October
7, 2018

2 min read

There are a number of things you’re probably doing every morning that are actually hindering your productivity.

If you’re an avid coffee drinker, you might be surprised to find out that drinking coffee between 8 and 10 a.m can make you more stressed throughout the day. That’s because caffeine early in the morning interferes with the time that the stress hormone, cortisol, is peaking in your body. It’s best to get your fix between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Related: 8 Productivity Tips You’ve Never Heard of

When you get into the office and try to jump right into the top of your to-do list, you might find yourself confused and not very productive. When you don’t let your brain empty and refresh before starting a project or task, it loses a sense of control, becomes overwhelmed and ultimately, makes you less productive. Something else to avoid is checking email or social media right when you wake up. Typically, after checking your inbox, it takes a person at least 25 minutes to get back into a productive state. If you start your day off reading and responding to email after email, it will take you a long time to get back on track.

Another surprising mistake is setting self-imposed goals. Setting goals and deadlines for yourself might seem like an obvious productivity hack, but it turns out, that’s not the case. Instead, share your deadlines with others and you’ll feel more pressure and responsibility to get things done.

Related: 18 Proven Ways to Stay Focused That Increase Productivity

Check out resume.io’s infographic below for more productivity mistakes you’re likely making in the first 10 minutes of your day.

October
5, 2018

5 min read

While your next great idea could conceivably be born while maneuvering through rush-hour traffic or with your nose in a fellow straphanger’s armpit, breaking out of your routine is a time-honored method for encouraging inspiration to strike. As Tim Ferriss, Richard Branson and many others have found, a change of scenery can help stoke the flames of creativity. Narrowing down precisely where to escape to, however, can be a daunting task.

I recently spent a long weekend in Nassau Paradise Island, which turned out to be not only the perfect place to generally recharge, but, thanks to the wide variety of unique experiences offered, a hotbed for inspiration. (And no, it wasn’t just thanks to the copious rum.)

Related: 21 Ways to Get Inspired (Infographic)

Located on New Providence, the eleventh largest island of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Paradise Island is appropriately named. Between the white sand beaches and turquoise blue waters, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more beautiful spot to vacation. It’s also easily accessible, just under 200 miles from Miami, with direct flights from across the country clocking in at three hours or less. English is the official language, and the dollar is accepted, so the island maintains the convenience of a U.S. destination while remaining a true Caribbean experience.

Image credit: SLS Baha Mar

That authenticity is what elevates Paradise Island beyond a simple getaway spot. Unlike cookie-cutter resorts that are indistinguishable from one another, the two best properties on the island — iconic Atlantis and sleek upstart SLS Baha Mar — marry the best of luxury accommodations with true local flavor. With a combination like that, you’ll find it hard not to be inspired.

Related: 3 Important Changes That Can Save Yourself From Burnout

Here are five experiences in Nassau Paradise Island that will set you up for that next great idea.

1. Clear your mind on one of the Caribbean’s best beaches.

Wellness experts champion the idea of getting out into nature as a way to combat burnout, a notion backed by scientific research. Studies have found that witnessing something vast leads to a reduction in stress and an increase in open-mindedness. While a tropical island may seem like the least business-focused place on earth, the open expanses of mind-centering scenery make Paradise Island an ideal place to plot your next move. Cable Beach was our favorite spot to unwind; isolated enough for solitude, but still close to the amenities of the SLS Baha Mar.

2. Step out of your comfort zone at a colorful cluster of seafood restaurants.

Vacations are for trying new things, and when those things include tasty treasures from the sea, all the better. Take a break from resort life and head to Arawak Cay, aka the Fish Fry. Bahamians and visitors alike intermingle at this strip of over 30 stalls, stands and brick-and-mortar restaurants that has been called the “ultimate caribbean feast.”

Image credit: Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board

Related: 11 Habits of Truly Happy People

Forget the fried shrimp and order up a conch salad, “cracked” fish and a decadent guava duff. (You’ll have to trust me.) Oh, and feel free to stretch out your meal as you stroll in and out of the eateries on offer; the Fish Fry is a place to take it all in and let your brain — and taste buds — wander.

3. Let your hang-ups drift away at Aquaventure, an epic water park.

This is about as far away from the conference room as you can get. Located in the center of the Atlantis’ waterscape development, this 63-acre water world is one of the largest anywhere. Containing a mind-boggling 20 million gallons of water, slides and rivers, Aquaventure seems scientifically engineered to stimulate thought and decrease stress.

Image credit: Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board

4. See how world-class chefs spin local ingredients into high-end fare.

Oftentimes, a new idea is just a mix of old ideas refreshed in a unique way. In that spirit, the chefs at Paradise Island’s top restaurants combine ingredients and techniques from the island with international culinary techniques. For example, at Chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s famed Nobu restaurant, located in Atlantis, he puts his haute cuisine spin on roasted Bahamian lobster, ceviche and conch plucked fresh from the waters just outside.

5. Get an inside look at a legacy business — and drink some rum.

The founders of John Watling’s rum are sixth-generation members of a rum-producing family, making the complimentary tour of their distillery a fascinating glimpse at a legendary business.

Image credit: Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board

Related: Habits of the World’s Wealthiest People (Infographic)

Founded in 1789 and overlooking the harbor downtown, this estate is where Bahamians hand-craft John Watling’s small-batch Pale, Amber and Buena Vista rums. And if the sights, sounds and people of an iconic company don’t inspire, there’s always the tasting session. Cheers!

October
3, 2018

10 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

“When the student is ready, the teacher appears,” is a timeless quote. But finding a mentor can be challenging, not to mention finding someone who’s right for your needs, strengths, and shortcomings.

These Advisors in The Oracles share how to find the perfect mentor—and be the exceptional mentee.

Jocko Willink

Image credit: The Oracles

1. Make everyone your mentor.

I have the mindset that everyone I come in contact with is a mentor and I’m going to learn from them every day. I look at those around me who perform their jobs well and are inspiring leaders. I look for those who plan and communicate effectively. Then I emulate what they do well.

I’ve also learned a lot from those who are not good leaders. Maybe they were negative or condescending or didn’t listen to their team. I’ve learned as much from them as from great leaders. So to me, everyone is a mentor. —Jocko Willink, retired U.S. Navy SEAL officer, #1 NYT bestselling author, co-founder of Echelon Front, partner in Origin USA, and host of the top-rated “Jocko Podcast”

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Billy Gene Shaw

Image credit: The Oracles

2. Find someone who’s living your dream.

No matter what challenges you’re facing, you’re not alone. Others have been there and have the answers. Figuring it out on your own is a wasted effort.

Reach out to entrepreneurs who are living your dream. Offer something of value, but don’t shove an idea down their throat. Impress them by demonstrating a skill that can help their business. Build the relationship first. Your other option is to pay for a consultation. It’s expensive, but not as expensive as trying it on your own, making mistakes, and prolonging your success.

Whatever you do, don’t send a Facebook message saying, “I have a game-changing idea. Let’s talk!” I get those all the time, and I ignore them. Lastly, don’t listen to broke people. (Yes, that may include your parents.) —Billy Gene Shaw III, founder and CEO of Billy Gene Is Marketing, one of the world’s top online marketing influencers, educators, and practitioners; follow on Instagram and Facebook

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Cole Hatter

Image credit: The Oracles

3. Earn their attention with kind gestures.

One person can’t be your mentor in everything. First, define your personal standard of excellence. Then identify someone who’s living above that standard in the area you need help.

If you want a long-lasting relationship, find someone with the lasting love you want; not the person who’s been divorced five times because they’ve “done it the most.” In business, learn from the person who’s succeeded in the area you want to accomplish; not the person who’s unemployed but listens to podcasts all day so they “know what they’re talking about.”

Second, get their attention. This is tricky because most people at the top aren’t actively looking for someone to mentor. But with social media, it’s easy to observe those you seek mentorship from to figure their current needs and goals. 

I fostered a friendship and mentorship with a massive influencer because they were doing a book launch. Their goal was to sell as many books as they could, as quickly as possible. I bought 700 copies for my community, filmed a two-minute review of why I liked the book, posted it on Facebook, and paid to boost the video to get a lot of views.

The influencer noticed. I got an email, which turned into a phone call, which turned into a lunch, which has since evolved into a three-year friendship and mentorship. I helped them without expecting anything in return; they noticed and reciprocated. —Cole Hatter, full-time dad and husband, part-time owner of five seven-figure businesses, investor, and founder of Thrive: Make Money Matter; follow Cole on Instagram

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Brian Smith

Image credit: The Oracles

4. Be open to tough love.

Find someone who specializes in your type of business and can support the current stage in your journey. For example, I know product, but not technology. My recommendations depend on where your business is between birth to youth and maturity (stages I explain in my book). Beginners need encouragement not to quit. But in “youth,” money for inventory is often the killer.

Be willing to accept tough love and listen. One mentee asked for help getting into retail, but I told her that would kill her business. Instead, I helped her go into online sales. We raised over $80,000 on Kickstarter, and she did about $3 million on Facebook last year. We just raised another $1.1 million to bring her business to Amazon. —Brian Smith, founder of UGG boots, corporate speaker, and author of “The Birth of a Brand,” now available in audio for its 40th anniversary  

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Natalie Ellis

Image credit: The Oracles

5. Ensure your personalities vibe.

Take advice from those who’ve accomplished what you want, in the way you want to achieve it. They’ll know your struggles inside out.

I’ve found the best mentors through mutual friends. It’s important to see if your personalities vibe. For example, if you struggle with taking direct feedback and your mentor likes to give it, you might end up resenting them.

A mentor needs to see that you’re committed to making progress. If you’re not willing to implement their advice, why would they give you their time? Take action if you agree with the advice. If you don’t agree, don’t commit to action you won’t take; challenge them instead. —Natalie Ellis, award-winning serial entrepreneur and CEO of BossBabe, the world’s largest online community of ambitious women with a six-figure monthly recurring revenue; follow Natalie on Instagram

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Kenny Rueter

Image credit: The Oracles

6. Take an interest and action.

Most people who ask me for mentoring are only interested in their goals. The surefire way to repel a mentor is to believe you’re entitled to one. For me, finding the right mentor begins when I take a genuine, selfless interest in someone I respect. I determine how I can add value to their lives or business. Then I don’t have to ask them to mentor me—they volunteer.

Once you have a mentor, take action. Mentors do what they do to impact others and see their wisdom live on. After all, they earned it through years of challenges. So, nothing is more disheartening than when a mentee asks for advice and avoids taking the recommended action. Your mentor is giving you their two most valuable possessions: their wisdom and time. If you remember that, many people will want to help you. —Kenny Rueter, CEO and co-founder of Kajabi

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Khalil Rafati

Image credit: The Oracles

7. Earn it.

To find a great mentor, you must have something to offer—and not just a great idea. But if you have a great idea and you’re also working two full-time jobs, going to bed early, getting up early, meditating, and exercising, then mentors will appear seemingly out of nowhere.

Be kind to everyone you meet. Guard against negative thoughts. Take a walk each morning and make a walking gratitude list. Say it out loud if you can. Never ask a mentor to invest or give you something. Avoid flattery and always tell the truth. —Khalil Rafati, founder of SunLife Organics, homeless drug addict turned spiritual advisor for rockstars and billionaires; follow Khalil’s adventures on Instagram and read his story: “I Forgot to Die”

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Jeff Sherman

Image credit: The Oracles

8. Do your research, come ready to give, and execute without question.

Don’t invest thousands in an expensive coach with a big name. Find someone who is where you want to be in three to five years. Why? They can still relate to you.

Before approaching a potential mentor, I always invest in their product or service. I want to see if I resonate with the quality of their products or services, team, and customer service. If I do, I sell their products as an affiliate and see what response I get from my followers. Then I ask if I can help with their customer service. This gives you insight into how they do business, and then you can work out a mentor relationship.

As a mentor, I’ve found that ex-military and ex-athletes make the best students. They don’t question anything, they just execute and report back with results. Then we regroup, re-strategize, and move their business forward. —Jeff Sherman, founder and CEO of Tech Sweat LLC; serial entrepreneur who has launched five businesses and impacted over 5,000 fitness businesses in six countries

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Chance Welton

Image credit: The Oracles

9. Look for strengths that complement your weaknesses.

Find a mentor with the business and lifestyle you want. Then ensure they have strengths to complement your weaknesses and can help you fine-tune your strengths. Ensure your values align. Money isn’t everything. Just because they’re financially successful doesn’t mean they’re the right mentor for you.

I met my mentor at a marketing event. He took me under his wing for several reasons. We had similar businesses, so he knew I could implement what he taught me. I’d reached six figures, so he knew I was serious. He also knew I’d listen to everything he recommended. We liked each other and knew that we could work well together. —Chance Welton, founder and CEO of Beachwood Marketing LLC and The Millionaire Middleman Agency Coaching Program

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Shaun Rawls

Image credit: The Oracles

10. Don’t stop until you find ‘the one.’

Think of a mentor as a GPS navigator. A great coach understands your intended destination and helps you find the best route. They don’t judge you for wrong turns along the way. Instead, they simply ask questions that help you self-discover and grow into who you want to become. 

Finding the perfect coach is also like finding your spouse. You likely need to explore different people before finding the “one.” Chemistry is important in any relationship, and mentoring is no exception. If you don’t like your coach, “break up” with them and find another one. Trust your gut. When you find the perfect coach, you’ll know—and your results will prove it! —Shaun Rawls, author, lifelong entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Rawls Consulting

Want to share your insights like those above in a future column? If you’re an experienced entrepreneur, please get in touch here.

Want to suggest a future topic for these entrepreneurs to answer? Email suggestion@theoracles.com, and it’s very possible we’ll make your suggestion the focus of a future article!

Follow The Oracles on Facebook for more articles like this.

October
2, 2018

5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

°Consumer Confidence Index numbers haven’t been this high prior to a holiday shopping season in 18 years, according to the Conference Board. In this context of high-buying intentions, my location marketing firm Reveal Mobile surveyed 260 small- to medium-business owners and managers to see how they planned to allocate resources to maximize this 2018 holiday shopping season’s potential.

Related: The 6 Musts of a Successful Holiday Marketing Campaign

Here are the key takeaways from what we learned:

Social media will be the winner of holiday ad spend.

° Over 36 percent of respondents indicated that social media marketing would be the priority for their ad budget this season.

° Creating and executing campaigns and finding targeting audiences has become increasingly simple on Facebook and Instagram, and our research reflected this trend.

Digital ads will overpower traditional ones — by a large margin.

° 68 percent of holiday spend among businesses surveyed will go toward digital channels like search engine marketing, digital display ads, Amazon and the aforementioned social media marketing.

° Leading traditional channels indicated in the survey included TV advertising (15 percent), print (14 percent) and radio (3 percent).

° Business owners and their marketing teams will frequently be incorporating geotargeting into their holiday campaigns.

• 84 percent of advertisers acknowledged location-based marketing would have greater importance in their campaigns this season.
• 28 percent of respondents said they would use this tool in every campaign during the holidays, meaning that many marketers will reach consumers by developing target audiences.

Related: Seven Tips for Successful Holiday Marketing Campaigns

Of the digital advertising channels, marketers said they preferred Facebook.

° Facebook was selected by 42 percent of the SMBs surveyed as their primary digital channel for ad spend. This is a very high percentage, considering the backlash and decreased user activity we’ve seen with Facebook this year. However, Facebook’s excellent ease of use and ability to incorporate third-party target audiences kept it as our surveyed SMBs’ No. 1 choice.

° Facebook was followed by Google (28 percent) and Instagram (18 percent), with Amazon at 12 percent. Given that Instagram is owned by Facebook, 59 percent of SMBs said that the two platforms would get the majority of their digital ad spend.

° Marketers tend to increase their ad budget during the holidays, but not as often as you might expect.

• 37 percent of entrepreneurs surveyed indicated that they boost their ad spend during the holidays, but 30 percent said their ad budgets stay the same.
• 8 percent actually stated that their advertising budgets decrease during the holiday season.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday remain important to entrepreneurs. 

° 21 percent of respondents said they allocate their holiday ad spend primarily to reach Black Friday shoppers, while 19 percent indicated they do the same for Cyber Monday. The implication was that the majority of SMB advertisers choose to win consumers over the holiday season, not on a single promotion.

° Business owners might contribute to a strong quarterly performance for Facebook and Google.

° Startups also have the option to take advantage of Instagram’s video advertising capabilities. Check out how the app Hopper utilized a video ad to drive customer growth, as well as 36 other Instagram ad campaign examples here.

What all of this means

While Facebook and Instagram have powerful audience targeting features, they also allow advertisers to create custom audiences from other data sources. These can be their own customer data, or opt-in data sources from third parties. The use of custom audiences also has become important since Facebook announced its elimination of “partner categories,” which officially went into effect on October 1. That program allows the use of audience segments from third parties, integrated directly into Facebook. The loss of this capability means that advertisers now heavily rely on custom audiences.

Entrepreneurs selling products and services directly to consumers should feel comfortable not only using social media for advertising, but also taking advantage of all of the targeting tools available on each platform. As a result, these companies can significantly increase the efficiency of their advertising budget by reaching only those who are most likely to convert this holiday season.

Many business to business (B2B) entrepreneurs should also give consideration to digital advertising as an effective channel. By using Instagram and Facebook’s geotargeting, demographics and custom audience features, it is possible to reach a desired market segment. B2B ads will also stand out among the stream of consumer focused products in their feed.

Related: 6 Holiday Marketing Tips From Twitter’s Head of Content Planning

While not every company will be a fit, and our survey results won’t apply to everyone, there is a clear business case to be made for entrepreneurs to advertise on social media and combine it with geotargeting as the best route to reach their target audience this holiday season.

October
1, 2018

6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The spookiest time of year will soon be upon us, and consumers will soon be getting into the Halloween spirit. So, if your small business isn’t celebrating this festive holiday, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to connect with customers.

Related: Even Basic Witches Will Want These 12 Halloween Meals and Deals

Halloween is a great time for you to get more shoppers to your door or website, by implementing some hauntingly effective marketing ideas. In fact, according to the National Retail Federation, over 35 percent of consumers perform online searches to find Halloween inspiration for costumes, decorating and entertaining; so the holiday is the perfect chance to be discovered by swarms of potential customers.

But if you’re worried your business can’t stand up to the big-box stores that spend millions on their Halloween marketing, don’t worry. This is the perfect time of year to try out some creative and unique marketing ideas that will work for your small business and get people excited to shop with you.

Ready for some scary-good inspiration? Here are five fun Halloween marketing ideas for your small business.

Halloween-ize your products.

If your small business doesn’t sell any Halloween-themed products, you might be scratching your head trying to figure out how to get a boost in revenue this holiday season. But even if your business isn’t spooky in the slightest, you can still Halloween-ize your products or position items in a festive way to bring in those trick-or-treat loving shoppers. For instance, if you own a restaurant, offer up themed specialty desserts or drinks; for retail clothing, display some Halloween costume ideas based on your items.  

As an example, Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken advertises Halloween-inspired mini doughnuts, featuring flavors like pumpkin pie and candied apple to get its customers in the spirit.

Image credit: Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken Halloween-ized products 

Be sure to let customers know about your new Halloween offerings by posting photos on social media that will tempt and convince them to stop by your store before All Hallows’ Eve comes to an end.

Host an online trick-or-treating promotion.

Boost user engagement and conversions by hosting an online trick-or-treating promotion. By holding a fun, gamified online promotion, you can invite shoppers to participate in your Halloween festivities from the comfort of their own homes; and you’ll make shopping on your website an entertaining and rewarding experience.

Related: 10 Chains Scaring Up Business With Free Food & Other Halloween Deals

New York jeweler Kendra Scott does this well by offering customers the chance to search its website for hidden pumpkins that reveal store discounts.

Image credit: MyEmma Blog description of a Kendra Scott trick or treat promotion  

This trick-or-treat scavenger hunt is a fun idea for shoppers, but you could also send an email marketing campaign where customers have to choose between two secret offers to reveal whether they receive a trick or a treat — meaning a small discount or a larger discount. There are endless ways you can turn your online promotions into more exciting, Halloween experiences to ensure you capture the attention of customers.  

Halloween-ify your online presence.

Add some festive flair to your online presence: Let the Halloween spirit take over your social media accounts, like Facebook and Instagram, by posting Halloween-themed images and messages sure to attract many likes and shares from your Halloween-obsessed followers.

Dogfather & Co., a retail boutique and dog grooming spa, Halloween-ifies its Instagram account with photos of its furry clientele, to get viewers into the Halloween spirit.

Image credit: Dogfather & Co. Halloween Instagram posts 

Also decorate your website for the holiday so that users landing on your home page are filled with festive feelings from your brand. Just make some simple tweaks to your site by, for instance, adding a Halloween-themed image which utilizes a spooky font and festive elements like pumpkins or spiderwebs. Don’t want to hire a graphic designer? You can easily transform your regular website images Halloween using a tool like PicMonkey.

Publish Halloween-themed content.

Drive more holiday shoppers to your website by publishing Halloween-themed content readers will love. According to Demand Metric, content marketing generates approximately three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62 percent less, making it the perfect strategy to boost sales for your small business this season.

Create content for your readers that will help them solve problems and ease their stress during this busy time. Blog post ideas, for instance, could include “Halloween Costume Ideas for Kids,” “DIY Halloween Decor Ideas” or “How to Host an Awesome Halloween Party.” 

HQhair posts a ton of Halloween-themed content for its readers, including posts that not only help readers but suggest products that the company sells.

Image credits: HQhair Halloween blog 

You can also craft content that includes product recommendations from your store that encourage people to buy but aren’t too pushy. Sprinkle in some holiday and buyer keywords throughout your post to make sure it gets seen by consumers who are in the shopping mood. And remember, when you provide useful and entertaining content to your readers, they’ll be more likely to share it with their family and friends, too.

Hold a Halloween costume contest.

Holding a Halloween costume contest is a great way to get people into your brick and mortar business. If you don’t have a physical business, you can hold a costume contest on social media and still get a ton of engagement.  

For example, the Texas theme park Kemah Boardwalk utilized Instagram to hold a Halloween costume contest that gave its followers a chance to win weekly prizes or a grand prize.

Image credit: Kemah Boardwalk Costume Contest  

You can hold a contest that encourages people to submit photos of their Halloween costumes, or even just ask them to share your post or tag their friends for a chance to win a prize. Don’t forget to utilize Halloween-themed hashtags so that you can widen your reach and connect with a bunch of potential new customers this season.

Related: Starbucks, Chipotle and 6 More Food Chains Scare Up Business With Halloween Deals

Over to you

These fun Halloween marketing ideas prove that your small business doesn’t need to spend a fortune to hold an awesome Halloween “party” that delights customers and boosts your revenue. Start planning and scheduling your seasonal marketing campaign as soon as possible so that by the time the most haunting night of the year rolls around, you’ll be able to focus on turning trick-or-treaters into customers — instead of your being frighteningly swamped. 

September
30, 2018

2 min read

A bad boss can not only decrease morale but they can ultimately drive employees to quit. But if the boss is you, it could be hard to tell that the reason for high employee turnover is actually you. That’s why it’s important to know exactly which leadership traits are repelling your employees and what you can do about them.

Related: The 6 Most Familiar ‘Bad Boss’ Types and What to Do About Them

One of the worst traits to have is being a micromanager. Constantly watching what your employees are doing and managing them on even the smallest tasks shows you don’t trust them to do good work and it also bites into your time as well. Another terrible trait is being overly critical. It’s important to provide feedback and constructive criticism to your employees in order for them to learn and grow, but that means being a coach and not a critic. For an effective, cohesive team, show positive support. Being disorganized, acting like a know-it-all and not having patience are the other top traits you should avoid as a leader.

Related: 4 Signs of a Terrible, Toxic Boss

Of course, that’s all easier said than done. To avoid being a drain to your company, you should communicate often, lead by example, be approachable and develop trust. Do these things and you’ll be well on your way to creating a collaborative and productive work environment.

To learn more, check out QuickBridge’s infographic below.

September
29, 2018

2 min read

Quitting a job is never easy. From giving notice to wrapping up projects and saying farewell to colleagues and bosses, it’s a tricky process. At times, you could find yourself leaving on a bad note. To avoid burning any bridges, here are a few tips.

Related: 10 Things to Know Before Quitting Your Job to Follow Your Dreams

Before you quit, do some planning. It’s important to find the right time, so it’s an easy transition out of the company. Make sure you’re not in the middle of any major projects that require your presence, and that you put your team and projects first. When you do give notice, if you can, consider offering an extra week’s notice to show your team you’re committed to wrapping things up in their entirety. Also, remember to write a polite resignation letter telling the company you’re leaving, thanking them and offering your assistance for a seamless exit. Always keep a resignation letter short and to the point — there’s no need to give a lengthy or emotional explanation of why you’re leaving.

Related: You’re 4 Small Steps Away From Quitting Your Job to Travel the World

When you meet with your boss to drop the news, cut straight to the chase. Tell your boss right away that you’re leaving, and also provide an explanation for how you’re going to hand over your tasks. Tell them thank you, and don’t forget to hand in your official resignation letter. In those last few weeks on the job, create a job manual to help the next person who fills your position and work harder than ever during that time to show the company you care. Don’t forget: They’ll likely be your job references in the future so it’s important to be on their good side.

Related: Are You Quitting Too Soon or Staying With It Too Long?

For more information, check out resume.io’s infographic below.

September
28, 2018

6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Behind every Google search, there is an intention. People are looking for something in particular when they’re searching the web — the answers to their problems, information about the services available to them or sources for the product they want. If you want your business to be discovered by users on the web, your content needs to be optimized for user intent.

Since Google can recognize user intent, it displays pages in search results that are most relevant to what the user is looking for. Because of this, understanding user intent and creating content with the user’s intent in mind is essential to improving the relevance of your website pages and improving SEO.

If you want to drive more relevant traffic to your site and increase conversions, here’s how to create a user-intent SEO strategy.

Related: Why Digitally Savvy Companies Focus on Being ‘in’ their Users’ lives — Not Seeing Them Simply as ‘Customers’

Understand the different types of user intent.

In order to create a user-intent SEO strategy for your content, you first need to understand the different types of user intent. Start by heading over to Google. Enter the search terms your audience would be looking for; and, based on what turns up, you’ll easily be able to identify what type of content users want at each different stage of user intent. In the example below, I used Google search results to demonstrate the three stages of user intent.

1. Informational search queries

In the informational search queries stage, the user is trying to gather more information about a particular topic or product, but he or she is not ready to buy. For example, the user might search for “how to edit photos.”

Notice how all the results for that Google search are informational, like how-to blog posts and tutorials. There are no ads on the page because users are only searching for information and not a particular product they want to buy.

2. Navigational search queries

In the navigational search queries stage, the user is looking for a specific type of content to help him or her consider their options, but is still not quite ready to buy. The user will search, for example, for “What is the best photo editing software?”

In this stage of user intent, the results are lists for the top 10 photo editing software and similar comparison blog posts that help users make a decision. The options may contain links to buy, but the sites aren’t pushing the purchase too hard.

Related: The 5 Best Digital Marketing Tools for Understanding Your Customers

3. Transactional search queries

In this stage of user intent — transactional search queries — the user is ready to buy. He or she has got a credit card in hand ready to make a purchase. The user might then search “Where can I buy photo editing software?”

Most of the search results that show up with this query are from online stores that are selling the product the consumer wants to buy. The sites aren’t presenting informative blog posts, but product pages.

Now that you understand the different stages of user intent, you can see what types of content you need to provide for users and what types of key phrases you should be optimizing your content for in order to enhance the relevance of your posts and improve your rankings.

Determine if your existing content supports user intent.

Next, you need to determine if your existing content matches the needs of your audience. To do this simply, go to Google Analytics, and check out your top-performing keywords. If you find that your top-performing keyword phase, “buy hand-knit sweaters,” which is transactional, leads to a page with a blog post that provides tips for people who want to learn how to knit, you’re not giving users what they want.

In this instance, you should switch up your strategy so that users who search for “buy hand-knit sweaters” are led to a product page instead of an informative blog post. That way your users get what they’re looking for — and you get more conversions. Take a look at your other blog posts. If they aren’t being seen by users, incorporate more informational keywords. If your product pages aren’t showing up in transactional search results, sprinkle in some transactional keywords in order to improve your rankings for that type of user intent.

Related: 3 Ways in Which AI Could Enhance Your Company’s UX

Create content for user intent.

Keywords are not the only thing you need to consider when you create a user-intent SEO strategy. You have to craft your content with user intent in mind. Since Google is capable of understanding intent, if your content doesn’t match your keyword, you won’t rank for it.

For example, if you’re targeting the long-tail keyword phrase “how to bake an apple pie,” but the blog post you write for it veers off in another direction and ends up being more about how to grow your own apple tree, you won’t show up in the search results related to baking. Instead, you’ll show up in search results related to gardening. You’ve got to make sure your content is crafted with user intent in mind. Otherwise, you’ll end up getting a bunch of traffic from users who aren’t interested in your business.

Additionally, you’ll want to make sure you plan content for each type of user intent. This will help guide users through each stage of the buyer’s journey. That way, when users in the informational stage discover you, then move on to the next stage, they’ll find helpful content from you again — and you can lead them all the way to buying your product.

Knowing the intent of users will skyrocket the success of your SEO strategy. If you follow these easy tips, the useful content you provide will be found by loads of people, who will return to your site time after time because they know that your business cares about its customers. In no time, they’ll become customers too.   

September
27, 2018

2 min read

This story originally appeared on PCMag

Today is the 20th anniversary of Google’s search page, and the company is throwing in a new doodle and a bunch of silly search Easter eggs for you to type into the Google.com home page.

The Easter egg theme is “2018 results for stuff you might have searched for in 1998.” Type in one of the phrases below, and you’ll get a jokey “did you mean” result for something more relevant to today’s world. They’ll be live through Sunday, Sept. 30, so try them out while you can.

The animated doodle, meanwhile, takes a rosy view on search trends for every year between 1998 and 2018. I was curious to know how Google would put a positive spin on the controversial world of 2017, and the company decided to go with “cute animal videos.”

For another fun Easter egg, you can do a sort of scavenger hunt through the original Google garage using Google Street View. There are all sorts of hidden objects and a secret trap door in the garage. Start here.

New stories, new searches

The Easter eggs and new doodle come after Google introduced a bunch of new features to its search results this week.

The minimalist search page, of course, remains intact. But more and more, desktop search result designs are borrowing elements from the Google phone app and the Google Assistant on Android smart displays, with a card-based interface rather than a simple stack of web links and snippets. Our sister site Mashable has a good rundown of the new features in search.

Mashable, which attended a Google event in San Francisco, points out that Google is doubling or maybe tripling down (can you triple down?) on mobile. But at the NYC event we attended, Google showed how it’s changing desktop search, too, and how desktop search hasn’t been forgotten at the Googleplex.

September
25, 2018

12 min read

This story originally appeared on This Dog’s Life

It was 1992. Bound for law school, Julie Castle and her friends were driving back from a trip to Mexico in her 1979 Dodge Colt, celebrating one last girls’ trip before having to buckle down and get serious about their futures, life threw them a curveball. With the gas gauge needle buried below empty and the Colt running on its last fumes, inevitability set in: the car stalled.

With barely enough money for gas and a candy bar for each, Castle and her friends were ready to get home to Salt Lake City, Utah. But not before a detour.

“One on my friends was like, ‘I am sponsoring an animal at this sanctuary in Kanab, Utah and really want to stop there,’” Castle recalls. “We all vetoed it. She kept bringing it up and bringing it up, and finally we caved.”

Arriving at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, now one of the largest animal organizations and known for its “save them all” mission, was a pivotal moment for Castle.

“We pulled in, and it was life changing,” she says.

A lifelong animal lover, Castle fell in love with the founders’ principles and their mission to alter the destiny of homeless animals.

“It has been the same routine for 120 years of basically rounding up animals and taking them to a shelter where they die,” says Castle. “They said it is time to change the narrative around this and talk about a vision where one day we don’t have to do that anymore, where one day the euthanizing of an animal in a shelter isn’t part of somebody’s job description.”

She was sold and decided right then and there she wasn’t going to law school. Castle moved to Kanab and became employee No. 17 at BFAS.

Little did she know, she would be leading one of the biggest movements in the animal-welfare community 25 years later.

In the mid-80s, when Best Friends Animal Society launched, approximately 17 million pets were being killed annually each year, according to the organization.

Today, that number is at 1.4 million, or 30 percent of the 6.9 million animals that annually enter the shelter system.

But for Castle that isn’t a victory; it’s a challenge. With more cities becoming no-kill, or below a 10 percent euthanasia rate, Castle and team wanted the mission to go nationwide.

Recently taking the helm as the organization’s new CEO in March, Castle has her sights set on 2025 to make this dream into a reality.

“At our 2016 National Conference, we decided to announce it, and it was like this nuclear bomb went off in the movement,” she says.

Related: An Inside Look on What It Is Really Like to Be an Animal Cruelty Investigator

Despite it being considered admirable and endorsed by many, some critics, including a recent op-ed in the New York Times, “Are We Loving Shelter Dogs to Death,” state that this initiative is not correctly addressing the issue and the no-fee or low adoption rates put animals in harm’s way by being adopted to families not equipped to care for them. There have also been agreements made that animals can psychologically deteriorate waiting months (or even years) in a shelter to be adopted, the impact on an animal from bounced from foster home to foster home with no stability and the fact that some animals may fall into the hands of hoarders.

Castle, along with others in the animal-welfare community, has pushed back on these claims, including in a recent blog post taking on Carol Mithers, the op-ed author of the Times piece.

“She claims that low- and no-cost adoptions open the door to abusers and those so wretchedly poor that they couldn’t possibly do right by their pets. The reality is that multiple studies show no statistical difference in the emotional investment or the care given to pets by families who acquire their pets for free and those who pay normal adoption fees.”

She also wrote, “Remember that low-cost and fee-waived adoptions result in the safe and long-term placement of hundreds of thousands of shelter pets each year. In fact, the fourth annual Clear the Shelters adoption drive, sponsored by NBC- and Telemundo-owned television stations, culminated last Saturday with more than 1,200 shelters participating in dozens of communities across the country. The event resulted in more than 86,800 adoptions, with 24,000 on Saturday alone.”

And this year, the organization hopes to make those adoption figures higher. BFAS is focusing on the seven states — Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas – that make up 50 percent of the pets euthanized every year, according to Castle..

We caught up with her to talk about leading a fragmented and sometimes combative community, what keeps her motivated and her next moves.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

The animal welfare world is complicated and can, at times, see things differently. For those looking to build a community, get people to back their vision, movement or mission, what do you recommend?

It takes a thick skin. It takes a sense of urgency and driving towards an end goal. And it also takes a high degree of knowing what the important levers are to pull and focusing on those — and forgetting about all the other stuff.

But the number-one piece of advice is helping people understand that there is a bigger ecosystem to a social problem than just their organization. So, it is taking the whole project, putting it into a strategy and helping them understand what their piece of that strategy puzzle is. It helps them focus on the bigger picture.

What has been a particularly challenging time for you, and how did you overcome it?

It’s an ongoing challenge; it’s never over. You are always dealing with people’s emotions or different points of view, or people who are worried that your motives aren’t totally pure.

We have gone through different benchmarks through this process. We had a lot of trouble in the beginning with veterinarians. They were worried that us doing high-volume spay/neuter was going to take away their business. The way we got around that was to do something with them, and so we got the state vet involved. We did a test to see if the clientele was going to be the clientele that goes to a vet, and sure enough, it was low-income folks that needed that help and assistance and likely would not have gone to a veterinarian for a spay/neuter surgery.

Image credit: BFAS

You need to really focus on building those relationships, versus it being transactional, or  having it look like just a win for your cause.

It is hard. It is one of the most frustrating things but also one of the most rewarding, because you know where you want to go. You know what your finish line is. I have learned it is never going to end up like you think it is going to end up, and you have to be okay with that as long it is achieving that collective impact.

You need to listen and understand other points of view and then design a solution together.

During pivotal shifts and complicated times, mentors are often great to lean on. Early on, you made a huge move from law school bound to working in the animal welfare community. Did you need to rely on mentors?

I don’t think any of us get anywhere without help from a community of people. It’s important that you identify that you can’t do alone. I have had several mentors along the way.

The key with mentors is when they give you advice, listen. They have been there before. I think if you can understand that, there is a huge benefit to that.

Related: The 4 Things You Can Do to Fight Back Against the USDA’s Removal of Animal Welfare Data

Are you a mentor now?

If people reach out and ask for my advice, I always try and make time for them, because you are just building that next circle of influencers.

It is so critical to be vulnerable and open and share your shortcomings and where you are having success.

Image credit: BFAS

One of your earlier positions at Best Friends was in marketing and communications, what tactics did you use to build the brand, and do you still use them today?

It is all about telling that story, and to us, storytelling is the most powerful, most important tenant in communication and marketing, because the human brain is hardwired to understand stories.

Another tenant we live by is being positive, and so all our messaging and all of our photographs are positive. You will never see a horrific picture of an animal from us, and it’s because at the end of the day, people gravitate towards [positivity] more.

What has been your most successful campaign and what can people learn from your success?

Our most successful campaign has been our no-kill efforts. The lesson we learned and the lesson I would impart on others is that it takes a community to be sustainable. If you are going to change society, it needs to be a collective effort, because one organization can’t bear the brunt of making that happen. This is why I believe in coalitions; it takes a community to change a community.

Related: Best Friends Animal Society Unveils Its No-Kill Shelter in New York City

You recently become the CEO earlier this year. What advice do you have for people taking over the leadership of a company?

I think every company has problems. A company is made up of human beings and human beings are complex — nobody is perfect, and no company is perfect. That is step one: being real where you are and where your company is. For me, it was important to do a listening tour, and I don’t mean just go around and shake people’s hand and stop in, but to actually volunteer and do some of the jobs. The staff opened up and started talking about their challenges and some situational problem they had. From that, three themes emerged for us. I pulled in our senior leadership team and said here are the three things we need to fix. We designed a whole reorg chart, which is going to be really healthy.

So, the best thing you can do is listen. Take time to listen to your staff, because they have the answers.

You learn on the job, but you also learn by educating yourself. Is there any book you rely on for leadership?

Part of leadership is understanding where you want to go and why.  It’s about finding your grand passion as soon as possible in life and then going full throttle to put your passion behind that effort.  It’s also about understanding emotional intelligence around the people you’re responsible for leading, not just as their place or part in the organization or movement you’re leading, but also helping them get through life. It’s about creating a culture of humanity and recognizing that life is really hard and part of your responsibility as a leader is helping meet their life needs, while at the same time mobilizing them to be all in and inspired about the work they do.

So, for me, the three books that have helped me with the “why”— the discovering of an employee’s grand passion and truly understanding emotional intelligence — are The Alchemist, Start With Why and Primal Leadership.  

Related: Shelters’ ‘Live-or-Die’ Test Is Getting Put Under the Microscope

When you have critics or people who don’t see things your way, how to you forge forward?

Back in 2009, I was diagnosed with an aggressive advanced stage cancer, and I was sent out to UCLA to get treated there. I didn’t know if I was going to live or die, and I was curious how I was going to respond if I did live: was I going to retire and travel the world, or how I would react to this.

Image credit: BFAS

When you are staring something like that down, everything becomes a lot clearer in your head, and for me, it was about a sense of urgency to think about every day. You are never going to get that day back, so how are you going to spend it.

You can either push things forward to help make the world a better place, or you can be one of those obstacles that is distracting from the greater good.

For me, being out there in LA, I decided we were going to launch NKLA [no-kill LA], and we are going to make this happen in a challenging community. It’s about a sense of urgency, and it’s about conveying to the folks we are working with that this isn’t a time for us to waste our energy on gigantic blackhole stuff, like infighting. Let’s focus on the solutions and get the job done. Literally, you don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring.

What trait do you rely on most to be successful and leadership?

No fear. Being totally fearless and recognizing that sometimes you need to dig deep and move through that fear to get to where you need to be — and sometimes that means being incredibly uncomfortable. It is hard to dig deep, but it helps so much for relationships and communication.

What is on the horizon for you?

Our big areas of focus are going to be Southern California and Texas. That doesn’t mean to say we aren’t going to be in other parts of the country, but because those are no. 1 and no. 2 states for the killing, we are going to have a huge presence in those states.