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Category: Business

The Art Of Instagram: 5 Tips To Build A Powerful Brand And Following

A picture was once worth a thousand words, but now it may be worth a thousand followers, thanks to the photo-sharing app Instagram, which Facebook acquired for $1 billion.

The social media platform allows users to archive their photos to the effect of digital storyboards that others can engage with through likes, comments, and follows.

According to The Independent, “followers represent social capital, which has an influence on monetary capital.” In other words, having a popular Instagram account can translate into status and cash.

But with over 500 million monthly active users on Instagram, how are you supposed to stand out?

If you’re like most and have been trying to gain followers with no success (the average account has 150 followers), here to help is Instagram consultant Crystal Schreiner, a brand mentor with and founder of the company Beauty Everywhere, which teaches people “how to become a walking media company.”

Schreiner shares her recipe for impact on Instagram on this week’s episode of Unconventional Life, “Instagram 101: How To Build A Profitable Profile.”

Schreiner’s expertise stems from her work with Hollywood music video directors and New York runway photographers.

She landed her first internship shooting for a former Vogue editor while studying advertising in college. “I knew I wanted to go to New York, so I emailed hundreds of fashion editors. Vogue’s former editor replied, and I asked to shoot at fashion week… She said yes,” Schreiner recalls.

In Hollywood, Schreiner learned how stars were created on camera by “creating a storyline through visual elements in the videos.” The experience would prove invaluable for her Instagram career later on, where imagery and video are the building blocks of a personal brand.

“Every brand needs a personality — a brand is human, is a person,” Schreiner says. “I teach people how to break down their story into pictures like a visual story board. Every single picture tells part of a story and the story creates a personality that’s entertaining.”

It’s through the tactful weaving of aesthetics, design, vision, and story, that Schreiner is able to create profiles that stand out… and cash in.

When an Instagram account has a significant amount of followers, it can become a powerful source of revenue. Some of the most common ways to monetize an account include obtaining sponsorships with advertising companies, selling top-liked photos, and referring traffic to your personal brand.

Below, Schreiner shares her best tips for building a successful Instagram account, whether you’re starting from scratch or are improving on an existing profile.

1. Showcase your signature style.Having a unique look that allows others to recognize you is essential. Your visual appearance is the first aspect of your profile that others notice, so what do you want your outfit, your stance, and your attitude to say about you? It’s important to construct a style that reflects your personality and develop it through each of your photos. If you’re feeling stuck, finding inspiration from others you admire is a great place to start.

2. Tell your story. Your story is the personal element of your profile that tells your followers who you are and what you stand for. You’ll want to be real and relatable, because that’s what people connect to most. Plus-sized model Iskra Lawrence is a particularly great example of this: she shares her story candidly and openly to her 2.3 million followers. Schreiner says, “you can think of Instagram like a narrative as if you’re writing the story of your life… think about how each picture adds to the last.

3. Engage with your followers. Connect to your followers by responding to their comments, thanking them, and leaving notes on their photos. If someone is particularly active on your page, you might consider following them back. It can be difficult to keep up with so many notifications, but making an effort to engage with at least a few people each day makes a massive difference and makes your followers feel like they know you and you care.

4. Market yourself. Identify who your target audience is and find out how you can connect with them. Searching hashtags related to your niche is a great way to find users who might be interested in your content. Find out who these users follow, and consider reaching out to them if they’re on the same mission as you — collaboration can help you cross-promote and get more exposure. Finally, caption your photos with popular hashtags to help people in your community find you.

5. Be consistent. “If you want momentum, you have to post every single day. You need to be seen and be putting yourself out there,” Schreiner advises. You should be posting to Instagram at least once daily, and posting three times a day can help you grow even faster.

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March 1, 2018
How To Become A Better Risk-Taker, From ‘Fail Better’ TEDx Speaker Lindy Norris

I recently read that 96% of businesses will fail within the first 10 years. But for such a universal occurrence, it’s surprising to me that failure has such a bad rap.

We’re often made to feel ashamed, embarrassed, or regretful of our mistakes and believe we must do everything in our power to ensure they don’t happen again.

The truth is, most of us aren’t willing to fail because the stakes are just too high. Failing could mean we get fired, lose thousands on an investment, jeopardize a relationship, or let others down.

By avoiding failure, you are missing out on the powerful teachings it has to offer. There’s a goldmine of bravery, resilience, and growth beneath failure, but only for those daring enough to dig.

But what if there was a way to fail that allowed us to access its riches with none of the risk?

One woman says there is. Meet Lindy Norris, a speaker and growth catalyst most-known for her Ted Talk “Fail Better,” where she exposes the hidden treasures of failure. She’s also a Marketing Magazine 30 Under 30 honoree and the founder of the nonprofit Athena Leadership.

Norris shares how to become a student in failure’s classroom on the latest episode of Unconventional Life, “How To Heal Your Relationship To Failure Forever.”

Norris’ first major run-in with failure took place when she moved across the continent from Canada to San Francisco to pursue an MBA program. After spending just a few days in the program, she realized it wasn’t right for her and decided to head home empty-handed.

Back in Canada, she found herself confused, disappointed, and unclear what to do next. All of the effort she put into applying for her MBA had seemingly been a complete waste.

To add insult to injury, she did the same thing a second time by trying to go back for a different MBA with no success. But rather than pity herself, Norris did something unexpected: she looked deeper into the failure and opened herself up to its teachings.

What she learned was that she was destined for something different. The deeper she inquired, the more clear became her calling to spread awareness about failure to the world — beginning with her Ted Talk about failing better.

“Look at [failure] from a development perspective, figure out how you can develop resilience through it and come closer to what you really want to do,” she says.

Norris’ willingness to confront her setbacks has molded her into a fearless risk-taker with an appetite for failure. Now, she’s dedicated her life’s work to creating the same results for others.

“It’s okay to change your mind, it’s okay to follow what really fulfills you, what your passions are… there’s points when we realize that what we originally envisioned for ourselves isn’t what we want to do anymore. That’s totally okay — changing your business, changing your mind, deciding to take a different direction is totally okay,” Norris says.

Below, check out the different ways you can make failure your friend without having to risk it all. By flexing your failure muscle, you’ll become more adept at learning from mistakes and more confident to take risks that can benefit you.

1. Ask for a 10% discount one day where you usually buy your morning coffee. It seems like a simple thing to ask, but it’s bound to make you (and the cashier) feel a bit uncomfortable. By asking, there’s a lot more to gain than just a few cents — you’ll reach a higher threshold of confidence and overcome a significant social barrier. Remember, the worst they can say is no.

2. Sit next to someone on a non-crowded bus, train, or subway. We tend to leave plenty of extra room between ourselves and strangers, especially when there’s no shortage of space. Are you bold enough to do it anyways and reclaim friendliness for creepiness? (Bonus points for striking up a conversation).

3. Publicly state your biggest goal. Tell as many friends and family members about it as you can, and be 100% honest. By sharing your biggest goal, you risk a very painful and very public failure. You’ll be challenged to be accountable for your goals and to make peace with the possibility of missing the mark.

4. Share something personal to your social network. Facebook is a great outlet — but what if you don’t get any likes? The benefit is you’ll learn to share openly without attachment to how people receive it. Sharing for the sake of sharing, because it’s important to you, is a huge win.

5. Speak up to your boss about something you don’t like. Many of us try to suck up to our bosses and pretend things are fine because they have power over us. This time, dare to speak up about something that’s bothering you to reclaim your voice. If you are the boss, try giving totally honest feedback to an employee.

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March 1, 2018
Back To Basics: The Keep-It-Simple-Strategy For Starting A Winning Business

It seems today that just about everyone’s got a different approach to business. Some say you should focus on one-upping your competition, while others say it’s best to be original, while still others recommend reinventing the wheel and forgetting about competition altogether.

Trying to navigate all these different tactics can be extremely overwhelming, especially because of the intense pressure to get it right… or else suffer a hit in your business.

“In a business environment that is changing faster and becoming more uncertain and complex almost by the day, it’s never been more important to choose the right approach to strategy,” says the Harvard Business Review.

So how exactly are you supposed to sort through all the information and decide which strategy is best for you?

One successful businessman says his winning strategy is sticking to the basics — the simple principles that have stood the test of time.

Meet Brent Underwood, founding partner of Brass Check, a creative advisory firm that has produced and marketed content for major clients likeGoogle GOOGL -1.19%, American Apparel, and Tony Robbins. He’s also the founder of the #1 rated hostel in America, HK Austin.

Underwood shares how he’s made it happen using classic techniques on this week’s episode of Unconventional Life, “Why The Business Basics Are Your Best Bet.”

Underwood graduated from Columbia University at the age of 23, the youngest graduate student in his class. During a college study abroad trip, he says he discovered a passion for traveling that would serve as the inspiration for him to later create his own hostel.

“I love traveling, I love interacting with people, and the hostel’s a way to travel—it was a way for me to backpack all around the world. I was exposed to so many different perspectives and the excitement of traveling,” Underwood says.

By 2014, he had stayed in over 150 hostels in 30 countries. A seasoned expert, he decided it was time to open up his own hostel.

Underwood recalls having little startup capital to fund the project — but that didn’t stop him. Instead, he stuck to the timeless principle of making due with what he had and pouring money into what mattered most.

He says he forewent serving breakfast to guests in exchange for purchasing high-end mattresses—which guests have been raving about ever since. “Everything else—the atmosphere, the common room, the location, the book collection, the guests, the reviews—was secondary, and, to some extent, outside our control. But if we could make at least the beds an unforgettable experience, we knew we would be putting money on a sure bet,” Underwood says.

Today, HK Austin is the highest-rated hostel in America, which Underwood credits to his application of simple, sound business advice. Below, he shares three tips you can use in your own practice to replicate his success.

1. Hire faster than you think you need to. As a business owner, it can be difficult to let go of things getting done “your way” and delegating responsibility to others. After all, things might not be completed to your standards, and quality could suffer. But trying to do everything yourself is a sure path to destruction, Underwood says. Your skills are needed to run the business, and you can’t do that while you’re focused on all the nitty-gritty details. Hire employees to take care of the small stuff, train them to do their jobs well, and commit yourself to what really matters.

2. Look no further than your own community. It can be tempting to want to solve a problem or provide value on a massive scale—which is why so many businesses try to serve a worldwide market. The problem is, they find themselves disconnected from the world’s needs, only able to speculate or approximate because of the vast size and distance, and as a result end up serving no one. Underwood says he conquered this problem by serving his local community in Austin, TX, home of the HK Austin. This allowed him to oversee important matters such as adhering to city building codes and tailoring the guest experience. Hone into your own city because you know its needs best of all.

3. Cut the distractions and focus on the actual product. So many business owners believe they have to have every aspect of their business perfect—from their business cards, to their website, to their logo, to their social media accounts. What they don’t realize is that this is actually a massive distraction from their actualproduct. Focusing on how manyTwitter TWTR +1.72% followers your business has, who might never become actual customers, doesn’t produce profits at the end of the day. The best businesses are the ones that strive to make their products and customer experience the very best they can be. Focus on your product first and foremost, and the smaller details will take care of themselves.

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March 1, 2018
Snapchat Influencer Shares How To Leverage The App For Your Business

Many have scoffed at the notion of Snapchat seriously entering the business sphere. How could a self-destructing picture and video messaging app be profitable?

With over 150 million active users and 10 billion daily video views, Snapchat is now overtaking both Twitter and Facebook in popularity.

The mobile messaging app, currently valued at $20 billion, is rapidly becoming the go-to platform for millennials. More than 60% of U.S. 13 to 34-year-old smartphone users are Snapchatters, and their daily video views are tripling every 3 months.

So how exactly do you get started?

Meet Virginia Salas Kastilio, a Snapchat celebritywith a global following who’s made Snapchatting her full-time job. She’s partnered with brands like Nasdaq, Sundance, and Good Mag to promote their content and hook users onto their products.

Salas Kastilio reveals her secret to leveraging Snapchat for business results on the latest episode of Unconventional Life, Learn To Master Snapchat: The Untapped Mega-Marketing Platform.

Salas Kastilio is a trilingual nomad who has been to 15 different schools and traveled around the world. She hops from place to place every few weeks to keep a fresh perspective on things.

After a five-year career in the corporate world working for Apple and Oracle, she decided to devote her life to the research and spreading of happiness.

Salas Kastilio says she started using snapchat as a storyteller, filming micro-moments of her day that, when strung together, allowed her followers to feel like they really knew her.

“I wanted to take people through my day and also show them it wasn’t an act, I wasn’t pretending… It was a personal way to bring people into my everyday life and interact with them,”Salas Kastilio says.

Other Snapchat users resonated with SalasKastilio’s transparency — they could easily relate to her quirks, her humor, her flaws, and the everyday moments she shared. Her commitment to being herself and broadcasting her real life was what really caught on.

At just 26 years old, Salas Kastilio has already touched hundreds of thousands of lives through Snapchat. Below, she shares how you can get started and create your own impact with this platform.

Focus on 1-1 engagement. The beauty of Snapchat is that it enables you to connect with your audience one-on-one. Don’t be afraid to send personalized snaps to people who frequently watch your Snapchat “stories”, or have been a loyal customer, or who reach out to you first. This is how you build relationships and a positive reputation. “You can have really great marketing but if you don’t have engagement you have nothing. It’s all about 1-1,” Salas Kastilio advises.

Be yourself. People want to see what you’re really like behind the public persona of your business. Take your viewers behind-the-scenes in a typical day at work, or at an event you throw. Allow your personality to come out so they can get to know you — they want to connect to who you are. Salas Kastilio says, “It’s probably one of the hardest things that we can do as humans, it’s just being yourself. It doesn’t matter what you’re passionate about or what kind of quirks you have, just show them, and the people that will resonate will find you.”

Reach out to Snapchat communities. Locate groups on Reddit, Facebook, and other forums specifically created by Snapchat fans. Then join the conversation and invite them to send you a Snapchat. Salas Kastilio says, “I would post in the Reddit group and just be like, I challenge you to send me your worst selfie… may the odds be ever in your favor,” and people would send me terrible selfies and I would send them terrible selfies back. You know I would just think of little fun games to get people to find me.”

Tell a story. The most watched Snapchat stories keep the viewer hooked from start to finish by showing a progression of events. Create suspense, add comedy, and do something surprising. You might even feature your products in your videos in a creative way. The more interesting your story, the more users will be drawn to your Snapchat and learn about your business that way.

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March 1, 2018
Crush It With Crowdfunding: 7 Steps To Get Your Startup Fully Funded

If you’ve heard of crowdfunding, you’ve no doubt seen the heroic campaigns that manage to raise millions in just 30 days, exceed their goal by five thousand percent, and ascend to celebrity stardom on social media.

If you ask me, saying “yes” to humble, transparent companies with homestyle videos has some serious appeal. No doubt that’s why over $16.2 billion was raised through crowdfunding in 2014.

Despite all the bells and whistles, what’s not as well-known is the fact that 6 out of 10 crowdfunding campaigns fail to reach their funding goals. On all-or-nothing platforms like Kickstarter, this means companies lose all of the funds they raised.

But don’t be discouraged, aspiring startups. This is actually a great opportunity to shine bright among a sea of dull contenders — with the right tools, of course.

Meet Connor Young, a crowdfunding ninja who’s currently reached 391% of his campaign goal, a whopping $195k after being fully funded in the first 30 hours. I caught up with Young about his impressive feat on this week’s episode of Unconventional Life, “Hacking The Crowdfunding Algorithm: Get Fully Funded In 3 Days.”

Young beat the crowdfunding odds with his product Ample, a complete meal-in-a-bottle made from superior, real-food ingredients. The formula sprung from years of research Young did himself, equipped with a biology degree and the rare kind of patience required to read through 800+ clinical nutrition journals.

Young created Ample out of a desire to bring health to the “hacker house” he occupied in San Francisco, along with 50 other tech-type roommates.

As a former CrossFit trainer, Young was surprised to encounter so many people who simply didn’t have time to prioritize nutrition. His housemates were working busy schedules and filling up on unhealthy convenience snacks.

Troubled, Young sought to design a product that would both fulfill their nutrition needs and flow with their schedule. Over the course of the next year, he experimented with different combinations of real-food powders, amending the recipes daily.

“The absolutely critical part was the fact I was in this huge house where constant iteration was required,” Young says. “There would be 20 people, everyday, who were like, ‘what’s the newest version of Ample? What’s going on?’ Because there were so many iterations of this and because people really did want it, it took off almost immediately.”

In May 2016, Young launched Ample online via Indiegogo crowdfunding. Young now approaches the end of his campaign, with just over one week left.

Below, Young shares the magic formula behind his crowdfunding success, so you too can crush your campaign in just 7 steps.

1. Start 2-3 months in advance. Give yourself plenty of time to plan the campaign, create top-notch content, and coordinate the launch date. The growth leading up to the campaign is just as important as the growth during the campaign.

2. Understand your customer. Narrow your market down to as small as you possibly can — build your campaign for a single “avatar” customer. Young defined his avatar’s idols and sent them them samples of Ample to get testimonials from people his avatar trusted and admired.

3. Focus on the content. Write the entire campaign page before you begin anything else. Make sure it is organized and includes all of the relevant information. Then use the campaign page as a blueprint for your video, in which you’ll really bring your product to life.

4. Decide on a price that makes sense. Ideally, you’ll want your price point to allow you to reach your goal with just a few hundred backers or less. Keep in mind the average contribution tends to be about $75, so you won’t actually need to aim for as many backers as you think.

5. Create a “lifetime” perk. Give your backers the option to enjoy your product for life. Young priced a lifetime supply of Ample at $5,000, which enabled him to reach his goal quickly — viewers saw plenty of money funneling in early, which increased Ample’s credibility and perceived value.

6. Invest money into your campaign. It’s worth it to invest some money into your campaign upfront so that it appears professional, polished, and valuable. Consider hiring a film crew, a graphic designer, and an editor. The better your campaign looks, the more backers you’ll attract, so consider it an investment that will pay for itself.

7. Ride the wave of momentum. “People want to bet on a winner,” Young says. “If you really want to make this thing successful, you actually need to hit your campaign goal not within 30 days but within 3 days.” Capitalize on the excitement at the beginning of your campaign to maximize backers early on, get on your platform’s featured page, and appear on podcasts to spread the word.

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March 1, 2018