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Why Can’t Cops Tell Them Apart?

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Both plants are cannabis, but there are some key differences.


4 min read

Opinions expressed by Green Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


Last February, the Idaho State police pulled over a truck carrying 6,701 pounds of hemp and promptly seized it, allegedly claiming it was marijuana. Now the cultivators of that hemp, Big Sky Scientific, are suing the police, the county, and an attorney. If you’ve been following hemp news recently, then you have probably seen a few of these stories surfacing. Cops across the country seem to be mistaking legal industrial hemp with illegal marijuana (at least in some states like Idaho).. 

So what gives? Here’s why cops may keep confusing hemp for marijuana, and how to tell the difference.

Related: 5 Other Uses for Hemp You May Not Know About

The similarities

Before we can talk about why hemp and marijuana are different, let’s talk about how the two plants are similar. Both hemp and marijuana are members of the genus Cannabis. There are three distinct species of Cannabis: Sativa, Indica, and Ruderalis. What we refer to as marijuana belongs in both the Sativa and Indica family. Hemp, on the other hand, is solely a member of the Sativa species.

Both hemp and marijuana have similar smells, and to the untrained eye look very similar. This is especially true if you look at a side-by-side comparison of hemp and marijuana flower.

Here’s a picture of hemp flower:

Image credit: picture alliance | Getty Images

And here’s a picture of marijuana flower:

Image credit: rocksunderwater | Getty Images

The differences

To the untrained eye, hemp and marijuana can look similar, but there are some key differences. Hemp leaves look skinny while marijuana leaves often have a much broader appearance. Additionally, marijuana plants often look like a short bush while hemp plants look tall and skinny with most of the leaves growing at the top. That is not to say that marijuana plants can’t reach tall heights, but even the biggest plant will still have that bushy appearance.

To help give you a better visual, here’s a graphic showing the differences, courtesy of the Ministry of Hemp:

 

 

However, the most significant difference between hemp and marijuana is their chemical composition. Hemp plants contain a variable amount of the compounds CBD and typically less than 1 percent THC. The legal definition of hemp is that it must contain 0.3 percent THC or less, but some hemp plants will go over that percentage. Marijuana, on the other hand, typically contains 5 percent THC or more.

A business opportunity

One reason why cops keep confusing hemp for marijuana comes down to education and training. Ever since the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937, hemp and marijuana have legally been considered the same substance. Consequently, law enforcement has never taken the time to learn how to distinguish the two plants; and why would they? If both hemp and marijuana are considered the same plant under the law, why bother learning the difference?

Even though the 2018 Farm Bill changed that legal definition, law enforcement has yet to change with it. Not only are police officers often unable to tell the difference between hemp and marijuana, but the equipment they use to determine marijuana is antiquated. Most roadside marijuana detection kits are designed to detect the mere presence of THC but not the concentration.

At the moment, there is no way for law enforcement to tell the difference between legal hemp and marijuana, but that may soon change. Earlier this year, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) issued a notice that they are seeking companies that can provide test kits capable of telling the difference between hemp and marijuana. With any luck, an enterprising entrepreneur will come up with a device that allows the DEA to quickly resolve the issue and put to rest the long history confusing hemp for marijuana.

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Apply These 10 Clever Techniques to Improve Your Home Office on a Budget

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10 Clever Home Office Ideas on a Budget

More and more Americans work from home. And a growing number of employers recognize the well-being and retention benefits allowing their employees work from home flexibility creates. This creates a high demand for quality, practical and high-functioning home offices.

Home Office Ideas on a Budget

Do you find yourself among the millions of Americans who work from home? And do you want to improve your working environment to help enhance your productivity and creativity levels. Then take a look at the following ten clever home office ideas on a budget.

Give the Walls a Facelift

Don’t stare at dull, uninspiring and monotone walls all day. Because this environment won’t rouse your creativity.

But change the décor of the walls in your home office. Give them a new lick of paint in a bolder color. And choose a new style of wallpaper. Or simply hang up some striking artwork and imagery. Give you home office space an important décor boost. You’ll find this an effective and budget-friendly approach.

Organize Your Desk

A cluttered desk scattered in paperwork, printers, stationery and more, is not conducive with a clear mind and a productive day’s work.

One of the cheapest and easiest ways you can improve your home office environment is to organize your office space and throw away anything that isn’t needed.

Create More Natural Daylight

Research shows that offices with access to daylight can boost workers’ creativity by as much as 15%. If you can’t afford to cut out holes in your home office and install new windows, work on the windows you already have by changing heavy curtains with blinds to let more light in, decluttering the windowsills and, quite simply, giving the glass a good clean.

Hang Mirrors on the Wall

Another clever way to create more natural light in a home office is to hang mirrors on the wall. As well as looking stylish and funky, hanging a mirror opposite a window will mean the light gets bounced around the room, creating a greater sense of natural daylight in the office space to help boost your productivity levels.

Get Creative with Lighting

Of course, home offices can rarely rely on natural daylight alone. Rather than battling on in a dimly-lit space, which can make you feel drained, place bright and quirky lamps on the desk to bathe your workspace in light, without breaking the home office makeover budget.

Make Comfort a Priority with a New Office Chair

If your existing office chair isn’t too comfortable, now’s the time to swop the chair with a comfier alternative. Office chairs range quite significantly on cost but isn’t something you should scrimp on.

Opt for a well-made office chair that helps improve your posture at your desk and has a decent level of padding.

Inject a More Personal Touch into the Space

Whether you’re a one-man band working from home or are part of a small businesses working in a home environment, injecting some personality into your home office that captures the spirit of your business will go a long way in heightening the appeal of the office space.

Whether it’s redecorating the space with the colors of your business’s logo or even creating an accent wall that features your company logo, creating a personal touch in your home office is a cost-effective way to inject greater personality and appeal into the space.

Install a Chalkboard

Chalkboards need not be confined to toddlers’ bedrooms. On the contrary, chalkboards are another clever and inexpensive way to create a practical focal point in your home office that enables you to scribble down notes whilst you’re on a conference call and erase them with ease when they’re not needed any more.

Bring the Outdoors Indoors

Another cheap and clever trick to enhance the look and ambiance of your home office is to place indoors plants around the room.

Similar to natural daylight, the presence of plants in a working space can go a long way in boosting productivity and wellbeing as you work.

Invest in Some Air Freshener

Air freshener definitely won’t break the home office budget and is a quick, immediate and incredibly cheap way to ensure your home office smells nicer and is therefore a more desirable space to work in.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “Apply These 10 Clever Techniques to Improve Your Home Office on a Budget” was first published on Small Business Trends



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Why SMBs Must Beat the Digital Divide

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Why You Must Beat the Small Business Digital Divide

Fast is the new big.

Small and medium sized-businesses (SMBs) already know that agility and responsiveness are often their advantages when competing against larger organizations. Like small fish swimming in an ocean of sharks and whales, what SMBs give up in terms of raw size and power can be made up for with the ability to dart in and out of danger, and move quickly to new areas of opportunity as currents change.

Embracing a fast, flexible business technology infrastructure is a sure sign of an SMB built to thrive in a global economy full of big, established players used to leaving the little fish scrambling to survive in their wake. A global survey of SMBs conducted by Salesforce and research firm  Techaisle found a sort of ‘ digital divide’ in the SMB world. Businesses capitalizing on the cost and speed advantages of cloud computing — including analytics and modular solutions built around core cloud technologies like  CRM — have a leg up on their counterparts when it comes to charting a course towards near- and long term sustainable success.

The four ‘digis’

While you may have first heard the term ‘digital divide’ in the context of education or social equality, in an SMB context the digital divide is defined by four other ‘digis’:

Digitization: The first step in embracing an agile, digital business approach, digitization refers to the process of replacing manual documents and tasks with digital alternatives.

Digitalization: Digitalization builds on digitized assets and tasks, delivering automated processes that streamline existing business practices.

Digital transformation:  Digital transformation refers to the development of net-new business capabilities based on the integration of digitalized processes to “deliver previously unattainable or un-imaginable outcomes.”

Digital business: Digital business isn’t really part of the digitization/digitalization/digital transformation progression. It is a generic term used to describe the application of digital competencies to business objectives.

According to Techaisle’s research, the SMB migration from digitization to digitalization to digital transformation is already underway. A modular approach to digital business built around cloud-based CRM can include marketing automation, cloud-based customer service, analytics, and more. And, no surprise, SMBs on the leading edge of digital business innovation are building significant operational advantages over the ‘have nots’ in the digital divide.

Why it’s smart to dive headlong into digitalization

Techaisle’s research segmented SMBs on the two sides of the digital divide according to digital strategy, cloud maturity, and cloud tactics. The results? You guessed it: The more cloud-native a business is, and the more holistically integrated their digital strategy, the better positioned they are to thrive in the future.

A few highlights:

  • SMBs that are born-in-the-cloud (BITC) and mature cloud adopters are developing business process advantages that will be difficult for even SMBs at an intermediate adoption level to overcome.
  • More than half of the mature/BITC group has reduced IT costs, as compared with just 5% of intermediate adopters, and that the advanced group is more than five times as likely to have reduced business process costs as their digital laggard counterparts.
  • The mature/BITC group is also about twice as likely as the intermediate users to have improved employee productivity and business agility.
  • Overall, SMBs using a holistic approach to digitalization are 52% more likely to reap the seven key benefits explored in the survey – increased revenue, improved profitability, better customer satisfaction and retention, increased sales reach, increased market share, improved upsell/cross-sell, and improved brand image – than firms in the inclusive or siloed categories.

These and other key findings from Techaisle’s research illustrate the advantages of SMBs going all-in on digitalization initiatives. Dipping a toe in the water isn’t enough when it comes to digitalization: leaders reap tangible business benefits, while laggards get lost in the digital divide.

Techaisle’s white paper,  Eat or Be Eaten: Why SMBs Must Beat the Digital Divide explores how leading SMBs are building agile business strategies around  CRM,  marketing automation,  customer service, analytics, and more, to adapt to new opportunities and grow their businesses. The white paper addresses common concerns and challenges faced by SMBs considering a move to the cloud, and illustrates best practices and real-world outcomes associated with digitalization strategies.

Download the white paper and learn more about making holistic digitalization strategies a part of your SMB.

Republished by permission. Original here.

Photo via Salesforce

This article, “Why SMBs Must Beat the Digital Divide” was first published on Small Business Trends



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10 Sleep Hacks to Ensure Eight Glorious Hours of Shut-Eye

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An investment in sleep is an investment in yourself.


8 min read

Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.


There’s no rest for the weary — and that’s truer than ever in the present day. It seems everyone is fiending for a good night’s rest. If you’ve relegated great sleep to your bucket list, don’t fret: we’ve got you covered with 10 handy sleep hacks below. 

Besides our top picks for each category, we’ve also thrown in a couple of alternatives, in case you’re hankering for some variety.

10. Pillows 

Our Choice: Coop Home Goods – Eden Shredded Memory Foam Pillow

The Eden Shredded Memory Foam Pillow features breathable fabric plus cooling memory foam, which means sweaty bed head will no longer plague you. It’s calibrated for maximum support and comfort, and the secret is in its construction: the foam is shredded into cross-cut pieces and blended with poly fibers, which eliminates clumping and increases airflow. Bonus points for customizability: you can open the pillow up to add or remove as much memory foam as you’d like.

You can now get this premium pillow for $79.99.

Alternatives:

9. Sleep Mask

Our Choice: Alaska Bear Natural Silk Sleep Mask

This sleep mask is a pure luxury: it’s made of 100% top-quality silk sewn on both sides. It’s breathable and silky smooth, plus hypoallergenic to boot (perfect for anyone with skin sensitivities or allergies). Easily adjust the tangle-free headband, keep it in place thanks to the snug adjuster, and you’re set for the night. Bonus points: this mask boasts the coveted Amazon’s Choice distinction, on top of a 4.5 out of 5-star rating with 10,000+ customer reviews.

It’s just $9.99 right now, and you can choose from 13 color options.

Alternatives:

8. Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock by Philips

Our Choice: Philips Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock with Sunrise Simulation

Clocking in with a light intensity of 200 lux, this lamp is clinically proven to boost your sleep quality and well-being. The secret is its natural light alarm, which is designed to mimic the sunrise — gently rousing you from bed. Other goodies include a snooze function and ten brightness settings, and the 90-day money back guarantee from Philips doesn’t hurt, either.

This alarm clock normally retails for $49.99, but you can grab it now for just $42.50 (or buy it open box for $38.13).

Alternatives: 

7. White Noise Sound Machine

Our Choice: Big Red Rooster White Noise Machine

If noise is the biggest factor in your sleep quality, here’s an easy way to ensure uninterrupted sleep. This portable white noise machine is perfect for easy usability, boasting six natural sleep sounds — rain, brook, ocean, etc. — that work to mask distracting background noises. Before hopping into bed, set the timer for 15, 30, or 60 minutes. Oh, and this is an Amazon’s Choice product with 4.2 stars out of 5 from a whopping 7,890 reviews.

The Big Red Rooster is valued at $29.99, but you can get it for just $19.99.

Alternatives:

6. Memory Foam Mattress

Our Choice: Leesa Multilayer Foam Mattress

Not all mattresses are created equal, and this multilayer foam mattress from Lessa proves it. It’s designed to cool, contour, support, and relieve pressure — giving you the sensation of sleeping on air. Tons of publications have given it the number one mattress distinction, including Wirecutter and Apartment Therapy. Trying it out is risk-free, too: shoppers can take advantage of a 100-night trial, plus free shipping and returns.

Choose from two affordable payment options: pay $845 upfront for it or just $47/month with the payment plan.

Alternatives:

5. Bed Sheets

Our Choice: L.L.Bean 280-Thread-Count Pima Cotton Percale Sheet Set

These high-quality bed sheets are woven from long-staple Pima cotton yams, imbuing them with a silky smooth touch for optimal sleeping comfort. In each set, you’ll get a flat sheet, fitted sheet, and two pillowcases (note: the twin set includes one pillowcase). Choose from one of eight easy-to-coordinate colors, and as an added bonus — take advantage of free shipping.

These start at $109 for a Twin set, and Full, Queen, and King options are available as well.

Alternatives:

4. Essential Oil Diffuser

Our Choice: URPOWER Essential Oil Diffuser

This handy diffuser is an easy way to keep the air in your bedroom moist and comfortable for optimal sleeping conditions. It operates quietly, produces scented mist to eliminate dryness, and automatically shuts off when it runs out of water. Plus, it comes with a groovy seven-color lamp feature. The ratings don’t lie: not only is it an Amazon’s Choice product, but it also boasts 4.5 stars out of 5 with over 31,800(!) reviews.

It’s normally listed at $24.99, but you can grab it for just $15.99 today — and choose from one of four colors.

Alternatives:

3. Blackout Drapes 

Our Choice: NiceTOWN Thermal Insulated Blackout Curtains

These two-panel, wrinkle-free blackout curtains are designed to shut out any sunlight that might prematurely rouse you in the early dawn (or during a midday nap). They’ll shut out up to 99% of all light and UV rays, insulate beautifully against heat and chill alike and reduce external noise with their built-in triple weave technology. Choose from one of 17 color options, and if you’re serious about light reduction — we recommend selecting one of the dark color curtains.

You can snag one for just $18.99.

Alternatives: 

2. Mattress Topper

Our Choice: Linenspa 2-Inch Gel-Infused Memory Foam Mattress Topper

Not looking to replace your bed, but want to make it more comfortable? This two-inch thick gel memory foam mattress topper is a great solution. It’s infused with gel material designed to prevent overheating, and the memory foam is designed for even weight distribution — conforming to curves and alleviating pressure points that might distract from a full night’s sleep. 

You can get this premium mattress topper for $56.99 for the Queen size, or choose from the Twin, Twin XL, Full, King, and California King size options.

Alternatives:

1. Humidifier

Our Choice: Honeywell HCM350W Mist Humidifier

This humidifier not only adds cool moisture to dry air: it utilizes UV technology to kill 99.9% of all bacteria in the water. Its proprietary Evaporative Technology works by blowing moisture off a wicking filter, eliminating the risk of over-humidifying. It’s an easy way to keep humidity levels in your home in the optimal 40-60% levels — especially perfect when you’re trying to get some shuteye in dry weather, during allergy season, or when you’re sick.

You can get this humidifer for $63.99 right now — or if you prefer, buy it used for $50.11.

Alternatives:

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3 Effective Ways Machine Learning Improves Your Bottom Line

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3 Machine Learning Benefits

Your business operates under a rock on an isolated island in the South Pacific. So you know artificial intelligence (AI) is the big thing today. AI assists consumers in their day-to-day activities with or without their knowledge. Consider services like voice assistance, online shopping, content streaming, and even texting.

Machine learning (ML) is an application of AI. It gives machines the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience. And this happens without the need for previous programming. This makes AI and ML services very lucrative. And many reputable certifications and learning materials exist to get you started.

Over 50 years have passed since the term “Machine Learning” was first coined. And today businesses big and small get crack at the technology. Early adopters of AI reap appreciable results. Benefits include increased efficiency, cost reduction, revenue growth and more.

And yet, less than 30% of businesses and organizations incorporate AI in their business model. You’ll find many potential upsides of the AI revolution. So don’t let your business fall behind.

Machine Learning Benefits

Start to appreciate just how big a boon machine learning can be for your business. Check out three key benefits of ML for you to chew over.

Improves User Experience

It doesn’t matter whether you run an e-commerce store, a SaaS startup, or a design/marketing agency. User experience (UX) remains one of the most crucial factors to success. Do visitors are finding it difficult to navigate your virtual property? They won’t hesitate for an instant to leave and head elsewhere.

Netflix found customers give up after searching for a movie for more than 90 seconds. So the company uses machine learning to improve search results. And Netflix averts user frustration and customer churn. The company also saves $1 billion a year in potential lost revenue.

Amazon uses machine learning to provide highly relevant product recommendations based on the user’s purchase history, ultimately resulting in a pleasant and personalized online shopping experience.

So, basically, while users are browsing your website, you can use machine learning to provide them with personalized purchase recommendations based on their browsing history and previous orders. Furthermore, you can also offer discounts and special offers to returning customers to build loyalty and positive word of mouth.

Apart from personalization, machine learning also serves as the most efficient way to build chatbots – which are becoming more of a necessity for serious businesses than a mere good-to-have feature. Why? More than 53% of customers prefer to use online chat when they need assistance over calling.

Having a chatbot on your website can assist your customer service team by being the first responder to your customer’s inquiries. Chatbots can also help your customer service team by pointing users to various parts of your website, saving time and allowing your team to deal with more important tasks required to move users further down the conversion funnel.

Chatbots built using machine learning are far superior to rule-based ones, and serve to enrich the user experience and make a lasting good impression.

Automates Routine Tasks

For small businesses, every hour saved is a big win. Streamlining operations to make them more time-efficient is a big challenge for businesses.

Automating mundane tasks is the first step to streamlining your business operations. It would free up a lot of time for you and your team to focus on core, productive tasks instead of routine drudgery.

So, tedious tasks such as creating appointment reminders, responding to email, and sending invoices can all be automated effectively using machine learning.

Facilitates Smart Marketing

Marketing has gone fully digital. As discussed, website personalization and chatbots play a big role in determining your business’s user experience.

Now, when you consider the bigger picture of digital marketing for establishing your brand value, many constituents come into play.

For example, email marketing is still huge — it has one of the highest return-on-investment (ROI) at $38 for every $1 spent. Automating email marketing using tools like MailChimp is a great way to make AI work for you. Such automation allows you to create emails get sent automatically when triggered by a subscriber’s activity, inactivity, or a specific date like birthday or anniversary.

Essentially, if a subscriber takes a certain action, a machine-learned response is triggered, and so on down the line until the customer (hopefully) converts.

Next, you can also use machine learning to monitor and manage your business’s social media profiles quite effectively.

Machine learning actually plays a momentous role in modern digital marketing campaigns, from sentiment analysis and split testing to customer retargeting and predicting customer churn. Read this fantastic post to learn more about how machine learning is revamping digital marketing.

Final Words

Of course, implementing machine learning for your business is not exactly going to be a walk in the park. Sure, there are plenty of plug-and-play solutions to website personalization, automation, chatbots, and email marketing. But you’ll either need to hire a bunch of developers or learn how to do it yourself if you truly want to develop a customized solution tailored perfectly for your brand.

In the end, whether you like it or not, AI is here to shake things up in the business world, and it’s better to hop on board sooner rather than later.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “3 Effective Ways Machine Learning Improves Your Bottom Line” was first published on Small Business Trends



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How to Start a Successful Online Business with Little to No Investment

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We all know the story about the guy who woke up one day, got a really cool idea, and started a successful online business from his basement. For example, Apple, Amazon and Google come to mind.

Live Your Dream Life with a Successful Online Business

Nowadays, in this fast-changing digital environment in which we can’t imagine a day without the Internet and social media, starting a successful online business seems more possible than ever. You don’t need advanced technology, a big team, or expensive resources to offer a service or a product that will find its way to customers all around the globe.

Moreover, as more and more people work remotely and use online services no matter where they are located, online business is something you should definitely consider as your next career stop. Plus, this kind of business will allow you to join a constantly growing community of digital nomads who live their dream lives while traveling the world.

If you believe that you need a large amount of money or a huge investment to launch a successful online business, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, a good Internet connection, a computer, and an original idea are all you need to start.

The Internet is full of free resources, platforms, and tools you can use to turn your idea into a successful business story. For example, you can start a website or a blog for free. Or, sell any kind of products via Amazon or eBay with no inventory costs. Now, let’s take a look at a few online businesses you can start with little to no investment.

Have You Considered Drop Shipping?

No matter where you live or what kind of product you want to buy, you can do it without leaving your couch. What’s more, it takes only a single click.

In the last couple of years, traditional shopping as we once knew it has been redefined. Customers now use eCommerce platforms to order products that are delivered straight to their doorstep. This change brought drop shipping to the scene.

Basically, drop shipping is a retail method where a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a customer orders a product, the store purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped to the customer. This means that the merchant will never see or stock the product.

How Can You Use This Mechanism for Starting Your Own Drop Shipping Business?

First, list products for sale on your website or well-known platforms like Amazon, eBay, or Etsy. Then, when one of your customers makes a purchase, you buy that product from a third-party company for a price that’s lower than your sale price. Finally, your drop shipper (a manufacturer or wholesaler) sends the product to the customer.

The great thing about this process is that it can be completely automated. Therefore, you have plenty of time to focus on other aspects of your business, such as marketing.

If you find yourself considering this business option, do your best to find a reliable drop shipper. This is how you will make sure the product is delivered on time and that it fits your customer’s expectations. As you can see, drop shipping can easily become a successful online business.

Try Your Hand at Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing can be another great opportunity to create a successful online business with zero investment.

In short, affiliate marketing is the process by which an affiliate earns a commission for marketing another person’s or company’s product. As an affiliate, you promote a product and earn a piece of the profit whenever you help make a sale.

If you find this interesting, you can start by picking a profitable niche for your online business. Then, find an affiliate partner who offers products in that niche. Each product will have a unique link that tracks back to your account with your affiliate partner.

Thereafter, it will be your job to come up with creative ways to promote those product links. When a customer clicks on a link, they’re taken directly to your partner’s shopping cart. And once the purchase is made, you receive a commission.

It Requires No Shipping or Inventory

To successfully run this type of online business all you have to do is to handle the marketing to get your prospects to buy. You can spread the word via social media, email marketing, or blogging. The best part is that you don’t have to ship products or maintain an inventory. Also, if you don’t know where to find affiliate partners, start with Clickbank.com, Amazon.com or CJ Affiliate by Conversant.

Have You Ever Thought About Blogging?

Have a passion
for writing? Want to share your knowledge while earning money? A personal
blog is a great place to start. What’s more, blogging can lead, in time, to a
successful online business with little investment.

For example, with the WordPress platform you can start up your blog for free in no time. Simply choose your domain, secure hosting, and select your niche. Then, just start writing.

Here are a few things you should keep in mind if you want to monetize your blogging.

High-quality
written content is just the beginning. Also post photos, videos, or links to
other sites. The important part is to post on a regular basis and to create the type of content that is relevant to your target audience. This is the
best way to position better on Google and drive more traffic to your
blog.

Pair Blogging with PPC Ads and Affiliate Marketing to Generate Income

One proven
method for making money with a blog is advertising.
Pay-per-click ads are great options for a reason. Every time somebody clicks on
an ad on your site, you will make a few cents or more. While that might
not seem like much, it can accumulate over time. Just
get a code from Google and place it on your website. Then ads will
automatically appear on your blog.

Affiliate marketing is also a great option for bloggers. Simply include links to products related to your niche and wait for somebody to buy them. Before you know it, your commission will be on its way to you.

One way of getting people to click on your affiliate links is by writing product reviews. Let your readers know all the benefits of a specific product and then include a link to purchase it.

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO USE INFLUENCER MARKETING TO BOOST YOUR BRAND

This is how many influencers earn a living: They collaborate with big brands. Doesn’t this sound like a really cool way to have a successful online business?

successful online business 2

Creative Types Do Well with Online Videos

There’s a reason why video continues to be one of the most popular forms of content. Statistics say that 78% of people watch online videos every week. What’s more, 55% view them every day. As a matter of fact, by 2022, videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic. This all means that videos are no longer simply a nice content option; they are a necessity. So, why not use this momentum? You could earn cash by creating original video content.

Thanks to platforms like YouTube, you don’t need any major investments to get started with this type of successful online business. Just find the niche in which you can share useful tips, knowledge, or any kind of advice.

Work on your concept and get good with storytelling. Finally, start uploading videos. Once you’ve got a good channel going, you can start making money with ad revenue. Simply enable monetization in your YouTube settings to let Google include short AdSense ads with your videos. Whenever your viewers click on these ads, you will get paid.

You Could Attract Paid Sponsorships

Another way of earning money with videos is through paid sponsorships. If you have a large enough community watching your videos, there will surely be some companies ready to pay you to promote their products and services in your videos. However, before you start down the path toward YouTube stardom, here are some tips for creating professional-looking videos.

  1. Always make sure the lighting is good and the camera or smartphone you use has good resolution.
  2. Make sure your audio is clear. The best way of ensuring good audio quality is by using a separate microphone (not the one on your camera or smartphone).
  3. Edit your videos after filming. Cut out any excess material. Also, include titles, calls to action, and so on.

Build a Successful Online Business Around Information Products

A successful online business doesn’t have to be only about selling physical products. Instead, you can focus on digital information products. For instance, could you create tutorials, courses, and the like?

While making a quality information product generally costs next to nothing, it does take time and knowledge. But if you feel like you have talents and skills worth sharing, why not give it a try? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

  • Audio: a recorded teleconference, interview, course, or audiobook
  • Video: a recorded webinar, a how-to, an interview, tutorials, presentations
  • Text: an eBook, an instruction booklet of some sort, a travel guide

No matter what kind of content you want to create, keep it engaging and useful. This is how you can make sure its popularity will grow and it will find its way to new customers.

Take Advantage of Endless Opportunities to Start a Successful Online Business

There are tons of opportunities for making money on the Internet. And thanks to all the free platforms and resources available, you can launch an online business with minimal upfront investment.

While it requires lots of time and effort, becoming a successful entrepreneur is far from impossible these days. Now it’s up to you to choose the approach that best fits your skills and personality. We wish you the best of luck with creating your successful online business!


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How to Become a Professional Fortnite Player

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Pro gamer Nick ‘Marksman’ Overton explains how to make money and have fun as he prepares for the Newegg + CLG Fortnite Challenge.


5 min read


Did your parents ever tell that video games would rot your brain? Did they also mention that video games could also make you fabulously wealthy?

Nick Overton makes a killing, literally and figuratively, as a professional Fortnite player. Last year, the 27 year old from Iowa better known in gaming circles as “Marksman” left a long trail of dead digital competitors in his wake — and made $500,000 in the process.

Entrepreneur caught up with the sharp-eyed assassin in advance of his appearance with other members of his esports team Counter Logic Gaming at the Newegg + CLG Fortnite Challenge, a Fortnite event being held at The Hulu Theater at MSG in New York City on April 24. The event, free to the public, will feature pro players, celebrities and amateurs putting their skills on full display. One lucky fan will have the chance to take home a “Game Like a Pro” package. (Get free tix here.)

Read on to learn what Marksman says it takes to become a professional gamer (spoiler alert: lots and lots of practice) and the unexpected obstacle that nearly derailed his career before it even started.

How do people react when you tell them that you are a professional video game player?

Usually, they’re intrigued. They’ve either heard of people who play games for a living or they’ve never heard of it and have no idea it could be done. Those people are usually in the older crowd, and question why anyone would want to watch someone else play a video game.

Were your family and friends supportive?

My friends were always cool with what I did since I kept it as a hobby for a long time before it ever became my job/career. My parents were a different story. They hated that I played so many games when I was younger. They’d take my controller/power chord from me and hold it ransom all the time. They did it enough times that when I was 12, my Dad took my Xbox and all the games and sold it on Craigslist while I was at school. I got home and didn’t have any gaming console anymore.

Related: The ‘Fortnite’ dance lawsuits are close to falling apart

Ouch! They’re probably not doing that anymore. How much money can a professional player expect to make a year?

This number fluctuates a lot! You have professional players in some games making around $20,000-$30,000 a year, while pros in some other higher-priority games make millions. It really boils down to how good you are, what game you’re competing in, and do you stream or create monetizable content in any way.

Where does that money come from? Prizes, advertising, sponsorship?

Money comes from a lot of different sources. You generate income from tournament winnings, sponsors, advertising played over your stream or YouTube videos, channel subscriptions on Twitch and fans who donate to say thank you for the content you provide.

What kind of training does it require? Are you playing for hours every day?

If you want to get really good at anything, it requires practice. Most pro players in Fortnite play for 5-10 hours a day consistently. Not all of that time is dedicated to hardcore practice, but a fair amount is. They need to practice their mechanical skills and decision making while playing. The best way to do that is to put yourselves into as many situations as possible and try different things to see what works best. The game is consistently updated though, so what works today may not work tomorrow.

Related: The CEO Behind ‘Fortnite’ Is Now Worth More Than $7 Billion

What first steps should someone who wants to be a pro gamer take? How do you break into this field?

This is one of the easiest and most difficult jobs to get into. Here’s why: pretty much anyone can become a pro in a game they love to play. It doesn’t take years of schooling to start, it doesn’t take a ton of upfront capital to get into. It’s very open and easily accessible. But it is very difficult to be in the top .0001% of players worldwide. That goes for almost every game. You have to play a crazy amount and really try to improve and win.

How do you explain Fortnite‘s insane popularity?

There’s a lot of reasons Fortnite has become successful. The game is pretty well made in comparison to its competition of other Battle Royales. It’s completely free to download and play, available on basically every platform, and it’s catered to kids and adults. It’s a shooting game but, there’s no blood or gory deaths in it. It also brought something new to the Battle Royale genre which was the building aspect, where you could create your own cover. It adds a lot of strategy and skill into the game where other Battle Royale games were mainly just about your aim and positioning.

Related: 3 Things Every Business Leader Should Know About Esports

How did you go about building your personal brand? What did you do to separate yourself from other players?

I spent years creating content on YouTube and live streaming gameplay to help grow my own brand and channels. I always tried to separate myself by showing high-end gameplay with informative content to help others improve. Then I added in a lot of funny content to add some diversity. I’ve always tried to do stuff that others aren’t doing to attract people though. Using interesting strategies, combinations of weapons or doing crazy plays that people would almost never be able to pull off. That’s helped to draw people in and keep them around.

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Wow! 40% of Small Businesses STILL Haven’t Recovered from the Government Shutdown

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Impact of Government Shutdown to Overall Economy and Small Businesses

The last U.S. federal government shutdown started on December 22, 2018, and ended on January 25, 2019. The 35 days made it the longest U.S. government shutdown in history.

So how did the shutdown affect small businesses during the 35 days?

According to a new BizBuySell survey of small business owners, it didn’t have any impact at all for 79% of the owners. Only 18% of small businesses said the impact was negative, with a small 4% claiming it was positive.

Of those negatively impacted, 40% said they still haven’t recovered from the shutdown. The remaining 60% said they have recovered.

Impact of Government Shutdown to Overall Economy

In the overall economy, the shutdown cost the U.S. GDP $3 billion. The data comes from a report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The CBO said, “The shutdown dampened economic activity mainly because of the loss of furloughed federal workers’ contribution to GDP, the delay in federal spending on goods and services, and the reduction in aggregate demand.”

As the survey also points out, the negative impact was essentially limited to businesses who were dealing with government workers.

BizBuySell surveyed more than 1,000 small business owners across the U.S. on a range of issues. The goal was to get their perspective on recent events such as the government shutdown, tax reform and more.

Negatively Impacted Businesses

Businesses who had a negative experience identified several different factors. Again, it was in great part driven by businesses who lost federal workers as customers.

More than half or 56% said it was because customers who lost wages couldn’t purchase their product or service. Along those lines, another 26% said closed offices meant fewer customers in their location.

The closed federal offices were responsible for losing government contracts and loan delays. Eighteen percent of businesses said they lost contracts and 13% responded there were SBA Loan delays.

Regarding other issues, 10% of businesses experienced disruption in the delivery of their products. And an equal number also said travel was more difficult, which was in part due to federal employees not working.

Taxes

On the topic of taxes, businesses were asked how the new regulations of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act affected them this year.

The largest percentage of the responses came from 33% of owners who said their taxes remained the same. An almost equal number or 30% said they were not sure. The remaining respondents (14%) said it raised their taxes, while 22% said it lowered their taxes.

Their sentiment about the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act was also a mixed bag of opinions. When asked how it affected their business 35% said positive, 20% negative, and 45% said it had no impact.

It was noticeably different when it came to men and women. More men (38%) said it was positive compared to women (22%). The answer about the negative impact was higher with women at 28% and only 17% of men felt the same way.

An almost equal number of men and women felt it had no impact at all. Half of all the business women owners (50%) said the Act didn’t have any impact and 45% of men said the same.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “Wow! 40% of Small Businesses STILL Haven’t Recovered from the Government Shutdown” was first published on Small Business Trends



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Develop Yours and Use It to Win Negotiations

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emotional intelligence

Image by Robert-Owen-Wahl from Pixabay

A critical element in successful negotiations is emotional intelligence. But what is emotional intelligence and how can we use this key skill to ensure successful negotiations?

What Is Emotional
Intelligence?

In Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book Emotional Intelligence, he describes how this skill can be divided into two parts. Further, he asserts that in order to have a successful business deal you need to have self-awareness as well as self-control with your emotions.

What Are Emotions?

An emotion is a mental reaction such as anger or happiness. When you have an emotion, you experience a feeling that is connected to a thought.

Generally speaking, our emotions are usually directed toward a specific object or person. Moreover, they are typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body.

With self-awareness we gain the ability to read our own emotions. What’s more, we begin to recognize the role that those feelings play in our decision-making. As we grow in self-awareness, we begin to gain self-control. This is the ability to manage our emotions and impulses and to adapt to changing circumstances.

Emotional Intelligence Teaches You to Manage Your Emotions

Emotions play a vital role when we’re in search of a resolution. When we have not yet learned to manage our emotions, we find it harder to come to a peaceful resolution.

A good place to start is to understand yourself, your intentions, and your behavior. Secondly, make an effort to understand others, their feelings, their intentions, and their responses.

Why Is Emotional Intelligence So Important?

Understanding emotions is critical in negotiation. That’s because you are responsible, at least in part, for the feelings of those you are negotiating with. For example, if you are doing or saying something that is irritating to the other person, cooperation will be more difficult to achieve.

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO PREPARE TO RUN YOUR OWN BUSINESS WHILE STILL IN SCHOOL

Are You an Introvert or
an Extrovert?

One of the basics of emotional intelligence is knowing whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert.

Extroverts tend to be more communicative. Further, they tend to be more emotionally open people. They are more inclined to voice their views as well as their likes and dislikes. However, extroverts have a bigger challenge when they’re negotiating. That’s because extroverts may lack the self-control and self-discipline negotiation requires.

On the other hand, introverts lean toward being more deliberate in their responses. In other words, they are more inclined to reflect, weigh, and consider before speaking.

What’s more, these are valuable skills in negotiations. The more prudent your communication, the less likely you are to give away your position by saying too much.

Play Your Cards Close to Your Vest in Negotiations

As a matter of fact, the last thing you want to do during a negotiation is make yourself vulnerable to the other party. This you can easily do by giving them more information that you need to, making your actions easier for them to guess.

Curb Your Competitive Nature

Regardless of your level of emotional intelligence, successful negotiations in business can be challenging. Therefore, it is important to learn to manage your need to win.

For example, when you’re engaged in a negotiation, do you feel internal pressure get a better deal than the one that was originally on the table? If so, learn not to let ego and greed get in your way.

This tendency can be particularly difficult to manage. Although business is all about winning and outperforming your competitors, many people lose out on good deals because their desire to win is so high.

This is why some businesses turn to experts for negotiation consulting. In this way, they train their staff on the best negotiation tactics.

Learn How to Deal with
Rejection

On the other hand, some inexperienced negotiators start with an offer that they know the other party can accept because they fear hearing the word “no.”

However, if you learn to open with a position that asks for what you want and yet is realistic, you will hear the word “no” a lot. It is part of the process, though, and you should expect it.

Keep the Dialogue Open

Whatever you do, learn to keep the dialogue open. When you do, the other party will be less likely to walk away. To do this, invite the other person to tell you how close they can come to your offer.

This keeps the conversation professional, rather than emotional. And it allows them to talk about your position as well as theirs.

Additionally, effective negotiation depends on recognizing and managing non-verbal cues. You’ll also need to learn how to sense personal and social biases. All of this comes with emotional intelligence.

Use these skills to develop trust, an essential element in communicating, especially with difficult people.

Emotional Intelligence Helps You to Build Trust

When it comes to emotional intelligence and influencing another person, we must understand how the other negotiator is perceiving us. We also need to understand how that perception matches with her or his wants, needs, and desires. This is essential to building trust, which is a necessary ingredient to any successful negotiation.

Emotional Intelligence
Can Help You Succeed at Life

Emotional intelligence can help you to succeed in negotiations. What’s more, it can also help you to succeed in life as well. That’s because negotiations are a fundamental aspect of learning to live with other human beings.

So cultivate your emotional intelligence, and learn to use it to your benefit. It will take you far in business—and in life.

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How to Get Good with Retaining and Retargeting Ecommerce Customers

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ecommerce customers

Every business wants loyal customers. It doesn’t matter if yours is big or small, old or new, offline or online—this fact holds true. Fortunately, there are a number of low-effort methods for retaining your ecommerce customers.

Read on to find out more about turning one-time buyers into loyal customers in the ecommerce realm.

What Is
Ecommerce?

What is ecommerce? Shopify defines ecommerce as “the buying and selling of goods or services using the Internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions.”

Did you notice the part about transfer of data? in other words, ecommerce businesses can strategically use the data they collect from online shoppers to retarget and retain buyers.

How to Retain
and Retarget Your Ecommerce Customers

Therefore, without further ado, here’s how to keep ecommerce customers through retention and retargeting schemes.

Take
Advantage of Online Advertising

Targeted advertising is all the rage these days, and with good reason. Instead of merely buying ad space on a webpage or blog, which could be shown to anybody, you purchase the opportunity to remind specific users about your e-store.

For example, if a web user visits your store twice a day to view the same jean jacket, he or she will likely be shown an advertisement for that jacket on a third-party website through the use of cookies. This helps keep your ecommerce store top of mind. Moreover, it could motivate a purchase.

Harness the Power of Email Marketing

While social media is the talk of the town right now, you shouldn’t ignore the old standby—email marketing.

As a matter of fact, ecommerce email marketing has a reported ROI of $40 for every one dollar spent. Luckily, it’s easy to capture a customer’s email address. For example, just use email campaign subscription opt-ins or checkout forms.

However, don’t abuse this privilege. In other words, don’t send your ecommerce customers spam or other unwanted messages.

RELATED ARTICLE: 3 EMAIL MARKETING STRATEGIES TO BOOST YOUR BUSINESS

If you want to harness the power of email marketing, there are a number of approaches you can take. The first is run-of-the-mill marketing announcements. These include store news, notices of upcoming sales, alerts regarding new product launches, and the like.

Get Personal
with Your Ecommerce Customers

The second type is personalized email messages. These should mention the shopper’s first name along with content specific to them. For instance, “Hey Jessica. Are you enjoying your new cookware? Find deep discounts on kitchen products in our clearance section!”

RELATED ARTICLE: BIG DATA: 6 WAYS LEARNING HOW TO USE IT WILL HELP YOUR BUSINESS

The email starts by getting the buyer’s attention. Then it provides them recommendations based on their recent purchases. However, don’t get too specific. That’s because some of your ecommerce customers could find hyper-specific messages creepy.

Retarget Your
Ecommerce Customers

A third suggestion is to retarget shoppers who have inexplicably abandoned their carts before completing their orders. This doesn’t have to be a big to-do.

Instead, make it a gentle nudge reminding your customer about their pending order. For example: “Hi Tom. We noticed you had three items in your cart. Complete your order to avoid missing out on these exciting products. If you have any questions or need further assistance, see our contact page.”

A note like this one could make the difference between a successful sale and a missed opportunity.

Leverage Order Fulfillments for Retargeting Your Ecommerce Customers

Then again,
not every method of retargeting is digital. There are tactics to retarget
customers offline as well.

Consider your order fulfillments for a moment. A first-time buyer purchases something from your website and waits eagerly by their mailbox for its delivery. Once the package is in hand, she tears open the box and is delighted to see her merchandise.

She tosses the cardboard box into the recycling bin and forgets about your e-store. And this is despite the fact that she loves your product.

You just missed
an opportunity to retarget this customer.

How to Retarget This Customer

To retarget this customer, consider dropping limited-time coupon codes into the delivery box. For example, one could read, “30 percent off your next order. Good for 60 days.”

The idea is to offer the new buyer a personalized discount code that automatically reintroduces them into the ecommerce sales cycle within a short period of time following their first purchase. And since it’s a unique coupon code, you can track the efficacy of this program. Pretty clever, no?

Stay Front
and Center with Your Ecommerce Customers

As you can see, retargeting and retaining ecommerce customers is all about keeping your ecommerce website top of mind. This can be accomplished through digital advertising, email marketing, or even during the order fulfillment process.

Of course, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of other methods out there. Therefore, feel free to experiment until you find what works best with your ecommerce customers.

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