
Think bigger.
We encourage you to listen to the full episode above; you will find tons of great advice and stories that will help and inspire you!
We are back with another round of “The Name Game!” If you haven’t played this participative game with us before, then here’s the basic gist…
We invite you up on stage
Tell us the name and domain of your company
Our goal is to guess exactly what your company does as well as provide beneficial tips and feedback on your company name/domain
We heard quite some creative names this time around, such as…
Hover Haus/ hover-city.com- Is it possible that they lead a service of aerial photography to assist real estate agents?
Uneako/ uneako.com- Maybe this could be a fashion label that stands out from competitors with its unique and unmatchable style?
Cancer Visit/ cancervisit.com- Are they a service that allows people to visit cancer patients, in an effort to provide comfort and encouragement to those struggling?
You may be surprised to hear the ultimate goal for some of these companies!
We were able to provide entrepreneurs with helpful constructive criticism on their domains, such as for…
Zero Hunger/ zerohunger.com- If this company’s intentions fall down a path of conducting more nonprofit work, then the suffix “.com” may not be the most beneficial choice. Now if “.org” is already taken, are there other possible suffix choices that could better align with the purpose of this company?
To hear all of these companies’ true goals, as well as receive some valuable feedback, listen to the full session above!
Get tips from an expert; more than getting listed on a crowdfunding website is crucial for a successful campaign.
(Recorded Live on Clubhouse July 2, 2021)
Roy explains the ins and outs of taking an idea from an early concept to launching a successful crowdfunding campaign. From the research phase to pre-launch marketing, to go-to-fund strategies – we covered patents, prototypes, all that and more.
Moderators:Colin C. Campbell, Michele Van Tilborg, Jeff Sass
Speakers:Roy Morejon
Sign up to our email and never miss an update on our special events, guest speakers, and more: https://startup.club/
As your business grows in popularity, so will your quantity of haters. Coach Yu is back to discuss hate, and the importance of learning to walk around fire rather than fight it.
You may have hundreds of satisfied and silent customers, who are content with your business and therefore feel no need to voice much. However, there are always going to be haters or “nightmare clients,” that aim to strike your reputation.
“The reason why we have locks on our doors is not that there’s a ton of thieves out there. It’s that there are just a few thieves, but that’s enough to cause everybody to put locks on their doors.”
Everyone may receive bad reviews/criticism every once in a while. However, it is how you respond to that negativity that validates who you are and influences the future of your business and its developing community.
What if you were in the wrong?
Then it is in your best benefit to respond respectively and show acknowledgment of your mistake, to conduct a good recovery.
…and if you were not in the wrong?
Fighting fire with fire is not always the most efficient solution! Learn to walk around the hate and allow your professionalism to cool the negative heat.
Understanding is a key concept. It’s important to understand that some are struggling, and that struggle can power an attack on you so that they can feel more validated and successful.
To learn more about dealing with hate, and even hear Coach Yu’s own experiences with hate, listen to the full session above!
This week on “The Complete Entrepreneur,” we discussed the topic of family stress.
For an entrepreneur, running a business does not imply a nine-to-five job. Sometimes there is a demand for late-night hours or other time arrangements. This constant demand for attention on your business can take an immense toll on your family.
How Can You Efficiently Manage Work Life and Family Life?
Why not merge the two?! Involve your family in your passion, just as you involve your clients. After all, they do have a stake in your company as they are the main driving force towards success!
Now every situation is different and it may not be ideal to bring your children to work with you. If that is the case then it is vital to set time for specific priorities as…
“Time is there, we just need to give time a place.”
Regardless of how you choose to assess your family situation, it is crucial to realize that children are always watching/listening. Even when you are at home, explaining your stress to your spouse, children’s eyes and ears are alert.
“Things I’d rather my kids not learn from me, they learn from observation.”
You may teach your children that possibilities are endless and anything can be accomplished with hard work. But what if they overhear you talking about how hard you work, yet you are still overwhelmed with hardships?
Be aware. Aware of how you spend your time each day, how you choose to speak/act when at work and at home, and more.
The most important thing to remember is that your family is not just an item on your to-do list! They are your purpose, so it is key to evaluate where you are and how you can best manage running both your family and business, for yourself.
Today we were joined by an expert guest, Paul Baron, to help break down the basics of chatbots as well as how you’re able to utilize them as a tool for business and marketing purposes.
What is the purpose of a chatbot?
Used for a marketing lead generation
Provides assistance in the area of customer service
Designed to be a shortcut and/or get you to a solution of an issue
How do chatbots differ in customer service and lead generation?
Customer Service: If you’re online shopping and an issue arises you may click on the “Customer Service” button. A window may appear asking, “What can I help you with today?” Beneath that question are various answer choices such as placing an order” or “tracking.”
The goal of the chatbot in this scenario would be to solve your issue as quickly as possible and if needed they will redirect you to a representative that can further assist you.
Lead Generation: You may be on Facebook and an ad may pop up in which you’re told that you can get 25% off of a product for a limited time. The ad may have a button saying “learn more.”
The goal of the chatbot in this scenario would be to redirect you to a page where you can unlock a discount code, or to a page where you can further expand on details of the ad.
Chatbots are essentially “decision trees” that you design in the back end. To learn more about chatbots and better understand why they make a great tool, listen to this full session above!
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