July 21, 2018

2 min read

Whether it’s saving for retirement or paying off credit card debt, money management can be a challenge. Of course, different people have different concerns — and that often comes with age. While a 60-something baby boomer might be organizing their savings for retirement, your 20-something millennial might be focused on paying off student loans.

Related: 8 Financial Tips for Entrepreneurs Launching a Startup

In a recent study, financial intelligence company Comet surveyed more than 1,000 people to uncover the top financial concerns of various age groups, as well as the financial advice millennials and gen Zers want to know and what they hear instead.

Overall, saving for retirement was the top concern across all age groups, with saving for an emergency and affording monthly bills following in second and third. However, it’s no wonder these are some of the most pressing worries — according to the research, 23 percent of people admit they don’t have a savings account, and 43 percent reported not being on track towards their retirement goals. Perhaps that’s because they didn’t hear the right advice growing up. At least that might be the case for gen Zers and millennials.

Related: 10 Pieces of Financial Advice I Wish I Knew in My 20s

According to the research, these young people want to learn things such as how the stock market works, how to manage an investment portfolio, how to invest in real estate and how to build credit. Instead, they’re simply told how to create a budget, save for retirement and pay credit card bills in full every month.

Having a grasp on your financials is tricky, but it’s crucial if you want to be successful and comfortable. To learn more, check out Comet’s infographic below.

July 19, 2018

5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

A new brand — your new brand — has got to make a splash in the market if it’s going to be successful. You’ve got to stand out in a crowd that’s oversaturated with brands that people are already invested in. So, how do you get people interested in what you’ve got to say and offer if you’re the new kid on the block?

Related: The Foolproof Formula for New Brand Launching

The answer is that you’ve got to create an awesome launch for your new brand. You’ve spent countless hours creating your business and your brand, so you need to spend time planning an exciting launch, as well.

A well-developed plan will help your grand opening or your product launch go off without a hitch. Here’s how to launch a new brand and four tips that work whether you’re starting from scratch or re-branding.

Give yourself enough time.

Your brand launch is an important event. People usually spend six months to a year planning their weddings, so treat your brand the same way. Don’t launch your entire company in just a couple weeks; give yourself more time. Your rollout should begin in the very early stages of your branding process.  

Giving yourself more time also helps to develop hype for your brand while giving you ample time to make sure all the moving pieces are in order.

Ted Baker used a countdown timer for a launch for its men’s and women’s clothing; and as can be seen, the countdown is over 30 days away.

Ted Baker Countdown to Launch. http://jennieclare.blogspot.com/2013/03/one-giant-leap-for-ted-baker.html

Tip: Let this idea inspire you; just give yourself lots of time to get all your ducks in a row.

Know your audience.

Your goal is to develop a strategy for your launch that will get your company in front of as many eyes as possible, but you also want to make sure those eyes belong to your target audience. It’s no use promoting your business to people who aren’t going to be remotely interested in it. So, get to know who your potential buyers are, and what’s important to them.

Related: 7 Ways to Build Hype Months Before Your Business Launches

Research what your competitors’ audience is like, as well. Find out whom they’re targeting and how they’re promoting their business: Your goal is to get an idea of how you can capture some of that attention, or on the flip side, find out what niche they might be missing out on, then go after that market.

Pabst Blue Ribbon has been known for many years as an inexpensive working-class beer, which has also made it popular with college students. PBR didn’t have to rebrand but it did develop a fitting marketing strategy to reach its new audience.

Tweet from Pabst Blue Ribbon https://twitter.com/PabstBlueRibbon

Tip: When you know who your audience is, it’s much easier to determine when and how you should market your company to those people.

Brand everything.

After deciding on the name of your business, creating a logo and designing your website, you need to continue branding every other aspect of your business, as well.

You can’t develop brand recognition if your brand isn’t consistent across all of your platforms. So don’t forget to brand your social media platforms, business cards, emails and anything else that connects back to your business. You want your brand to be instantly recognizable when someone stumbles across it.

And choose colors carefully: A signature color can boost brand recognition by 80 percent, according to Color Matters, so put your brand colors everywhere and anywhere you can.

Airbnb, for example, changed its signature color and created a new logo as part of its rebranding:

Airbnb logo before and after. https://co.agencyspotter.com/branding-unicorn-superbrand-status-airbnb/

Tip: The way your brand looks is one of the first things people will notice when they’re introduced to your business and will help people see you as a well-established company.

Build anticipation.

If you make your brand launch an exciting, can’t-miss event for your audience, people will be counting down the days until they get a peek. When attempting to build anticipation for your brand, build in a little mystery; it goes a long way, so don’t give away too many details about your product before the launch.

Teasing your followers with subtle hints on social media, creating videos that stir up excitement and creating a countdown timer to the launch of your website are just some of the tactics you can use to build anticipation.

Apple uses videos to tease its audience about the launch of it latest products, revealing just enough to pique fans’ interest.

iPad Pro Reveal Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaWkgg5l9sg

Tip: The more excited people get about your business, the better. You’ll have a swarm of activity on launch day, with people coming to check out what you’ve been hinting at for months.

Related: 3 Memorable Ways to Launch a Product to Wow Customers

Launching a new brand doesn’t have to be scary: With a brand launch strategy, you’ll make a powerful first impression and gain new loyal customers quickly. Using these tips, you’ll be able to present your business as a rock star in your industry, even if you’re a newbie.

July 18, 2018

3 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Forget the useless, though wildly popular and entertaining, apps that previously filled up our smartphones or computers. People now want apps with function and purpose.

Here are the fastest-growing new or recently redesigned apps of 2018, according to business app platform Zapier, which compiled the data using its platform.

1. Discord

Nostalgic for the days you stayed up late playing The Sims and messaging with your friends? Discord is a voice and text chat app that connects more than 14 million daily players in the gaming community through video and audio.

2. Things 3

If you need help organizing your busy schedule but don’t have a personal assistant, check out Things 3. This award-winning personal task manager app can help you get things done and achieve your goals in an organized manner.

3. Leadpages

Not your typical email marketing service, Leadpages helps you create customized landing pages, webinars and ads to generate leads. It focuses on growing your email list, then links to a third-party site, such as MailChimp, to send your campaigns to those that signed up.

4. Klayivo

Klayivo pulls in data from your ecommerce platform, point-of-sale software or other marketing tools and helps you create highly targeted and super-relevant email, Facebook and Instagram marketing. You can set up automated trigger emails for when customers sign up, abandon shopping carts and check out.

5. Square

Square handles all of your company’s digital finances. With four different platforms (Payments, Point of Sale, Payroll and Capital), Square helps you track all of your money on your smart device. Compatible with both Apple and Android, you can make customer transactions, pay employees and fund your company.

6. Salesflare

If you feel like you waste too much time updating your CRM, Salesflare is for you. A CRM that basically fills out itself, Salesflare inputs data for you so you can focus on making sales. It reminds you what follow-ups are the most important and who talked to what customer, so your team can efficiently work together to increase profit.

7. Coda

If you want to build your own website instead of relying on Squarespace or Weebly, Coda lets you hand-code with a little help. It edits your text to make sure your coding is in tip-top shape.

8. Landbot

Landbot creates a Chatbot for you within minutes that lives in your website and enhances your customer’s experiences.  

9. ClickUp

ClickUp’s easy-to-use product management software keeps your team productive, efficient and headache-free. It lets you integrate with more than 1,000 other services, such as Slack and Zapier, to keep everything your company needs in one convenient place.

10. Ghost

A modern-publishing toolbox, Ghost helps you create and manage an online blog or publication. It edits, manages content, schedules, builds proper SEO and more, all through its simple platform.

July 16, 2018

6 min read

Jon Rubinstein started his own company in 2005 for a very simple reason: “I needed a job,” he laughs.

OK, maybe he’s oversimplifying things a bit.

For years, Rubinstein worked at a successful management company that represented actors, writers, directors, comedians and digital personalities, but, he says, he wasn’t happy. He wanted to get out, but the problem was that most of his opportunities were in Los Angeles and his kids were in New York. 

Rubinstein wanted to stay close to his children, but at the time, there weren’t a ton of management companies in the area. So after considering his options, he decided that if there wasn’t a New York-based company doing what he wanted to do, he’d start his own. 

Related: Daymond John Explains His Crazy Ride to Success (Podcast)

It was a risky move and came with its fair share of those classic middle of the night “What am I doing?!” moments that almost all entrepreneurs face. But with hard work, hard work and then some hard work, the gamble paid off. Rubinstein’s company, Authentic Talent and Literary Management, currently reps an impressive roster of creators, writers and actors including Michael C. Hall and Brie Larson. But speaking with Rubinstein, it becomes clear that his goal wasn’t simply to land a bunch of A-listers. He wanted to create a company that not only improved the careers of its clients but also had a culture and philosophy geared toward improving the world at large. Here’s how he went about doing that

He asked himself, “Why?”

“If you ask most people why their company exists, most people cannot tell you, other than to make money. So the first thing is I thought about was why should Authentic exist. There were two things that kept coming to mind: 1. I wanted to have a company that when I look back on it — hopefully when I’m 100-years-old — I can really proud of what we did. And 2., I wanted to focus on adding value to my clients’ lives. I wasn’t interested in being their best friend and going to parties. I wanted to empower and enable my clients to make a difference with their work.”

He educated himself.

“I didn’t have a business education, so I did a lot of reading when we started out. I was really knocked out by Blue Ocean Strategy. I noticed that in my field, year after year, there would be some new client that everyone was clamoring for — it’d be like a shark feeding frenzy among management companies. And I wasn’t particularly eager to play those games. So the premise of the book is that everybody is fighting on this small patch of bloodied, red ocean, but there’s this big wide blue ocean out there and if you start looking in different areas you start to find something that there’s plenty for everyone.”

Related: 4 Super Business Lessons From Marvel’s Decade of Box Office Success

He embraced “the suck.”

“Initially, it was just a grind. I’ll just be really straight about it. It was me in a cubicle on Lafayette Street, and then I hired an assistant eventually. We just worked really hard and tried to figure out how to do this thing. And you quickly find all the things that don’t work. At the end of the day, I’d get together with my first colleague Robert Glennon, who is still with the company, and we’d just say, ‘Well, that sucked.’ And we’d just learn from it and move on.”

He pursued happiness outside of the office.

“As hard as we were working when we started, it was and is important to me that people who worked at this company have a life. I want people to have a good life. I’ve studied meditation and Buddhism, and everything I’ve learned comes back to the idea that all happiness comes from serving others. I’ve done a lot of work in Haiti as Board President of Mimsi International, which provides medical training and pregnancy care in remote areas of the world. One of my proudest moments was during a trip, my girlfriend and I were on a beach waiting for a boat to take us to this little island and a woman approached us … [with] these little twin 6-month-old girls in her arms. And she said, ‘You did this, you helped me have these babies and they’re healthy.’ It was amazing to be a part of that.”

He looks for ways to make more doing less.

“We’re definitely a performance-focused company and people are accountable for their results. But we don’t, for example, have a set vacation policy for our managers. They have the capability they do whatever they want. You have got to trust people and create a structure so they’re incentivized to be successful, not just glued to their desks going through the motions. And I listen to my managers. When they tell me, ‘Oh my God dude, I’m working so hard!’ the answer isn’t ‘Too bad, that’s life.’ We try to figure out what to do about. How can we support you in making 10 times the money with half the effort? That’s what I’m interested in.”

He encourages criticism.

“We do reviews with our clients every year where we ask them how we are doing. We look at what’s working and not working. I got that from some management book I read somewhere but it’s been great. If people say ‘everything is great’ we don’t accept that — we truly want to know what we can do better. And if they do have a problem with us, we address it. It’s one mistake I’ve seen over and over in business: people are reluctant to admit a mistake and reluctant to admit that they don’t know everything. My philosophy for myself and for the company is to be constantly improving, constantly learning and constantly on the lookout to be more effective at our jobs.”

July 15, 2018

2 min read

The marketing industry isn’t the same as it was 10 years ago. And much of that is thanks to the rise of smartphones.

Today’s marketing initiatives go far beyond print ads and desktop computers, and it’s more important than ever to have a mobile marketing campaign in place for your business. If you’re feeling stuck, there’s no need to worry. With a few quick tips and an understanding of how other businesses are using mobile marketing to their advantage, you’ll be well on your way to creating a stellar campaign.

Related: Teach Yourself Online Marketing With This Simple Technique

People spend 59 percent of their time on mobile, according to research compiled by App Geeks. But marketers spend 15 percent of their budgets on mobile and the remaining 85 percent on desktop. In addition, mobile ads have higher conversion rates. Overall, average smartphone conversion rates have gone up 64 percent compared to average desktop conversion rates.

Now that you know the importance of mobile marketing, it’s important to understand the different types. SMS marketing, app-based marketing, push notifications and email marketing are some of the most popular methods. When it comes to SMS, 79 percent of smartphone users say they rely on SMS opt-in to help them make purchasing decisions. In addition, push notifications drive nearly 10 times more users to make a purchase.

Related: 104 Facts You Didn’t Know About Mobile Marketing (Infographic)

It’s clear there are plenty of mobile marketing opportunities. To take advantage of them and to learn more, check out App Geeks’ infographic below.

July 14, 2018

2 min read

Some rituals might seem like nonsense, but it turns out, they can be helpful when it comes to productivity and job performance. Studies have shown that rituals can help us take on tough challenges at work, boost productivity and even decrease anxiety. How do you know what type of ritual is right for you? Here are some ideas.

Related: 7 Steps to Peak Performance in Business and in Life

Instead of starting your day with a hot shower, try opting for a cold one. Cold water increases blood circulation and releases endorphins, which can boost a person’s mood and make them more productive. Another helpful ritual is shutting down distracting devices. For example, turn your smartphone on airplane mode for a few hours so you can hone your focus on a single task until its full completion.

Whether you’ve got a big deadline approaching or an upcoming presentation, if you’re feeling anxious, one ritual to help calm your nerves is counting your breaths. A quick daily mindfulness practice, such as counting your inhales and exhales for 10 minutes, can help relieve stress and get you in the right headspace for getting work done.

Related: 4 Ways to Decrease Stress and Maximize Performance

From journaling daily to doing five-minute desk exercises, check out Pound Place’s infographic below for nine daily rituals to boost performance at work.

July 13, 2018

5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

When you’re finished crafting an engaging blog post for your readers, you may be disappointed to see that no one is reading it. It would be nice if, as soon as you posted that content on the web, you got a ton of traffic; but that’s not realistic. Some 63 percent of marketers in a Marketing Charts study said their biggest content challenge was driving traffic and generating leads. So, how do you promote your blog and get more traffic?

Related: 5 Smart Ways to Integrate Cross-Promotion With Online Marketing

You can’t rely on SEO alone to drive traffic to your site; instead, you’ve got to work at bringing in more of your target audience, yourself. And the only way to do that is to promote your content.

Here are some great tips you may not have considered that will get your content in front of your audience. Check them out for how to promote your content like a pro.

Promote your blog in your email campaign.

You should know by now how important building an email list is. So, if you’ve already started building one, you’re in a great position. The people who sign up for your email list are probably going to be the ones most interested in your content. That’s why it makes sense for you to promote your new posts to them, first.

Related: A Guide to do Effective Content Marketing on LinkedIn

For example, fitness guru Chalene Johnson includes links to blog posts in her emails with a clear call to action like “click here.”

Email newsletter, chalenejohnson.com

Choose a headline that sparks curiosity to make sure your email gets opened, and keep your email short and interesting. You can also promote your new posts in your monthly newsletter. Letting your email list members know about your new post first is an effective way to get early traction and encourage shares right away.

Participate in forums and aggregate sites.

You may not have considered promoting your blog posts in forums or aggregate sites, but this is actually a really easy and effective way to get your content noticed. An aggregate site is basically a place where you can find information from many different sources related to a specific topic.

Share your own content in these places to help other users with questions they might have. This is a great way to connect directly with your target audience members, provide them with some of your expertise and share a link back to your blog. 

A popular choice for many is Reddit, where there’s a community for almost anything under the sun; and many of those communities boast hundreds of thousands of members: 

Reddit digital marketing posts, https://www.reddit.com/

Just do a quick search to find a community or topic that relates to your industry and join the conversation. Other popular forum and aggregate sites include Quora and Triberr. Just remember not to be spammy, and only promote your content when it’s relevant.

Share on social media.

Sharing on social media is a given for promoting your content but there are a few tactics you might be missing. First, make sure to share your content on many different platforms. Also link to your blog in all your social media profiles to make sure it’s one of the first thing visitors to your social media pages see.

Below, BloggingWizard.com is consistent in sharing its unique blog posts on social media; consistency attracts a larger following. 

Tweet from BloggingWizard.com, https://twitter.com/bloggingwizard

In addition, repromote your older, most popular posts so that your new followers will be able to see your best content. Twitter and Facebook allow you to pin your most popular posts to your profile, so they’re the first thing people see.

Share your new content on social media as soon as it’s published, and share your brand’s new content multiple times. You can use a tool like CoSchedule, to see how your posts are doing and to schedule more posts so you can get more of your content out there. Don’t forget to thank readers who share your content too.

Use retargeting.

According to CrazyEgg, you can reach up to 84 percent of your visitors with retargeting. Retargeting is a great tool that allows you to entice your website visitors to return to you and check out more of your content.

Retargeting essentially involves a pixel that you install on your website; this allows you to “follow” your previous visitors around the web and show them ads for your website.

For example, if you visit your Pinterest business page, you may be retargeted on Facebook with the following ad: 

Pinterest retargeting ad, https://www.facebook.com/

This is a low-cost tactic you can use to promote your most important content, whether it’s your latest blog post or the paid course you offer. Retargeting allows you to engage with your visitors even after they’ve already left your website without checking out your content, making it a valuable tool to get your content seen.

Related: How to Use Content and Social to Promote Your Small Business

The more time you put into promoting your blog posts, the better results you’ll see. These tactics for promoting your content will almost certainly boost your traffic and increase engagement.

July 12, 2018

10 min read

In this series, The Gambit, Entrepreneur associate editor Hayden Field explores extraordinary risk, speaking with successful people about how they overcame unusual obstacles to found a company or switched industries entirely in a “career 180.”

Jeff Bonaldi told himself he’d never launch a company again.

The 25-year-old had just decided to cut his losses and move on from the business he’d been working on since age 21. After Bonaldi shuttered his first company, he set his sights on a safer path in the realm of business and banking, ending up as a top-level executive at Citibank. That is, until, he became riveted by a centuries-old legend.  

It was October 2012, and Bonaldi, now 35, sat at a wooden table inside Small World Coffee, a local favorite in Princeton, N.J. His companions: green tea and The New York Times. One article in particular had drawn him in, penned by foreign correspondent Edward Wong. Even the title, “Myths and Mountains in Nepal,” snared him. The piece covered the tale of Guru Rinpoche, an Indian Buddhist master who is believed to have emerged victorious from a wide-ranging fight with a demon in Nepal.

A seed was planted in Bonaldi’s mind, which would later grow into a fully formed idea for his adventure travel company. About a year later, he’d travel to Nepal’s Mustang District and follow the path of the Guru Rinpoche legends himself. And in 2015, with the story as inspiration, he’d lead his company’s second-ever trip: a trek along the same path that legend says Guru Rinpoche traveled.

Today, Bonaldi’s idea has evolved into The Explorer’s Passage, an adventure travel company that plans each trip with captivating stories from history as through-lines. Guides lead travelers between different sites that shed light on the historical story they’re following, all in the context of an adventure trip. It’s been around for about four years, and in 2018, the company will guide more than 750 travelers on trips spanning all seven continents. But Bonaldi’s path to founder and CEO was a winding one.

The Detour

When Bonaldi was 18, his father took his own life unexpectedly. The elder Jeff Bonaldi had been an inventor, and his chief idea was “Sports Klip” — a thin, waterproof, clip-on pouch for runners, swimmers and other athletes who wanted to keep their keys and money safe. The patent approval came in the mail the day after he died. 

At 21, his son thought the next logical step for him was finishing what his father had started. Then a college senior, Bonaldi reached out to a Chinese manufacturer, created a website and brochure, then launched the company at The New York Times Travel Show to rave reviews. Manufacturing and packaging were set in motion without a hitch, but the sales area tripped him up. A few years later, Bonaldi felt certain he’d never successfully break into the market in retail stores. Feeling like a failure, he decided to cut his losses and move on to something less risky. He told himself he’d never launch a company again.

Bonaldi chose business and banking as his safer path. He took relevant courses at the University of Pennsylvania, then used any connection he could swing to land an interview at Merrill Lynch. That led to a one-year stint in marketing, which led to a portfolio manager position, which led to Bonaldi overseeing $90 billion in client portfolio assets. He ended up as a top-level executive at Citibank, overseeing sales and marketing strategy across both North and South America.

The Itch

When Bonaldi was 18, he discovered his love of history and storytelling through a visit to Princeton University. He’d never traveled outside the U.S. before, and he imagined that the campus resembled Europe. The stories of historical figures who had frequented the halls also fascinated him. Bonaldi attended a small public college nearby, but whenever friends or family visited, he would take them on informal tours of his favorite historical landmarks at Princeton, like a bench where Einstein had often sat or the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Image credit: Jeff Bonaldi

That love of storytelling had been asleep in Bonaldi, but in 2007, as an executive at Citibank, key changes in his life began to force him awake. There was the divorce. There was the financial crisis. And there were the many layoffs at his company, hitting staffers in their fifties the hardest. That stuck with Bonaldi. He didn’t want anyone else to control his fate.  

During this upheaval, Bonaldi began feeling restless. He didn’t feel connected to what he was doing, and he wanted to rebuild his life into something he was passionate about — he just wasn’t quite sure what that looked like. Things came to a head at a corporate conference he attended, where explorer Robert Swan was keynote speaker. Swan, who has been lauded by Queen Elizabeth II and the United Nations, is a leader in energy innovation and the first person in history to walk both the North and South poles. Hearing Swan speak onstage served as the final sign Bonaldi needed. “He was so passionate about his life and his goals, and I just said, ‘One day I want to live like him,’” Bonaldi says.

The Leap

“I wanted to live through my heart,” Bonaldi says. After he saw Swan speak, he decided to start a company that combined the three things he was most passionate about — adventure, history and stories — and see if he could one day turn it into his primary source of income. For about seven years, Bonaldi essentially worked two full-time jobs — by day, he was a manager, but by night (and weekend), he was a founder and CEO. With no travel industry experience, he leaned heavily on outside resources like the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA). He started a corporation and a business bank account with his accountant’s help, enlisted a graphic designer to help with a logo and branding and finally landed on a company name. “The Explorer’s Passage” was inspired by the explorers of old and the Northwest Passage, a sea route which once seemed impossible to cross. 

Image credit: Jeff Bonaldi

Dreaming up trip itineraries came most easily to Bonaldi. The first would be a crossing of the Chilean Andes, following the story of Argentine revolutionary José de San Martín — the “George Washington of South America,” Bonaldi says. The second would follow the story of Guru Rinpoche through Nepal’s Mustang District. And the third would focus on the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1800s, crossing from Alaska into British Columbia. To this day, Bonaldi says travelers can spot gold rush-era cups on the side of the trail. “We’re trying to find these places that have this deep history where you can see it in the land,” he says. “The places where people walked … the places where people did these incredible things.”

The Breaking Point

Bonaldi officially launched The Explorer’s Passage in February 2014, at the same place he’d debuted his father’s product 14 years before. The company won the title of best booth in the trade show, out of about 400 overall. But the following year and a half were so difficult that Bonaldi almost threw in the towel. Despite a positive reception at the travel show, the company led no trips in 2014. Sales issues similar to the ones he’d had with Sports Klip plagued Bonaldi, and he realized that his experience with corporate sales wouldn’t help him as much as he’d thought. The trip itineraries he’d designed weren’t taking off. The reminder of what he had gone through with his father’s product was painful, and anger and self-doubt that he’d since buried came rising up to the surface. “Here we go again — I’m going to fail again,” he says he thought. But there was a difference this time around: Now, he was doing it for himself — and it was something he loved.

Bonaldi told himself to stop blaming others or the market for what was going wrong. Instead, he asked himself, “How do I need to change the product? How do I need to change myself to make this work?” When he turned his honesty on himself, things began to move forward. Bonaldi worked on his negotiation skills and did some soul-searching about why he might be fearful of success and power. He introduced trip itineraries in more popular destinations and launched a New York walking tour and day trip to get the word out about his company. It worked.

In 2016, Bonaldi reconnected with Robert Swan — the keynote speaker who had inspired him to launch his company. Swan was looking for someone to serve as partner in running a trip to Antarctica through his foundation, 2041, which raises awareness about environmental issues across the board. Bonaldi jumped at the chance, and together, they led about 90 people from 18 different countries to Antarctica in March 2018, with the aim to educate them about sustainability and leadership so they could become environmental leaders in their hometowns.

The Next Step

In February 2018, Bonaldi stood up from his desk, walked across the trading floor to his boss’s office, closed the door and told him he was resigning. Bonaldi told him: “I’m not going to a competitor. … My business — it’s thriving.” His boss smiled. Bonaldi was on to a new adventure — a full-time one after shedding his safety net.

Image credit: Jeff Bonaldi

The Explorer’s Passage currently offers trips on six continents, including trips through Machu Picchu, Iceland, Chile and Nepal. And together with Robert Swan and his son Barney, Bonaldi is launching a strategic expedition series to areas around the globe that are most in danger from the effects of climate change. Next year, they’ll bring a group of travelers to the Arctic in June 2019, and another group will head to Mount Kilimanjaro in September 2019 and plant 1 million trees around its base to offset carbon dioxide effects. One more thing in the works: In coming months, Bonaldi plans to launch Gladiator Trek, a healing program for people experiencing depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It’s partly inspired by his father’s story.

On Feb. 28, 2018, Bonaldi posed for a photo at the southernmost tip of South America — nicknamed the “End of the World” —  with Swan and about 90 other travelers in their group. They were about to board a ship called the Ocean Endeavor that would take them to Antarctica. In that moment, Bonaldi couldn’t believe he was standing next to explorers from 18 countries as the founder and CEO of his own company. “I had this idea years ago that I wanted to take people and show them history’s greatest stories with the greatest explorers on the planet,” Bonaldi says. “I’m standing there … and it was real. It was exactly how I had planned it in my head.”

July 10, 2018

7 min read

This story originally appeared on GOBankingRates

You work hard but you’re not getting ahead in your job. You’re not making as much as you feel like you deserve. Or maybe you just feel stuck. Does this sound like you? If so, you’re likely wondering what’s going to help you achieve the career and financial success you want.

Related: 12 Expenses Successful People Don’t Waste Time or Money On

The answer is goals. Yes, you need to set goals. “The benefits of setting goals is really to help yourself achieve what you want to achieve,” said Elizabeth Koraca, an executive coach and career strategist. “You have to have clarity on what you want and a clear path how to get there.”

But there’s a right way and a wrong way to set career or financial goals you can actually achieve.

Here’s how your financial future stacks up with other Americans’.

(By Cameron Huddleston)

Figure out what you want

Before you can set goals, you must figure out what you want. You have to have a vision for your life, Koraca said.

If you’re unclear, Koraca recommends asking yourself what excites you. Think about what you would do if you could do whatever you wanted. When she goes through this exercise with clients, Koraca usually finds that what people want to do is not that unrealistic. And once you know what you want, you’ll have the motivation you need to set and stick to goals that will help you achieve your dream life.

Set SMART goals

One of the strategies that career and life coach Allison Task uses with her clients is SMART goal setting. SMART is an acronym for the ideal characteristics of goals:

Specific: Goals should be detailed.
Measurable: You should have criteria for measuring your progress.
Attainable: Do you have the ability to achieve what you want?
Relevant: Your goals should be consistent with your values.
Time-bound: Goals should have a timeframe for completion.

“By using this framework, you are more likely to achieve the goal, because you will think through the specifics of what needs to happen for you to do it,” Task said. A bad goal, for example, would be, “I need to lose weight.” Task said a SMART goal example would be, “I will lose 25 pounds over the next six months in time for my best friend’s wedding.”

Write down your goals

When setting goals, it’s not enough to just think about doing something, Koraca said. “If you don’t write them down, any goal you might have will be swirling around your head,” she said — and you’ll be more likely to forget it.

Not only should you write down your goals, but also you should put that document where you can see it. “If you can have those goals printed out and visible, even better,” Koraca said. Hang up your list of goals in your office, on your bathroom mirror or on your refrigerator as a constant reminder of what you want to achieve.

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Create an action plan

Your goals document should actually be an action plan, not just a list of what you hope to achieve. Koraca recommends listing your vison at the top. “Don’t hold back,” she said. “Put what you really want in that vision.” It should be as detailed as possible, and below it, you should list your top five goals for the year to help you get closer to your vision.

To create an action plan, write January through December underneath your goals and the specific steps you want to accomplish each month that will make them happen. By creating an action plan, you can see that your goals are within your reach. “It gives you a sense of feeling in charge instead of frustrated,” Koraca said.

Set a timeline for achieving goals

Both Koraca and Task recommend setting a timeframe for achieving your goals. Those deadlines need to be realistic, however. For example, if you want to go from earning $50,000 a year to $500,000 a year, you might be setting yourself up for failure if you give yourself only 12 months to achieve that goal. A more realistic timeframe might be at least five or six years to get on the path to riches.

Koraca recommends using a planner or the calendar app on your phone to schedule due dates for your goals and action steps. But don’t try to tackle too many goals at once. “Take your time with it,” Koraca said.

Break goals down into small steps

When you start to feel overwhelmed by trying to achieve your goals, turn your milestones into “inch pebbles,” Task said. In other words, break down your big goal into small things you can do each week to inch toward it.

“The more we build up successful habits, those inch pebbles build up,” Task said. Your confidence will increase as you accomplish each small task, and you’ll be motivated to keep working toward your bigger goal.

Have accountability

One of the best things you can do to improve your chances of achieving your goals is to create a method of accountability, Task said. “Whether it’s a professional, best friend or spouse, share your goal with someone and make sure they can help you hold yourself to it week to week,” she said.

Perhaps even more important than finding someone to hold you accountable is being accountable to yourself, Task said. This goes back to your vision and having goals that are relevant. You need to have a reason why you want to achieve a goal. “Tell it to yourself why it’s important,” Task said.

Related: 12 Essential Money Tips for Every Phase of Your Financial Life

Monitor your progress

Monitoring your progress is part of the measurable component of SMART goals. Track what you’ve done and what you need to need to do to move closer to your goals.

Task said she asks clients every couple of weeks to rate their progress on a goal on a scale of one to 10. That helps them get a better idea of where they stand. Tracking your goals also can help you celebrate your successes and give you the motivation you need to continue.

Let others’ success motivate you

It’s easy to fall into the trap of comparing what you have achieved — or haven’t achieved — with what others are doing, especially considering that most people broadcast their successes on social media. Koraca calls it the black spiral of misery. “If you focus on someone else, that’s where all your energy is going,” she said. “You’re not moving forward to where you want to go.”

Instead of being jealous, both Koraca and Task recommend figuring out what the person who has what you want has done to get there. If you know that person well enough, ask him or her to share some tips with you.

Learn from setbacks and adjust Your goals

If you’re having trouble achieving something on your action list, don’t assume that you’re failing. Instead, Task said you should ask why it’s not happening. “Maybe it’s the wrong thing, and it’s not working,” she said. You might need to find a new approach, or even re-examine your goals.

The important thing is to get clear on what works for you because there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to goal setting. “You want to change course if something is not working for you,” Koraca said. “I can’t stress that enough.”