Category: Starting an Online Business

Is Your Package Big Enough?

Confess. You’re reading this because the title made you think of male genitalia. (…And now you’re thinking about how weird the word “genitalia” sounds.) I know, I know. I tried to avoid it, but really, I can’t. Because today’s tip is about packaging your service or product offerings, so why be modest? I’m not even modest on Sundays. If you’re in business, about to be in business, or hallucinate that you own a business, then you’ve probably had the following

Don’t Invent a Product Name. Engineer One.

It’s 4:30 in the morning and I’m boarding a plane to Nicaragua. Today’s tip should really be: Don’t board a plane before you having at least one successful hour being awake. It’s bad enough trying to successfully stumble to the bathroom in the middle of the night; try stumbling through a gigantic metal maze of impressively long human conveyor belts, lunatics with luggage, signs designed to be advanced brain teasers (if your gate is between 35-135, turn right, do a

Just The Tip: Nobody Wants Your Free Goodies

Alright, it’s time we had a talk about your goodies. I’ve seen free goodies being offered all over the internet for year after (painful) year, and I really have to wonder: Are they honestly as good as Ciara’s? Kidding. We both know that’s impossible. Have you seen her abs? Regardless, if you’ve ever caught yourself writing, “Sign up for my newsletter and get this exciting combination of free goodies,” you should hide. I’m coming for you. Because yes, I AM

THE BUSINESS BLACKLIST: If You’re Doing Any of These 6 Things, STOP IMMEDIATELY.

1. The first thing on the No B.S. Business Blacklist? Putting up an auto-responder that tells all of your customers that “in the name of productivity” you’re only checking your email at 7am, 12pm and 4pm. Can everybody that’s doing this go fuck themselves, please? I don’t care about your personal time tables, and you’re wasting my time sending me back an email about it. What’s really happening is you can’t stand the fact that you actually have no idea

Are You a Dangerous Liability In Your Own Business?

How many books do you have in your Kindle library that you haven’t read yet? How many times have you said to yourself, “I should really learn how to write better copy,” or “I should really learn Photoshop,” or “I should really learn how to shower more regularly instead of rotting away in my yoga pants with grease dripping down my hair follicles, fisting the keyboard like a caveman while blankly staring at the screen with absolutely zero drive, motivation,

Business Is a Love Story. So Don’t Be a Selfish Lover.

The only way to make money is to stop thinking about how to make money, and start thinking about how to make MEANING. By which I don’t necessarily mean yours. Do we want you to do something you love? Sure. But successful business models aren’t all about you; they’re about what you can do for other people. What meaning can you bring to their lives? I don’t care how much you love something–will you be able to create a successful

23 (Surprising) Reasons To Work for Yourself

You discover things you never knew about yourself. For example, you know how sometimes people play that annoying game and ask you what you’d do if you only had 24 hours to live? And so you sit there and scratch your ass, and then say something poetic like, “I’d go to the beach and let the wind whip through my hair one last time.” Alright, Robert Frost. Maybe you would and maybe you wouldn’t, but the fact is you’ll never

23 Reasons Working For Yourself Will Drive You to Drink

I want to find a way to say wanker in this post, but since I’m not British, it feels a little unethical. Like I’m stealing words that don’t belong to me. I’m not sure why I want to say wanker; I’m not angry in the least. But now that I think of it, a few things have inconvenienced me lately. Like the fact that my Wifi signal decided to take a pee break three times during an important (first) client

10 Uncommon Truths Every Business Owner Should Know

I’m not sure if you’ve ever served ice cream for a living, but there’s one thing you should know: It’s terrifying. From little league ball teams showing up twenty seconds before close (always a great time), to people who NEVER SPECIFY WHAT SIZE THEY WANT EVEN THOUGH THE PRICE IS DIRECTLY CORRELATED TO THE SIZE AND “A VANILLA” IS NOT SPECIFIC AT ALL AND NOW I HAVE TO ASK YOU WHAT SIZE YOU WANT EVEN THOUGH YOU SHOULD HAVE ALREADY

Reason #959 to Start a Business

Employment freaks me out. It’s hard to imagine putting all of your intellectual, emotional, and physical energy into a company – with nothing to show for it at the end of the day. Or, the end of your life. Maybe a savings, if you were disciplined enough, or a 401K, but aside from that, you’re left with a former title and a few keepsake peppermint candies. That’s because when you’re living off a salary that someone else grants you, you