I have been hustling for several years now. Starting new ideas, pursuing old ideas and ending dead ones. I have preached about the rat race so often and compared it to being trapped in a machine. A never ending cycle of working for someone else; relying on someone else’s money to pay your bills. But what is entrepreneurship really in comparison to the proverbial rat race?
 

Aside from all the flexibility  you receive when running your own business, which is one of the top three reason people own their own business (other two being money and family), entrepreneurship pulls you into a different type of race. In reality, it is an uphill battle, unless you have a marketing plan, marketing budget, and connections off the get go, you really are running on a treadmill going nowhere, unless you break through the ceiling only a persistent few see.

A value proposition can make or break an investment deal if not done correctly. So what is it? It is a clear statement about what your startup business does and how it is solving a problem.

Social media has been the vain of us all. Taking our 6 degrees of separation down to 3 degrees, many of us now cannot see ourselves without social media. It redefines the term relationship or friendship and construes the lines of personal boundaries because of the personal access given to others. All single handedly stroking our egos.

In business it has affected us the same way. I have used my social media profiles for personal and business for several years now and I have learned over time what to post and what not to post. It’s been difficult because I have had moments I wanted to vent or rant on about a problem or annoyance. I have made my mistakes of posting about something, realizing I shouldn’t and would eventually take it down. I was allowing my ego to vent. But in the mix of it I was also promoting my businesses and connecting with other professionals in the area. So I eventually had to make a conscious decision to control my ego and choose a path of positive posts. Granted I’m not perfect but I have learned a lot from having a public profile.

I know the title got your attention. Attention whore, attention hog, center of attention, puffing up your chest, whatever you call it is a good thing. Good when it comes to making your business a star. Senseless attention whoring as a constant fix to one's low self-esteem is some other annoying issue.

I really love writing stuff people like. What I like even more is speaking to people about stuff they like or should be liking. Crazy fast internet and social media has made the virtual world the real world for many people. Years ago search engines, (not the library) became the go to place for instant updated information. It only made sense to follow the lead and write stuff to get people's attention on search engines. tweaking words, meta descriptions and titles became the exausting thing to do just to achieve the crown as king of your niche in search. Unfortunately scummy spammers always find ways to ruin good things by flooding many Google searches with garbage information so they can reak in big Adsense bucks.

Exactly how pimped out is your social media brand page. Chances are it's getting whipped in the looks and popularity contest, but why does it even matter? You're probably following the trend everyone does.

• Build a profile
• Add a name or simple logo.
• Tell a couple hundred people to like or follow it and hope you're more famous than god tomorrow.

Sadly everything's wrong with that approach. Two weeks ago I was guest speaker at the Miami Cutler Bay Business Association where I showed why and how to build a killer social media brand page to attarct hordes of friends and customers. A survey of the crowd showed most had a Facebook or Twitter page, but only half did any marketing or beautification of their page. I asked why, and the two main reasons were they didn't know how or didn't have time. There's a simple fix for that at the end of this article.

Who ever heard of a breakout business success story that didn't have some sort of drama attached to it? There are many exceptions, but a great majority of published success stories tend to have some sort of major conflict, founders having beef, or competitors relentlessly fighting to drive a nail in the coffin of a promising startup. Name any one major business success story and I can give you an example where they had some kind of conflict or drama before reaching stable ground and pay dirt.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was first coined by John Audette of Multimedia Marketing Group back in 1997. Who knew back then that SEO would become a powerhouse tool in the rise and demise of websites around the world.

New startup business owners are often intimidated by the process, not knowing what steps to take to start and build their business. Usually, the quickest way to get answers is to search the internet but in reality only someone who was once in your shoes can tell you how it really is.

On the heels of launching my most recent book, "Diapers to Dollars, Work At Home Mom Success Guide," I was approached by a friend for professional help. A mother with a young child, her own successful business and a dream to be much more! I have known her for several years now and have seen her maneuver professional obstacles that no one wants to deal with, always maintaining a positive and optimistic attitude through it all. Recently she was faced with the idea that her dream would not come true because she is a mother. Weary of decisions others would make against her because it would be unfathomable for a woman to care for a child and be a professional at the same time, according to another friend’s experience in this “area.” She has even refrained from mentioning having children in fear of it being frowned upon by a professional group/institution.