Happy New Year!

Converting your visitors is what your website is all about, so how well do you do it?

Can you predict that for every $1 spent on marketing through Facebook, Instagram, or any other channel, that you will earn X cents? If so, are you happy with the value of X, or do you think it can be larger? If not, do you know how to build such an equation?

As you begin 2018, here are 5 steps to increase your website’s sales and make better decisions through A|B testing.

1. Measure with Analytics

Making the right choices means understanding details and how they fit into the big picture. Try to avoid Buzzwords and vanity metrics and define what is the right set of indicators to pay attention to - there are tons of fantastic tools out there. You only need to start with one to measure Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) for your specific business.

Google Analytics (GA) is the oldest known platform out there, while HEAP and other more modern tools exist as well - it all depends on what you need to measure and keep track of. Now, I love a good old fashioned set of data in GA - it gives you the basics - how many times your site was viewed, what your sales were, and through it’s Behavior Flow feature, you can build a map of the customer journey.

One of my favorite clients simplified their customer journey by drawing boxes for each step of their funnel and marked it as such - smiley green faces for the pages with the desired conversion rate and red sad faces for the pages that converted less than desired. This made prioritization smooth - our testing focus should result in removing sad faces. It also communicated our program easily with decision makers and the team around us.

2. Test Your Copy

Do you have doubts about the content you write? Perhaps the thought of “what if I had said [this], instead of [that]?” crosses your mind after making changes to your website, publishing an article, or sending an email?

Headline testing is used by CNN, the Weather Channel, The New York Times, and more. Shouldn’t you? Copy tests are some of the lowest hanging fruit you can go after.

3. Test Your Customer’s Emotions

If you’ve ever worked sales person to person, you know that selling is based on how your customer feels - do they believe in your product? It’s an emotion, not a technical spec. There are aspects of your website that you have complete control over to stimulate your customer’s emotions and make the sale - from colors to imagery, funnel order and more.

When we look at the product being sold, how does it make someone’s life better? How does your customer want to feel when using your product?

4. Feature Tests

You can use a great, sophisticated product like Optimizely to save yourself thousands of dollars and hours from building useless features.

For another one of my clients, we routinely run small to medium sized feature tests built quickly to see if it’s worth implementing and testing further. Larger feature tests are tested differently which I will discuss at another time.

Here’s a very quick, small feature we tested - the Head of Design proposed desktop users would navigate with the keyboard to scroll through a newsfeed we created around the impact the company was making (left former article, right next article, as it scrolled from right to left). The CTO had his doubts and thought it was a very low priority for his team to develop - he asked me my thoughts, so I said let’s test it!

What do you think happened? Did users use the left and right arrows intrinsically?

I ran a test that had Javascript listen to the press of the left and right arrow keys for desktop users and would change the story shown when pressed. Simple enough and the test was up that day.

After filtering the company’s IP address (and my remote office IP address) from the results of the test, there were less than a handful of key presses. The feature worked but was used  by so few that it was not necessary to implement full time. We left the test running for a few more weeks so the Head of Design could have the feature. I checked back, and even the usage by people in the office dropped to null.

Months later, when we rebuilt the feature and went to a second version, I was consulted on what usability features to include. The data showed not to include keyboard navigation.

5. Talk to Your Customers

Before you do any of this, make sure you’re open to feedback. Listening is your most important tool to understanding what problems exist and then to solve the right thing.

Simple survey tools are all over the place and whether you’re using usertesting.com or a google form for a quiz, here’s four simple things to include:

1. Add context to a user’s feedback. Ask who they are and identify them by segments important to your business (anything from age, location, gender, to how much they spend on your products and how often)

2. Don’t ask leading questions (i.e. avoid ‘do you LIKE A better than B’).

3. Always leave room for 1 open ended response for anything else the customer would like to say. Sometimes, this provides some real pearls of wisdom. Other times, a great laugh.

4. Don’t forget to throw in a Net Promoter Score (NPS) question at the end! How much each user loves you is the best context for their feedback.

If you want to learn more on how I run Optimization programs for clients and how you can run one too, come to my presentation on “Increase your website conversion: A/B Testing 101” on March 8th at 6:30PM in San Francisco, CA. See you then!

About the author:

Gary Mary is dedicated to creating and running website optimization programs through coded solutions and strategic direction. He guides clients on implementation, ideation, and custom solutions to solve problems. Leverage his experience from 10,000+ A|B tests to grow your bottom line by booking a meeting with Gary to begin optimizing your website design.

While networking earlier this year, I met one of my favorite type of business owners- the type that is great at what they do, busy working their business, dedicated to quality, and believe that connecting with customers is key to getting and keeping business! I love this type of entrepreneur because they are truly running a business- not just “playing” business. As a marketing and business strategist this means that if she was to make the investment in my services, she would be steadfast in working to make sure she got the most out of the strategies I lay out for her.

After a great chat about our businesses, we exchanged business cards. After the event, I went online and checked her out. This is when I found out she was actually my NUMBER ONE favorite type of business owner!

She had all the right pieces in place; she had a website, she had social media profiles, and she was on Yelp! There was one major thing that was lacking, however - brand consistency. The business card she had given me was blue and green. Her website was white, black and blue. Her sign out front her business was black and blue and had an image that didn’t match any other pieces of her marketing materials. Everything was fragmented! It was clear she had no idea what her brand style was and, in turn, I would bet current and potential clients also had no idea what her brand was.

What Is Brand?

To me, brand is the soul of the business. It is everything from the way you speak to your clients to the way you paint your office. It is your logo and the type of systems you put in place in your company. It is in the promise you make to your customers and in the name you give to those that work with you (e.g. employee, team member, staff). It creates congruence in your marketing and business strategies. Without it there is a disconnect and your clients, your team and the general public may subconsciously get confused, resulting loss of credibility and possibly causing them to move on without giving it a second thought.

Why is brand so important?

It has been proven that we buy based on emotions and that is why brands and brand experiences have become a central component of a business’ strategy. With the dawn of social media, consumers and businesses interact more on an experiential level. Businesses are expected to be posting, commenting, responding to followers in real time. In order to execute this, anyone who is representing the brand must be clear on how to “act as the brand.” And that is one of the key reasons that brand is important.

At MeetGeraldine, we think this is so important that we have made it a requirement to go through our brand development process before any other service with us. I have created a simple and systematic way to define and develop company’s brand. I help them to tell their story, expand on the brand experience, define the Target Audience, create milestones for the brand’s future, and to define the brand personality. I ask all clients, “If your brand were a person and it were to walk in the door right now, what would they be like?”

Feeling a bit unsure about your brand or hiring a marketing consulting firm, then book an hour meeting with me so we can go over what you need for your company. We can outline your brand, I always recommend companies to customize a Brand Report, and share with everyone that is representing their brand. The value of this exercise is immense as it ultimately saves time and money in attempting to explain and re-explain what your brand is all about.

If you are interested in another opportunity to learn how to brand your business, sign up for the fun and interactive Promeet workshop I am facilitating on January 23rd, 2018. You will walk away with a clear picture of what you need to do to get the first step to business success complete!!

About the author:

Lauren Messer watched her parents open and run a successful food distribution company out of an office that was adjacent to their home. Naturally, she went into business for herself helping other businesses to create well-organized and thriving businesses. Lauren’s extensive knowledge of the hospitality and food and beverage industry taught her how to create branded experiences, how to structure teamwork, how to multi-task, and how to provide excellent customer service.

Back in the day when everyone was expected to wear a suit or blazer to the office, dressing for work was a lot more clear cut. But as the way we work changes, so does what we wear to the office. While every job may have different rules, here are a few common office wear blunders - and how you can avoid them.

Uncomfortable Clothing

Sure, we like to dress to impress and the office is often no different. But believe me, those pants that are ‘just a little tight’ but still look amazing won’t feel so amazing after a few hours sitting at your desk or in meetings. Uncomfortable clothing has a way of growing more uncomfortable throughout the day and can often hinder performance as well. It’s a lot easier to focus on your work and put your best foot forward when your clothing isn’t riding up or digging into you.

Taking a Casual Work Environment Too Literally

A more casual work environment is a growing trend thanks to the rise of startup culture. It's even started to rub off on some corporate workplaces. But just because wearing flip-flops isn’t against the dress code doesn’t mean you should do it. In most cases, dressing too casually runs the risk of your coming across as though you don’t take your work seriously - or even worse, that you don’t take yourself seriously. An easy remedy is to take a quick scan around the office and make sure your workwear lands somewhere in the middle as far as casualness goes.

High Maintenance Items

Speaking of dress to impress, another big distractor is clothing that errs on the side of high maintenance. This can include everything from semi-nonfunctional trendy styles like off-the-shoulder tops (good luck reaching for anything above shoulder level), sweaters that shed, more revealing pieces that need constant watch, items with wandering straps, ultra high heels, or anything that needs adjusting throughout the day. While these items may make the look, they’re guaranteed to interrupt your workflow and can also make you come across as distracted - or as high maintenance yourself. A quick rule of thumb I often tell my clients is to test drive a new clothing item on an errands run. If you can handle Costco, the dry cleaners and the line at the DMV, you’re probably good to go for the office. Another trick is to opt for similar pieces that aren’t quite as high maintenance. So for instance if you love to wear heels, swap your stiletto with a shorter heel and an ankle strap for stability.

Boring Duds

The workplace is where you want to be taken seriously - but that doesn’t mean you have to be a shrinking violet! Clothing is a way of expressing yourself and as long as it’s done professionally, it can help people see you in your best light. A pair of black trousers and a matching blazer are definitely staples, but a well-tailored pair of mustard trousers and an oversized blazer take the look to a new level.

Ill-Fitting Items

So you score a designer dress that’s perfect to wear to the office. How exciting! Except for the fact that it’s slightly too big in certain areas - but no one will notice, right? Sure, maybe no one will pinpoint exactly why or where the dress doesn’t fit perfectly, but that doesn’t mean they won’t notice that something’s not quite right. One of the easiest ways to come across as pulled together before you even open your mouth is to have clothing that’s tailored to your body. In fact, if you don’t feel like dropping a paycheck on designer clothing, a great trick is to find a few more affordable basics and have them tailored. You’ll feel more confident, comfortable, and like you’re headed for the top.

About the author:

Tienlyn Jacobson writes, shoots, produces and styles, and works as an on-air fashion and beauty expert. She also writes a blog dedicated to exploring and sharing the things she loves within the frame of a more thoughtful perspective called Thoughtful Misfit.

She has styled for clients such as Tart collections, EASTPAK, SOMA Mag, Forbes, and Denim Mag. You could be next, book a meeting with her today. Stay tuned for an upcoming Styling Workshop!

"Sprint" - if you are in the tech industry, you probably heard of or experienced an agile sprint.

Most of the industry tend to emphasize the development phase of the sprint, as if it was the entire sprint. Although development phase is the heart of a sprint, it is definitely not the only component.

Each sprint actually has 4 phases. A product manager manages all of them at the same time frame even if the organization (and most of the time the PM themselves) are not aware of it.

Each sprint contains:

• Scoping
• Pre-planning
• Planning-Development-Testing-Launch
• Monitoring

Each of the phases feeds the backlog (on that and more on a separate post)

Each phase has its own goals, different contributors and all is tied together (I will elaborate on that in the next blog posts) but don't think that all is done in a sequence... the life of a PM is much more enjoyable. In order for the organization to be most efficient and productive, a PM needs to do these phases simultaneously, but for different sprints.

Why am I telling you that?

The experienced PM does all the above naturally, but as said, without being aware that this is the process they are following, hence finding themselves running from subject to subject getting into unnecessary stress and eventually exhausted. But worse, not getting the help they need and the recognition they deserve. Advising experienced PMs and Head of Product departments, I saw many times that by going back to the basis with these simple diagrams I succeeded to help those pros realize what they are doing and by doing that they know to set expectations much better with their teams, peers and managers.

Being a PM is not your first role and people come to this job feeling they are "prepared". Mentoring professionals doing their 1st steps in the Product world, I realized that people have a good general idea of what product is about – they know what is backlog, they know what is a good requirement and they have a solid sense of prioritization. The new PMs are mostly surprised and sometimes overwhelmed by the extensive parallelism that the product role demands them to do.

For the rest of the team - awareness is key. Building a Product is not done by the product management team. The product is built by the entire organization - PMs, engineering, business stake holders, designers, sales and all other functionaries collaborate with each other and a lot is dependent on the PM ability to talk all of these professions languages and run thru the various phases described above (of the future (long and short term), current and recently launched sprints).

About the author:

Yuval Machlin’s passion is turning vision into reality. He has been doing this for more than two decades by imagining, visioning, building winning teams, creating detailed work plans, and executing. Then seeing what happens and make it better...! He has been Vice President Product for several international companies, managed development teams, and helped startups to achieve sharp and focused growth. Yuval even started a product development department for a company that had no product initially.

Yuval can serve as a guide to take any idea through every step in product development, creating a clear mission statement, and building the right MVP. Book a meeting with him today!

According to a survey conducted by Healthline, 60-65 percent of respondents admitted to feeling stressed over the holidays. Stress can lead to many other health issues, therefore, to beat stress and stay healthy, it’s important to do the following key things during the holidays:

1.  Keep Your Workouts Going: While it might be tempting to skip your workouts because you feel you simply don't have the time between work, family and holiday planning, it's now more important than ever to keep them going so you can burn off holiday stress and keep your energy levels up during such a busy time of year. Make time to work out at least three times a week and remember to include cardio, strength and flexibility work.

2.  Let Go of Perfection: Perfection is unachievable and no one is expecting it from you. So why place that kind of pressure on yourself? Try your best to make the holidays special for your family, friends, co-workers and others, but let go of trying to make things perfect this holiday season.

3.  Donate Time or Money to Charity: The holidays are a wonderful time of year to invest your time and money into charities and helping others in need. It will feed your soul to be thoughtful, giving and generous towards others who need it most and will also set a positive and lifelong example for others to do the same.

4.  Capture Special Holiday Moments: The holidays are all about creating memories with family, friends and colleagues. Therefore, capture these special moments by taking pictures and videos so you'll be able to cherish these memories forever. However, find the right balance of being present and in the moment with loved ones vs. spending all of your time getting the perfect shots.

5.  Set Expectations with Family: Juggling holiday plans and get-togethers with multiple sides of the family can be really stressful and hard to manage. The best thing you can do to minimize the stress is to set clear expectations with everyone of what you can and can't commit to and why. It will save you and everyone else a lot of misunderstandings, confusion or hurt feelings.

6.  Relax if Things Don't Go According to Plan: The holidays are a glorious time of year, but also can be really hectic. Things often don't go according to plan, so you're better off accepting and being prepared for that. You'll be a lot less stressed if you have buffers built into your holiday plans.

7.  Be Mindful of Your Nutrition Goals at Holiday Parties: Professional and personal holiday parties are fun, but can also cause you to eat large amounts of unhealthy foods and possibly gain weight, especially if you have multiple parties to attend. Try to balance your plate with protein, carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables, and avoid second helpings. Enjoy dessert, but eat it in moderation. You'll be glad you did when the New Year arrives.

8.  Prioritize Your Meditation Practice: Just like with workouts, meditation practices or other forms of mindfulness are often one of the first things to go out the window when you get busy this time of year. However, sticking to them will help you keep your sanity and handle holiday stress in a much more calm and centered way. So be sure to prioritize practicing meditation or mindfulness....it will be so worth it.

9.  Keep Your Family Holiday Schedule in Balance: Learn to say no so your family's holiday schedule will be in balance and won't consist of too many holiday get-togethers and plans. Prioritize the ones that mean the most to all of you and skip the rest. You'll all be more rested and less cranky.

10. Remember What the Holidays Are All About: All of those holiday to-do's can easily get in the way of what the holidays are really all about. Focus on bringing joy to others, spending time with your loved ones and creating memories and experiences that will last a lifetime. That's what the holidays are truly all about.

About the Author:

Interested to learn more about Health & Wellness from Reena Vokoun? Well, you can by booking a meeting with her! Reena is the Founder of Passion Fit.

Reena Vokoun’s mission is to help people to flourish from the inside out by focusing on their health, wellness and fitness. She is  an entrepreneur, digital content creator, marketer, blogger, public speaker, Athleta and Reebok Fit Pro and certified health and fitness professional. Reena is also a member of IDEA Fitness and certified through the American Council on Exercise (ACE), the Athletics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) and the American Heart Association (AHA).
 

Don’t struggle with how to incorporate diet and exercise into your busy lifestyle. Schedule a meeting with Reena to ask questions, get advice and build a relationship with an outstanding professional who can help you live a richer, more fulfilling life.

Start-Ups Choosing an Entity

One of the most important choices you make when starting a business is the type of business entity.  The agreement for the entity will spell out such important matters as how profits are divided, what happens when someone leaves, how business decisions will be made, and how members can be removed.

Benefits of LLCs

As readers of my post on the top four advantages of an LLC will know, an LLC has many advantages.  The most important include limited liability for the members, ease and flexibility for setting up and operating, and tax treatment.  

By default, an LLC is a “pass-through” entity.  That means that an LLC does not pay tax itself, but instead the income of an LLC “passes through” to the owners.  The income is reported on a Form K-1 that the LLC sends to its members so they know how much tax to pay.  When the LLC distributes cash or property, the distribution is tax-free.

LLCs can also give the buyer of a business a big tax benefit.  That’s because the buyer can receive a step-up in the tax basis of the business, which reduces the buyer’s tax bill in the future.  Sometimes, buyers will pay more in the purchase price for this tax benefit, so it also helps the seller!

Another benefit is that LLCs can make an election to be treated as a C-Corporation for tax purposes.  This can be a powerful benefit when the owners of an LLC decide they want the business to be taxed as a corporation.

Benefits of Corporations

Why use a corporation?  Sometimes, an outside investor will require the business to be a corporation.  Other times, the business owners may be more familiar and comfortable using a corporation.

There are tax benefits in organizing a business as a corporation.  Tax compliance is much simpler, because the shareholders only pay tax when they receive a dividend.  Some investors, such as foreign investors or tax-exempt organizations, won’t invest in a business unless it is a corporation.  

Shareholders also have a potential benefit: the Section 1202 capital gain exclusion.  This benefit can be very powerful: it allows shareholders to exclude $10 million (or even more!) of gain on the sale of stock.  But it’s very difficult to qualify.  Among other requirements, you have to hold the stock for at least five years.

Initial Coin Offering

ICOs are a hot topic today.  But the proceeds of an ICO are likely to be taxable income.  It doesn’t matter if the business receives cash or “virtual currency” such as Bitcoin, Ether, EOS, or another type of token that is convertible into cash.  If the business doesn’t take this potential tax liability into account, there could be a rude awakening when preparing the tax return.

The tax liability has driven some businesses to form foreign corporations or foreign foundations to raise funds in an ICO.  The tax treatment of an ICO both for the foreign corporation and its U.S. owners is too complex to describe in this post, so be careful!

Tax Reform

Tax reform threatens to introduce massive changes in the tax considerations for startups and ICOs, including:

• Lower corporate tax rate.  A reduction in the corporate tax rate will make corporations more attractive.
• Lower pass-through tax rate.  Congress is proposing a reduction in the tax rate for pass-through businesses, but it doesn’t apply to all businesses.  Will your business qualify?
• International.  The changes in international tax may erode or erase the tax advantages to using a foreign corporation for an ICO.

If Congress passes tax reform, I will post a new blog article summarizing some of the changes for start-ups and ICOs, so keep posted!

About the author:

Jon Van Loo is a tax attorney and owner of transactional tax law boutique specializing in M&A, bitcoin & cryptocurrency, international transactions, investment funds, and other transactions. With over 10 years of experience in some of the world's largest law firms as well as a small tax boutique from London and New York, to San Francisco.  Jon can help you to select an entity for a new business, decide how to structure an investment in a business to best fit your needs, and how to manage international issues. Book a meeting with Jon today!

Eating a lean diet and working out on a regular basis are critical to not only sustaining a healthy life but also looking and feeling great. Taken together, good diet and exercise elevates your physical and mental state which puts you at your peak performance in both work and life. It is particularly important for those who are launching their own startup or running one already. Working in the startup industry is particularly demanding, which makes all the more difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Doing so requires commitment and dedication, but in the muck of it all you need both mental and physical strength to overcome the many challenges that you will face each day. Let’s explore the importance and the methods to fitting a workout routine into your busy schedule while running a startup company.

Benefits to Working Out  

Working out causes your body to go into a state of hyper awareness, putting it fight or flight mode, which in turn releases an endorphin called “brain-derived neurotrophic factor.” This calms over stimulated neurons in the brain to promote a sense of clarity in thought, which allows you to respond better to business challenges.

Working out also enhances your consistency by instilling habits of follow-through and commitment that you can carry over into your professional career. The ability to maintain focus and build scalable, optimized systems is a key ingredient to success in business, particularly with startups where established practices are often an afterthought.

Working out has even been scientifically proven to make you happier. Exercise combats depression and anxiety by helping you to feel a general sense of well-being.  The seemingly endless days and nights spent working to make your vision come true takes a toll on one’s well-being. It is important for you to always be at the top of your game, but as your experience accumulates, so should your health and well being.

How To Get Started:

    1. Pick A Workout That Best Fits You

Work often conflicts with exercise programs especially if your business is challenging and exciting. Yet, you can’t afford to skip exercise because it is essential to sustaining success. Start by picking a workout that fits your environment whether you are traveling, in the office, or getting home late. You may need to do a bit of research or ask a Promeets fitness expert to develop the optimal exercise program that fits your life. Be realistic in what you can commit to by picking an activity that fits your lifestyle, personality and taste. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different types of exercise until you find what works for you.

    2. Partner Up

Just as in business where establishing partnerships is critical to success, finding a workout buddy is critical to staying fit. Having a partner in crime to help motivate you through friendly rivalry or as your workout buddy can be highly beneficial. Consider a competitive sport or fitness class to participate in such as spinning or basketball. You may even make amazing connections as well.  Bolster your motivation by setting a goal. Be sure to create a schedule and stick to it. Don’t make excuses! You’ve got this!

    3. Document Your Progress

Just like you record KPI’s to measure business performance, the same technique can be applied to your fitness program. Record on your calendar or app (just to name a few: HeaveySet, Strong, Fitbod, Jefit ) so you can easily review your progress at the end of every week, month and year. You may even see room for improvement or where you’re slipping before you completely fall “off the wagon.”

    4. Don’t Worry About Budgeting Time

Don’t be overtly concerned about workout schedules because there are plenty of effective short workout routines. Some exercise is better than none at all, even just 7 minutes makes a difference! With the right program done regularly, short and speedy workouts can benefit both the body and mind. For many people, establishing and maintaining a routine is easier said than done. If you find this to be true why not find motivation from a fitness and health expert like Reena Vokoun.   

Reena Vokoun’s mission is to help people to flourish from the inside out by focusing on their health, wellness and fitness. She is  an entrepreneur, digital content creator, marketer, blogger, public speaker, Athleta and Reebok Fit Pro and certified health and fitness professional. Reena is also a member of IDEA Fitness and certified through the American Council on Exercise (ACE), the Athletics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) and the American Heart Association (AHA).

Don’t struggle with how to incorporate diet and exercise into your busy lifestyle. Schedule a meeting with Reena to ask questions, get advice and build a relationship with an outstanding professional who can help you live a richer, more fulfilling life.

If you have struggled with maintaining a target body weight as an adult, you aren’t alone. More than a third of American adults are obese, yet new research shows that fewer people are trying to lose weight now than in the past. But what if there was a way to enjoy a healthy, satisfying diet without the sacrifices associated with typical diets? Ketogenesis promises just that. Whereas many diets typically call for complex menus that restrict favorite foods, ketogenic diets focus on protein rich, carbohydrate lean ingredients.

It is common for people who adopt a ketogenic diet to enjoy short term weight loss, but the challenge is developing a long term, sustainable strategy that limits carbohydrates. For the typical American, avoiding staples such as bread, pasta, potatoes, corn and sugar that are carbohydrate rich is difficult. Finding a healthy balance is critical to success. So is a ketogenic diet right for you? We present you with some of the key benefits associated with the diet to help you understand if it is a good fit for you. As always with any diet plan, you should consult with your medical provider before making any drastic changes to your existing meal plan.

So let’s find out some more about ketogenesis and the benefits of restricting carbohydrates!

What happens when you intake a low amount of carbohydrates? Your brain loses out on its major source of fuel, glucose. Without glucose your brain will tell the body to tap into its reserve of ketones.

Ketones can be found from the compounds created by the liver from your fat stores when blood insulin is low. Your liver creates ketones all the time but how much depends on the carbohydrate and protein intake. If you eat a normal amount of carbs and protein, ketogenesis will remain idle. Lesson the amount of carbs and protein then your liver produces ketones on overdrive which will take about 3 days to induce.

A ketogenic diet needs at least 60 to 80 percent fat to be consumed per day. That means your protein must make up for 10 to 15 percent, and less than 10 percent comes from carbs.

Let’s look at your breakfast, a ketogenic breakfast will consist of 4 eggs, half an avocado, and up to 2 tablespoon of olive oil. A ketogenic dinner could be rib-eye steak, 2 cups of spinach with coconut oil, and 2 oz of macadamia nuts. As you can tell, the diet is more carbs restricted and a more moderate protein restriction.

If you’re goal is weight loss then the ketogenic diet will likely help you achieve that result, but the effects will typically be short term. DAA explains that this is due to ‘a reduction in total energy (kilojoule) intake, the depletion of liver and muscle glycogen stores and associated water, and a reduced appetite’.  

Although this is an effective method for losing weight, you need to maintain a healthy weight by keeping a sustainable meal plan. Keep in mind that this may work for one person, but it may not work for another. Because of its many limitations, a ketogenic diet can prove a challenge to maintain.

Despite it’s difficulties, there are several benefits the ketogenic diet provides aside from weight loss.  The diet helps to reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes, as it reduces the amount of sugar in the blood. The low carb diet also yields an improvement in blood pressure, postprandial glycemia, and insulin secretion. It also can reduce the risk of heart disease markers like high cholesterol and triglycerides.

Studies have shown that the diet may “starve” cancer cells, meaning it may be effective in fighting cancer, as it eliminates excess refined sugar and other processed carbohydrates. Many have used the ketogenic diet to treat and help reverse neurological disorders and cognitive impairments like epilepsy and Alzheimer’s symptoms. There is also evidence that suggests a low-carbohydrate, high fat diet helps you to live longer, compared to a low-fat diet.

While this diet seems like a great way to resolve a host of health problems together with weight loss, you should visit your doctor to see if the keto diet is right for you. To find out more about healthy diet and exercise options, book a meeting with an expert of health and fitness like Reena Vokoun. 

Reena Vokoun’s mission is to help people to flourish from the inside out by focusing on their health, wellness and fitness. She is  an entrepreneur, digital content creator, marketer, blogger, public speaker, Athleta and Reebok Fit Pro and certified health and fitness professional. Reena is also a member of IDEA Fitness and certified through the American Council on Exercise (ACE), the Athletics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) and the American Heart Association (AHA).

Don’t struggle with how to incorporate diet and exercise into your busy lifestyle. Schedule a meeting with Reena to ask questions, get advice and build a relationship with an outstanding professional who can help you live a richer, more fulfilling life.

Nineteen percent of all startup failures are due to one simple factor: the competition outperforms them and customer loyalty is lost. For one reason or another, potential customers choose to spend money elsewhere and the customers that they do gain jump ship after a short amount of time. For this reason, one of the key parts of your startup development plan needs to be focused on building customer loyalty for your brand, so you can attract and retain customers, and ultimately prevent them from spending money elsewhere.

Winning customer loyalty is not just an issue for startups with limited resources. It’s also vital for enterprise organizations, who may be your indirect competitors. Walgreens’ recent decision to shut down drugstore.com and beauty.com was in large part due to their inability to win over and/or e-commerce customers who started shopping on Amazon.com. If multi-billion dollar companies like Walgreens have challenges retaining customers, how can your emerging startup do it? Our growth hacking experts offer the following suggestions.

Draw Them In With a Trial or Low-Cost Offer

Your mother may have told you never to give the milk away for free, but when it comes growing your startup, that’s sometimes exactly what you have to do. To compete against those companies that are already established in the market, you sometimes have to give potential customers an incentive to try something new or switch. Offering a free trial or very low-cost introductory period is a great way to showcase your product or service, and convince your customers that you are worth spending money on down the road. These approaches showcase your willingness to give something to build a relationship, which you can nurture as the customer relationship progresses.

Keep Them Engaged

Your customers need to know that you value their business and become encouraged to share their positive experiences with their friends. That’s where customer loyalty programs come in. A loyalty program can offer discounts to those who have bought from you in the past, deliver impactful content to them to keep them engaged with your brand, and offer other perks such as reward points. Inkbox, a temporary tattoo startup, has experienced huge success with their TRIBE loyalty program that encourages customers to share experiences, refer their friends, and connect on social media. Not only have they developed a whopping 100,000+ loyal program members, but they have also succeeded in solidifying and spreading their brand message to millions.

Outperform the Competition by Delivering Continuous Value

Any startup consultant will tell you that if you’re entering a marketplace that’s packed with competition, you must deliver value and have something better than just a great product or service—you have to uniquely set yourself apart. Moo.com, for example, dove into the saturated online business card marketplace and crushed the competition not by necessarily offering the lowest prices, but by developing a cheeky and cost-effective brand and series of offerings that its freelance client base loves. 100 business cards for $50 is by no means a steal, but customers are willing pay this price to be a part of Moo’s uplifting culture and easy-to-navigate online ordering process.

If All Else Fails …Be Open to Change

Our startup growth hacking tips would not be complete without a reminder to be agile. When launching your product or service, you need to test your marketing and branding campaigns to make sure you’re hitting the mark with your target market. This includes A/B testing (testing two concepts against each other), listening to customer feedback, and having metrics in place to see what’s working and what’s not. If you’re experiencing a dip in customer loyalty and retention, expand on what your ideal customers respond to and tweak the areas that are falling flat.

When you passionately believe in your startup, it’s easy to make the mistake of thinking your customers will automatically fall in love with your products or services, and stay loyal for years to come. But, without a strong customer loyalty strategy, you will struggle to retain existing clients and gain new ones. To bolster your chances at success, get startup expert guidance on building customer loyalty and other topics by scheduling a meeting with growth hacking expert, Jose Luis Roqueni or a/b testing expert, Gary Marx today!

Traditional Chinese medicine, also known as TCM, has been practiced for more than 2,500 years. Combining elements such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, massage, and diet, these natural practices have caught on like wildfire in the United States, as Americans recognize the perils of a stressful lifestyle and prescription medications. Many entrepreneurs who have a background in healthcare have considered launching a startup in the TCM arena, but others without strong, traditional healthcare experience may consider a venture in this realm as well. Here are some reasons why startup advisors think the time is right to look into TCM startups and how you can capitalize on this trend.

Why Consider Launching a TCM Startup?

As patients and consumers become more skeptical about pharmaceutical companies and prescription drugs, and greater emphasis is placed on prevention and overall wellness practices, traditional Chinese medicine presents a natural area of potential growth. Many practitioners of TCM use a reverse model of client retention, whereby they only get paid if patients remain well. This innovative mindset is predicted to be especially attractive to today’s Millennials, who remain cost-conscious, want to explore alternative methods of wellness, and very much welcome alternative approaches to healthcare treatment.

Though TCM is certainly not a new practice per se, combining it with innovative, new technologies could make for some groundbreaking advances and business opportunities. If tech-savvy entrepreneurs have the startup resources to invest in research and development, they could build a startup that brings TCM seamlessly to a growing demographic.

Considerations When Developing Your TCM Startup Business Plan

If your interest is piqued by TCM, there are a few considerations to keep in mind before making a startup launch decision. Here are the top three:

Keep Your Specialties in Mind. If you don’t have any experience in the healthcare or TCM, this might not be the right industry for you. However, if you have a groundbreaking idea that could revolutionize the TCM field, you can endeavor to combine it with traditional healthcare expertise to bridge the gap. Startup growth strategies should always be a combination of industry knowledge, coupled with disruptive thinking and innovative approaches.

Marry TCM to Technology. As a 2,500-year-old practice, TCM has been largely untouched by technology. This provides an exciting opportunities for startups, as some new companies have already demonstrated. The new app PulseTalk, for example, aims to improve users’ sub-health conditions based on TCM concepts, and it is slated to launch at the end of 2017. The app uses a series of questions and pulse readings to monitor user health and make subsequent health recommendations.

Find a New Way to Offer and Deliver TCM Services. It’s likely your startup will not change the overall practice of traditional Chinese medicine—and that’s okay. An important startup tip when focusing on an established industry is to find a way to offer and deliver something new. Take, for example, the Emma robotic masseuse developed by startup AiTreat. Though the robot is performing the traditional Chinese art of massage, it is doing so in an innovative way that cuts down on staff and makes for a more consistent massage treatment.

Looking for ways to enhance and improve upon an already established industry in a way that combines historic and new practices to grow your startup? Then, visit Promeets site and download our app. And, if you’re specifically interested in learning about opportunities in the TCM industry, please set-up time to speak with Promeets expert, Dr. Benny Linn. Dr. Linn has 30 years of acupuncture experience, and is knowledgeable in both clinical and entrepreneurial areas in this realm.

Traditional Chinese Medicine has become more popular in the U.S recently. Dr. Benny Linn can help you with how to use TCM to understand some medical issues, especially chronic diseases. Many chronic diseases are caused by unhealthy or irregular lifestyle, and TCM may help you explain some diagnoses to patients. I specialized in orthopedics/pain-management, as well as internal and gynecological diseases. Dr. Linn is very popular and a praised professor of courses such as TCM Classics, Acupuncture and Tui-na Techniques in graduate programs at various TCM schools. Please specify your practice area when you make a new request.

Whether you are getting ready to grow your startup or just beginning to launch it, you may be thinking too narrow by targeting only one national market. Many entrepreneurs often believe that starting small is the approach to best utilize startup business resources and minimize risk. However, they often miss the boat when they later discover they could have maximized their success by taking a more global direction. Scaling your startup globally is a good choice for those who have identified a need for their product or service internationally, and for those who make the right decisions early in their startup’s development. Not sure if scaling globally is right for you? Read on in our fifth lesson in our Startup 101 series.

Why to Consider Scaling Your Startup Globally

Startups that don’t think big from day one risk losing market share to competitors down the road. Both Facebook and Airbnb faced this realization as their businesses grew and they had to play catch-up to put the right infrastructure in place to address international growth years after they experienced success in the U.S. The cost of restructuring your startup to scale globally can decrease it’s value by 10 to 50 percent, which is why it’s vital to put potential expansion plans in place early.

Many startups already utilize international employees as one of their startup growth strategies,as the talent pool is larger and the costs can often be significantly less. This can put them at an immediate advantage to scale their business in the countries where their employees are from. Having staff members who can speak the local language, explain the economy, and advise on consumer behavior is also invaluable for startups who want to break into international markets.

How to Successfully Scale Your Startup on a Global Level

Knowing that you need to scale globally and having the right staff in place that can help guide the process is just the beginning when it comes to this type of scaling. To be successful, you also need to consider the following startup scaling tips:

Verify Your Business Plan.  Have you already proved the solidity of your business plan domestically? Knowing that you have already experienced success with your current customers is the first step to scaling. It’s a mistake to launch globally before you’ve worked out the bugs and ensured you at least have an MVP (Minimum Viable Product). Though you should make global considerations when you are developing technology, infrastructure, and other core areas of your startup, you should not jump the gun and expand before the time is right.

Understand Cultural Differences. Breaking into an international market is not the same as tapping into a new state or group of U.S.-based consumers. There are often both legal and cultural differences that could sink your startup if you do not understand them. In its earlier days, Chevron, for example, failed in launching the Nova in Spain because they didn’t realize that ‘Nova’ translated to ‘no go’ in Spanish. Similarly, McDonald’s had no luck selling their Big Macs in India because they failed to consider that cows were sacred in many Indian religions. Before you decide which international market to target, learn from these enterprise company mistakes, and work with an expert who is from that country or who knows the culture to ensure you take differences into consideration.

Consider the Timing. When it comes to scaling globally, many startups don’t know if they should launch big right from the beginning or bide their time until they have the resources to make a big splash. This all depends on your unique situation. If you have deep investment pockets and know that the competition is also considering global expansion, you should consider acting quickly. However, if you have more modest funds and are entering an already established market, you can afford to go with a slower, steadier scaling plan.

The world is a big place, and today, startups are in a unique position to reach many parts of it with their products and services. If you’d like to more fully understand how to effectively scale your startup globally, download our app for startup expert help and book a time to meet with strategic professionals like Eric Chan, who are experienced in this realm.

Eric Chan is a strategic operations & product marketing leader with experience at Global 2000 firms and startups. As a proven COO, he has built high performance teams and scaleable operations in complex environments. As a head of product marketing, he has created and launched several go-to-market strategies for innovative products reaching tens of millions globally. By combining his business operations and product marketing expertise, Eric is able to consistently generate superior business results with the teams that he built and managed.

When entrepreneurs consider different types of tech startups they could launch, they should always consider what is trending and in demand, as well as what existing technologies could be disrupted. Our current tech landscape is growing across multiple industries, but perhaps the one that has the ability to change the entire way business gets done is blockchain technology. This is an industry startup entrepreneurs should pay close attention to, as it could lead to incredibly profitable business venture opportunities. Here is why our startup advisors suggest you consider launching a blockchain startup.

What is Blockchain?

Before we get into the prospect of launching a blockchain startup, it’s important to explain exactly what blockchain is. Many people who have heard about blockchain may instantly think of Bitcoin (one type of blockchain technology), which was the pioneer in this industry that created a global public financial ledger, allowing for the transfer of funds via the Internet. Though it may seem that Bitcoin dominates the blockchain landscape, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The advent of Bitcoin is now eight years old and blockchain technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Think of Bitcoin as the trailblazer in a field that has opened the door for an array of blockchain startups to expand across industry verticals—from healthcare, supply chain, automotive, finance, and beyond.

Simply defined, blockchain is a continuously growing list of transactional records called ‘blocks,’ which are linked and secured using cryptography. For use as a distributed ledger, a blockchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network collectively adhering to a protocol for validating new blocks. Think of blockchains as Excel-like ledgers that accept inputs from lots of different parties. The ledger can only be changed when there is consensus among the group. That makes them very secure, and it means there’s no need for a central authority to approve transactions. This decentralized nature of blockchain is highly attractive and is directly akin to one of the guiding principles of the Internet—a technology that has no absolute, centralized control or processing, and this ultimately spawned the Internet’s robustness and rapid growth.

Why is Now the Perfect Time to Start?

Organizations ranging from large global financial institutions to internet mega-retailers are scrambling to upgrade their systems to allow for peer-to-peer cryptographic networks that support blockchain technology. They are actively looking for new and fresh ideas, and are willing to pay startups for them, or acquire them outright. They understand that blockchain technology could transform the way we do business similar to the way the internet did in the 1990s. Here are more reasons why now is the ideal time to get into this explosive tech sector.

Easy to collaborate with other startups. As we’ve noted in our recent blog article on launching an AI startup, startups can thrive on larger playing fields seemingly dominated by enterprise companies, if they work in specific niches. This can further make collaboration between startups easy and profitable for each. Collaboration can come in the form of working with another blockchain startup that has complementary technology, or with a startup that can help you market and sell your technology.

Strong funding availability. The blockchain startup Ethereum effectively raised over $18 million for its startup recently. Golem, another growing blockchain startup, raised over $8 million in under a half hour. Clearly, the funding is there for the asking if you can prove the anticipated value of your blockchain technology. In fact, over a billion dollars in venture capital has gone to blockchain startups and there are still VCs looking to invest more. Angel investors are also following suit.

Need vs. saturation. Blockchain technology is in the pioneering stage of tech development rather than the saturation stage. The demand for new blockchain technology, and particularly blockchain experts and professionals, far outweighs supply, which makes it possible for a startup with the right tech to make a strong impact. The new blockchain startup Circle, for example, recently achieved attention for creating a set of protocols that will be open source-based. Instead of using crypto assets, they use actual fiat money—digital dollars, rupees, euros, and pounds. They are disrupting the global peer-to-peer payment landscape and taking a playbook from crypto trends that use tokens to launch decentralized networks. “What’s needed is a way to issue fiat money in cryptographic tokens, and protocols and network schemes to allow for the instant settlement and exchange of those in a safe, compliant way that meets business needs and obligations,” said Circle cofounder and CEO Jeremy Allaire.” Given the need for this technology, Circle has so far raised $140 million from Breyer Capital, Goldman Sachs and Accel Partners, as well as Chinese investors including IDG Capital Baidu and Fenbushi.

How Can You Capitalize on the Growing Blockchain Marketplace?

If you’re ready to grow a startup in the blockchain arena, it’s important that you identify a niche in which you can offer innovative solutions. Reinventing the existing wheel at this point will prove ineffective. New blockchain startups will either need to reach new industry verticals /markets, bolster operational efficiencies, or improve usability. You also need to make sure you have the right people on your team who fully understand blockchain technology and how to develop it. If you don’t, you would be better off looking at another industry or partnering with another startup that has access to the proper developers, software engineers and other pertinent professionals.

Are you interested in capitalizing on emerging blockchain opportunities and want the expert guidance you need to succeed? Download our app for professional advice, and connect with people like Sari Stenfors-  a San Francisco-based business strategist and futurist that specializes in blockchain.

Startup advisors are always telling their clients to launch a venture in an area where they are not only knowledgeable, but also where they have real passion for the products or services that they will sell. If wine is one of your passions, and you also have a love for and knowledge of technology, you’re in luck. Although you may not be able to revolutionize grape selection or start your own award-winning vineyard, the time is ripe for those who are ready to take wine buying, tasting, and sharing to a new level. Here are some examples of how you can combine tech with wine in a unique way that will resonate with wine-lovers.

Why Wine Apps and Services Are So Popular

Consumers have always loved their alcohol. But, with the busy pace of current lifestyles and more millennials reaching drinking age, the demand is high for streamlining the wine and alcohol choosing, supply chain, and purchasing process. Many of today's wine lovers would rather not spend time looking through wine racks and chatting with the owner of their local liquor store. They’d rather have choices curated for them based on preference and budgets, so they always have the perfect bottle of wine.

How can you capitalize on this trend? When considering how to grow a startup, always start with what you can specialize in. Do you have experience or knowledge in app building? Do you have the startup business resources necessary to launch a business that carries inventory? Are you more interested in gathering knowledgeable professionals in the wine industry to make recommendations or would you rather focus on getting the wine to your customers quickly and affordably? Once you narrow down exactly what sector you want to play in, you can start developing a business plan that will address the needs of a changing wine-consuming communities.

Successful Startups in the Wine and Alcohol Industry

Before you decide what type of wine startup you want to launch, it’s advisable to get a good understanding of the existing landscape. Here are a few of the successful startups that have launched in recent years:

WineryGuide. The WineryGuide app combines all the knowledge of a professional wine concierge with that of Napa Valley tour experts. The app answers commonly asked questions about wine and wine tours, helps visitors plan tour routes, and offers coupons for popular wineries in the Napa area.

Saucey. We’ve all ordered Chinese food delivery when we can’t be bothered to cook or make our way to a restaurant. Saucey brings this same type of service to the wine and alcohol industry. Available in select metro areas, Saucey offers online alcohol ordering and delivery within 30 minutes—perfect for those who are hosting a party and have discovered they’re out of of their favorite beverages.

Vivino.  As an online wine community, Vivino has desktop and mobile applications that allow members to rate, review, and buy wine. With a database of more than three million wines and over 7 million users, Vivino is like Goodreads for wine.

HelloFresh and Blue Apron. These meal-kit delivery services have also ventured into the wine-buying arena and now offer wine memberships in addition to their meal-kit subscriptions. Choices vary from three to six bottles of wine per month and can be tailored to fit specific tastes.

If you’re ready to launch a startup and you have a keen interest and knowledge of wine, now is the perfect time to start! If you would like wine industry expert guidance, please reach out to one of our wine experts, such as Angie An, an advance sommelier registered with The Court of Master Sommeliers and Silicon Valley resident.

Last week, the Promeets team had the opportunity to present an event featuring Matthew Le Merle, entrepreneurial expert and author of the book Build Your Fortune for the Fifth Era: How to Prosper in an Age of Unprecedented Disruption. During his keynote address, Matthew shared invaluable startup tips for the audience that could help guide them toward building a business that would be attractive to investors and choosing the ideal exit strategy to maximize financial gain.

Matthew’s presentation focused on three major areas of how to grow a startup and much of what he discussed provided a fresh perspective for those entrepreneurs who had have been coached to believe they need venture capitalists involved in their startup to succeed. After discussing why now is the perfect time for tech entrepreneurs to launch a successful business due to the unprecedented number of innovations arriving at the same time and place, Matthew’s laid out his advice for the audience.

Focus on Building a Business Plan that Other Businesses Want to Buy

Matthew cautioned entrepreneurs against thinking they could single-handedly build a world-changing company and ride it to high levels of success and fame. Instead, he suggested a better route: build a business plan that will attract larger companies. By focusing on niche markets or specific features, startups can effectively sell their work to companies who have the resources to take it to the next level. 

Too many startup founders believe they can attract venture capitalists (VCs) with a big, bold business plan and gather enough startup business resources to compete on a large scale. However, Matthew pointed out that VCs are typically only interested in larger companies that already have a proven track record and have little interest in small startups. A better approach, he reasons, is to go after angel investors who are willing to take a chance on new companies.

Only Raise the Capital that is Needed 

Many startup entrepreneurs operate under the ‘go big or go home’ school of thought and believe that the more capital they can raise, the better. That’s why they set their sights on pie in the sky venture capitalists instead of focusing on more attainable funding sources such as angel investors, crowd funding, and incubator programs. What they don’t realize, Matthew said, was that any capital raised over $1 million actually diminished the startup founder’s shares of the business and his eventual rate of return. This is why he suggested a strategy of only raising the amount of capital needed to make the business cash flow positive instead of trying to gather as much capital as possible.

Exit for a Modest Gain

Competing against huge tech monsters like Google and Amazon is near impossible for the small startup, which is why Matthew’s final piece of advice to entrepreneurs was to exit their business as soon as they could realize a modest gain. Though many startup owners have visions of creating the ‘next big thing’, Matthew says this is most likely a fantasy and that the smart entrepreneur will know when to get out and use their gains elsewhere.

Matthew closed with a story about Steve Jobs, who he had the opportunity to see speak. After listening to Jobs’ powerful presentation, he was tasked with writing down the three major points in the Apple founder’s speech. The first was that we are the luckiest people in the world because we are living in the most innovative time in history. The second is that it is our job to wow customers and create a product, service, or experience they will not forget. The third is that it’s your choice whether you choose to play in this game rich with opportunity. Or, in Steve’s words, “Do you want to change the world or do you want to sell sugar water?”

It is Promeets’ pleasure to provide access to startup experts and excellent speakers such as Matthew Le Merle. Interested in schedule a meeting to learn more from the expert himself? Click here to book a meeting today: https://promeets.us/expert/1421

Also, if you’re interested in our next event, please visit our website to see what we have on the schedule.