October
20, 2018

1 min read

Some people like to say that entrepreneurs are born, not made — that you either have the talent to start a billion-dollar company or you don’t. But, some of the most famous and successful entrepreneurs in the world struggled to find their way. 

For example, J.K. Rowling had difficulty finding anyone to publish the Harry Potter series, and while she worked on the books she lived as a single mother on welfare. Tim Ferriss received 25 rejection letters for The 4-Hour Workweek. Even geniuses such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos had business failures. 

This infographic from Pound Coffee breaks down 18 great examples, which you can use for inspiration in the low moments of your pursuit of entrepreneurship. Whether you’ve gotten rejected, faced failure or just lost a little steam, this list might remind you why you ought to keep moving forward.

Embedded from Pound Coffee

October
19, 2018

5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Last year, online transactions on Cyber Monday reached a record $6.59 billion, according to Adobe Insights — and that biggest day for online shopping is right around the corner. Nor is this event, which follows Black Friday, just for tech and electronics anymore; ecommerce businesses of all types are now participating. So, is your ecommerce business ready to make a splash on the web and bring in record-breaking sales?

Related: Cyber Monday 2017: Everything You Need to Know

Of course, it can be difficult to get noticed on Cyber Monday with so many knockout deals offered by big-box stores. That’s why your online store needs to stand out among the crowd and find a way to attract droves of shoppers to your site and convince them to buy while they’re there.

But, how do you do this? Consider instituting the following five tips to boost your ecommerce sales on Cyber Monday.

Create a cyber-exclusive, one-day deal.

Offering 15 percent off to shoppers during Cyber Monday simply will not do the trick. To stand out on that crazy day, when all of your competitors are offering up amazing deals, you’ve got to create a cyber-exclusive, one-day sale that’s too good for consumers to pass up.

As an example, Dean & Deluca offers 50 percent off the cost of shipping for Cyber Monday only. Fifty percent off is enough to grab the attention of even the most seasoned shoppers.

Image credit: Revampcrm Blog 

Fifty percent is a lot to give away for many companies but it’s only for this one special day and it can drive a ton of sales. Still, if you’re worried about giving away too much and losing money, set a minimum purchase amount shoppers must reach before you unlock your awesome deal.

Related: $6 Billion in 2 Days: Black Friday and Cyber Monday by the Numbers

Showcase different products hourly.

You want to keep your brand at the top of shoppers’ minds, but they may find it difficult to keep their eyes on you with so many Cyber Monday distractions. Accordingly, you have to entice users to keep coming back to your site by showcasing different products and sales every hour or two. Instead of just announcing a site-wide sale, highlight the wonderful items shoppers can get deals on throughout the day.

Fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer did something similar by showcasing the company’s latest styles and offering a new free gift every hour to consumers who made a purchase.

Image credit: Milled.com 

Showcasing a number of your best products will attract many different shoppers and make it easy for them to find what they’re looking for. For example, if you’re a fashion retailer, instead of sending the same blanket email announcing your Cyber Monday sale, showcase your jeans in one message, dresses in another and shoes in the next, to keep shoppers excited.

Increase people’s sense urgency, with countdowns.

So, you’ve enticed users to visit your site and check out your Cyber Monday deals, but how do you get them to make a purchase once they’ve arrived? A perfect way to get shoppers to hit that “checkout” button fast is to increase the sense of urgency using countdowns. The more scarce an item, the more people will want it.

A clock that’s ticking down the minutes, like the one in the example below, is a visual cue that really gets shoppers moving.

Image credit: Pinterest.ca  

You can easily add a countdown timer to your own ecommerce website using a tool like Shopify’s Hurrify — Countdown Timer. If your site runs on WordPress, a plugin like Countdown Timer — Widget Countdown is a good option.

Create a newsletter-exclusive offer.

If you want to boost sales this Cyber Monday and get more email subscribers, create a newsletter-exclusive offer. A special offer like this rewards your loyal subscribers and creates a VIP feeling, and at the same time it helps you build an even bigger email list.

In the example below, FabKids rewards its email subscribers with early access to its Cyber Monday deals.

Image credit: Hellosubscription.com  

Your loyal followers are the shoppers who are mostly likely to buy from you anyway, so give them an incentive to start spending early and to purchase more. Be sure to promote this exclusive deal to users who aren’t subscribers to encourage them to sign up for your email list and join this elite group that offers them the best deals available.

Combat abandoned carts.

During the first quarter of 2018, a Statista study found a 75.6 percent rate for online retail orders being abandoned instead of purchased. That’s a ton of missed sales. So, instead of letting all those shoppers leave your site without buying this Cyber Monday, combat abandoned carts by enticing those consumers to return to your shop and complete their orders.

Bonobos fights cart abandonment by sending this fun email to users to help them finish their checkouts.  

Image credit: Getpayever.com 

Sending emails to users who have abandoned their carts is a great way to grab their attention. They may have been browsing and gotten distracted, but a simple reminder can get them back to your store. If they’re still not taking the bait, offer them a little extra discount to convince them you’re worth returning to.

Related: Why Every Business Needs a Cyber Monday Strategy

Over to you

Start preparing for Cyber Monday early to give yourself ample time to get shoppers excited about your offers. With these tips, your ecommerce store can thrill shoppers this Cyber Monday and bring in more sales than you ever imagined. And if you want to keep the momentum going, there’s no stopping you from extending your Cyber Monday sale to Tuesday.  

October
18, 2018

4 min read

The year 2013 was a big one for Khajak Keledjian. He’d sold his luxury apparel company Intermix to Gap for a reported $130 million, got married and went to Burning Man. After walking into a temple, Keledjian saw other Burners meditating and having reflective moments. “It made me think, ‘Why aren’t there places like this to have a similar experience in big cities like New York?’” he told Entrepreneur.

“The following November my father got sick while he was visiting Armenia. I went there to be with him and I also visited third-century monasteries built inside caves. They were bathed in candlelight and in this environment, my senses were heightened,” Keledjian recalled. Again, he was left with a desire to bring the quiet and tranquility back home with him. So he went for it.

Related: 7 Proven Ways Meditating Prepares You for Success

The result was Inscape, a New York City meditation studio and shop, app and ecommerce site, that he founded and serves as CEO of.

Credit: INSCAPE

“I knew that to help people live to their fullest and navigate everyday stressors and challenges, we needed to create both an oasis and a tool,” he explained. “We drew inspiration from nature, history, technology, art — not just one thing. Then, we created app our to deliver efficient guided experiences to solve everyday problems, so you can recenter and recharge quickly, wherever you are.”

Keledjian cites some pretty telling statistics when asked about the health and wellness market he’s now working in.

• Anxiety disorders affect 40 million adults in America. (ADAA)
• One in three Americans have some form of a sleep disorder, resulting in shorter recommended sleep duration. (CDC)
• Eight in 10 Americans said they encountered stress in their everyday lives. (Gallup Poll)

Keledjian said it is his company’s mission “to inspire people to connect with their best selves and live life to its fullest potential.” Here’s how he says meditation can help do that.

Related: I Tried This Oprah Meditation Hack Every Day for Two Weeks. Here What Happened

1. It helps with problem-solving.

“Being a busy CEO when I started meditating it helped me find answers to tough decisions that weren’t in the books. In 2008, the economy was crashing and I needed answers you couldn’t find on Google. Meditation helped me harness my intuition, think clearly and take bold risks, like selling my business and starting INSCAPE.”

2. It relieves stress.

“Meditation reduces stress and cortisol levels, which are a result of people everywhere being overstimulated and stressed. With reduced cortisol, you’re not activating your fight-or-flight response —  you can respond more and react less. So rather than losing my cool if something doesn’t go as planned, I take a breath and focus on how to re-navigate to get back on course. This can be budgets, timelines, a surprise meeting — anything that catches you off-guard.”

Related: This is How Meditation at Workplace Can Improve Employee Efficiency

3. It re-energizes you.

“Improved sleep is priceless. Meditation helps you sleep better and deeper. I wake up without an alarm, feeling rested. Our App’s sleep section helps me get my little girls to sleep, and it helps me relax and reset.”

4. It helps you find clarity.

“Meditation helps me think with an aerial perspective like I’m in a drone. Sometimes the clarity means I can come off as shrewd, or fast. But the clarity also gives me a horizon view, and my compassion has increased … so there’s a balance. This also helps me in my personal life, as a husband and father.”

October
16, 2018

3 min read

Opinions expressed by Green Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

According to a recent study out of New York University, Baby Boomers aged 50 to 64 are consuming a lot more weed than they used to last decade, with 9 percent of those surveyed disclosing marijuana use in the last year. The report made headlines across the world, as many were surprised to learn American grandparents are picking up the herb.

However, a new report by Green Market Report and Brightfield Group (sponsored by MedMen) highlights two other big groups of unexpected cannabis consumers: Divorced Dads and Microdosing Moms.

The people behind the report in question reviewed data from MedMen cannabis dispensaries sales in California, and discovered that, while marijuana use is still highest among men under the age of 40, demographics are changing fast. Here’s a quick snapshot of the main findings:

• Roughly 42 percent of MedMen customers are aged of 21 to 31.
• Adults aged 32 to 38 came in second, representing with 21 percent of customers.
• Adults between the ages of 39 and 53 make up the third largest group of MedMen customers.
• Approximately 14 percent of customers are aged 54 or more.

“Our personas were developed using a mixed-method approach of machine learning and cluster analysis supported by content and qualitative expertise applied with scrutiny,” said Director of Research Bethany Gomez. Other interesting groups identified by the report include Boomerangs (Baby Boomers who are returning to cannabis in their later years), and the Liberal Elite.

Related: Building a Solid Foundation for Your Cannabis Brand Is Step One to Success

Source: Brightfield Group

Adding to Gomez’s point, Green Market Report’s CEO Debra Borchardt said, “From the surveys conducted with these two profiles your selected, I found it particularly interesting that there was no real brand loyalty with Divorced Dads.”

“Microdosing Moms have an upbeat outlook and are more brand loyal,” she added. “This most likely accounts (or should) for why so many cannabis brands are trending toward targeting women in their advertising and marketing campaigns.”

Related: Here’s Why the DEA Re-Scheduling Just One Cannabis-Based Drug Is a Very Big Deal

Divorced Dads

Here are some interesting stats on divorced men who  consume cannabis and have children:

• 97 percent are white.
• 47 percent are aged 57 to 79.
• 25 percent are aged 46 to 55.
• 41 percent are daily cannabis users
• 33.3 percent use cannabis 2-4 days per week.
• 78 percent are low-ticket buyers, spending less than $150 a month
• Less than 4 percent spend more than $250 a month
• Almost 3 out of every four Divorced Dads use cannabis to relax at home
• Almost half of them use cannabis for home duties
• And 44 percent use cannabis for outdoor activities

Related: 3 Hottest Cannabis Trends in California

Microdosing Moms

Many mothers with children at home said they regularly use cannabis in small doses — less than 100 mg. Out of them:

• Almost half are aged 21 to 35
• 25 percent are aged 36 to 45
• 24 percent are aged 46 to 79
• 35 percent use cannabis daily
• 21.5 percent only use cannabis a few times a year
• 75 percent prefer to use cannabis while relaxing at home
• 63 percent use it for home duties
• 61 percent said they usually use it to treat anxiety

October
15, 2018

9 min read

The caffeine flowed freely, and so did conversations by dozens of coffee entrepreneurs — who perhaps talked a tad faster than normal — at the fourth annual New York Coffee Festival in Manhattan this past weekend.

Featured at the event were booths for espresso machines, French presses and eco-friendly coffee cups, plus free tastings of every flavor of roasted bean imaginable — as well as “latte design” demonstrations, and even coffee bean-inspired jewelry from the Czech Republic.

Related: How This Coffee Startup Rocketed to National Retail Within a Few Months of Its Launch

There was also one especially popular booth inviting coffee aficionados to swap out the simple syrup in their morning joe for syrup infused with CBD (the cannabis compound cannabidiol) — something that’s now legal in multiple states.

“These are the people that are genuinely obsessed by coffee,” Jeffrey Young said in an interview. He’s the Australian-born founder and CEO of London-based Allegra Group, which puts on the festival in Manhattan and next month will launch a West Coast version, in Los Angeles, starting Nov. 9.

Young glanced happily back over his shoulder at the jam-packed Metropolitan Pavilion event space (with a line outside of still more attendees waiting to get in). Based on registrations, Young said he expected a total of 12,000 to 14,000 visitors over three days. These coffee devotees had come to hobnob with about 100 vendors plus their guest vendors, who included some 200 different roasting companies, Young said.

“It’s a passion for them,” Young said of the festival-goers sipping free lattes and nibbling pastries across the Pavilion’s huge expanse, or wandering upstairs to hear coffee lectures. “Somehow they like the personality of coffee, whatever that means. It’s very personal to them.

“And it’s not just about coffee itself,” he continued. “It’s about coffee spaces, about the community that coffee brings.”

Related: How This Woman Perked Up Her Family’s Coffee Business and Jolted Sales by 300 Percent

And the entrepreneurs? “That room is full of entrepreneurs,” Young confirmed. “These are the young coffee entrepreneurs building their businesses, some of them growing very, very rapidly. And there’s a few big businesses in there, like Breville, [and other] coffee equipment companies. But underlying this is, it’s a very entrepreneurial marketplace.”

To underscore that point, Young described the flurry of acquisitions that has occurred in the industry this year. “JAB Holding Co., a privately held company, really set the tone for acquisitions in this market,” Young said. “You’ve seen Nestle acquire [a majority stake in] Blue Bottle Coffee this year; and, local here to New York, a business created here in New York and spreading all over the country is Bluestone Lane. They’re being invested in by Stephen Ross,” the billionaire chairman of Related Cos.

In recent years, Young added, JAB acquired Stumptown Coffee Roasters, as well as Peet’s Coffee, and took a majority stake in Pret a Manger last year. JAB further led the group of investors that acquired Keurig Green Mountain. And this year, JAB was also reported to be interested in the Italian chain Illycaffe SpA (Nestle reportedly was, too); Coca-Cola, meanwhile, invested in Costa Coffee.

“What these beverage companies have realized is that coffee is the most exciting beverage at the moment,” Young said. As a result, ”Entrepreneurs are seeing these [high] valuations out there in the marketplace; and there’s a lot of interest in investment in the small boutique coffee chains.”

A stroll through the Pavilion reflected Young’s assessment, as various entrepreneurs spoke with enthusiasm about their caffeine-fueled passion:

Azuca

In an interview, Eben Freeman, executive product development director, was bullish about his Massachusetts-based company’s CBD-infused simple syrup. “It solves most of the problems you have with CBD oils or edibles,” Freeman said of the syrup. That’s good, he explained, because, in a word, CBD’s natural flavor tastes like … cabbage.

What makes Azuca’s line of sweeteners, which will be available online this week and are already sold in some outlets (including company owner Ron Silver’s Bubby’s restaurants, in New York) special is their absence of terpenes. Terpenes are the hydrocarbons that give CBD products their bad smell.

Image credit: Azuca

“When you put [the product] into dilution, a cup of coffee, you really don’t taste it at all,” Freeman claimed.

CBD, for those not in the know, has been credited with helping people combat depression, anxiety and chronic pain. It lacks the cannabis ingredient THC and so produces no “high.”

Azuca’s CBD syrup is sold in bottles, whose smaller version offers four servings — each with 10 milligrams of CBD — priced at $18. “You can put it into your coffee in the morning, into your tea in the afternoon or your cocktail at the end of the night,” Young said.

Biohazard Coffee

Kelly Driscoll, marketing director of the two-year-old company Biohazard Coffee, frequently had to step aside at her company’s booth to allow her colleague “Patch” to pose for selfies being taken by visitors eager to be seen with him, because he was attired in a biohazard suit and mask.

The stunt was related to the company’s name, which Driscoll explained stems from the coffee’s “928 kilograms of caffeine for 12 fluid ounces. That makes it three to four times the amount of caffeine you’ll find in normal barista-made coffee,” she said.

The company prides itself on not adding anything to the raw coffee and on using “100 percent robust” beans which, Driscoll said, strips away the beans’ natural bitterness. “For me personally, I drink three or four cups of coffee a day,” Driscoll said. “So, instead of having three to four cups a day, I have one in the morning and I’m good to go.”

“In the U.S. we’re by far the strongest” coffee, Driscoll continued, while acknowledging that a competitor could beat Biohazard at its own game. “That’s the thing with highly caffeinated coffees,” she said. “Someone could always come out with something stronger.”

Breville

“My name means ‘to be calm,’ which I’m not,” declared Rachael Calmas, referring to her career as a publicist who promotes a company making espresso machines. Specifically, Calmas works for the Australian food equipment company Breville, whose U.S. headquarters, for 15 years, has been in Torrance, Calif.

The company’s focus is on kitchen machines for the home market — such as wood fired pizza ovens — as well as espresso machines for coffee-adoring Americans.

Some of those stainless steel works of art were on display at the Coffee Festival. Breville’s most recent machines, the Oracle Touch and Barista Touch (both automatic and manual), each won a “Best New Product” award at the Specialty Coffee Association Expo.

Coming out next month is Breville’s newest machine, the Bambino-Plus, a $500 mini espresso machine. It’s joining a crowded market — one, Calmas said, that boasts machines that are beautiful “statement” pieces for your kitchen counter, as well as machines for the “smart home” category, “where you have a phone [and tell it] ‘Make my coffee before I get out of bed.’”

The real key to a good espresso? Not just a fancy machine, Calmas acknowledged, but “the right texture of milk” — and that’s not easy to get every time. “Honestly,” she added, “the highest-fat whole milk is going to give you the best quality.”

Ecoffee Cup

David McLagan, founder and CEO, explained how he founded Ecoffee Cup, an eco-cup company, back in 2014, “when we found out that over 100 billion single use cups go to landfills.”

His company is English and Dutch, and based in London and Amsterdam, but it’s establishing a U.S. foothold, in Brooklyn, N.Y., soon.

The company’s eco-cups — which come in 100 different designs and four different sizes — are made from a composite of bamboo fiber, cornstarch and resin. The cups offer the same durability as ceramic and also the ability to hold temperatures stable for 45 minutes. The $11.76 cups are phthalate-free.

Cafes, McLagan said, are willing to put their coffee in customers’ own eco cups; Starbucks gives a 10 cent discount.

Interestingly, Ecoffee’s website boasts the relatively new extension “eco” on its name. Companies have to apply for the honor of using that “eco” extension by providing an impact statement and environmental credentials.

At the festival overall, environmentalism was a concern voiced not only by Ecoffee Cup but by Project Water Fall, a British nonprofit whose mission is “to bring clean, safe drinking water, sanitation and education to coffee growing communities”

The Northeast Recreational Coffee Association

Latte artists — the folks who put those cool cinnamon designs on your latte foam — have the souls of entrepreneurs in that they’re out to push the envelope and throw their heart into their work.

The Association holds a monthly New York-based “throwdown” among baristas, and is part of a wave of such competitions nationwide, said organizer Lanny Huang.

Huang equivated latte art to “plating a dish” meaning the art upscale restaurants engage in to create a beautiful dinner plate. “Latte art is pouring a design over a latte, and the skills involved have a lot to do with texturing whole milk correctly,” he said.

“Basically, latte art has grown and specialty coffee has grown because it’s kind of a signature of elevating the coffee experience,” Huang said, pointing out the La Marzocco espresso machine behind him. As a matter of fact, that company thought enough of the Association’s efforts to sponsor its festival booth.

Related: These Entrepreneur Brothers Ditched Coffee for Matcha and Built a Multimillion-Dollar Drink Brand

“You generally won’t find good coffee served without latte art on top,” Huang declared.

October
14, 2018

1 min read

Augmented and virtual reality are changing the way we see technology, the future and the entire world. However, it might surprise you to learn that these concepts have been around since 1838, when Charles Wheatstone introduced his stereoscope. The stereoscope was a device that allowed a user to look through different holes for each eye, producing two images that would collectively appear larger and three-dimensional. 

Similarly, Thomas Edison and William Dickson also invented the kinetoscope in the 19th century, which used a small piece of film and a light bulb to allow users to look through a peephole and watch at 46 frames per second.

You can learn more about the history of augmented and virtual reality by checking out this infographic from HistoryDegree.net, which details not only the technology’s past but also its present and future.

Source: History Degree

October
13, 2018

2 min read

As an entrepreneur, one of the most important habits to cultivate is trust — not trust in others (however, that’s important too), but trust in yourself. How many times have you missed an opportunity because you listened to the advice of others rather than trusting a gut feeling that you had? It happens to the best of us, but in order to truly be successful, you have to learn how to trust yourself and follow your heart.

Related: The Many Logical Reasons to Lead With Your Gut Instinct

According to research published by Project Management Degrees, only half of Americans said they trusted their gut to tell them what’s true. Additionally, 62 percent of top business executives said they relied on their gut feelings. So why do so few people ignore their intuition? Simple: we’re conditioned to. All too often we’re advised to “look at the facts” and “weigh all the options,” when sometimes the answers we’re searching for come from within. Even as children, we’re told things such as “adults are always right.” We’re trained to listen to what we’re told, not make our own judgments and ultimately, not to follow our intuition.

Related: 9 Everyday Habits of the Average Millionaire

While it can be hard to shake the habits and ideals you’re raised with, if you want to find success and fulfillment, it’s time to start trusting yourself. Intuitive decisions can be just as right as analytical ones, and not only that, but easier, quicker and more natural too. Of course, that doesn’t mean to forget about the power of logic altogether. Instead, find a way to balance intuition and logic. For example, when you feel yourself veering towards a certain direction when making a decision, before things are set and stone, ask yourself if you have any specific prejudices that might be making you biased.

Related: 9 Bad Habits You Must Break To Be More Productive

To learn more, check out Project Management Degrees’ infographic below.

October
9, 2018

1 min read

In a post-game interview last night, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said, “It played out even greater than I ever could’ve imagined.”

He was talking about his amazing achievement on the field: In the second quarter victory of the Saints game against the Washington Redskins, Brees became the NFL’s all-time passing leader with a 62-yard touchdown pass to receiver Tre’Quan Smith.

Related: 40 Most Entrepreneurial Athletes In the Game

The NFL stopped the game as the crowd and Brees’ teammates alike roared to recognize his incredible accomplishment .(Peyton Manning previously held the record with 71,940 yards.) Brees hugged teammates on the field and shouted out to the fans before hitting the sidelines to hugs and kiss his wife, Brittany, and his four children, among others. Brees was mic’d up for the game and, in one powerful moment, was heard telling his kids, “You can accomplish anything in life you’re willing to work for, right?”

Watch the video, feel the chills, and get to work!