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CrazyEgg (www.crazyegg.com) I use CrazyEgg to see exactly where people are clicking most and least on homepages and landing pages. It is particularly helpful for repositioning the most important links or buttons to help prompt visitors to take specific next actions. Don’t guess what’s working or not—measure it. Clicktracks (www.clicktracks.com) WebTrends (www.webtrends.com)
Google Website Optimizer (WO) (http://www.google.com/websiteoptimizer) This is a free tool that, like Google Analytics, is better than most paid services. I used Google WO to test three potential homepages for www.dailyburn.com and increased sign-ups 19%, then again by more than 16%. Offermatica (www.offermatica.com) Vertster.com (www.vertster.com) Optimost (www.optimost.com)
Low-Cost Toll-free Numbers TollFreeMAX (www.tollfreemax.com) (877-888-8MAX) and Kall8 (www.kall8.com) TollFreeMAX and Kall8 both allow you to set up toll-free numbers in 2–5 minutes. Calls can then be forwarded to any other numbers, and voicemail and statistics can be managed online or via e-mail.
“Name your price, name your deadline, see entries within hours and be done in just days. The average project gets a whopping 68 entries. 25 entries or your money back.”
RememberTheMilk.com has been really crucial to me keeping on top of my daily tasks. Freshbooks.com for online invoicing Highrise (http://www.highrisehq.com/) for online CRM Dropbox (getdropbox.com) for easy file sharing/automatic backup of critical files while on the road TrueCrypt (truecrypt.org) for keeping your laptop data secure while on the road. [Tim comment: This can also be used with a USB flash drive, and another cool feature—it provides two levels of “plausible deniability” (hidden volumes, etc.) if someone forces you to reveal the password.] PBwiki.com - Wiki site that helps me keep
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A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear. … If the employees come first, then they’re happy. —HERB KELLEHER, cofounder of Southwest Airlines
Look, kiddie. I built this business by being a bastard. I run it by being a bastard. I’ll always be a bastard, and don’t you ever try to change me.fn1 —CHARLES REVSON, founder of Revlon, to a senior executive within his company
I am not a tollbooth through which anything needs to pass. I am more like a police officer on the side of the road who can step in if need be, and I use detailed reports from outsourcers to ensure the cogs are moving as intended.
The system is the solution. —AT&T
scalable. By “scalable,” I mean a business architecture that can handle 10,000 orders per week as easily as it can handle 10 orders per week. Doing this requires minimizing your decision-making responsibilities, which achieves our goal of time freedom while setting the stage for doubling and tripling income with no change in hours worked.
Henry Ford once said, referring to his Model-T, the bestselling car of all time,fn7 “The customer can have any color he wants, so long as it’s black.”
one or two purchase options (“basic” and “premium,” for example) and no more. Do not offer multiple shipping options. Offer one fast method instead and charge a premium. Do not offer overnight or expedited shipping (it is possible to refer them to a reseller who does, as is true with all of these points), as these shipping methods will produce hundreds of anxious phone calls. Eliminate phone orders completely and direct all prospects to online ordering. This seems outrageous until you realize that success stories like Amazon.com have depended on it as a fundamental cost-saver to survive and
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not accept payment via Western Union, checks, or money order. Raise wholesale minimums to 12–100 units and require a tax ID number to qualify resellers who are real businesspeople and not time-intensive novices. Don’t run a personal business school. Refer all potential resellers to an online order form that must be printed, filled out, and faxed in. Never negotiate pricing or approve lower pricing for higher-volume orders. Cite “company policy” due to having had problems in the past. Offer low-priced products (à la MRI’s NO2 book) instead of free products to capture contact information for
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Make your customer base an exclusive club, and treat the members well once they’ve been accepted.
The lose-win guarantee might seem like a big risk, especially when someone can abuse it for profit like in the BodyQUICK example, but it isn’t … if your product delivers. Most people are honest.
1. Don’t be the CEO or founder. Being the “CEO” or “Founder” screams start-up. Give yourself the mid-level title of “vice president” (VP), “director,” or something similar that can be added to depending on the occasion (Director of Sales, Director of Business Development, etc.). For negotiation purposes as well, remember that it is best not to appear to be the ultimate decision-maker. 2. Put multiple e-mail and phone contacts on the website. Put various e-mail addresses on the “contact us” page for different departments, such as “human resources,” “sales,” “general inquiries,” “wholesale
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It isn’t enough to think outside the box. Thinking is passive. Get used to acting outside the box.
Angel (www.angel.com) Get an 800 number with professional voice menu (voice recognition departments, extensions, etc.) in five minutes. Incredible.
Ring Central (www.fourhourblog.com/ringcentral) Offers toll-free numbers, call screening and forwarding, voicemail, fax send and receive, and message alerts, all online.
It is far better for a man to go wrong in freedom than to go right in chains. —THOMAS H. HUXLEY, English biologist; known as “Darwin’s Bulldog”
By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day. —ROBERT FROST, American poet and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes
On this path, it is only the first step that counts. —ST. JEAN–BAPTISTE–MARIE VIANNEY, Catholic saint, “Curé d’Ars”
The key to cutting the leash was simple—he asked for forgiveness instead of permission. “I didn’t travel for 30 years of my life—so why not?”
THAT’S PRECISELY THE question everyone should be asking—why the hell not?
Since eliminating most of his meetings and in-person discussions, he has naturally moved about 80% of all communication with his boss and colleagues to e-mail and the remaining 20% to phone.
Sherwood: It really turned out even better than I expected. If you look at the numbers, it makes a lot of business sense, and I’m enjoying work a lot more now. So, here we are. I’d like to suggest, if you think it makes sense, that I try four days a week for another two-week trial. I was thinking that coming in Fridayfn6 would make sense to prepare for the coming week, but we could do whichever day you prefer.
Sherwood:
8. Suggest only one or two days in the office per week. 9. Make those days the least productive of the week.
Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him. —THOMAS J. WATSON, founder of IBM
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. —GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
WHILE ENTREPRENEURS HAVE the most trouble with Automation, since they fear giving up control, employees get stuck on Liberation because they fear taking control. Resolve to grab the reins—the rest of your life depends on it.
“What would I need to do to [desired outcome]?” “Under what circumstances would you [desired outcome]?” “Have you ever made an exception?” “I’m sure you’ve made an exception before, haven’t you?” (If no for either of the last two, ask, “Why not?” If yes, ask, “Why?”)
Extend each successful trial period until you reach full-time or your desired level of mobility. Don’t underestimate how much your company needs you. Perform well and ask for what you want. If you don’t get it over time, leave. It’s too big a world to spend most of life in a cubicle.
RAINA
All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it’s impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer. —NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI, The Prince
Improvements would be like adding a set of designer curtains to a jail cell: better but far from good.
you, and it’s impossible to sit in the wrong job for the rest of your life.
If you must play, decide on three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time.
JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING has been a lot of work or consumed a lot of time doesn’t make it productive or worthwhile. Just because you are embarrassed to admit that you’re still living the consequences of bad decisions made 5, 10, or 20 years ago shouldn’t stop you from making good decisions now. If you let pride stop you, you will hate life 5, 10, and 20 years from now for the same reasons. I hate to be wrong and sat in a dead-end trajectory with my own company until I was forced to change directions or face total breakdown—I know how hard it is. Now that we’re all on a level playing field: Pride
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“But, you don’t understand my situation. It’s complicated!” But is it really? Don’t confuse the complex with the difficult. Most situations are simple—many are just emotionally difficult to act upon.
You are just terrified that you might end up worse off than you are now. I’ll tell you right now: If you’re at this point, you won’t be worse off. Revisit fear-setting and cut the cord.
The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain. —COLIN WILSON, British author of The Outsider; New Existentialist
There are always options.
“I had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do [exotic and envy-producing experience] and couldn’t turn it down. I figured that, with [20–40] years of work to go, what’s the rush?”
Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. —THOMAS J. WATSON, founder of IBM
There are two types of mistakes: mistakes of ambition and mistakes of sloth.
Would they? Test assumptions before condemning yourself to more misery.
Only those who are asleep make no mistakes. —INGVAR KAMPRAD, founder of IKEA,
