How To Make $25 Million By The Age of 27 – Jack Delosa

Australian Entrepreneur, Investor & Author,  Jack Delosa has amassed a net worth of $25 Million at the age of 27.
Jack has rubbed shoulders with Richard Branson, coached 10’s of 1000’s of business owners and startups around the world and launched a best selling book called “Unprofessional” that shows business owners how to succeed in the ever changing landscape of investment, startups and marketing in this day and age.
Jacks company The Entourage has led more than 60,000 business owners in the right direction for producing results and increasing revenue within their new or struggling startups.
Jack will be featured in The Top 100 Australians Under 40 “Young Rich List” in the Business Review Weekly this year, representing one of the fastest growing sectors, “Education”.

Jack Delosa’s 3 Keys To Standout From The Crowd

1. Educate yourself – Don’t rely on Uni or School

2. Find your strengths and do what you love
3. Make mistakes and pursue failure

More at:http://addicted2success.com/podcasts/how-to-make-25-million-by-the-age-of-27-jack-delosa/

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5 Ways To Invest In Yourself

The investment business is worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.  Organizations spend millions to get your money and hope you believe their investment strategy is the best.
We are inundated with magazines, 24-7 investment channels, and investment “experts” on every aspect of the market.  All of this is irritating because rarely does anyone honestly tell you the best investment decision you can make.
There is no doubt you can earn a decent return over time in a well diversified portfolio.  That’s no secret. My long term money is invested in the market.
However, the best investment no one talks about is investing in yourself.  Time and time again this is absolutely the best investment you can make in your life.
I’m not simply talking about taking more college courses or mandatory trainings from your employer.  I am referring to making a commitment to learn new skills, improve old ones, and changing with the times.
When you make the commitment to invest in yourself, the return on investment will begin to multiply exponentially over time – similar to compound interest.

“Success Doesn’t come to you, you go to it.” – Marie Colling

At First you may not notice the payoff from the investment, but there will be a time when your growth will sky rocket.
Investing in yourself can lead to promotions at work, starting new businesses (like myself), better health, improving relationships, and much more. It is really the investment that keeps on paying dividends.
Most people go to college then believe there is no reason to learn much more.  If you want to find success, you need to continue to grow.
There are three reasons why we stop learning: cost, time, and laziness.  Since I know the people reading this article aren’t lazy, the main reasons must be time and money.
Luckily we live in the best time ever to continue our education.  We have access to learning at our fingertips that our ancestors only dreamed of having.
Let’s discuss 5 ways to invest in yourself.

1. Podcasts

Most of us have a commute to work or a mundane activity we must do each week (i.e. clean the house, mow the grass, exercise, ect).  Instead of turning on Pandora Radio to the 90s mix, look into Podcasts.
Podcasts are the best way to hear inspiring stories, learn new skills, or brush up on your own industry.
Jump on iTunes or Sticher and you can find topics that cover everything from business to comedy.

2. Online Courses

Want to learn to code?  Improve your marketing skills? Start your own business?
You can do that today because there are courses at your fingertips for no charge.  YouTube is filled with great information.  If you only watched Ted Talks on YouTube you would dramatically change your life.
You can take real courses from the Khan Academy.  Even MIT has courses you can take for free.
If you don’t mind paying for something, then check out Udemy, Lynda.com, or Skillshare.  I learned how to place Facebook ads from Udemy and it was one of the best courses I ever took (and I have my MBA).
There are also a number of courses taught by people who specialize in a particular subject.  You can find some great courses on copy writing, marketing, starting a blog, and much more.

 “Your life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn

3. Library

Most people don’t read books because they don’t want to purchase them or don’t want to make the trek to the library.   According to Zig Ziglar, 58% of all people in our society, when they finish their formal education, never read another meaningful book.
Well, it’s not your grandfather’s library anymore.
You can rent books from the library and read them on your Kindle or iPad.  There is a large number of books that you can check out and have for two or three weeks.
You can also rent digital books and play them on your device of choice.
Do what most people don’t – read books and become an expert in a topic.

4. Join a Group

Maybe you’re an introvert (like myself) and want to meet more people.  Then join an organization.  I don’t care where you live, there are groups to join.
A few sites to check out are Meetup and LinkedIn.  You can find groups to join that have local meetings.
Just in my area you can join groups that discuss blogging, business, marketing, running clubs, and more.
Also, consider looking into Toastmasters International.  This is something on my list of things to do because it is a phenomenal club.  Learning to speak in front of groups is a skill that everyone could improve.
 

5. Go to a Seminar/Conference

A great way to learn more about your industry or break into a new industry is attend a seminar or conference. Not only will you learn a great deal, but you can also meet a number of new people.
If you don’t have the money to attend a conference, then try to be in the area when the conference will be held and attend meet ups. That way you can meet a lot of new people and start to foster more relationships in the industry.

More at: http://addicted2success.com/life/5-ways-to-invest-in-yourself/

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8 Inspiring Tips From Successful Women Entrepreneurs

In today’s world where business acumen, creativity, and innovativeness shape the landscape of any business. Women with different backgrounds have proven time and time again that being a successful woman entrepreneur is possible.
Their success stories have shown how a simple dream can be realized and turned into a huge success. For those of you who are also aspiring to succeed as an entrepreneur, there are so many things that you can learn from these amazing women.

Here are 8 things to live by if you want to be a successful woman entrepreneur:

1. It all starts with an idea

The most successful entrepreneurs started out with having an idea in mind. Whether it is a kind of product they want to create or a service that is not yet being offered in the market, everything starts with an idea.
The ability to transform that idea into a business is what sets everything in motion.
So, explore.Be creative and innovative.
According to Sheila Marcela, founder of Care.com, “thinking in terms of evolution is essential.”

2. Do not be afraid of failure

Once failure sets in, you will never be able to have the courage to pursue what you have always wanted and imagined to do.
By letting failure get the best of you, no matter how great your business idea is, you have already set your path to failure.
For only the bold and the risk takers can succeed in this highly competitive world. As such, you should never be afraid of trying.
Do not let your fear of failure come to mind.
One of the youngest- female billionaires in America, Sara Blakely who is the founder of Spanx says that, “It is always important to make mistakes.”
The biggest mistake that you will ever make if you are an aspiring entrepreneur is to allow fear of failure to achieve your goals.

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho

3. You need to believe and have faith

In running a business, you will encounter a series of ups and downs. From initial success to losses and other challenges, these things are all part of the business process.
No matter how rough the road is, you just have to keep that faith and believe that despite the odds, you will make it through.
The Chairman, CEO and Designer of Tory Burch LLC, believes that “You can have it all. You just have to know it’s going to work.”
When you believe that everything can be done, everything is possible.

4. Be independent

Who says that women have to rely on men just to succeed in their respective fields?
What these successful women entrepreneurs tell us is that you should never be afraid to have your own independence and have the ability to pursue your passion and your business goals.
Famous designer Diane Von Furstenberg says that “she is the woman who has always wanted to be independent and who could pay for her own bills and have her life the way she wants it.” Eventually she’s become that woman.

 

More at http://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/8-inspiring-tips-from-successful-women-entrepreneurs/

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What Next For Startup Loans? UK Funding Scheme For Entrepreneurs Hits Its Stride

As they deliberate at the polls today, many Brits will reflect on five years of coalition government, recalling the key milestones. The ground-breaking Start Up Loan (SUL) scheme is definitely one of them.

Launched in 2012, the scheme provides startup loans, repayable between one and five years, business support, and mentors to entrepreneurs through a national network of delivery partners (DPs).

To date it has helped 27,000 new businesses get off the ground. All well and good, but how have these fledgling enterprises fared since? Are they still trading? Have they successfully moved on to next stage growth? Or have most of them bombed?

In fact, somewhere between 10% and 15% of SUL businesses have ceased trading, Joanna Hill, COO of the Start Up Loans Company, which runs the scheme, told me, which compares favourably with the national average of around 50% of small businesses failing in the first two years.

“Inevitably, some businesses will fail given the inherent risk in starting any business venture,’ she says. “However SUL businesses that have ceased trading are not an entirely fruitless exercise. Feedback shows that many of these loan recipients learned vital lessons and skills from the experience and stand better equipped for any future business ventures.”

Flying in their second year: the Yucoco team

And that leaves a healthy percentage of SUL entrepreneurs in operation. One of them is Yucoco, a handmade chocolate business that I met just over a year ago. The three founders had just received a £10,000 loan from delivery partner Virgin StartUp, which they used to pay for a packaging run and part of their web build.

Intrigued to know their fate, I recently caught up with them again, and found them  still on a steep learning curve, but heading in the right direction.
They recently became the first ever crowd funded competition winners, and receiving £75,000 in funding from Worth Capital and Seedrs. And while Yucoco is still very much an online business, the team are in discussions with Harrods and Selfridges about launching in-store products.

Their DP continues to play a key role in supporting business growth.

Co-founder Sophie Frost said: “Virgin StartUp helped connect us with Virgin Balloons and Virgin Trains to talk about adding Yucoco to their list of suppliers. And in terms of next stage funding, they have put me in touch with Enterprise Nation, a startup platform that offers advice and support for new business.”

She insists, however, that outside the scheme there is a pressing need for advice around next stage funding.

She says: “During our fund raising round we had to use Google GOOGL +0.68% to work out where to find angel investors and people who would be interested in backing us. Any business that launches on £10,000 to £25,000 of funding is likely to need more investment pretty quickly.”

Attracting sufficient revenue to make the business pay, finding new revenue streams and routes to market are just some of the challenges that these growing businesses face.

Virgin StartUp CEO Mei Shui says: “As they move into the next phase of growth, we target the support to address very specific challenges, for example, doing business with big business, how to get in front of the right person, how to pitch to a buyer, etc. They might need help with IT, SEO, or marketing; the support will be there, but it will be more specialised.”

Initially the Start Up Loan scheme attracted a lot of scepticism. ‘Suddenly everyone is an entrepreneurs,’ was a frequent comment. As the scheme matured and flourished, cynics turned their attention to long term viability? ‘What happens to the businesses when their SUL contract ends?’

Plenty, it seems.

The 27,000 new businesses launched through the scheme have created 37,000 new jobs. And they’ve done their bit for the UK’s economic recovery. For every £1 invested in the scheme, £2.86 is returned to Government.

But to see where this scheme really comes into its own, look no further than T J Lyons.

Thrown out of school aged 15 with no qualifications, written off by his teachers and told he wouldn’t amount to anything, the young Londoner used a £10,000 SUL to start his own timber company. 
Last year he launched Thomas James Development, a construction management firm that handles a range of building contracts, and hands them on to teams of sub contractors.
“With that loan I was able to buy the equipment that allowed me to diversify. The contacts I then made from the larger fencing contracts then allowed me to move into other things,” says Lyons.

BizBritain, the DP that worked with Lyons, is also committed to a strategy of continued support for the entrepreneurs on its books. To date it has helped around 450 entrepreneurs set up.

CEO and founder Matt Gubba said: “We stay in close contact with them and continue to provide advice and practical support, through webinars and workshops, on the issues and challenges they face as their businesses grow. Some have enjoyed huge success, hitting six figure turnovers, and expanding overseas. Without SUL, a lot of business opportunities would have been missed.”

More at:http://www.forbes.com/sites/alisoncoleman/2015/05/07/what-next-for-startup-loans-uk-funding-scheme-for-entrepreneurs-hits-its-stride/

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Tony Robbins On Money: Master The Game

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3 Things to Do If You Want to Become a CEO by Age 30

When, at age 24, I told my boss (somewhat tongue in cheek) that I wanted to become a CEO, he nearly fell off his chair. It was 1974; I was a software developer working for IBM. At that time, lowly engineers were not expected to aspire to roles reserved for successful salespeople.
But my boss’ guidance helped me take a hard look at myself and make becoming the CEO a real objective. I eventually achieved my goal 30 years later at Business Objects, but it took a lot of careful planning, as well as focus and determination.
Today, the path to becoming a CEO can look very different, particularly within tech and internet startups. But the skills required to be an effective leader are the same as ever. These skills typically take a life of experience to acquire, but there are ways to overcome that time challenge. Here are three things you should do to qualify as CEO material, even if you are short on life experience -- but still big on energy and bold ideas:

1. Build a team to compensate for your shortcomings.

Even a seasoned executive needs a sounding board of people who can offer guidance, particularly for areas that fall outside his or her core expertise. For young leaders, this is essential, to avoid serious mistakes. Lack of experience can lead to very painful consequences: hiring the wrong people, spending too much money, getting stuck with bad contract terms, or falling afoul of the law -- to name just a few.
Consider the example of Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook: He drives the products, while she is the more business-oriented person. They complement each other with their skills, and work together to achieve a common goal of building a successful company. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin (both 25 years old when they founded the company) brought in a more experienced Eric Schmidt so that they could gain management depth before taking over in their own right.
When building your leadership team, then, don’t look for people who are exactly like you. Find those who can round you out and challenge you to grow.

2. Use the power of positive -- and negative -- thinking.

If you are launching a business when you are still in your 20s -- without scars from past challenges -- you will have some advantages and many disadvantages.
The biggest disadvantage is the lack of a track record, which a potential investor might want to use to evaluate your probability of success. This can be overcome only by spending many hours selling your idea to as many people as will listen to it. In the venture capital universe, Bay Area investors have traditionally been the most willing to take a gamble on an untried team. Another potentially helpful strategy is to hire a more seasoned person to front the fund-raising, but take care not to lose control of the business in the process.

An interesting advantage you may have as a young leader, meanwhile, is the likelihood that you probably do not know what is not possible; yet, you will attempt to do it anyway. This might result in a breakthrough that a more experienced person might miss due to a past negative experience. And that would be wonderful. But real breakthroughs are relatively rare. Most progress is incremental, and to attain incremental success, tapping into the experience of previous successes and failures can be very helpful.

3. Practice humility.

Leaders need to be transparent, and humble when humility is appropriate (which is very often). In fact, intellectual humility -- the ability to step back and embrace the better ideas of others -- is, for Google (to name one leading company) a more important hiring criterion than credentials. Unfortunately, humility is often perceived as a weakness, when in fact it is one of the greatest strengths a leader can possess.
Humble people listen to and learn from others. They take the backseat when someone more able than themselves is available to solve a problem. They give credit where credit is due. They are less prone to hubris when things go really well. They constantly question their own views and motivation to ensure that they are truly aligned with the desired business outcome. All of these values are essential to build a high-performance organization. But of course business is all about winning.
Being humble is fine, but a leader also must be willing to lead to victory.
So, my advice is to practice humility -- just don’t forget to win.

More at:http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245593

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