One conversation is just that: another conversation. Land a second, and now you’re being “evaluated”. Don’t try to jam through everything in the first convo. Do just enough to pique their interest and land that second meeting.

1/ Stage out the conversation

If you’re pitching a customer, use their product, Read about the company and the person you’re talking to. Ultimately, this proves that you will do the work to make their lives easier. It’s so powerful yet so easily overlooked.

2/ Do your homework

3/ Ask about the decision making process Who is required to make a decision like this? What would you need to see from me to be able to buy? How long will it take to make a decision? These questions give you the roadmap on how to close the deal.

4/ Don’t always demo Sometimes it’s habit to jump straight into a demo. If someone wants to talk first, do that. This could consume a whole first conversation. Which gives you a great excuse for that second meeting: going thru the demo.

5/ Don’t stick to the script If you’re going X direction in a conversation and the customer wants to go Y direction, embrace it. If you’re using a deck, don’t be afraid to jump around. This is a good thing; it means the conversation is unfolding organically. Keep it fluid.

6/ Get commitment to a decision-making timeline “Hey customer, There are a number of reasons why timing matters, including ability to lock in best possible prices and integration resources. Is there a reasonable timeframe in which we can mutually agree to come to a decision?”

7/ Conscious pricing Pricing can be scary. The best strategy I’ve found: complete transparency. If the customer pushes back on pricing, Explain why your company needs to price the way it does.

8/ Always quid pro quo If someone wants something outside of the normal bounds, Ie better pricing, new feature commitments, etc. Ask for something in return! Ie Ask the customer to pre-commit to serve as a reference or case study should things go well.

9/ Don’t be dissuaded by no Persistence pays. Especially in the early days, I’d often email a customer 5-10 times before receiving replies. No customer would ever be marked as Lost. Only “Paused, Try Again Later”

10/ Try turnarounds After a customer says no, come back creatively: New product offerings New pricing scheme New ROI calculator Anything “new” is a great excuse to re-engage.

And there we have it! I’m going to be focusing more on practical business building tips going forward. If you liked this, give me a follow. LFG 🤟

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

education

Learning & Education

Idea thread by @theryanking - 10 sales tactics that work

Beware of the trappings of rapid business growth. A thread:

Don't cannibalise your profitable venture to sustain new pet projects. Growth for most, is an opportunity to do what they've always wanted to do. E.g. Someone winning in security may want to quickly shift profits to mining & soon mining demands more that what security can sustain

Tame visibility. A good product accessed by a small audience stands to win. A bad product accessed by small audiences can be re-launched with better features to a different/bigger audience (pivot). A bad product launched to a bigger audience may not get a second chance.

Growth attracts clones. Everyone wants to copy a business model that works. The world can't copy what they don't know. Build a moat, compete differently.

Avoid vultures. Growth attracts vultures, if you have no established culture the vultures can swallow you and soon you may trade objective opinion for cunning flattery. Remember to keep those who can tell you the truth around you. Good advice is always better than flattery.

Seek understanding before Association. Be deliberate about your associations and be careful about brand extensions. Don't spread yourself thin. Be so good at serving someone before you can be so great at serving everyone.

Manage your cash flows. Any fancy acquisition that does not improve productivity or profitably may be a liability. Preserve your cash flows, outsource until your are ready to own.

Idea thread by @ChadMhako

Idea thread by @heykahn

One of the most interesting parts of Helium (HNT) is that it has the potential to grow the IoT industry into what it was supposed to be.

1/ Thread 🧵: How a crypto project (Helium) can be the catalyst for growth in a relatively underdeveloped industry. 

For the past 5 years the IoT has been a space with extremely high expectations from VC funds, but due to a number of reasons new innovations in the industry haven’t quite measured up to the hype. One of the main reasons is the cost of coverage for devices operating on the IoT.

If the device moves, or is not located directly near a wifi source, then you will likely have to pay for a cellular plan for that device. That’s a huge cost and is the reason why many people won’t buy a product that operates on the IoT.

(or if you’re an entrepreneur and you realize this, you wont create a product that operates on the IoT). One example that comes to mind are drones that are used to monitor wildlife.

Since a drone used in that capacity is constantly moving and likely covering a large radius, a user has to factor in the cost of a cell plan/buying data for the device on a monthly basis. That’s hundreds of dollars a year per device.

With the Helium network (which is still being built out and is already MASSIVE in regards to coverage), mobile/remotely located IoT devices will be able to get coverage at 1/25th the cost of a cellular plan. This will allow for more use cases and innovation in the IoT space.

Another way to think about it is the success of Uber. It introduced a new business model with a low cost of entry that allowed anyone to be a taxi driver (vs. paying hundred of thousands of dollars for a taxi medallion).

This resulted in more drivers on the road and thus more coverage in regards to where you were able to call a ride from. This model also brought more competition to the space and as a result the cost of calling for a ride dropped.

Helium’s model allows for anyone with Wi-Fi to buy a hotspot and then use their existing Wi-Fi to spread coverage for +100x the range of that Wi-Fi for others to use. Helium is passing the cost of building out their network to the customer and rewards them with HNT tokens.

Just like Uber sparked more innovation in the transportation business, Helium will spark more innovation and growth in the IoT industry.

P.S. While Helium has already created the largest(and most affordable), IoT network on the planet, they have even bigger plans. The network has already expanded into the 5G space and due to its unique incentive model could successfully be a key player in providing global Wifi.

I tried to keep this explanation of how HNT can grow IoT network as simple as possible. Keep it simple stupid. Must follows if you want to learn more about the Helium Network @JMFayal @RichhomieconE @fmong @jplat12 @amirhaleem @KyleSamani @TusharJain_ @rawrmaan

Idea thread by @JOHN___CONOR

In 2021, I interviewed some of the world's leading authors, athletes, entrepreneurs, and CEOs. Here are a few of my favorite conversations 👇

Author @JamesClear offers practical strategies to help us form better habits in the new year. "I find that almost every thought I have is downstream from what I consume. If you have better inputs, you naturally get better outputs." <a href="https://t.co/g440aeOnuY">https://t.co/g440aeOnuY</a>

Legendary restaurateur @dhmeyer delves into how he built a hospitality empire. "Our guiding compass through every crisis has been [to ask ourselves], 'Who will we have been while it was happening, and furthermore, who will we be when it's over?'" <a href="https://t.co/XPj8sPzAMb">https://t.co/XPj8sPzAMb</a>

Obstacle race champion @ameliaboone discusses mental grit and the art of suffering. "When you put yourself through situations that are very hard & you do that on purpose, it helps you to deal with the messiness in life that is *not* voluntary." <a href="https://t.co/uKksplLaQd">https://t.co/uKksplLaQd</a>

Ex-GE CEO @JeffImmelt explains how he led through crisis and became a master of chaos. "I never felt sorry for myself, but it was just the pressure and the consequences of all the decisions, how little was known." <a href="https://t.co/bji6wGVMBb">https://t.co/bji6wGVMBb</a>

.@anafabrega11 explains why traditional education is broken and how kids can learn to think independently. "We have taken learning out of context by placing it in this institutional framework that focuses on things like grades, obedience, & compliance." <a href="https://t.co/FRzDj1jpdf">https://t.co/FRzDj1jpdf</a>

Atoms co-founder @sidraqasim discusses her unlikely journey to building a shoe empire. "The thing is that when you've actually gone through so many experiences in your life, you pay a price but at the same time, you also become more courageous." <a href="https://t.co/YBxei02ewu">https://t.co/YBxei02ewu</a>

Foursquare founder and CEO @dens shares how one moment of anxiety changed his entire career trajectory. "Sometimes, it's hard to have those hard conversations, so you need a moment like this one that forces the hard conversation to happen.” <a href="https://t.co/boAUO4TK49">https://t.co/boAUO4TK49</a>

Three-Time Olympian Kara Lynn Joyce explains why action is the antidote to doubt. "The skills I developed as an athlete in keeping my confidence up when it was really important have definitely helped me on those crazy days as an entrepreneur." <a href="https://t.co/KX3oDv4n9r">https://t.co/KX3oDv4n9r</a>

Idea thread by @polina_marinova

This is the story of how @snapdeal got its first angel investor 14 years ago, who still continues to be an investor in the company. A short 🧵about kindness and serendipity...👇

One day, I walked into one of my management course lectures in college. There is a grey haired gentleman standing in front of the class chatting with our regular professor. Dressed casually, but with a glowing, happy face. I wondered who this was 🤔 Guest speaker it seemed.

The class starts. And completely blows me away. This gentleman is gregarious, animated, excited, running between the rows of the amphitheatre style seating. He is not using notes - talking fast about how innovation in the world works. What entrepreneurship means and what it takes

One question he asked in the class which got everyone guessing. "What does the entrepreneur need the most to succeed?" The hint was that it started with 'P'. Students guessed. Patience? Perfection? Persistence?  And some other good guesses. None of these was the right answer.

I left the class completely and absolutely inspired. I had decided. I wanted to be an entrepreneur.

Few years passed and while I continued to harbour my passion for entrepreneurship, as a foreign student it felt like a softer transition after college to take a job at Microsoft while I figured out how to pursue entrepreneurship in the US.

As I knew the guest lecturer was an ex-Microsoft executive from the 80s & lived in the Seattle area, I cold emailed him to let him know that I had attended his class a few years ago & was now moving to the Seattle area. Being a 22yr old fresh grad I didn't expect a response.

I got a response in 30 mins with an offer for a Malaysian food lunch at Malay Satay Hut, near Microsoft's campus. We met a few weeks later, had a fun conversation and decided to stay in touch. Bear in mind this was someone 25 years older than me and I had nothing to offer him.

We met once a quarter after that. Same restaurant every time. Fun, inspiring conversations every single time about life, Microsoft, entrepreneurship, college (we are alumni of the same college).

Now, Microsoft had recently applied for my H1B visa which got shockingly rejected (lots of info on Google about this incident so skipping details here) and that meant I had to suddenly leave the US as I wouldn't have a valid visa status to stay in the country.

It was time for the final Malay Satay Hut lunch. We had a great conversation and while walking out of the restaurant, I mentioned to my friend (yes we were friends now) that my visa application was rejected and I will be leaving the US soon, and likely won't be back.

He paused. And then, leaning against his Prius, asked me what my plan was when I go back to India. I told him my friend from high school and I were planning on starting a coupon book business, which we felt would have a lot of potential in India.

He smiled and just said, "Let me know if I can help in any way in your journey." I didn't really understand how someone who had never been to India, was not of Indian origin, had no context of the non-existent Indian coupons market, could be helpful.

In any case, I thanked him, said a final goodbye and left.

Fast forward 2 months, we started working on our couponing startup in India & quickly realised we needed money to put down as advance to the printing press who was going to print the first lot of coupon books. @rohitkbansal & I had invested 100% of our limited savings already.

There was no angel investor ecosystem in India in 2007. Very few VCs had setup shop at that point in India. Suddenly that conversation in the Malay Satay Hut parking lot flashed in front of my eyes. I emailed my friend and requested for a call.

On the call, I explained in more detail what we were doing (things were mostly conceptual at that point), and mentioned that we need to place an order with the printer now and needed some ideas around who we could approach for funds. He listened silently.

I finished & don't think a second passed that I heard back from the other end of the line. "I want to support you. I will invest." A long pause at my end. Not only because I was surprised. But also I couldn't talk while I had an ear to ear smile on the face and tears in my eyes.

There was no negotiation, no back and forth. We agreed on simple terms and within a couple of weeks we had the money that we needed to get our entrepreneurship journey off the starting blocks.

Thank you Ken @ken_glass! We wouldn't have come this far if it wasn't for your belief, your generosity, your kindness and your affection over the last 15 years.

You also inspired me to be the right kind of angel to 500+ founders. May you continue to inspire many others to be magnanimous, true angels to those who want to change the world with their *passion*. Blessings of everyone ever associated with @snapdeal will forever be with you 🙏🏼

(and yes, Ken did visit India for the first time in 2012 for my wedding! 5 years after he had first invested!)

Idea thread by @1kunalbahl - How @snapdeal got its first angel investor 14 years ago

Initializes a new Git repository

📌 git init

Adds files to the staging area. You can use 'git add .' to add all modified files.

📌 git add

Undos the changes to the local files, restores to last commit.

📌 git reset

Displays the difference between files in two commits or between a commit and your current repository.

📌 git diff

Used to check the state of the staging area, as well as the working directory.

📌 git status

Used to commit files (locally) on the repository.

📌 git commit -m "message"

Used to view the entire commit history.

📌 git log

Used to download existing code from a remote respository.

📌 git clone

Used to list all the local branches on the machine.

📌 git branch

Used to create a new branch locally.

📌 git branch <branch-name>

Used to delete a branch.

📌 git branch -d

Used to rename the current working branch.

📌 git branch -m

Merges the provided branch with the current working branch.

📌 git merge


Used to switch from current branch to another one.

📌 git checkout

Creates a new branch and switches to the new one.

📌 git checkout -b

Used to save all commits to the remote repository.

📌 git push

Used to pull down all the updates rom the remote repository.

📌 git pull

Used to remove a file from the working directory.

📌 git rm

Used to temporarily remove uncommitted changes.

📌 git stash

Finally, if you want to remove Git entirely from a project, just open the directory, make sure you are able to view hidden files, and delete the '.git' folder.

Idea thread by @parik36 - Git Commands Every Developer Should Know

1. Unsplash2. Pixabay3. Freepik4. Stocksnap5. Pexels6. Reshot7. Skitter photo8. Dreams Time9. Free Range Stock10. Focastock

Stock Photos:

11. storyset .com12. illustrations .coo13. Drawkit .io14. Iradesign .io15. Manypixels .co16. illustrations .co17. Pixeltrue .comnline18. Pixeltrue .com19. blush .design20. humaaans .com

Illustration Websites:

21. Flaticon .com22. Iconmonstr .com23. Dryicons .comm24. Dryicons .com25. Freebiesbug .comm26. Freebiesbug .com27. Graphicburger .com28. Canva .com29. Graphicburger .com30. Iconshock .com

Icons Website:

31. Adobe Colorsrcodesor32. triangleCoolor33. Htmlcolorcodes34. Clrs .cc35. Adobe Colors36. Picular37. Flatuicolors38. Lolcolors39. Bada5540. coolors

Colors Resources:

41. CSS Nectar42. Awwwards43. Cssdesignawards44. Uimovement45. Behance46. Collectuiespire47. Siteinspire48. Uigarage49. Collectui50. Designspiration

Design Inspiration:

51. Dafont52. Font space53. Google fonts54. 1001 free font55. Abstract fonts56. Font Squirrel57. Fontget58. Everything Fonts

Font Websites:

59. UiGradients 60. CSS Gradient61. Webgradients 62. Hexcolor .co63. AWWWARDS Gradients64. Gradienthunt65. Eggradients

Top GRADIENT Color Websites:

66. HTML5UP67. Graygrids68. Nicepage69. Free-CSS70. Mobirise71. Templatemo72. Templated .co73. Freehtml5 .co74. Onepagelove75. Free-css .com

HTML Template Sites:

Idea thread by @codewithhajra - 75 Free Resources for Web Developers

I made $1k in my first month as a freelancer And here's what I discovered- Whether you're learning digital marketing, copywriting, or any high-income skill You can get your first client in 60 days Even if you have no portfolio or big connections on speed dial. Here's how👇

Before we get into it... I need you to do something. Twitter drops the reach of this thread after 24 hours… So many people would never find it. Help your friends learning new skills to earn faster in 2022 By retweeting the first tweet above. I'll wait for you…

Done now? Thank you. You’re a good friend. Let's now get into the thread that may change your life in the coming months.

First… If you don't know what high-income skills are… These are skills that business owners pay thousands of dollars for… Because with these skills, you help them get more customers and make more money. If you don't have any skill up your sleeve yet...

Here are some high income skills you can pick from and master in 2022 - ▪️Copywriting ▪️Web design ▪️Software development ▪️SEO ▪️Sales ▪️Email marketing ▪️Social media marketing ▪️Paid traffic ▪️Lead generation ▪️Video production ▪️Content creation

Now that we've got that down… It's time to find clients who will get you started on your career as a skilled freelancer.

The first thing you have to do is Change your mindset towards money. I wasn’t born into a wealthy family… And this affected my mindset a lot. I never even thought I could make anything as a new freelancer… So I kept charging low fees and working too hard.

So… You must fix your mindset first if you're going to charge 5- or 6-figures for your work someday. A good way to do this is by going online... And seeing what other people with your skill earn. Make friends who are doing better than you… And ask questions.

This removes your pre-existing beliefs about how much you can earn using that skill. And you'll be able to charge more as you get even better at it.

After you've done this… You’re ready to start making money. Follow these steps:

1. Reach out to your small network. I realized that many people don't do this. Instead of going online and begging people to give you a job even though you've never done anything in your life before…

Send a message to all your acquaintances, friends and family members… Explain what you're learning, who it helps, and how it helps them.

Then... Ask them to connect you to other people who might need your help. Your friends may have someone who needs your help immediately… And those who don't will put you in mind when they see someone with a business you can work with.

Also… if you know people who own small businesses… Reach out to them and offer to work with them for free. Tell them to only pay you from the profits you make for them. And if you do well… You get a good case study for the next stage of your client acquisition.

2. Head to job boards and freelancing sites I found my first ever client on a job site… And we worked together for close to a year before I moved on to higher-paying clients. Head over to Upwork and other job boards…

Clients here are looking for skills you have. But the only problem most freelancers have in this case is that: “They don't know how to sell their skills.” They don't know how to communicate the value they provide to the prospects.

How do you sell your skills? ▪️Identify your prospect’s problem ▪️Determine how your skill solves this problem ▪️See what other people providing your service are doing wrong ▪️Share your unique mechanism ▪️Pitch your offer ▪️Include a guarantee ▪️Focus on the client, not yourself

3. Do cold outreach While you send out your proposals to clients on job boards... You should also get down to cold outreach. This involves sending cold messages to top decision makers like CEOs and marketing heads of businesses you want to work with…

You can do this via email or social media channels. I prefer using cold emails. If you have an email address, you can reach out to anyone in the world “. @blackhatwizardd has a fantastic cold email course. It's one of the best investments you can make in your business.

You can also create a LinkedIn account to reach out to business owners via DM… Or send a DM to them here on Twitter or Facebook. But all these platforms can become so overwhelming. So, at the beginning…

Pick one platform where your target business owners hang out… And send at least 20-30 messages to them every day.

Here are the basic rules for sending cold messages: ▪️Give a compliment ▪️State your offer ▪️Include social proof ▪️Put a call to action ▪️Keep it simple ▪️Keep it short

Here's an example of a cold message https://t.co/JPE8XbOQw1

This is a simple email that doesn't waste time in communicating your offer. I advised that you get gigs from your existing network and other job sites first Because this gives you case studies you can use as social proof in your cold outreach.

Now that you have these settled... We can get to the final part of your client acquisition process….

4. Share on social media Create a social media account on any platform and document your learning process. Share things you've learned with other people… And the results you get from clients using the above methods… Trust me… Business owners are lurking around.

When you start sharing your successes… More people will reach out to you to help them get more profits. At this stage… You can remain fully booked and busy all year long.

To wrap things up here… And thank you for retweeting this thread... Here are two extra tips you'll need to get more clients as a newbie:

▪️Build a good relationship with your clients. Be good to them. Talk and laugh about things other than business sometimes. And be more than willing to help them always.

When your clients have a great experience with you… They'll easily refer you to others in their network. And you can then get clients based entirely on referrals.

▪️Keep outreaching even when you have clients The truth is… Nothing is predictable… You could have a client today and not have any tomorrow. So you can't afford to stop reaching out to prospects.

Send out at least 20 messages every day… And keep improving on your skill. Remember… The better you are at what you do… The more you earn.

That's all for today… Use these strategies to land your first and subsequent clients after learning a new high-income skill… And smash your 2022 financial goals! If you didn’t retweet at the beginning… Please share this thread retweeting the first tweet below 👇 https://t.co/WvY1t4Jrt0

And follow me @jakevictor_ so you don't miss my next thread when it drops. You get weekly threads on: ▪️Copywriting ▪️Marketing ▪️Persuasion ▪️Storytelling, and ▪️Freelancing. Don't miss the next one!

Idea thread by @jakevictor_ I made $1k in my first month as a freelancer

How I leveraged virtual assistants to win back my time and add $100K ARR to my business in just 60 days. If you need to win back your time as you scale, this thread will show you how 🧵...

1/When I began growing my service business, I quickly realized I couldn't do it all. Between 80 hour work weeks of laboring, invoicing, marketing, selling, etc... And the added stress of a newborn on the way. I knew it wasn't sustainable. I was exhausted....

2/ I kept trying to out-work the situation. This wasn't the life I wanted to live. And all my wife wanted was just a date night where I wasn't interrupted by customer calls or new hires looking for applications...

3/ It felt like I was drowning, but I knew there was a way to win back my time. In fact I NEEDED there to be a way.

4/ I knew I should hire more cleaners. If I had more employees, I could finally get out of cleaning for good...

5/ On top of my current duties, I now had to deal with scheduling interviews, pre-screening, hiring, and on boarding. All I was doing was creating more work for myself.

6/ Thats when I called up my good friend Brian. He grew his business to over $2M in revenue in just a few years. He was spending a majority of his time on high level business plans, not 80 hours working "in the weeds."

7/ The secret weapon to winning back his time and scaling his business? Virtual Assistants. At the time I didn't even know what that meant, but I knew I needed to learn. He told me that any task that is repetitive he trains and delegates to his overseas virtual assistant.

8/ I thought he was crazy at first but I decided to check it out. I took some advice from him began sourcing and locating my first virtual assistant. Within a week, I hired Noel who still works for us today.

9/I began documenting every repetitive tasks which improved my processes, and then trained my virtual assistant on how to perform the tasks. Especially hiring! After a few months I had reduced my involvement from 80 hour weeks to 10 - 15 hour weeks.

10/ With even less time involvement we added over $100K in ARR because my time was spent more effectively on me growing sales and training our team. All for the cost of $7/hr to add a high impact player to my team.

11/ Since hiring my first virtual assistant, I have personally hired and helped hire over a dozen virtual assistants. My business flourishes while I have the time to spend with my wife and son. I'm upbeat when I do talk to customers rather than beaten down from long days.

12/ Virtual Assistants have been so effective at growing our businesses that we felt the need to help more business owners win back their time. So with the new year coming up soon, I want to personally help just 5 business owners find and source their first virtual assistant.

13/ This means my team will personally: Craft The Perfect Job Description for you. Leverage our networks Of VAs to find a top quality candidate.

14/ We pre-Screen Up to 50 Applications and Interview Up to 10 Quality Candidates. Before placing them in your business, we will have them trained on your entire tech stack to ensure they are on-boarded smoothly.

15/ What if they're not a good fit? We will find you a replacement until you are satisfied. If you're interested in having our team source and find you a top quality VA to help win back your time and scale your business comment "WIN BACK" below. Only 5 spots open.

16/ Lastly, if you’re looking to learn more about growing your business through hiring VAs give me a follow @SullyBusiness. I’ll be spending 95% of my working hours on helping business owners do so. And sharing tips and tricks here along the way!

Idea thread by @theryanking - 10 sales tactics that work

Idea thread by @ChadMhako

Idea thread by @heykahn

Idea thread by @JOHN___CONOR

Idea thread by @polina_marinova

Stashy