06 Ways to Write a Bestseller (And Build Your Brand)

1. Stand out from the crowd.

Standing out doesn't apply just to business. You need to write something very different from what's being written by the competition. It's fine to write n the same genre, but if you're basically writing just another version of a book that already exists, you may want to rethink your strategy. 

Nanton explained: "Tell your story from a point of view that you've experienced firsthand. This is your unique selling proposition, and it's the single biggest reason why someone should buy your book."

So the lesson here is, don't add to the noise.

Action steps:

• Consider what unique value your book adds to the world.  
• Include those unique, valuable nuggets that readers can receive only from you.
• When pitching and promoting the book, always come back what sets it -- and you -- apart.

2. Send out advance copies.

Best-selling authors think larger than themselves. So they tap into those who are bigger and better known than they. Nanton told me about how he was able to write his first book by partnering with self-help guru Jack Canfield:

"I knew how impactful a book with Jack would be," Nanton said. "I mailed him an iPad, with a video inside making my case. Jack finally took me up on the offer and we worked together, writing The Success Secret, which has been one of my most successful book launches to date."

In this way, Nanton certainly thought outside the box, got creative and found it paid off.

Similarly, before the launch of The 4-Hour Body, Tim Ferriss sent out a whopping 1,000 advance copies to readers, asking them to leave a review on Amazon. Within 24 hours of the launch, he had 140 ratings, and within three months, he had 1,200.

Action steps:

• Make a list of at least 100 influencers who could benefit from the book.
• Work with your publisher to send the book to those influencers.
• Include a personalized letter to each person about why you included the book.

3. Create a community.

As many entrepreneurs have learned the hard way, you have to earn your way into the conversation. As Nanton told me: "When I was a kid, I wanted to know more about music, and I could read books, but I really wanted to speak with people. I tried calling music publishers, and most of the time I got shut down by the gatekeeper.

"That's the lesson I learned early -- you have to earn your way into the conversation."

So, how can you build trust? Build a community. People deeply want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to feel that they're part of something bigger and  more important than their individual lives. If you can create a community around your book, the odds of its becoming a bestseller dramatically increase.

Look no further than David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, to see what building a passionate community looks like.

Action steps:

• Before your book publishes, come up with at least three ways you can create a community around your book.
• Regularly invite your readers to be part of that community via email, social media, your blog, podcast and other formats.
• Consistently engage your readers in the community.

4. Know your readers.

One of the easiest ways to write a bestseller is to write for your audience. You shouldn't be writing for everybody.

Rather, write for the group you know the best. Deliver an incredible book that will resonate deeply with your audience members and their struggles. Write passionately about the world you know.

Outspoken and popular entrepreneur/speaker Gary Vaynerchuk says, "I'm pretty good at sticking to what I know. You don't see me social-commentating on healthcare or presidential debates. I talk about what I know because I'm petrified of being wrong."

Action steps:

• Before writing your book, poll your audience members about what struggles they encounter.
• When you write your book, speak directly to those struggles. You may even want to include some stories.
• Present your book as the answer to these problems.

5. Think bigger. Much bigger.

Consider creating something much bigger than just a book. A book is great, but to really get momentum, you may want a much larger vision. Write a book, but use it to build a business.

For example, if you're writing about fitness, you could also create fitness videos on YouTube, start a fFacebook itness group and share fitness photos on Instagram. By stacking all this valuable content, you create buzz online and momentum around your book.

A book, in conjunction with other online content, establishes you in people's minds as the person to come to about a particular topic. This has reshaped the direction of my company Metapress, where we've previously focused on online media alone.

Nanton described his own experience in gaining credibility from writing his book: "People that produce television, write major articles, hire speakers -- they want to be able to validate why they turned to you for expertise," Nanton said. "They have two choices: They can promote that you can 'Come see John Doe from down the street,' or, 'You can come see an international best-selling author."

In other words, a bestselling book transforms you from John Doe into a sought-after expert.

For more advice, check out Michael Hyatt's book Platform and how he subsequently created an entire business around helping people build their own platform.

Action steps:

• Choose at least three additional mediums that you're comfortable using. 
• Develop a plan for how you'll create additional materials related to your book using those particular mediums.
• Cross-promote everything across every medium for maximum impact.

6. Think about marketing your book early.

Nanton suggested creating a sense of urgency in your promotions when it's time to market: "If you can't provide enough reasons to make the audience buy when you're top of mind, it'll probably never happen. When you're preparing for a launch, make sure you provide overwhelming motivation not just to buy, but to buy today."

In addition, if you want your book to sell, you'll have to hustle before it's even released.

Action steps:

• At least six months before launch date, consider how to get maximum exposure for your book.
• Map out a plan of specific actions you'll take to make this marketing plan reality. Include specific time lines.
• Continue implementing the action plan for months after the book releases.  

08 Things to Consider to Find the Right Funding Option for Your Startup

1. Ultimate goal and milestones

The first thing you need to have is a vision. Where do you ultimately want to take your business? To get investors excited and willing to invest, it is essential to clearly articulate your vision, exhibit passion and create excitement about your business. Once you have this big picture story, you need to have your vision grounded in an actionable plan.

What are your financial and non-financial goals for your business over the next 12 to 18 months? How much capital do you need to raise to achieve those goals? What will you do with the money? What key milestones can investors expect you to achieve over the next two to three years, and are there some big milestones that you'll achieve in the next 12 to 18 months that will result in a step function increase in your valuation?

2. Target market size, growth and market share

Most outside investors have a particular investment thesis that they like to pursue. They invest in particular technology areas or certain vertical markets. Being able to clearly articulate your market size, market growth and your forecasted market share is essential to having credibility in your financial model. However, it is also critical to understanding which investors are the best targets to finance your company. Depending upon the stage of your company, your company might be suitable for angel investors or VCs.

3. Unique value proposition

You need to have a unique value proposition, sometimes called a unique selling proposition, for your product or service. I like to use the word value since it implies that you are looking at things from the customer's perspective.

How much value does your solution have? It is based 100 percent on the problem you are solving for your customer. The only way to determine this is to intimately understand the customer. It is essential to have customer interaction and feedback before seeking outside financing for your startup. Therefore, it is also implied in a unique value proposition that your target customers have validated this value.

You must have testimonials and case studies that demonstrate this value. At the right stage in the process, some investors may even want to do reference calls with your key customers about this, especially in the B2B world.

4. Product-market focus

Part of your strategy needs to show that you have a specific product market focus, and this will be your beachhead for establishing your business. You can then have a roadmap to attack adjacent markets with your solution. Or you can develop adjacent products that leverage your current product to service a bigger portion of the overall business with your customer.

If you come across as wanting to do everything for everybody out if the gate, then you will raise significant concern with investors. I call this the "boiling the ocean" strategy. It is really hard to do. However, if you just focus on a single product-market segment, unless it is massive, investors will consider your idea as "too niche." 

In many cases, even if you can show that your business idea can be profitable, if the market is not large enough, investors will relegate your idea to a "lifestyle business." This is a business where you can make a fine living for yourself and have a comfortable lifestyle, but investors can't make much money.

You resolve the conflict of these two issues by having an initial target that is very interesting, and a roadmap that addresses a spectacular opportunity.

5. Investing your personal resources

Prospective investors will want to know that you are busting your hump in building your business and that you are willing to make massive sacrifices to make your business successful. They will also be even more impressed if you have made significant progress on the business by using your own money. Investors like to see that you have "skin in the game" or "sweat equity" both in terms of your time, and in terms of your money. This is even more significant if you have had a big exit in a former startup.

6. Desire for control

When you make a decision to raise outside capital for your company, you are making a decision to relinquish sole control of your business. This is true even if you maintain a majority interest in the company. You may also be faced, at some point, with whether to bring an outside CEO into the company.

I like what a corporate attorney friend of mine who focuses on startups and VCs says about this: "Do you want to have a CEO title or do you want to be rich and have a successful company?"

It is not always true that you need an outside CEO, but there are many more circumstances like this. See Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Henry Ford, Mark Zuckerberg and Michael Dell. Two notable examples of amazing companies that hired outside CEOs while they were still startups are Google and eBay.

7. Ability to service debt

If your business generates a lot of cash and you can service debt, then a small-business loan may be a better alternative than raising outside equity capital. In that case, you will be able to maintain control. It is something that some companies should consider.

8. Leverage in negotiations

The final point is knowing what leverage you have in negotiating a deal and the importance of negotiating a "fair" valuation vs. a "optimum" valuation. Each financing round in a private company is an intermediate step to an ultimate exit for your company, whether you ultimately sell your company or take it public. It is way more important to get the right investors into your deal at a fair valuation vs. the wrong investors that add no value at an optimum valuation. It is also important that you consider corporate governance and deal terms as key factors in negotiating a financing for your company. In some cases, this is even more important than valuation.

10 Ways To Make Your Company More Attractive To Investors

1. Surround yourself with experts.

Being surrounded by great people is always solid advice. In this case, have an advisory board filled with mentors, coaches, consultants and advisors. It doesn't matter if its formal or informal, but just having one shows that you're aware that you don't know it all and have people that can help you see the bigger picture.

2. Know the problem.

Make sure you know the problem better than you know your proposed solution. This shows you have a deep incite into the mind of your target market and even if your solution doesn't hit it out of the park on the first try, you'll be able to pivot until you win.

3. Be decisive. 

Nothing turns investors away more than a leader that can't decide. Make a decision, stick with it long enough to give it a chance to prove itself and move on. As the saying goes: "Be quick to decide, slow to change your mind."

4. Know the competition. 

You should know the people you're competing with. Know their strategies and make sure yours is better or different. Not every industry is a zero-sum game and even with direct competition, most companies can thrive together.

5. Take the pole position.

Have a clearly defined position in the market, and be at the front of it. You can be the most accessible or the most exclusive. The do it yourself solution or the done for you solution. There are plenty of ways to position your company, just make sure you have one and own it in the market.

6. Know your numbers.

Know your key metrics and put them front and center in your pitch deck.

Shark Tank kills people for messing this up.  Even though investor meetings are hardly like the hit TV show, this reigns true anytime you want to ask someone for money.

7. Go for the big wins.

Make sure you're only focusing on specific things that move the needle the most. If there is a specific feature that gets 80 percent of your daily users excited, make it the best it can be. If you have a pet project that customers don't seem to care about, perhaps you should rethink its importance. Most importantly, know why these things are your biggest drivers and make sure your potential investors know it too.

8. Be accessible.

If someone wants to invest in you, they should be able to find you when they search. Make sure you have an attractive website with contact info. Tools like Angel List, Crunch Base and Unicorn should all be used to make sure you have some eyes on you and, with an app like Unicorn (think Tinder crossed with Angel List,) this is easier than ever.

In all of your public profiles, make your founding team, your product, your tech and your positioning clear and highlight all of their unique strengths.

9. Stay educated.

It's crucially important to know as much about your industry and your target market as possible. If you're looking to build an app, take an online course about app building. If you want to grow your SaaS product, talk with your users. Its up to you to know the latest trends, know the state of the industry and have an educated guess about where it will go

10. Get in the spotlight.

Have your company, or you as a founder, visible to investors in a more authoritative sense. Wherever your investors are reading, you should be mentioned. The goal would be to publish an editorial or have an article mentioned you or your company. Wherever your investors read, you want to get people talking about you, your company and the problems you solve. 

5 Simple Things the Most Incredibly Respected Bosses Do (Every. Single. Day.)

1. Can you hear me now?

The best leaders don't just listen, they hear you. When employees feel heard, they feel like an important part of the team. Participation increases and so does morale.Some believe that authority is commanded by the loudest voice, but the most respected bosses take the time to listen first.

2. A solid foundation

Unpredictability does not a good foundation make. The best bosses maintain a level of consistency throughout the business. Consistency and clear communication from the top trickle down throughout the organization and create confidence.Employees always know what is expected of them and what they can expect from the company.

3. Fill in the blanks

The most compelling and respected bosses allow space. They delegate instead of micromanage, letting employees fill in the blank spaces and encouraging room for free thinking.Have you experienced a boss who breathed down your neck by checking in on you constantly? That sense of distrust can lead to discontent.The best bosses believe in their employees, understanding that everyone brings different talents to the table--and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

4. Where is the love?

Yes, really. Love in the workplace. Not romantic love, but a true love for the mission at hand. A great boss truly loves his or her work and it shows. When there is love, there is trust and respect.When there is respect, there is magic to create and innovate. It gives wings for inspiration to take flight with new ideas that reach new heights.

5. Pump it up

Positive energy fosters positive energy. The best bosses create great energy throughout the organization because of their own. You can't fake energy. Good vibes affect the culture of a company and boost the morale.They find opportunities to celebrate the small wins and the big wins and milestones, whether it's a quick recognition or a big party. A boss that can bring true energy to any situation can foster enthusiasm and innovative thinking.A great leader not only exudes that energy when he or she walks into the room but builds a culture around it.

7 Reasons Your First Business Will Fail

1. You (probably) aren't an exception.
There are a number of variations on the exact statistic, but most sources agree that the vast majority of businesses eventually fail. Some claim that as few as 4 percent of businesses survive for more than 10 years, with more than half perishing in the first couple of years of operation. It's comforting to believe that you're the exception to the rule, or that you're more likely to succeed than your contemporaries. But the statistics suggest this isn't really the case.

2. You're inexperienced.
There's a reason more experienced professionals make more than amateurs -- experience yields skill and knowledge. If this is your first time starting a business, you won't have any prior experiences to draw upon when making decisions, establishing a direction or facing harsh challenges.

It's true that other experiences in your life, such as holding a leadership position, navigating the industry in a lower-level position or even working with other entrepreneurs, can substitute as some level of experience here. But until you're in the driver's seat, you won't know what it's really like to run a business.

3. You won't take risks.
First-time entrepreneurs tend to be more conservative than their more experienced counterparts. This is partially due to first-time entrepreneurs' lack of confidence, which stems from a lack of experience. It's also partially due to the fact that first-timers have access to fewer resources than their more experienced counterparts.

And that means they're less capable of tolerating financial instability, and have more riding on the success of the business. The conservative route can potentially lead to success, but risk-taking sets you apart from your competitors.

4. You don't have enough contacts.
Even if you're outgoing, it's likely that you won't have a very large network when you start your first business, and your professional network will play a major role in the ultimate success of your business. Your contacts will provide you with potential clients, partnerships, suppliers and even employees, and if you're lucky, maybe even investors or mentors who can give you advice.

Without a strong network in place, you'll miss out on these benefits and lag behind competitors who have stronger connections.

5. Your instincts are untested.
When properly developed, your instincts can actually be a valuable tool for strategizing and decision-making. "Good" instincts are usually the product of experience; grandmaster chess players can "feel" which moves are correct because they've played thousands of games and can read the board almost unconsciously.

In the same way, seasoned entrepreneurs can sense which options are better than others, and have a stronger likelihood of leading their respective businesses in the right direction.

6. You're too excited.
When you start your first business, you're nervous and excited -- but that enthusiasm may end up being a hindrance. If you're too excited, you may get pulled in too many different directions at once, chasing different ideas simultaneously rather than focusing on the single items that your company needs most.

You may also invest in expansion and growth too early, or overspend your resources in a big push to get to market faster.

7. People won't take you as seriously.
The sad truth is that most people -- including investors, partners, employees and clients -- won't take you as seriously if this is your first business. They'll be familiar with the fact that less experienced entrepreneurs aren't as successful, and may avoid your business simply because it bears a slightly lower chance of succeeding with you behind the wheel. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy at its finest.

All these factors may seem intimidating, but there's an important silver lining to remember here. Your business's failure isn't the end -- it's a beginning. Every failure in your life, from small, inconspicuous errors, to massive heartbreaking events, will teach you something, and give you experience and a platform to do something better with your next opportunity.

7 Ways Entrepreneurship Helps You Be a Better .

1. Critical thinking
There's no application that doesn't demand at least some level of critical thinking. Being able to spot and compensate for your own biases, analyze the roots of various problems and discover alternative perspectives on certain subjects can help you address issues more thoroughly, and make smarter plans for future development.

In the professional world, this means being more efficient and seeing better results. In your personal life, it may mean better understanding your relationships and identifying key areas for personal improvement.

2. Creativity
Entrepreneurship also forces you to be creative. While you can't force creativity, you can practice it -- and the more time you spend generating creative thoughts, the better and faster you'll be at doing it in a practical environment. How you apply that creativity is entirely up to you.

It could help you in a creative hobby, like painting or photography, or give you fuel for professional visions like marketing campaigns -- or maybe even another business in the future.

3. Adversity
Entrepreneurship is rife with hard times. The strategies you thought were brilliant (and, hypothetically, perfect) may not work nearly as well as you thought they would, or you may reach a point where your finances are stretched so thin that you have to consider closing up shop.

Though times of adversity and failure will test your patience and fill your life with stress, they'll also teach you valuable lessons about the nature of challenges and hardship. You'll learn that failure is only temporary, and you'll grow more confident -- not to mention, likely to stop worrying about the smaller problems you face in everyday life.

4. Independence
As the founder of a business, you'll be in charge of all the decisions. You're the ultimate source for accountability, and you're the one who makes the rules. At first, this will be both exciting and intimidating, but as you become more familiar with your role, you'll start to accept that level of independence and direction as fundamental to your being.

After you gain some experience, you'll be more decisive and confident, and less dependent on others, which will be beneficial no matter what you do afterward.

5. Management
It doesn't take long to realize how much entrepreneurship demands. You'll be spending countless hours working on your ideas, and managing full teams of people (not to mention partner, vendor and client relationships).

In some ways, entrepreneurship can be seen as a juggling act. In others, it's a game of micro-economics, demanding that you work with limited resources, like time, to gain the greatest value for the money you put in. In any case, entrepreneurship teaches you the fundamentals of management, which makes you a better decision-maker, better planner and better allocator of resources. There's no downside to these benefits.

6. Personal branding
Spending time at the helm of your company, you'll have the chance to develop your personal brand. You'll get some press coverage as the "face" of your organization, you'll attract more followers to your social accounts and you'll likely have the opportunity to publish more content under your name.

All of this can be used in the future to build your resume, help you stand out from the crowd and prove your expertise in at least one niche.

7. Connections
Even if you don't consider yourself a social butterfly, you'll gain from adding connections to your network. Entrepreneurship gives you a good excuse to find and retain those connections. You'll have greater access to employers, mentors, employees and teachers, but also hobbyists and specialists, whom you may call upon for personal projects, as well. Just be sure to keep in touch even after your stint as entrepreneur.

No matter what other goals you have in life -- whether you want to be a poet, salesperson, scholar, chef or anything in between -- entrepreneurship can give you the skills that will improve your chances of success in your professional life.

5 Reasons You Need to Stop Ignoring Influencer Marketing

1. Native ads are more effective than traditional ads.
Traditional ads work, but overall, consumers are becoming immune to them. A banner ad can be spotted a mile away and ad blockers are becoming increasingly popular. Facebook advertisements and Google pay-per-click ads are also easily avoided.

Influencer marketing ads appear to be native when done right. You don't want to pay an influencer to post a picture of your product and say, "Buy this!" That's no different than a traditional ad. Large brands are now having influencers simply post pictures using their product in a natural setting -- not even tagging them or mentioning the product in the caption. This is the most natural "advertisement" option available this moment. 

2. Influencer marketing return on investment can be huge.
Here is a simple example of what kind of ROI an influencer campaign can generate: We had a client selling a $40 product with a 75 percent margin. Their product cost them $10 to manufacture, process and ship, netting them $30 per sale.

They were running Facebook ads, and after a lot of money spent on split-testing they got their acquisition cost to $20. In the end, they make $10 per sale. So, spending $2,000 on Facebook ads generates 100 conversions and $1,000 profit. 

We took $2,000 and secured posts from ten highly relevant micro-influencers. That campaign resulted in 188 conversions, and after advertising and cost of goods, the profit was $3,640. That is nearly four times what the same amount of dollar amount of advertising generates via Facebook ads.

3. Social media influencers are more effective than high-priced celebrity endorsements.
If a brand pays a Kardashian six or seven figures to endorse a product, it's going to scream "paid advertisement." Using lesser-known social media influencers allows you to fly under the radar, and when you use micro-influencers that aren't popular outside of their own personal network, you can create content that doesn't raise any suspicion.

Not only are social influencers more effective, but they are more affordable than famous celebrities. It's a win-win situation, but now is the time to take advantage, as all new marketing avenues eventually become oversaturated. As Gary Vaynerchuk says, "Marketers ruin everything."

4. A minimal test budget is required.
I've said it before, and I will say it again: Influencer marketing will not work for every single business. You have to roll up your sleeves and run a test campaign to see if it's a viable marketing option for your business.

The good news? You can quickly find out if influencer marketing is worth pursuing with a small test budget -- as little as $1,000. You must be willing to throw some money at various marketing channels, fully understanding that it could be a complete bust or uncover some untapped potential.

5. It works.
I've used influencer marketing to grow my own consumer brands, and I have put together winning campaigns for several large brands. I've seen how it works first-hand. But, don't just take my word for it. Check out this infographic for some influencer marketing stats.

5 Tips on How to Explain a Business to the Masses With Video

Tell a story instead of listing benefits.
One of the biggest mistakes companies make when creating an explainer video is that the final product becomes a 60-second elevator pitch listing benefit after benefit. This type of video is boring, and viewers tend to retain little information from what they've seen. In fact, consumers are so tired of content that sells to them that 92 percent of internet users said they'd consider using ad blocking software.

Stories are what resonate with people. If you're creating an explainer video, come up with an interesting story arch that entertains while simultaneously educating the audience about a product or idea. Build benefits into the story, but most importantly, illustrate how the product or idea works to solve a problem or achieve an objective. People automatically associate stories with personal experiences, so if an explainer video is done right, target audiences should relate to the content and retain key messaging longer.

Design the story around a simple takeaway.
When it comes to explainer videos, less is more. Make it easy for viewers and don't overwhelm them with too much information. If someone watches a 60-second video and remembers seven things when it's finished playing, it's highly likely that they will have forgotten everything they learned within 10 minutes.  

Instead, determine a key takeaway for audiences to glean from the explainer video and build the overarching story around this one point. Tie the takeaway to memorable illustrations, and craft the story arch so its climax aligns with the most important takeaway for the audience. If the takeaway is singular and strong, the viewer will be able to use it as a marker to remember other points that are dependent on the takeaway.

Adopt the consumer's perspective, not the company's.
Rather than sharing the story from the company's perspective, think about the consumer's perspective. An explainer video should enable the audience's own "discovery" of a product or idea, rather than telling them how good it is. For example, does the video highlight how the audience can use the solution in their life and/or business? Does it explain why they should care to do so?

One of the best ways to do this is to tell the story from a third-party perspective, transforming the company into a valuable resource instead of a salesperson. Eighty percent of consumers say a video showing how a product or service works is important, so remember it's not about the company or brand, it's about the consumer and how they benefit.

Use inclusive metaphors viewers are familiar with.
When introducing a new topic, one of the quickest ways to help someone understand it is to create a metaphor relating the topic to something the audience is familiar with. Incorporating metaphors into an explainer video will help clarify complicated ideas while also creating visuals in the minds of the audience that help them remember the key points. No matter the subject matter, metaphors bring subject matter to life, and if done creatively, will help distinguish a company's video from the rest of the pack.

Learn the "Art of Explanation."
If a company doesn't have the time or resources to hire a dedicated explanation agency, it's vital to be grounded in the art and science of "explainer" videos before writing a script. There are a lot of resources out there to learn from, but one of the best is Lee LeFever's book called The Art of Explanation. Lee is half of the duo behind Common Craft and a godfather of the explainer video industry. A decade ago, his simple yet artful explanation of something called Twitter started a video revolution. His book gives away many of the secrets of the trade and will help companies learn to package ideas in a creative yet simple manner.

Coming up with the next big idea is challenging enough, but making people understand why it's the next big idea can be just as difficult. After all, an idea is only as strong as its explanation. 

11 Habits of Truly Happy People

1. Create your own happiness (don't sit back and wait for it). 

Every second you waste waiting for happiness is a second you could have been using to create it. The happiest people aren't the luckiest, wealthiest or best-looking; the happiest people are those who make an effort to be happy. If you want to create your own happiness, you have to start by making it a priority. We work so hard to avoid letting other people down, but we so often do so at the expense of our own happiness.

2. Surround yourself with the right people. 

Happiness is contagious. Surrounding yourself with happy people builds confidence and stimulates creativity, and it's flat-out fun. Hanging around negative people has the opposite effect -- they want people to join their pity party so that they can feel better about themselves. Think of it this way: If a person were smoking, would you sit there all afternoon inhaling the second-hand smoke? 

3. Get enough sleep. 

I've beaten this one to death over the years and can't say enough about the importance of sleep to improving your mood, focus and self-control. When you sleep, your brain literally recharges, removing toxic proteins that accumulate during the day as byproducts of normal neuronal activity. This ensures that you wake up alert and clear-headed. Your energy, attention and memory are all reduced when you don't get enough quality sleep. Sleep deprivation also raises stress hormone levels on its own, even without a stressor present. Happy people make sleep a priority, because it makes them feel great and they know how lousy they feel when they're sleep deprived.

4. Live in the moment. 

You can't reach your full potential until you learn to live your life in the present. No amount of guilt can change the past, and no amount of anxiety can change the future. It's impossible to be happy if you're constantly somewhere else, unable to fully embrace the reality (good or bad) of this very moment. To help yourself live in the moment, you must do two things: First, accept your past. If you don't make peace with your past, it will never leave you and, in doing so, it will create your future. Second, accept the uncertainty of the future. Worry has no place in the here and now. As Mark Twain once said, "Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe."

5. Learn to love yourself. 

Most of us have no problem marveling at our friends' good qualities, but it can be hard to appreciate our own. Learn to accept who you are, and appreciate your strengths. Studies have shown that practicing self-compassion increases the number of healthy choices you make, improves mental health and decreases your tendency to procrastinate.

6. Appreciate what you have. 

Taking time to contemplate what you're grateful for isn't merely the "right" thing to do. It also improves your mood, because it reduces the stress hormone cortisol by 23 percent. Research conducted at the University of California, Davis found that people who worked daily to cultivate an attitude of gratitude experienced improved mood, energy and physical well-being. It's likely that lower levels of cortisol played a major role in this.

7. Exercise. 

Getting your body moving for as little as 10 minutes releases GABA, a neurotransmitter that makes your brain feel soothed and keeps you in control of your impulses. Happy people schedule regular exercise and follow through on it because they know it pays huge dividends for their mood.

8. Forgive, but don't forget. 

Happy people live by the motto "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." They forgive in order to prevent a grudge, but they never forget. The negative emotions that come with holding onto a grudge are actually a stress response. Holding on to that stress can have devastating consequences for your health and mood, and happy people know to avoid this at all costs. However, offering forgiveness doesn't mean they'll give a wrongdoer another chance. Happy people will not be bogged down by mistreatment from others, so they quickly let things go and are assertive in protecting themselves from future harm.

9. Get in touch with your feelings. 

Attempting to repress your emotions doesn't just feel bad; it's bad for you. Learning to be open about your feelings decreases stress levels and improves your mood. One study even suggested that there was a relationship between how long you live and your ability to express your emotions. It found that people who lived to be at least 100 were significantly more emotionally expressive than the average person.

10. Concentrate on what you can control. 

Rather than dwelling on the things you can't control, try putting your effort into the things that you can. Have a long commute to work? Try listening to audiobooks. Hurt your leg jogging? Try swimming. More often than not, we take the bad and let it hold us back when it doesn't have to. Happy people are happy because they take their failures in stride, not because they don't fail. 

11. Have a growth mindset. 

People's core attitudes fall into one of two categories: a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. With a fixed mindset, you believe you are who you are and you cannot change. This creates problems when you're challenged, because anything that appears to be more than you can handle is bound to make you feel hopeless and overwhelmed. People with a growth mindset believe that they can improve with effort. This makes them happier because they are better at handling difficulties. They also outperform those with a fixed mindset because they embrace challenges, treating them as opportunities to learn something new.

10 Facts About Happiness From Around the World

1. Self-employed people have higher overall life evaluations. 

Self-employment has its pros and cons. In developed countries, self-employed people report being more satisfied than those who are traditionally employed. However, they are also more likely to experience negative feelings such as stress and worry.

2. People are happier when they maintain their social life throughout the work week. 

Most Americans feel happier on the weekends. But this weekend effect disappears when people work in a "high trust" environment -- where they consider their boss not as a superior but a partner -- and when they take part in social activities throughout the week. 

3. American happiness has been declining over the past decade. 

For the past decade, Americans have been reporting lower and lower happiness levels. They associate their decreased satisfaction with having less social support and personal freedom, lower donations and more corruption in business and government.

4. It's important to prioritize your mental health. 

Researchers conducted surveys in the U.S., Australia, Britain and Indonesia to uncover the key determinants of unhappiness and misery.

They found that receiving a diagnosis for a mental illness contributes more to a person's happiness than income, employment or a diagnosed physical illness. "In every country physical health is of course also important, but in no country is it more important than mental health," the report states.

While efforts to eliminate poverty and reduce unemployment are crucial, it turns out the most powerful way to decrease misery in the world is the elimination of depression and anxiety disorders (the most common forms of mental illness).  

5. Have someone to count on. 

People who have partners, solid relationships with extended family or simply someone to count on are much happier than those who do not. The report states that for every 10 percent of a country's population that establishes social support, happiness levels jump by more than 20 percent.

6. Family, childhood and schooling influence happiness later in life.

For adults, happiness levels are largely influenced by one's current economic, social and health status. While backgrounds are often overlooked, they too play a major part in determining overall life satisfaction.

7. Income is more important than education. 

Survey respondents from all countries included in the report agreed that income is more important for happiness than education. Some of the wealthiest people in the world are college dropouts, including Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. 

8. Happiness depends on the type of job a person has. 

It's no surprise that employed people are happier than unemployed people, but the type of job also comes into play. The report reveals that blue-collar jobs -- in industries such as construction, mining, manufacturing, transport, farming, fishing and forestry -- tend to correlate with lower levels of happiness.

9. It's not all about the money. 

Salary isn't the only career aspect that influences one's happiness level. Social status at work, social relationships in the workplace, daily work structure and goal-setting also play major parts in determining happiness levels.

10. Unemployment is "scarring."

Even after a person finds another job, the report explains, the unhappy feelings they experienced while unemployed linger.

4 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Innovate in the Healthcare Space

1. Think outside the box.
Many more care teams are using EHRs these days because of a multi-billion-dollar infusion of capital from the U.S. government, as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) of 2009 (also known as the stimulus bill). The ARRA did its job of subsidizing EHR purchases by hospitals and physicians. However, it also stymied health IT innovation by entrenching a small group of EHR vendors, because EHR software is extremely complicated and takes a long time to develop, test and bring to market.

"OK," you say, "I'll develop an add-on product to make EHRs easier to use." You can try, but health IT is a long way from "plug and play." That's partly because EHR vendors have some vested interest in keeping their systems closed, but also because the industry lags in developing usable interoperability standards for its very complex information flow. To get a sense of the size of the job, check out the Connectathon, an annual event where healthcare software vendors convene to try to get their products to work together smoothly.

2. Look to other industries for inspiration.
You'll have to look outside of healthcare, where IT generally lags 10 or 20 years behind other industries. Look to banking and investing, for instance. Modern banks have taken themselves almost entirely out of their customers' relationships with their money. While banks still have their traditional internal systems, consumers also have access to their finances on their phones and tablets, and banks compete to offer the best app. Or look at Betterment, which allows investors to skip a human financial advisor and have their investments handled by advanced algorithms.

3. Innovate beyond "sick care."
Insurance companies and government programs such as Medicare are shifting their focus to population health. In other words, they're working to figure out the big picture of why people get sick and how to keep them well.

Our healthcare system is moving, very slowly, away from a model of sick care (just treating immediate problems, with nods to preventive measures such as vaccinations, mammograms and colonoscopies) and toward genuine health care (putting the person in the middle of their care and proactively promoting health and long-term wellness). We're encouraged to keep our weight down, get regular exercise, anticipate potential problems and control our chronic conditions to avoid crises and hospital visits.

4. Tap into the "quantified self."
Increasingly, we as patients are the source of important information about our health. Various new technologies such as Fitbit trackers, Wi-Fi-enabled scales and apps allow us to more easily track our health insights (including diet, exercise and heart rate). Innovation in health IT could broaden the EHR information we maintain to include everything we do that affects our health -- not just what happens in the hospital, the doctor's office or the lab. For example, when we combine behavioral health and socioeconomic data with clinical and claims data, we can create personalized care plans that extend beyond the canned information that many care teams prescribe.

While there are many possibilities for healthcare innovation, they all share the same general goal: keeping people as healthy as possible while maximizing time, data and engagement outside the four walls of the hospital. By focusing on these key areas of concern, you're likely to not only improve doctors' job satisfaction, but also the entire care experience.

7 Marketing Lessons You Can Learn From an Unlikely Source

1. Content is king (but it can't be boring).

"Content is king, if the kingdom is interested. And if you think you're in the insurance business, you've lost already. This is a winner-does-more economy and one of the biggest assets you have is an engaged audience.

'Engaged', is the keyword here, as it requires independent insurance agents to be both experts and entertainers; meaning you have to discover your customer's interests.

Too many agents start with an unachievable goal of generating excitement over an insurance clause, but all you need to do is move beyond the technical jargon on to broader topics such as business, strategy, humor (definitely humor), etc.

So remember, don't set marketing goals within the context of insurance. Widen your conversation and conversion will follow."  

2. Build relationships through your content.

"Advertising has commoditized the consumer perception of insurance products. By leveraging new technology and focusing their marketing on an improved customer experience, independent insurance agents can harness their most valuable asset, human relationships.

We call this, 'Digitizing the soul of your business.' The independent agents that are winning in the digital marketplace aren't 'selling' insurance, but rather building relationships with would-be customers one piece of content at a time. Video is a particularly powerful tool for establishing digital relationships which in turn de-commoditize the insurance product."  

3. More transparency = better relationships.

"Create a culture that is trustworthy and transparent.

Consumers today have access to information like never before, including what other people say about your company through online reviews. Who you are as an organization can be something magical or it can be menacing, and it is top-down leadership that creates that culture. Being transparent with your team, partners and clients develops a bond of trust that will pay off dividends long into the future." 

4. Be yourself, not your business.

"Building and maintaining relationships is core to sales. Promoting organic messages and monitoring customer trends are part of an agency's overall marketing effort and social networks serve a variety of public relations functions.

...Regardless of what you do or the type of communication being created - there is no magic potion - just be yourself." 

5. Use social media effectively.

"Marketing begins with visibility. That's why insurance companies with billion-dollar budgets saturate advertising media. Small insurance agencies can level the playing field by making effective use of social media to locally network and communicate their value proposition in the form of relevant, authoritative information, responsive communication and customer testimonials."  

6. Video is an untapped marketing channel.

"An underutilized marketing tool for independent agents is video. Start by creating a YouTube channel that includes insurance coverage explanation videos and quick answers to frequently asked questions. But, don't stop there. Insurance sales people can also use an inexpensive webcam to create a video email follow-up to a phone conversation. Video can also be used to deliver a virtual video insurance proposal. People buy from those they know, like and trust. Video is an excellent way to build face-to-face trust with prospects and clients."  

7. Use digital marketing to amplify traditional marketing.

"The rise of mobile computing and the 24x7 availability of the internet have forever changed your insurance buyer's journey.

These changes haven't made traditional sales and marketing methods like cold calling, mass mail, and being available for walk-in's obsolete, but they have reduced the impact they will have on your business.

Digital marketing such as online content and drip campaigns are great ancillary strategies and tactics to help you amplify your traditional sales and marketing activities."  

7 Steps to Winning New Customers

1. Know your customer

If you have a clear understanding of who your customer is (and is not), then you can target engaged, interested prospects and improve your ability to win new customers.

Understanding the age, geographic location, education level and job title of your customer base also allows you to speak in the appropriate language that resonates and strikes the right chord. This is known as creating an avatar and will give you insight into where your customer hangs out, either online or offline. 

I would encourage you to spend some time to think through who your most likely target customer is; what would they look like and what problems would they have that need solving? Be as detailed as you can so you can clearly imagine who will most likely buy from you.  

2. Incentivize existing customers

The best ambassadors for your business are existing customers. They have already bought from you, and there's no greater stamp of approval than when people put their money behind their opinions.

Incentivizing existing customers -- through discounts on products in exchange for referrals, for example -- works so well because those customers can tell their friends, who trust their taste, about you. This leads to quicker and higher conversions of prospects to paying customers. 

3. Networking

Even in the digital age, effective networking remains one of the most powerful ways to bring in new customers and grow your business. 

Networking in your niche is powerful not only because it allows you to understand changes in your sector, but it also puts you in touch with people who serve same customer base in one form or another. Hence, you can easily get introduced to new customer groups while developing a better understanding of exactly what it is they are looking for.  

4. Explore different sales channels

Too many businesses fail to take advantage of online opportunities. For brick-and-mortar businesses, these opportunities could come in the form of online sales of their associated products. For example, if you are a local coffee shop and brew particular brands of coffee, then you might be able to sell globally via the internet. 

However, for many businesses that sell exclusively online, selling offline can provide invaluable customer feedback in real-time and introduce you to a totally new customer base, typically on your doorstep. 

5. Secure high-quality public relations

The right public relations (PR) strategy can be like stardust for your business, leading new customers directly to your door. 

The appeal of the right PR is that it can reach thousands (or even millions) of prospects. Just make sure you identify the right forum on which to seek PR. Identify key publications in your niche and reach out to the editors to see if you can talk as an expert in your field and add value to them while, at the same time, raising the profile of your own business.  

6. Explore different pricing models

Within your target market, there will always be prospects at different stages of their buying life cycle. In addition to those who are ready to buy, there will be those for whom what you offer is too expensive. 

In such instances, figure out how you can acquire these customers: Having a lite version of your product, with less functionality and a smaller price tag, could help achieve this objective. 

Deploying different pricing models can be a simple way to increase your overall customer base relatively quickly. 

7. Paid advertising

In addition to the traditional TV, radio and press advertising, there are also online options such as pay-per-click and social media marketing. 

Paid advertising can guarantee new customers to your business, but it comes at a cost. Hence, you should always start by identifying your objective from any paid advertising campaign. Is it to sell a product straight away? Add a prospect to your email list? Get people to engage with your website or content?

Once you have the objective identified, it is easier to allocate a budget and create realistic expectations for campaigns. 

Whatever the size of your business, rest assured the companies you admire have utilized at least some of the above tactics. They can certainly help you as well. 

11 Lifestyle Changes You Need to Adopt If You Want to Be Rich

1. Visualize yourself achieving your goals.

If you want to achieve great things, you need a clear plan of action. Develop a state of mind in which you clearly can visualize your goals for attaining wealth. So many people don't reach their true potential because they don't really know what they want or how to get there.

This takes focus, belief in yourself and the courage to see your plan through. Begin by constantly envisioning the different elements of your plan and add to it one piece at a time. Eventually you will have developed a step-by-step guide that leads where you want to go. Along the way, you will cultivate the determination and tenacity you need to achieve your goals.

2. Push yourself beyond your normal boundaries.

A middle-class mentality seeks a comfortable, complacent existence. It wants to avoid the pain of constant hard work.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with that attitude, but you aren't going to become a millionaire from the comfort of your couch. If your goal is becoming successful beyond your wildest dreams, you'll need to face discomfort and uncertainty at times. You must get used to pushing yourself outside of your normal boundaries.

Start by doing five things every day that make you uncomfortable or even scare you a little. Build up your physical and psychological endurance. Being willing to endure a little temporary pain will help you build the mental fortitude necessary to see you through difficult times. It will help you embrace the difficult decisions that must be made if you're going to turn a cautious life into something extraordinary.

3. Adopt a modest lifestyle.

While you push the boundaries on your mental and physical abilities, it's also important to keep close tabs on your spending habits. Adopting a frugal mindset alone won't earn you more money or make you rich, but learning to live modestly is an important part of achieving overall financial stability. You'll only sabotage yourself if you blow your wealth before you have the chance to accumulate it.

"A frugal mindset focuses on what you need, not just on what you wantor what you think will make you happy," says Adam Toren, founder of Young Entrepreneur and Biz Warriors, a small-business forum. Once you recognize that needless impulse purchases undermine your financial freedom, it changes your whole perspective on consumerism.

Take a few simple steps down the economical path: shop with a list, look for deals online before making a purchase and buy used items.

4. Track your spending and cut the excess.

Get up close and personal with your money habits. Record how you spend every dollar. Do this for at least 30 days so you can get a clear picture of your spending habits. Then take the time to analyze your practices. What are you buying that you could reduce or eliminate completely?

Start by looking for obvious cuts -- the cable bill for channels you never watch, the subscription for a magazine you hardly ever read, that gym membership you only use once a month. Cut these ongoing expenses and move to an à la carte method: Pay only for what you need, when you need it.

5. Learn a new skill.

To become a success, you also need to become knowledgeable, well-rounded and competitive. This requires you to be dedicated to self-improvement and the continued learning.

Keep broadening your prospects -- devote time every day to learning something new. According to Josh Kaufman, author of "The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything … Fast!", you can learn a new skill quickly by following this pattern: Deconstruct the skill, self-correct, remove barriers to learning and practice for at least 20 hours.

6. Work an extra job.

Rich people don't rely on one job to build their wealth. They're always working something on the side. Having more than one source of income increases your ability to build wealth, helps you increase your skill set and expands your knowledge in different areas. Think of this as a chance to monetize a hobby or area of interest.

Do you love photography? Have a talent for music, art, tutoring or coaching? You could turn any of these areas into a lucrative side hustle. And who knows? Maybe your side job could be the start of a whole new career and fruitful money-making venture.

7. Watch your food bill.

An occasional dinner out is a nice luxury, but restaurant bills really can add up if you eat out often. Go for homemade meals, and you'll likely end up eating healthier and cheaper, too. Follow these tips keep your grocery bills in check:

• Go grocery shopping on a full stomach to keep from buying junk food you crave.
• Maintain a list of everything you need so you can make fewer but bigger shopping trips to the store.
• Use your smartphone's calculator app to add up each item that goes in your cart and track the total as you work your way to the check-out lane.

8. Use automatic transfers to help you save more money.

It's easier to save money if you never see it in your account to begin with. Set up automatic fund transfers from your bank account so money comes out before you even miss it. It's OK to start small. You'll find that just $50 a month will add up over time. 

The more money you have socked away, the more options you have. Your savings enables you to take advantage of investment opportunities or bankroll lucrative ideas, including your own.

If you really want to get serious about accruing money, try saving an hour a day of your income. If you make $50,000 a year working 40 hours a week, you make $25 an hour. According to "The Automatic Millionaire" author David Bach, you'll never have to worry about money again if you adopt this approach.

9. Make your money work for you.

Most millionaires follow a rule of thumb that can work for you, too: Invest at least 20 percent of your household income each year. In fact, author Ramit Sethi contends that most millionaires don't measure the amount they make each year. In his New York Times bestseller "I Will Teach You to Be Rich," he explains these high earners are more concerned about how much they save and invest over time.

You don't have to be wealthy to work toward the 20 percent goal. You just have to start making regular contributions to an investment account. Begin with your employer's 401(k) plan and set up an IRA. Next, switch your "big bank" savings account to a high-interest savings account. You'll go from earning negligible interest rates to accumulating something meaningful over time.

10. Pay with cash.

If staying on a budget is too difficult and impulse purchases are getting the best of you, try paying with cash -- especially when you go shopping. Studies show consumers spend less when they use tangible money to pay for things. It makes them more mindful of how much they're actually spending.

This tactic comes with a side benefit that's also a deterrent to overspending: You have to make a trip to the ATM or bank to withdraw money. Once it's gone, you'll know you're done shopping. Try taking out $100 and making it stretch over a week. You'll see those mindless $20 purchases come to a halt pretty quickly.

11. Associate with successful people.

They say you can judge a person by the company he or she keeps, but you also can gauge someone's potential in part by taking a look at the people he or she associates with. Our friends affect our worldview. Their ideas and life philosophies eventually meld with our own, and their ambitions and dreams can be a catalyst for our own aspirations and desires.

Consciousness is contagious. Exposure to other driven, resourceful and intelligent people will broaden your state of mind and expand your thinking. There's a reason rich and successful people often form tight cliques and gravitate toward one another. The wealthy understand these relationships create a kind of synergy. Start increasing the amount of time you spend with people who are richer and smarter than you. Some of their success might rub off!

5 Reasons Why Workplace Anxiety Is Costing Your Business a Fortune

1. Poor performance

High levels of emotional and psychological exhaustion as a result of workplace anxiety, can lead to lack of focus and poor work performance. Fifty-six percent of people who experience workplace anxiety report excessive fatigue, irritability and feeling unmotivated. If left untreated your employees will eventually need more time to complete their tasks, minimizing the amount of work they can adequately accomplish in a typical work day. This averages up to 7 hours per week in lost productivity.

Providing your employees with an environment of empathetic supervisors and co-workers can lead to better quality relationships within the workplace, which can positively impact the effects of your employees anxiety.

2. Excessive time off

Employee absenteeism and sick leave are all common business expenses. However, studies have shown that anxiety and depressive disorders are associated with increasing long-term work disability in comparison to other illnesses. It is reported that one in three absences are a direct result of anxiety and/or stress in the workplace. Please note, it is illegal to terminate an employee based on their disability or disorder without proper efforts to reasonably accommodate your employee's condition.

Although many businesses provide PTO and sick leave, the long-term effects of too much time off can negatively impact your employees performance (see No. 1) and your business's bottom line.

3. Increased healthcare costs

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports that anxiety disorders cost the U.S. more than $42 billion annually, and those diagnosed are three to five times more likely to visit the doctor and more than six times more likely to be hospitalized as a result. With more than 40 percent of a company's earnings going to rising healthcare costs, your company could expect to pay upwards of $3,000 more per employee based on their anxiety alone.

4. Increased turnover

Change is inevitable, but can also be very expensive for your business. Employee turnover is a large contributor to your company's bottom line, as it costs time, money and productivity to replace an employee. With over 25 percent of employees reporting that their workplace is a major contributor to their stress and anxiety, the likelihood of your employees staying at their job long-term decreases significantly.

Stress and anxiety are often associated with more health complaints than any other complaint related to the workplace. Ensuring your employees feel supported and comfortable addressing their mental wellbeing with managers and co-workers is essential in increasing employee retention.

5. Low employee morale

Morale is a state of mind that affects confidence, productivity and enthusiasm created within the framework of a company's structure. These factors also directly contribute to the four things I mentioned above. High morale is essential to a company's success, and although it's generally looked at as an intangible quality, it can have a damaging effect on a business's profits.

Low morale in employees can often lead to withdrawn efforts and the development of counterproductive behaviors. Many anxiety sufferers report feeling judged and unsupported by their managers and co-workers, which only decreases morale and increases their wanting to find a new job. Encouraging open dialog between employees and managers as it pertains to the mental health of your employees can prevent their issues from being exacerbated.

When employees feel their employer is genuinely interested in their well-being, there tends to be an increase in productivity and retention, and lowers the company's expenses in recruiting costs and healthcare.  

As a business owner, it's important to be informed, know the signs and provide your employees with the encouragement and support they need to manage their mental health. Corporate wellness programs are becoming increasingly popular and are specifically geared toward helping companies improve in all areas listed above.