Your work habits are vital to your success.

But what about your non-work habits? Believe it or not, you can use your free time in a way that will actually help your business succeed.

Check out the five non-work activities below for ways to get work done without actually having to work.

#1 Socialize

If you’re the type to spend Friday night finishing up your latest project instead of going out on the town, then you might want to reconsider – not just for the benefit of your social life, but for the benefit of your business.

The reason is simple: success gets easier as your network gets bigger.

You probably don’t think of hanging out with your friends as a prime networking opportunity, but you never know when a friend of a friend will have just the right skill, connection, or opportunity to help take your business to the next level.

The more friends you make, the better the odds are that one of them will be able to help you out, whether immediately or years down the road. If not, no worries: friends are a nice thing to have in their own right.

Another Reason to Make Friends

Thanks to Facebook and Twitter, being socially savvy has never been more important in online business. Having an active social life will help you keep with the current trends and make sure you don’t get too socially awkward while typing out your tweets.

#2 Buy a Chair

Take notice as you’re reading this. Do you have good posture? Are your elbows bent at 90 degrees as you type? Do you feel comfortable and alert?

If not, it may be time to invest in a high back ergonomic chair.

Being an Internet entrepreneur without a good chair is sort of like being a marathon runner without good shoes. It may not seem very important at first, but it will begin to wear on you over time.

You’re probably working from your desk at least five hours a day. If you’re chair isn’t providing ample back and lumbar support during that time, you’re going to be more tired by the end of your work day than you should be.

Plus, a good chair encourages you to have good posture – and when you sit up straight, you’ll feel more alert and focused. Not only will you be getting more work done, you’ll also be doing your body a long-term favor.

Michael’s already recommended a great office chair in his Ultimate Office Shopping Guide. It’s expensive – but not any more expensive than a few visits to the chiropractor’s office.

Standing is the New Sitting

If you don’t want to spend the cash on buying a chair, find a counter and try working while standing up. You’ll eventually get tired of standing, but while you’re at it the increased blood flow will help you to think on your feet, so to speak.

#3 Read

If you’re a book lover, then you know there are few things more enjoyable than getting lost in the pages of a great novel.

But reading can also be a great way to make progress with your business – and I’m not just talking textbooks and business books, likeRich Dad, Poor Dad and The 4-Hour Workweek.

Reading the newspaper will keep you up on what’s current, which will help your business stay relevant. Reading biographies will give you day-by-day insight into the way successful people lived their lives. Reading novels can help spur your imagination.

Of course, reading articles about how to make money online on websites like IncomeDiary, may be your best resource of all.

Becoming Eloquent

Reading isn’t just about learning more about how to succeed. It also increases your skill with language, which will help you to communicate with customers, clients, and potential investors. Start reading daily and you may start talking your way into closing more deals.

#4 Get Somebody Else to Do It

Some entrepreneurs are so set on bootstrapping that they try to do everything themselves.

That’s an admirable goal, but it’s not very efficient. Inevitably, they spend a lot of time learning new skills and making first-time mistakes. As Warren Buffett would say, they’ve left their “circle of competence.”

It’s also a huge time commitment. If you spend all of your time answering emails, redesigning your website, and promoting your business, when will you have time to actually provide value to customers? One person can only do so much.

That’s why professional bloggers hire specialists to redesign their websites, write sales copy, and create their products. That’s also why many employ full-time virtual assistants to take care of administrative work and filter their daily deluge of emails.

In order to grow, your business will eventually have to enlist the help of additional people. The sooner you get started, the more prepared you’ll be manage employees when your business gets so large that they become essential.

Where to Start

Don’t be afraid to invest in your business by getting somebody else to do your work for you. Websites like oDesk and Elance are a good place to start. For smaller projects, you can try Fiverr – where the jobs are so small, they only cost five bucks.

#5 Go for a Run

You already know that running can make you healthier and leaner – but it can also be a great way to get work done without working.

If you’ve hit a mental roadblock, staring at your computer screen probably isn’t the best way to overcome it. Getting outside and going for a short run will help your body get into a rhythm and give you a fresh outlook.

It’s a great way to have an idea breakthrough, like thinking of a solution to a nagging problem or finding the right angle to enter a new market.

Go the Distance

“I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be out-worked, period.”

Will Smith

Running also reinforces a mindset of commitment. With longer distances especially, it’s necessary that you develop the attitude that you won’t give up no matter what.

This will come in handy when you face roadblocks on your entrepreneurial journey. Very simply, a mindset of commitment is something that you’ll need if you ever want to have real success in anything.

Not a Runner?

Don’t worry: any long-distance sport will suffice. One of my favorite quotes about perseverance comes from a cyclist: Lance Armstrong, who beat cancer and then won the Tour de France seven-consecutive times. 

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”

Lance Armstrong

Does Not Working Really Work?

Next time you’ve got some free time, remember these activities.

Instead of reaching for the TV remote, read about the life of a person you admire. Instead of staying in, go out and meet some new people.

Of course, having the biggest network or the most comfortable chair doesn’t mean anything unless you’ve also been working to build a great business. So, even though all of these non-work activities can help move your business forward, none of them can replace good, old-fashioned hard work.

Good luck building your business as you work, as you don’t, and any time you find in between. If you can think of a helpful non-work activity that I missed, please share it below.

Photo Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/sportcommunities/

The New Year is a fresh start.

The person you were last year no longer exists. All that matters is who you are on New Year’s Day and who you become by the end of the year.

January 1^st is a perfect time to make a personal change, but it’s also a perfect time for entrepreneurs to make big changes to their businesses.

The 12 resolutions below are for entrepreneurs hoping to help their business thrive in 2012.

#1 Resolve to Finish Every Project You Start

I’ve written previously about how most entrepreneurs have so many good ideas, that it can be difficult finish one project before starting the next one.

Don’t make that mistake this year. If you decide to develop a business, commit to seeing it through completely.

#2 Resolve to Start Charging Your True Worth

When trying to get your business on its feet, sometimes you have to charge less than your product or service is actually worth. It’s a good way to gain clientele and experience. But it’s not a good way to get rich.

Eventually, you’ve got to start charging clients for the actual value that you’re providing.

If you’ve been working for less than you’re worth, then 2012 is the year to make a change.

#3 Resolve to Keep a Clean Work Space

It’s hard to be productive in an environment that’s cluttered and disorganized.

Look around your work space right now. If it isn’t clean and controlled, then make a commitment now to maintain a focused work space for the next year.

#4 Resolve to Improve Work Systems

When Henry Ford implemented an assembly line in his factories in 1913, he completely revolutionized the automobile industry. By making the production system more efficient, The Ford Motor Company was able to produce more vehicles for less money – and profits went through the roof.

A business is only as efficient as the systems it employs.

Some systems are simple, like the way you organize your inbox. Others are very complex, like your step-by-step approach to completing a project over the course of a month.

We often create systems without much thought and then take them for granted once they’re established. As long as a system works, what’s the point in meddling?

But this is one thing where you really need to put in the extra time and make sure you’re doing things right. Take a step back and look critically at the systems you implement regularly with your business.

Systems are so important because their effect is cumulative. If you improve a system one time, that improvement continues to benefit you every time it’s implemented.

If you haven’t paid much attention to your systems lately, then make a point to focus on them in 2012.

#5 Resolve to Be Authentic

People are spending more time online than ever before. By now, they’re pretty adept at recognizing who’s being genuine and who isn’t.

2012 is a great year to tune out the voice in your head that tells you to pretend to be someone you’re not. Instead, communicate online with your authentic voice. People will take notice and respond.

#6 Resolve to Keep Track of Your Hours

How many hours are you putting into your business a week?

It’s not necessary to have a set schedule or to work eight hours every day. That’s part of the joy of being your own boss. But it is important to be aware of your work hours – and four hour days aren’t going to cut it (at least not at first).

When you begin to keep track of your hours, you start to understand where your time is going and how you could use it more effectively.

If you’re doing freelance work and you’re being paid by the project, this will also help you in pricing your services.

A Time Tracking Tool

There are many applications out there that help you keep track of how you’re spending your time on your computer.

Rescue Time is free software that automatically tracks which programs and websites you’re using throughout the day. Over the course of a few weeks, you begin to get a clear picture of how efficient your computer time is and how it compares to the work habits of others.

At the end of the month, take a look at the data. You may be surprised to realize how much of your time goes to work that doesn’t actually you earn you any income (like answering emails or being active on social media).

#7 Resolve to Redesign Your Website

Even if you’re website is up-to-date now, it won’t be in six months. The Internet keeps changing and the most successful online companies will continue to change with it.

Don’t risk becoming outdated. Make sure you update and improve your website at least once this year.

#8 Resolve to Eat Right and Exercise

Okay, okay – I know these are the two most cliché resolutions in the history of New Year’s. But they’re cliché for a reason.

Eating right and exercising are great resolutions for anyone who operates their own business. It will give you more energy and focus to make the most of your work day.

Of course, it will also make you healthier and it may even help you look better in the bathroom mirror.

#9 Resolve to Spend 20 Minutes Actively Learning Each Day

Solo entrepreneurs must be proficient in many different fields. In any given day, you may work as a designer, marketer, salesperson, and writer.

There’s not always time to master each of these skillsets. When you’re just starting out, sometimes all that matters is that the task is completed. Whether or not it’s completed perfectly is beside the point.

So entrepreneurs tend to become jacks of many trades, masters of none.

The good news is that means there’s a ton of room for improvement. And even if you’re getting by with your current ability-level, honing your skills will make for better and more efficient work.

That’s why it’s such a good idea to spend 20 minutes actively learning every day.

Ways to Learn

Podcasts

This is a great learning solution for the time-crunched entrepreneur. Maybe you’ve got a full-time job, run your business on the side, and you don’t have 20 minutes to spare.

Pop in a pair of headphones and start learning while involved in an activity that doesn’t require your full attention. Suddenly riding the bus, doing the dishes, and exercising are opportunities to become a smarter, better entrepreneur.

Video Tutorials

While audio is a great learning tool, actually seeing something is often the most effective way to understand it. There’s simply no substitute for watching a pro as they complete a task, talking you through every step of the way.

In the last few years, a huge number of quality video tutorials have been posted on YouTube. Simply search for a subject, press play, and start learning.

Video isn’t the best if you’re just looking for a few bits of essential info. You can’t skim a video like a written tutorial. But they’re an ideal method when you need to sit down and learn a process from front to back.

Books

Ink and paper may be old-fashioned, but a big “how-to” book is still one of the best learning resources available.

Even if all of the information within its pages is available online, that’s no replacement for having it right there in your hands. You won’t have to search the web for quality instruction and you can take it with you wherever you go.

A 500-page tome can set be pretty expensive, but the cost is small when you think of it as an investment in your business. Check out your local bookstore or Amazon to find a compendium on whatever subject you want to master.

Refresh, then Rest

If you really want to get the most out of your daily lesson, revisit it for a few minutes right before you go to sleep. If you read an informative article, skim through it again. If you learned a new technique in Photoshop, create something simple with it.

Not only will this reinforce what you learned the first time around, the new knowledge will sit at the fore front of your brain as you prepare for sleep.

Sleep is your brain’s opportunity to organize and store all of the knowledge it gains throughout the day. So you stand a better chance of actually remembering your daily lesson if you revisit it before you call it a day.

If you resolve to devote a little bit of time to learning every day for the next year, you’ll be see a huge improvement in the quality and quantity of your work by the end of the year.

#10 Resolve to Keep Your Resolutions

Every January, people across the world make resolutions to change the way they act.

Every February, many of those resolutions have been broken or forgotten.

It’s only over the course of the whole year that a change can have any real impact. But if you do stick to your resolutions, they will eventually become habits that will improve your life (and business) for years and years to come.

So, the most important resolution you can make is to really stick with whatever changes you decide to make this year.

What’s Your Resolution?

Let us know how you’re going to make 2012 the best year yet.

Warren Buffet isn’t a psychic, but he does have a knack for predicting the future.

His eye for savvy investments has earned him the nickname the “Oracle of Omaha” — along with a net worth of US$50 billion.

Buffett has never been shy about sharing his common-sense business strategies: he’s famous for writing shareholders once a year to explain his thinking. In the process, he’s left the world with a wealth of business knowledge.

Get inside the mind of a legendary investor with the lessons and quotes below.

Lesson #1: Choose a Good Path

Do What You’re Good At

“There’s a whole bunch of things I don’t know a thing about. I just stay away from those.”

We all have our talents. For his part, Buffett realized long ago that he was very good when it came to investment. Ever since then, he’s focused on that, staying within what he calls his “circle of competence.”

You should do the same. Identify your strengths and then stick to them.

Find and Follow Your Passion

“Do what you’re passionate about. If you do this, there will be few people competing or running faster than you.”

When you complete a task that you’re passionate about, you’ve got more energy than when you started.

Buffett doesn’t get tired of his job, because he actually enjoys what he’s doing. He has said, “I get to do what I like to do every single day of the year,” and that at Berkshire-Hathaway they enjoy, “the process far more than the proceeds.”

I know that you’ve heard it before, but there’s really no greater way to ensure the success of your business than by founding it on something that you are truly passionate about.

As Buffett said, “Without passion, you don’t have energy. Without energy, you have nothing.”

Know When to Abandon Ship

“Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”

Every business will someday face adversity, just as every boat will eventually spring a leak. You should never let your business drown just because an unexpected problem arises.

But if your business isn’t getting any traction at all, maybe the underlying model is making everything more difficult than it has to be. Instead of expending all of your energy trying to keep a sinking ship afloat, seek out a better model. 

Lesson #2: Keep it Simple

Make things Easy on Yourself

“There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.”

People often make work more challenging than it needs to be. Have you ever spent hours and hours working on a project that you know you could have completed in thirty minutes?

Don’t languish with unproductive habits or inefficient systems. Find ways to work that makes your job easy.

Pick Low-Hanging Fruit

“I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.”

If there’s an apple within your grasp, you’re not going to reach for a ladder.

Buffet adopts a similar strategy while investing: he doesn’t make risky investments because he doesn’t have to. Good companies make him money, but great companies make him more of it.

Whether in investments or business, focus your effort on where you get the most bang for your buck. Pass on lofty challenges.

Simpler is Better

“The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.”

The day-traders who buy stock are making their job very difficult. They study pages of market analysis and work 40-hours-a-week just trading.

If you’re good with complicated data, you’ll make some short-term gains that way. But you could also take Buffett’s lead and tune that noise out.

Berkshire-Hathaway makes its stock purchases based on just one thing: the intrinsic value of the company. Buffett buys stock in companies that have good fundamentals and a track record of growth. Pretty straightforward.

People love to come. up with complex formulas, but most success in business is simple, common sense.

Two Simple Rules:

“Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.”

Lesson #3: Character is Good for Business

Don’t Swim Naked

“It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.”

Before the global recession of 2008, financial institutions were making risky investments and pretending that they were safe. It worked for a while.

But the thing about the tide is that eventually it goes out. When that happens, the only thing that will matter is the true value of your investments.

Resist the urge to put up a faux-exterior. Conduct your business solid through and through, you’ll have nothing to worry about when the water gets shallow.

Look Out for the Customer

“Decide early in life to make your money by selling things that you really believe are good for the customers.”

Profit is a symptom.

It happens naturally whenever a company provides value to their customers.

The best way to make money is to offer a product or service that’s truly good for the people who use it. One way you’ll know you’re onto something is if you actually want to use it yourself.

Good People do Good Business

“You can’t make a good deal with a bad person.”

When Berkshire-Hathaway acquires a company, Buffett makes the deal in person and seals it with a handshake.

He likes to get to know a company’s management on a personal level because he’s only interested in buying businesses that are managed by good people. For Warren, personal integrity really matters.

He’s realized that being the good guy pays off. Taking shortcuts may pay off in the short term, but they always come back to haunt you eventually.

So act with good character and only associate with businesses that do the same.

Good Business is Contagious

“Hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.”

Don’t be intimidated to work with people who are smarter than you. On the contrary, surround yourself with the brightest and most productive people you can find.

Not only will they push your business to new heights, their good habits will spread to you. Few factors have a greater impact on our behavior than the behavior of our peers.

Lesson #4: Think Long-Term

Be Patient

“No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”

We live in a world of instant-gratification.

But short-term thinking can only lead to short-term success. If you want the type of consistent growth that creates true wealth, you must recognize that real success takes time. No matter what you do today, you can’t build million dollar business before you go to sleep.

So don’t try to rush something that can’t be rushed. Instead commit yourself completely to the long-haul.

Look Ten Years Out

“Our favorite holding period is forever.”

A stock’s holding period is the time between its purchase and sale.

When Berkshire-Hathaway makes a decision to buy stock in a company, they intend on owning it for the next ten years – and preferably even longer than that.

This long-term perspective gets them thinking about the factors that really matter, like the quality of the company’s business model and management.

Long-term thinking is more than just a good strategy for investors. Life is a long-term game, so start thinking about where you want your business to be in ten years.

Keep Your Reputation

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

A business’s assets will come and go, but a bad reputation is like a stain you can’t wash out.

All it takes to do permanent damage to your reputation is one slip-up. That’s a big problem, because people won’t work with a company that they don’t trust.

So don’t let yourself get sloppy. Cultivate an ethic of quality work.

Leave a Legacy

“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time.”

What’s the best part about building a successful business?

It isn’t the money and it isn’t the freedom. It’s the fact that you’ve provided a huge amount of value to a huge amount of people.

Starting a business is like planting a seed. With proper care, it will still be making the world a better place long after you leave.

Buffett’s legacy doesn’t stop with his businesses, either. Like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, he’s pledged to give half of his wealth to philanthropy.

Lesson #5: Develop a Mindset of Wealth

Plan for Success

“I always knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute.”

I’ve already written about how being totally confident can help you bend the universe.

Believing that you will succeed is the first step to making it happen.

Tune Out the Noise

“Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.”

The more successful you become, the more haters you’ll have. You don’t have any control over what other people say, but you can choose to ignore their negativity.

Know when to listen in and when to tune out.

If someone gives you constructive criticism, then you should do everything you can to learn from it. But when criticism is unfounded or fueled by jealousy, listening to it will only be a distraction.

Accept that You’re Not Perfect

“I’ve made lots of mistakes. I’m going to make more. It’s the name of the game. You don’t want to expect perfection in yourself. You want to strive to do your best. It’s too demanding to expect perfection in yourself.”

You’re only human. You’re going to make some big mistakes.

Even an investment genius like Warren Buffett doesn’t win them all. He has accepted that fact and he doesn’t beat himself up when things don’t turn out like he had hoped.

It’s exhausting to expect perfection from yourself. Be satisfied with your best effort.

Be Happy

“I am not inclined to make myself unhappy. I sort of accept things as they come.”

If every one of his businesses went bankrupt tomorrow, Buffett would still be smiling.

His happiness doesn’t come from seeing green arrows next to his investments. It springs from his unflappable optimism and buoyant spirit.

There’s no greater gift you can give yourself than personal happiness. But if you’re not happy now, no amount of money or success is going to change that.

Be thankful for what you have, live with passion and purpose, and accept things as they come. Happiness will follow.

He’s a worldwide celebrity, an ardent humanitarian, and the he once tried to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon.

Branson knows a lot about business (as evidenced $4.2 billion net worth), but he also has a knack for adventure and living life to the fullest. Enjoy the lessons on life and business below.

#1 Your Age Doesn’t Matter

Richard was just 16 years old when he had his first business success, a magazine called Student. By 22, he had founded Virgin Records.

Branson is proof that it’s never too early to start.

But at 61, he’s also proof that being old is just a state of mind: Branson regularly kite surfs and attempts to break world records (e.g. a 2008 attempt to break the world record for sailing across the Atlantic).

#2 Think Laterally

The sky is the limit for your business, but that doesn’t mean that the only direction to grow is up.

Branson’s magazine led him to sell records. His record store led him to start a label, which led him to buy a recording studio and a night club.

By starting ventures in complementary industries, Branson created a network of businesses that reinforce one another. It’s much easier to promote a new musical artist when you own a night club, a magazine, and a record shop.

#3 Work for Free

How does a no-name record label sign its first artist?

Virgin Records did it by offering to let multi-instrumentalism Mike Oldfield use their recording studio for free. The recording sessions led to Tubular Bells (1973), Virgin’s first release and a best-seller.

When you’re trying to get your foot in the door in a new industry, sometimes the quickest way to make money is by doing something for free.

#4 Be Controversial

Branson signed the Sex Pistols to his label after other major labels (EMI and A&M) had dropped them for their penchant for creating controversy and mayhem.

The Sex Pistols lived up to their reputation and broke up not long after signing with Virgin Records. But their acquisition broadened Virgin’s profile and gave them an upper hand in the booming punk rock scene.

It’s natural to steer away from controversy, but if you’re willing to seek it out, you can draw attention to your business while cashing in on opportunities that others were too timid to take.

#5 Diversify

After finding success in the record business, Branson dove into the transportation industry, founding Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984. He’s since expanded his business ventures to include mobile phones, cosmetics, movies, and even his own cola.

Diversifying across industries doesn’t just keep things interesting for Branson, it also provides safety from the unpredictable ups and downs of any given industry.

Branson’s glad he didn’t stick to the just the record business: it has been in steady decline since Napster launched in 1999.

#6 Love Your Business

When Branson sold the Virgin record label to EMI in 1992, for £500 million, he was brought to tears.

A lot of people would probably cry tears of joy if they just made that kind of cash (myself included), but Branson was crying because he was emotionally invested into his record label.

If you don’t want to put your heart and soul into your business, you shouldn’t start it in the first place.

#7 Opportunity is Constant

“Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.”

Don’t be discouraged if a business venture doesn’t turn out like you hoped.

Instead, keep an eye out for the next big opportunity.

#8 Be a (Benevolent) Dictator

“I believe in benevolent dictatorship provided I am the dictator.”

Nobody can accuse Branson of being cold to his employees (he makes a habit of writing them personal letters), but he also embraces his role as a dictator.

If you want to be a leader in business, you can’t worry about what other people think. Exercise your power and act decisively.

#9 Success in School is Different than Success in Life

Richard Branson is dyslexic and he struggled in school before dropping out at the age of 16.

School is great at testing and rewarding certain skillsets, like the ability to memorize information and follow instructions. But those skills aren’t the only skills necessary for real life success.

#10 Learn by Doing

“You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.”

Branson started a magazine without ever having taken a journalism class and he became one of the world’s most successful businessmen without ever having taken a business class.

Don’t wait until you’re qualified to start doing what you want with your life. Just do it. You’ll make a ton of mistakes, but that’s the fastest way to learn.

#11 Be a Pioneer

In 2004, Branson founded Virgin Galactic – a space tourism company that will soon be taking sub-orbital vacations. So far, over 430 brave people have signed up to become Virgin Galactic astronauts.

The ticket price: $200,000.

Virgin Galactic is a great example of Branson’s willingness to explore new frontiers with his business ventures. Being a pioneer is risky, but it has a distinct advantage: when you pioneer an entirely new industry, beating the competition is a piece of cake.

#12 Look into the Future

Virgin Galactic is one of many instances in which Branson has anticipated an emerging market.

When Branson observed gasoline prices on the rise, he saw an opportunity to enter the fuel industry. The Virgin Green Fund invests worldwide in research and development of renewable fuel.

Given the global scarcity of gasoline, coupled with mounting consumption, it’s a good bet that Branson’s bet on alternative energy will pay off in the long run.

When you see current trends and project them into the future, you give your business a huge advantage for years to come.

#13 Screw Business as Usual

Never has there been a more exciting time for all of us to explore this next great frontier where the boundaries between work and higher purpose are merging into one, where doing good really is good for business.

The above is an excerpt from Branson’s brand new book, Screw Business as Usual, about how businesses can succeed by striving to make a positive impact on the planet (and not just make boatloads of money).

Branson argues that companies that treat their employees, their communities, and the environment better tend to have better long-term financial growth and a healthier brand.

When you make a positive impact with your business, you’re not just making the world a better place. You’re also contributing to the long-term success of your company.

#14 Give Back

“If I get frustrated by something, then I like to try to put it right.”

Branson’s businesses may make the world a better place, but that hasn’t stopped him from entering into the realm of non-profit humanitarian efforts.

He’s taken on AIDS (Virgin Healthcare Foundation), nuclear weapons (Global Zero), and even war itself (The Elders).

After a chat with Al Gore over breakfast about climate change, Branson decided that global warming was a legitimate crisis. He subsequently pledged an enormous $3 billion to help solve it.

Obviously, giving back doesn’t help Richard’s bottom line. But my guess is that it brings him satisfaction beyond words.

#15 Enjoy the Simple Things

“Right now I’m just delighted to be alive and to have had a nice long bath.”

Richard Branson lives a life that’s easy to envy. His wealth allows him to travel the world, meet influential people, and do it all in style.

But while yachts and jewelry are nice, they won’t give you real satisfaction. That’s something that can only grow out of an appreciation for the simple things, like your health, your loved ones, and a nice long bath.

Don’t wait until you’re “successful” to enjoy yourself. Start now and enjoy the way up.

Images Courtesy of

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gulltaggen

/http://www.flickr.com/photos/daly3d/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shankbone/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jfoust/

But there is a shortage of people who believe in their ideas so fully that they put in the necessary work to pull their ideas out of imagination and into reality.

Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference.

- Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari

Chances are, your idea is good enough. In the back of your head, you already know that.

But nobody else knows – and the never will unless you build on it.

Watch the Income Diary Video on “Idea Building”

You wouldn’t build a house without a roof and then complain when a rain storm comes in – and you shouldn’t build a half of a business and then complain when it doesn’t earn a ton of money.

Starting several businesses and finishing none of them will get you nowhere in a hurry. So focus your attention on one good idea and see it through to completion.

5 Inspiring Quotes about Ideas for Entrepreneurs

Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes.

- Napoleon Hill

Billion dollar businesses like Apple, Facebook, and Google all began in tiny brain cells. Pretty amazing. Of course, those brain cells all belonged to highly-motivated and hard working people.

We think good ideas to death, when we should be acting them to life.

- Brian G. Jett

Bringing your ideas to life in your imagination may be fun, but bringing them to life in reality is much more satisfying.

Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.

- Howard Aiken

Truly world-changing ideas are often met with doubt and apprehension… at first. So if your idea faces criticism early on, take heart: so did the the bicycle, the iPad, and the microwave oven.

Ideas are not yours. They’re in the common consciousness. But how you perceive an idea is yours.

- King Sidharth

Don’t assume just because you had an idea that it’s yours to keep. Somebody else may have the same idea any moment and then beat you to the punch, so it’s better to act on your idea ASAP.

On the other hand, don’t be discouraged if somebody else has already enacted an idea very similar to yours. You can bring your idea to life in a better or maybe just different way. Remember that Facebook was predated by MySpace, SixDegrees, and Friendster.

Don’t be afraid of new ideas. Be afraid of old ideas. They keep you where you are and stop you from growing and moving forward. Concentrate on where you want to go, not on what you fear.

- Anthony Robbins

…And One More

“Ideas are just a multiplier of execution.”

- Derek Sivers, Founder of CDBaby.com

The concept behind the above Derek Sivers quote is simple: no matter how good an idea is, it’s worthless unless it’s well executed. The iPod wasn’t the first portable mp3 player. That honor goes to the Audio Highway Listen Up. But only 25 Listen Up’s were ever made. The iPod, on the other hand, has sold over 300 million units. That’s the power of good execution.

Partially executed entrepreneurial ideas don’t make money, just as houses without roofs don’t provide shelter. So don’t give up on your brilliant idea until you’ve truly given it an opportunity to be successful.

If you truly believe in your idea, start building – one brick at a time — and don’t stop until you’ve completed it.

Todays interview is with Peter Ward and Jerome Touze, who run the world’s largest travel and lifestyle social network community website with 15 million members in 193 countries worldwide. I really enjoyed doing this interview today, they were very funny guys, always cracking jokes. Actually it took us 3 takes to get going because I kept laughing when they did an introduction.

Just to show you guys how big they really are, they have had the founder of Jagex which owns Runescape, a billion dollar company invest in them. The CEO of CheapFlights and even the founder of FriendsReunited.com!

What’s really remarkable about WAYN.com was the first 1 million members were paying members and then they decided to release a FREE version.

WAYN have even started their own Twitter present, you can follow them here @WAYNCOM

So you guys run the world’s largest travel site, social site, and that’s called WAYN. What does WAYN stand for?

So, WAYN stands for Where Are You Now? It’s, as you just said, a lifestyle and travel community website with 15 million members worldwide. It is a concept that both Peter and I came up with just before we joined a company called Accenture back in 2002. We had the idea when we came back from travelling. And we started to brainstorm the concept was working for Accenture for a few years, and launched a site officially in 2005 after having secured certain original backing from the founder of Friends Reunited, which were extremely popular in the UK when they launched in early 2000.

And WAYN has grown ever since from strength to strength. We had about 40,000 users in March ’05 when we relaunched our site properly. Then it went on to about one million users by the end of 2005. A point at which we decided to go full time onto the business, and decided to really expand it from there.

And we’ve had, obviously, a very exciting journey ever since. And WAYN is, as you’ve probably seen from the press and the latest of being talked about in the industry, have had a great relaunch and a new strategy and new branding and things to be looking forward to.

That’s great, guys. So, how did you manage to grow it from 45,000 members, I think you said, to a million in around six months?

Well, I think the first thing that we obviously did, is look at what the other social networks were doing in the space. And we could see that the fact that you could invite your friends from other networks, whether it be your Hotmail, your Yahoo, your Gmail and so on, was a very popular way in which to grow virally. And so, we adopted a similar approach, and we were one of the first social networks to do that. And it helped us to grow much, much more quickly. We did use Google AdWords before that as a way of attracting users, but it was not anywhere near the extent of success that the viral approach that we after that was.

But, I think that over time, you realize that you can’t rely on just contact import, you need to have an element of stickiness to the site that’s going to actually create the word of mouth viral growth. And I think that, fortunately, we had a differentiated enough proposition, which was the focus on the travel and the lifestyle, which no one else was really doing.

And that, I guess, appealed to a certain segment of our audience at a point where we became the largest in that space.

You just mentioned you had to have your site sticky. How were you able to make your social network sticky enough for people to come back every day?

Well, I think there was the introductions of the alerts and news feeds that were first seen, if anything, on social networks like Facebook. I think many social networks and businesses have actually learned a great deal as to what Facebook has actually done. But we started to launch the alerts a good year and a half ago now, which was purely based out of the activities generated by the users and communicating with their circle of friends based on what the user was doing. We’ve all seen alerts similar to you’ve been tugged into a footer or whether you’ve received a message. And being informed as to what’s happening in your community to drag the user back into their profile.

Peter Ward and Jerome Touze with the WAYN Mascot

But one thing that we’ve just really refocused the mind on is this new service that we’ve just launched, which is, if anything, focusing on what the users up for doing. One thing that we realize with travel, if anything, is that there was perhaps too much cyclicality and seasonality around what users were doing. You know, let’s face it, travel is clearly a very exciting and very broad sort of focused angle.

The one thing that we do realize, is the things that the things that people do a lot more, are the things that’s to do with their close vicinity and doing the weekends or in the evenings. Whether it’s going for a bit of air, going to the restaurant, going to the cinema, the theatre, playing bowling, you name it.

And a thing that we really looked at the social network and its history sort of paced by social networks or perhaps reunion sites, should I say, like Classmates and Friends Reunited that were very much focusing on the past.

And now we are very much a fan and founder of the likes of Facebook and Twitter, which are focusing on the present. With questions such as what are you doing now? But no one was really looking to the future. So, this new service that we’ve just launched, we really believe will allow us, if anything, to tap into a lot more active usage by really focusing the mind on what users want to do, and inviting their friends to join in those plans.

That’s really clever, Jerome. I like that. You guys are like one of the most profitable social networks that I’ve heard of. You started with a paid membership, I believe?

Yeah, I guess we had the benefit of knowledge from the founder of Friends Reunited, who was our first angel investor, Steve Pankhurst. In the sense that they were growing a very profitable business in Friends Reunited. And at the time, there were very few competitors in our space who were offering a similar service to ourselves. So, we felt that it was justified for us to charge a premium subscription service. And that was great for us to start with because it meant that we became extremely cash positive and was generating a lot of profit. But it also meant that in some respects we were stifling the growth potential of WAYN because, obviously, some people would not want to pay, and therefore were not being as active to the service as they could have been.

Jerome Touze, Brent Hoberman and Peter Ward

Coupled with that, we had, obviously, the explosion of growth in the new social networks that were offering a fremium model such as the likes of Facebook and MySpace and, obviously, now the likes of Twitter as well. It’s become even more difficult to really justify a premium subscription model unless you really do have a truly justifiable or differentiated product that the people are willing to pay for over and above.

So, we’ve kind of had much more of a broader approach to the revenue business model since then. In fact, advertising represents by far the largest portion of our revenues. And we’ve actually developed some of the leading, spearheading, social media type campaigns with some of our advertisers, which is something that we’re very much encouraging to do more of.

On top of that, we’ve also launched a micro transactions platform which allows users to buy virtual goods, such as gifts, super rate other members, and send say hellos. Which is something that we see ourselves expanding on in the future.

And, in fact, we see PLANS, which is obviously the new offering which Jerome eluded to, where people are obviously planning what they’re up for doing in the future, as being one of the key enablers to bringing together a number of additional microtransaction opportunities. But, I can’t give too much away on what we’re planning to do there.

All right, that’s cool. So, you mentioned you were very cash positive, but I understand you did take 11 million in your first series of funding?

So, I think when it comes to the finances, we can’t disclose too much as to where we are and where we’ve been, but I think generally speaking, the company was profitable from day one, as you eluded to. We’ve invested ever since, a lot more, clearly, in the growth of the business. When we did and the fundraising in 2006 it was an $11 million series fund. The party clarity of that deal was the combination of money out and money in deal. At the time we didn’t need to take too much obviously equity dilution because of the fact that we were profitable and fast growing.

It’s worth noting that 2006 and 2007, where we were at the peak of the market, so it was definitely a great timing…

Michael: Brilliant. So I guess a question a lot of my readers and my listeners will be asking is how were you able to attract people to fund your project such? I understand you had David Soskin from Cheapflights.com come along and invest money and you also had the cofounder of Jagex, which runs RuneScape, a game I know very well. They came along and invested also in Friends Reunited. How were you able to attract these people in the first place to come and invest in yourself?

Well, I think it started with, if you look at Cheapflights, it started actually from a commercial discussion. We were engaged with the Hugo initially on the potential integration of Cheapflights within the website. And the commercial discussions turned into an investment opportunity. Whereas people like Constant were actually introduced to us by other venture capitalists that we met in the circuit in New York. Brent was from a conference that Pete attended. And Pete wanted to introduce himself to Brent and when we met our VCs for the first round discussion, we thought it would be a fantastic candidate for potential chairmanship and investment.

And Brent joined when we introduced the opportunity to him. So all that one thing to another. When we met the VCs at Esprit Capital Partners around August, 2006, September, 2006, the process went very quickly. It was about eight weeks from introduction to completion.

The VCs were quite keen to have an extra $1 million brought onto the table by concession of investors. This is where we thought that having the expertise of a combination of guys as chairs Cheapflights, Jagex membership experience and Brent for his travel and overall trip ownership experience would be a great addition to the table.

I’m sure so many people have seen the growth of Facebook, Beebo, MySpace and even wayn.com and really looking to start their own social network. What would you say to those people who are considering doing that?

Well, I think that there’s obviously a huge buzz in social media world. I think it’s great and should be very much encouraged to have the entrepreneurial innovation that we are seeing. The industry that we are a part of is thriving, despite the credit crunch and the impact on the economy. The amount of events that we are attending to or being invited to and the social scene is really helping to foment a bit of a ecosystem certainly in London and beyond.

I think that in terms of setting up a business in this space, it is becoming increasingly more challenging in terms of finding a real business opportunity that’s going to make money. But it’s like a needle in the haystack thing. It’s very low barriers to entry in terms of setting up a website these days.

You have cloud computing. You have low cost of running systems and the actual time to market in terms of developing stuff these days can be very quick and can grow very quickly. But the reality is that most of these businesses that are setting up have not identified a real revenue stream that is sustainable.

So I think that the real focus needs to be on where is the value? And I think that now with the current climate that we’re in, we should see a flight to value, which is actually going to be a good thing, I think. Because there will be a consolidation in the market.

A lot of those good ideas that don’t really necessarily have any substance will fall by the wayside and you’ll see an emergence of the real high value focused propositions.

The reality is you got to remember that the likes of the founders of Google, their idea was very simple. They didn’t think about a business proposition at the beginning and it turned out to be one of the most successful business models in the world. So I think that the whole innovation engine is a powerful one and I strongly encourage it.

Brilliant. Thanks very much for that. I completely agree with you on the value side of the business. You have to provide value before you provide anything else. Yeah, that’s great advice. What is your lifestyle like? When I speak about the Internet lifestyle, for me it’s first being able to work when I like, where I like. What are you guys up to every day?

Yeah, unfortunately it’s not as glamorous as being able to work from very exotic location on a beach with a laptop. It would be great if we could do that from time to time.

Peter Jokingly Said: Excuse me, could you pass the pina colada over there? [laughter]

Just be careful we are going to hear the waves in the background. Well, actually Peter and I have been very lucky to be able to do some coinvestments as a side of the business in properties. Whenever we can we try to escape and do work remotely one week or two weeks, maybe every six months. We use that opportunity if anything to brainstorm because one of the things that we realize is that it’s amazing how much time you spend tactically on a daily basis and not enough time is being spent strategically.

Very often it’s when we go away and escape from the daily routine that we can come up with the innovation that I think that we’ve always say that we should do that a lot more often. But I think our base is very much as we speak now, our focus operationally on the product for Pete.

Pete is spending a lot of his time really hammering the product, and insuring that the guys in Poland where our second office is located are focusing on the refinements of the new offering. For my side it’s very much focusing on the commercial aspects, especially in the current environment.

We are a business that predominantly relies on advertising revenues. And whilst we are potentially seeing a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel of this recession, we are still very far from the good days.

I think that we are having to work even harder than what we used to to bring revenues, as many other businesses. The advertising space is hard. Even if the penetration online is still growing, I think convincing the media buying agencies to spend these days is obviously a more challenging exercise.

So I think that it’s certainly not the lifestyle and glamorous, being able to work remotely and having the time to travel all over the world. If anything, it’s very much keeping your head down and working as hard as we can, as long as we can to move quickly. We are competing in an environment where we know that the technology is evolving extremely fast.

It’s very hard to keep tab of what’s happening, especially when you have leaders like Twitter and Facebook that clearly have a huge amount of capital and cash at bank, which allows them to grow very quickly and be aggressive.

Unfortunately, there are many companies in this space that don’t have the luxury of being aggressive because of lack of funds. We are lucky to be a business that has capital, cash at bank and saying that, we still have to be very cautious in the current environment.

Brilliant. Yeah. Completely agree. One of our past interviewees mentioned a really good quote. Entrepreneurship is living a life like most people won’t live the rest of your life, like most people can’t. I think that’s exactly what you are doing. You are putting in the hard hours now.

When it comes to the lifestyle, I think that the only thing I can say and I’m sure Peter will agree here, if anything the best life is to wake up every morning and being extremely thrilled and enthusiastic about work. We are passionate about what we are doing and we have been doing it for years. And I think that the excitement about what we do, is the ability of actually doing what we like best. And I don’t think there is anything in this world right now that we could see ourselves doing differently.

We’ve always had the dream of living a corporate world to drive entrepreneurship every day. And now we are doing just that. So I think we should be, if anything, very grateful and recognizing the opportunity that was given to us to be able to do just that. There are very few people in this world that have been given this opportunity and we are very grateful for it.

That’s very refreshing. I’m glad you see it that way. So why should have a lot of readers on my site who are businessmen and they travel a lot. Should they be using wayn.com?

WAYN is definitely a mass market focus. It’s not your kind of elitist or pure business focus only. However, having said that it doesn’t mean to say that it is not in any way useful for the elite, the business oriented folk out there, as well as everybody else. The beauty of WAYN is that it is in some respects all things to all people. And the focus now that we have on the plans in the future should allow people to coalesce a bit more around that, their future intentions and what they are interested in doing. Wherever they are, whenever they want to do it.

So I think that therefore it is quite a transcending utility. It you think about Twitter, Twitter wasn’t built for business, but it is universally adopted by both business, social and other alike.

So I think that the challenge is obviously to try and not be too broad that it doesn’t appeal enough to a certain core demographic while at the same time has the value to different key markets that are important to us.

So answer your question I would say that it’s not primarily focused for business but anyone, all of your listeners and followers can certainly gain a lot of value from it. But I would say it’s primarily for on a social dimension that it is on a business dimension.

Brilliant. To finish up the interview, I’d like to ask you guys a quick, few, fast action questions here. Just give me your first answers and that would be great. So, the first question is: who do you look up to?

Sir Richard Branson.

Just keep believing and as long as you are very driven and believe in what you do, you should never give up. Also, always surround yourself by people that are a lot more clever than you are. I think entrepreneurship is all about insuring that you have people that can actually advise you. And having a great team and trust amongst your close circle is by far the most important thing in success. I think that one of the things that has resulted in, I believe, in Peter and Mike and myself, to get to where we are today is actually the three of us. The fact that we are very different yet very complementary.

The fact that this triangle sort of cofounder structure has worked extremely well because there was a great amount of trust. It sounds very obvious that you should never go into business with people that you don’t trust. But you would be surprised about the amount of entrepreneurs and people that are either isolated or usually get frictions, tensions at some point in their career.

We’ve been doing this since we met in 2002 and seven years later we are still, like the palm of our hands, best friends and business partners, which is great.

If the Internet had not existed, what do you think you would be doing?

Oh, gosh. I’d be at Accenture.

No, I don’t know.

I do have a few ideas, personally that I would love to do at some point in my life. But I won’t reveal them just now. But I think that yeah, if there’s a good chance that we would potentially still be working for Accenture. Realistically we still have this drive of working as entrepreneurs and if it wasn’t WAYN it would have been something else. But we are glad it was WAYN because it definitely has been I think a successful journey up until now.

Yeah, it could have been a string of restaurants, hotels, bars, you name it.

Brilliant, thinking big. I like it. And what do you like best about the Internet?

The fact that things change so quickly. And that you can pretty much do whatever you want and get access to any information. Particularly on Twitter now, it’s amazing. You can pretty much ask any question and find somebody who can help you, which is great. What I find very exciting personally about the Internet is the ability of seeing the result of your work extremely quickly. I do remember days when Peter and I were flabbergasted at some of the results that huge changes were being made on the site and bringing amazing results that you could see usually by the minute.

And observing the trend, literally just happened on a quick release. These are part of the very amazing, exciting moments of an online business where you can sometimes just sleep and waking up in the morning realizing that amazing things have happened whilst you sleep.

The community is alive 24 hours, seven days a week, wherever you are in the world. And I think that the Internet is amazing for that.

My last question is what do you like least about the Internet?

The fact that things change so quickly. Because it also means that your competitors can catch up very quickly, as well. So keeps you on your toes.

Any goals you would like to achieve? Any lifetime things you would like to do?

Yeah. Turn WAYN into the largest and most successful business when it comes to lifestyle and travel on line. I think we’ve got some amazing aspirations with this new strategy that we are launching. We’ve got great ideas and how we are going to execute them on a monetization of these new strategies which we can’t reveal too much on about.

And as far as we can keep on doing this job and driving WAYN to be an amazing brand, then so is the dream. I think we are not the sort of guys that will want to do WAYN, then sell it. Then move on to another idea. That could a possible route, but I think it would be passionate to the core of the WAYN brand.

It is our first venture and I think we believe in entrepreneurship to the core that you are driving it to a long and sustainable journey versus doing something to sell it and then moving up to the next thing. We are more the first option.

I would build on top of that and say that in the longer term, bigger picture, because we’re not necessarily going to be running WAYN for the rest of our lives. But I think that we definitely see the vision of helping other entrepreneurs on their journey at the beginning of when they are starting up. Also being I guess active in the community to encourage entrepreneurship and hopefully help the next generation of entrepreneurs to realize their dreams.

So be a combination of an element of serial entrepreneurship, I believe, whether it be the WAYN world after the Wayne’s world and supporting those others who are trying to do the same thing.

Thanks Peter and Jerome, it was great to speak!

It appears that a lot of you enjoyed the interview with my father last week (He keeps reminding me!) Anyway, what you did not know was that my Dad actually recorded his replies as an audio (Podcast) and then had the replies transcribed. Now some of you commented about the length of the interview – but it could have been much longer to start with — as today’s Podcast will prove. Barry did not really want to release the podcast but there is some good stuff on there that I am sure people will enjoy — including the “truth” about how he and Dean Hunt connected and more about BuzzProfits.com

Also a lot of you emailed / contacted Barry after the interview with questions. One recurring theme was “What does it take to be in business and stay in business for so long?”

In today’s slightly shorter piece, Barry reveals his: Life Lessons For Entrepreneurs

Enjoy!

Life Lessons For Entrepreneurs – By Barry Dunlop

Sub-Title: Things I wish I Had Known As A Young Entrepreneur

No1: There are NO guarantees.

Let me say it again, there are no guarantees. I quite often meet people who have gone into business and one year down the line, two years down the line, or even just one week down the line they are all depressed and down in the dumps, because somehow somewhere they made a mistake. They actually thought there were some guarantees that come with being an entrepreneur. Regrettably there are not.

Barry Dunlop Speaking at The Forum

There will be occasions when your customers will not pay you. Terrible, I know, but it will happen. Secondly, there will be occasions when the people who supply goods to you, or services to you will let you down. That is just the way it is, accept it.

And thirdly, and possibly the most important, a lot of the time your customers will think all of these issues are actually your fault, and it is not. Just get on with it. Really there are no guarantees.

As an example, I was recently speaking to a Young Entrepreneur who was involved in Affiliate Marketing – who had just discovered that almost $1000 of commissions that was due to them would not be paid because the company they promoted had gone bust. I have to say, in fairness, this individual had a pretty positive attitude about it. They had accepted that was one of the things they were going to have to put up with and were getting on with their business.

Yet I have seen other occasions when people have been so down in the dumps. Sure, they have lost 1,000 dollars, but they are so down in the dumps after losing 1,000 dollars, that actually, in fact instead of losing 1,000 dollars they have lost 10,000 dollars, or even 20,000 dollars because they lost FOCUS in their business.

When you have your disappointments, which you will often have as an entrepreneur – get over them ASAP. Actually, get over them before they start, because there are no guarantees.

No2: Know the Numbers

I can’t tell you how many times I meet entrepreneurs who don’t know the numbers. They don’t actually know if they are making money or not making money with a business.

I don’t consider myself an accountant or somebody who is particularly good with numbers but I do understand this – I have to have more coming in than I have going out.

If you don’t know for a fact that that is the case, then stop what you are doing right now and go find out. If it so happens more is going out than coming in – then ask yourself what you can do about it? Take less salary? Reduce your “entertainment” costs? There is always ways to save money in a business.

Of course sometimes in business (especially if it is a start-up) you will have less money coming in than you have going out for a little while – in that case, it is even more essential you know the Numbers!

No3: Perfection is for suckers.

Actually I will give credit for this. My good friend and business partner, Dean Hunt, he used the word suckers. He said, “Perfection is for suckers.”

I think I originally said Perfection is Over-rated but really SUCKERS makes the point much better.

Some of you will have already heard me say: “That good enough is good enough” or mention the 51 percent rule. If you are right or correct 51 percent of the time you are a winner. Take those odds to Vegas and you would bet all day at 51 percent.

Too many people decide that being in business is about being perfect. Let me tell you it is not about being perfect. In fact, being in life is not about being perfect. We are imperfect beings and we will continue to be imperfect all of our lives.

Please remember, perfection is for suckers. Remember good enough is good enough. Sometimes getting a product created, just getting it out there is all that really matters.

I will be fair; I will give one exception to this. If I was in the hotel business, or a restaurant or something like that, where it is a real intensive service business, sometimes good enough is not good enough — then you would perhaps aim to for a good deal better than 51%

But listen, if you are creating a website, or you are getting a new product or service out there and you are working and fine tuning it, you could fine tune it for the next six months. Get it out there. It is just a simple fact as that. It will not be perfect, but you can perfect it later, and you can start to make money sooner.

The longer you wait for perfection the longer you wait for money and the longer you wait for money the less likely you are ever going to get started in the first place.

No4: Tame the ego

Wow this is an amazing one. Tame the ego!

So many of us in life are always, always, always wanting to be the center of attention, to be seen as the big person. I wish I had learned this lesson earlier in my life.

Tame the ego. The ego will fool us and will trick us.

Another way of putting it is: please, please, especially if you are a business owner, give credit (praise) to others. The people working in your organizations, the people who are working with you are partnering with you.

I discovered that the more credit (praise and acknowledgment) I gave to other people somehow the more credit I got myself. I can’t really explain it, but the more credit I give away the more I get back.

I think it was Zig Zigler who said, that you can get everything in life that you want if you help enough other people to get what they want. . Please tame the ego, I promise doing that will serve you well.

When you can be the modest entrepreneur who is raking in millions and taking it to the bank, that is an absolutely awesome feeling. Of course don’t confuse this with having low self esteem – no successful entrepreneur has that. What I am saying is that in your organization and as a LEADER you build yourself up by building others up. Do not go around as the BIG Ego / superstar — even if you might think that is the case.

No5: You will never have an AWESOME / Out of this world Idea in the office

One thing which I especially have worked out in recent years is that you will never have a really awesome, mind blowing, out of this world idea in the office.

I am not saying that you won’t occasionally have some ideas in the office or while working in the business but I will say I have had my best ideas away from the traditional working environment.

I get some of my best ideas when out for a walk or even on the treadmill at the gym. One of my favorite pastimes is to walk the dog along the beach here in West Sussex in England – these days I take my iPhone with me and make NOTES on it when I have ideas – but you can also use a voice recorder or just a sheet of paper and pen.

Please, please get out of the office or normal work environment more often. Go to places where you can relax and just let the subconscious take care of whatever your challenge is. Your subconscious mind is your most obedient servant. What you ask it with intent -it will answer. But if you don’t ask and don’t get in the right environment, it will not answer.

Thinking hard does not work, but relaxing hard does.

No6: Success, is not the goal. Happiness is the goal

Success, whatever that might be, is not the goal. Happiness is the goal. When we go into business some of us think, “All right, success is the goal. I want to make this amount of money, I want to have this car, I want to take this holiday, I want to live in this home.

Barry regularly enjoys time out with friends, in this photo Tim Houston and Mason Thomas - Super affiliates - (returning from a trip to Mexico)

Those may well be some of your goals and they may well be worthwhile goals, and maybe they are goals that you will achieve. However, I would emphasize and just change it slightly and say, “Really, happiness is the goal.” This is a bit of a metaphysical situation here, I don’t want to go into it in detail, but just remember that happiness is the goal.

No7: Winners are Givers

When I first went into business, or first got into personal development people said, “Barry, associate yourself with winners. Hang out with winners and you will be a winner.” It is a good saying and I agree – but recently I have changed it a little.

You see, as I have got older I have discovered that the real secret is that Winners Are Givers.

Winning entrepreneurs are always givers. They are people who, obviously, support worthwhile causes, support charities. But they are also the kind of people who will lend a hand with a tip or some encouragement at a critical moment in your life.

Matthew Glover, Dr Koneru Satya Prasad and Barry Dunlop

<<< Barry is a very enthusiastic supporter of Heal.co.uk – a charity that provides education for Children in India >>>

I mentor a number of young entrepreneurs (and even not so young) – people that I love and I care about. This is just one way it is possible for me to “repay” the help I have received from my many mentors over the years. You see, what goes around, really does come around.

I believe fervently that entrepreneurs make the world go round. I know free enterprise and capitalism is much maligned and much put down, but for me being an entrepreneur is one of the best things in world to do. Entrepreneurs set both themselves and others FREE. Imagine what the world would be like without entrepreneurs?

Winners are naturally givers and entrepreneurs are naturally givers in my experience. Be proud to be an entrepreneur.

No8: Fall down seven times, stand up eight AND Money grows on the tree of persistence

Both of the above quotes are actually Japanese proverbs

I like them because for me they represent the essential secret to success in anything and especially as an entrepreneur.

Listen; there will be many times in life when we will fall down, the important thing is to stand up again. Get up again.

I have probably fallen down a lot more times than seven times. But I have stood up a hell of a lot more times than I have ever fallen down. That is possibly the single most important lesson that anybody needs to learn in life.

Life is about evolving, it is about becoming, I hope, a better person as we move along. We certainly shouldn’t be becoming a worse person.

Don’t give up if at first you don’t succeed, because you won’t succeed at first (no one does)

And for me, there will be times when you are going to be down. There will be times when you feel quite down. But the important thing is to get back up again. Fall down seven times, stand up eight. That is a grand mantra, that is a great motto for any entrepreneur to take forward with them.

Thank you to all the people who contacted me after my last interview. There are some links below of a few of the websites I am involved with. In particular check out BuzzProfits.com — we have a FREE & 7 Day Buzz Marketing eCourse available – so do go check it out.

You can also email me at barry@buzzprofits.com of find me on Facebook

BARRY’S WEBSITE LINKS:

http://www.buzzprofits.com

http://www.midascode.co.uk

http://www.barrydunlop.com

Have an AWESOME Day

Barry Dunlop

Bonus Video:

http://www.BuzzProfits.com Co-Founder Barry Dunlop talks with Tammy Fennell – a New Yorker and very enthusiastic member of BuzzProfits.com

In this interview Tammy reveals just some of the reasons why she loves being a member of BuzzProfits.com

PS: Dean Hunt is a genius

I’m currently the CEO of Bluefirepoker.com. What I do changes quite a bit from one day to the next since we just launched; we have a lot of new projects I’m working on each day, but I’d say my main focus is on marketing and business development.

It’s just 2 months since you launched Bluefirepoker, which was created to help people make money online by playing poker.  Could you share with us how this site is going?

It’s been phenomenal so far.  We’re exceeding our expectations, and are still growing at a rapid rate.  We’ve already been featured on Fox News, and have quickly become the place to be for people looking to make money from poker.  I couldn’t be happier with how it’s going.

Making money online with poker is something new to me. Is there a risk involved?  What is your top tip for making money online with poker?

There’s a risk with it, much like with everything else, but making money playing poker isn’t “risky” nor gambling as people assume.  Once you know how to play, it’s not really gambling anymore.  Same as if you’re an entrepreneur and do business ventures.  If you didn’t learn how to make money in business and research your market it’d be very risky if you were just investing money into it without first learning how to do it.  If you learn how to play poker and practice before you invest money into it, there’s a good chance you will profit tremendously from it.  Playing poker is how I built my capital to be able to start investing in real estate, and starting companies.  Most people assume it’s luck.  There is short term luck involved in poker, but in the long run the good players get the money.  It’s tough to give a quick answer on how to make money playing poker.  If I had to explain in one sentence the best advice I’d have would be,  ‘Play well within your bankroll at levels you know you can beat, and learn how to play correctly before you start trying to earn income from it.’  So many people who could potentially make a lot of money from poker will play over their heads and lose their bankroll before they have a chance to grow it.  Same with people who don’t learn the game well enough before they dive in. They lose and blame it on being “unlucky.”  If you play at levels you’re bankrolled for and put in the required work you will make money.  There is no question.

You are known as one of the authority websites in the, ‘making money with poker’ niche. What advice would you give a new entrepreneur to dominating their niche?

Be the authority on the subject.  Don’t put out “pretty good” content.  Put out the best content.  We brought on the top talent in poker.  Our lead pro, Phil Galfond has made millions and millions of dollars playing poker online.  He’s arguably the best poker player online, but even better than that he does a great job at explaining very difficult concepts in a way that people trying to learn can understand.  People have been waiting to learn from someone like that.  Do the same with whatever your niche is.  Whatever you are selling, it should be the best there is.  It can still be successful if it’s not the best, but it sure will make the rest of your job a lot easier if you can offer something that’s better than anything out there.

More important than that, you should try to provide immense value to your customer.  Don’t think so much about “what will they buy if I sell it.”  Think, “what do they need, and how can I help provide that for them.”  With our business people want to learn to make money from poker.  We provide a way for them to learn from top players, without them having to spend a crazy amount of money for it.  Personal 1 on 1 coaching from our pros would not be something most people could afford.  However, we create training videos of our pros and offer new videos on new concepts all the time.  We make them available to our customer base which enables us to offer something of great value for a price far under what it’s worth.  Make the deal so good customers won’t be able to pass it up.

Since launching earlier this year, you have managed to already attract well over 1,000 paying members.  How did you manage to achieve this?

This kind of ties in with the question before, so I’ll keep it short, but people see the value in what we have.  It’s a great testament to our team of pros, and shows how much people are learning from them.  People want to make money from poker, and word spread unbelievably fast in poker communities when they found out the team we had assembled to help them make money playing.  They knew the value from being able to learn from our team, and our system is set up to drastically speed up the learning process, so that players make money much faster than if they tried to learn without us.  It’s very fulfilling to have people so happy with the service we’re providing, and that they’re benefiting so much from it.

What advice would you give to people just starting out with an online business?

Know your niche.  Work harder than everyone else, but more importantly work smarter.  That often involves being creative and thinking outside the box, but it’s way more fun out there anyways.

You are currently living the “Internet Lifestyle”, what does the internet lifestyle mean to you?

To me it means doing whatever you want, whenever you want, and being wherever you want.  If your friend tells you about something going on across the country tomorrow and tells you to hop on a flight, you can.  It’s nice not being locked down by anything.  It also means if you do things correctly you can set your businesses up so that they’re pretty well automated.  Right now with Bluefirepoker we’re a new company so I’m working crazy hours to get us where we want to be, but it’s the type of business that if I wanted to work less it could be automated so I could work very little, yet there would be no change in how the business functioned from day to day.

If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were just getting started, what advice would you give yourself regarding making money online?

I would tell myself not to try to make money at something just because other people are.  I used to meet someone making a ton of money each month from one online business and I’d try to learn everything about that business so I could make that too.  I’d see someone with a bunch of rental properties, and I saw the type of money they were making so I’d look into doing that.  I would try to pick their brains and learn from them, and then after a while the enthusiasm I had would die out since I wasn’t really into it.  I was only into the money I could potentially make from it.  I was kind of hoping I would just get shown the road to wealth by people already doing it, but I realized the road to wealth is much easier if I’m doing something I enjoy, because I’ll be excited everyday to grow businesses I’m into, whereas if I’m trying a business because of the money that’s in it, my enthusiasm will die off sooner or later.  My thought process shouldn’t be, “this person is successful, how can I make money like them,” it should be “here’s what I like doing, how can I find a way to turn this idea/passion of mine into a successful business like these other people have done with theirs.”

Thanks very much for the interview, Have you any plans (personal or business) that you can share with us about your future plans / goals / lifetime goals?

Thanks for having me.  For right now my main business goal is to continue growing Bluefirepoker.  I have a few other business ventures I’ll be starting in the near future, but I don’t want to lose focus, so I’ll work on most of them once we get a little further along with where we want Bluefire to be.  There’s a good chance I’ll start a consulting business at some time in the future, but right now there’s too many projects I want to work on myself first.  People come to me quite a bit to get business ideas, creative ways to make money on certain ventures they’re involved in or would like to start, and I enjoy it a lot.  So once I’ve built some successful companies I think it’d be a blast to help other people do the same.

My goals really change from day to day.  Once I accomplish one thing, I go on to another thing pretty fast.  I guess I’d like to be in a position to never worry about money again in the next 5 years or so.  I don’t say “retire” because I enjoy working on things, so I don’t envision myself ever really retiring, since I’m already doing what I want to do each day.  At some point I’ll probably settle down in a big house with a cool girl, get a few dogs, and maybe a tiger.  For now I’ll probably continue traveling, working on business ventures and just having fun.

Could you describe what you do and how you earn your living John?

Officially, my title is Founder and CEO of TTZ Media Inc. However, I’m best know as the guy who makes money online by telling people how much money I make online. I earn my living by creating websites that help solve a problem.

You are living the life so many desire, The Internet Lifestyle! Can you tell me what the internet lifestyle means you to and how its changed your life?

Living the dot com lifestyle is like living the dream. The dot com lifestyle is about more than making a lot of money. There are many thing you can do to make a lot of money. The dot com lifestyle is about time freedom and location freedom. Most people who make a lot of money have very little time to enjoy it. In addition to that, they’re tied down to one place.

With the Internet, I have time, money and location freedom. I can be anywhere in the world and as long as I have access to the Net, I can make money. Right now, I am in Shanghai for a month long Asia trip. Just because I went away doesn’t mean paycheck stops. Try doing that with a job.

What advice would you give to a new blogger trying to drive traffic to their website? Could you share an example of the effects?

The most effective free way is to guest blog for an A-list blogger. Find the biggest blog in your niche and send them a guest post. If it gets accepted, you’re get some nice targeted traffic as well as bump in your brand because of the power of association.

I understand that you run three large websites, JohnChow, The Tech Zone and TTZ Media. How do you manage to run three really large websites and still have time for family and fun?

With the exception of John Chow dot Com, the other sites pretty much run themselves. TTZ Media is fully automated. The only thing I do is approve new affiliates and set up the mass PayPal payment every month. I have staff to run The TechZone. I spend an average of two hours per day running the John Chow dot Com blog.

The key is to automate and deligate. Too many try to do everthing themselves. If you do that, you’re falling into a trap. You think Bill Gates can run Microsoft all by himself? The sooner you can let go and get others to help you, the better off you’ll be.

When you first started blogging did you model yourself on anyone? How did you learn how to be a “Problogger” and do so well with your first blog?

I got into blogging for fun. I never intended for the blog to make money or to become a problogger. My blog grew because I applied what I learn from running high traffic websites to blogging. The marketing methods used to promote a regualar content site works with a blog as well. John Chow dot Com was my first blog but it wasn’t my first site. Experience counts.

Month after month you have been earning over $30,000 from your personal blog which is crazy! If someone is new to blogging and are looking to make money from blogging, what advice / tips would you offer?

Treat your blog like a real business. Because of the low barrier of entry, most people don’t take their blogging seriously because they don’t have much to lose if they fail. I mean, you can start a blog for zero dollars. However, a blog can make serious money if you take it serioulsy. Ask yourself this questions. If your blog cost $100,000 to start, would you be running it the way you’re running it now?

Don’t be afarid to test new revenue channels and models. Advertising is just one of many ways a blog can earn money. Never put all your eggs in one basket. Try to run as many revenue channels as possible while still preserving the user experience.

Capture ever lead that comes to your blog. If you don’t have a mailing list, get one now. Down the road, your list will not only be a huge source of traffic, but income as well.

Working less and making more money sounds like a good deal to me, have you got any tips for getting more done in less time?

Think passive income. Over the last year, I haven’t raised my ad prices and I haven’t added any new ad spots. Yet the income of the blog keeps going up. This is because a big chunk of the blog’s income comes from affiliate programs that offer passive income. For example, if I refer a new publisher to Market Leverage, the will give me 5% of whatever the publisher makes. Over the years, I’ve referred thousands of publishers to different ad networks that pay me a percentate of revenue. The reason my blog income keeps increasing is because I’m still getting paid for stuff I did years ago.

The really nice thing about going after passive income is it requires no extra time commintment. You do the work once and get paid forever. It’s also not dependent on the blog. If my blog were to go down today, I would lose my advertising income but the passive income will keep coming in.

What advice would you give to people just starting out with an online business?

Just like with making money by blogging, treat your online business like a real business and take it seriously. An online business has so much greater protentail than any normal business but it cost so much less to start. It’s a real some that most people associate high start up cost with seriousness.

If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were just getting started, what advice would you give yourself regarding making money online?

Don’t do it all by yourself. You’re just buying yourself another job if you do that.

What is the best advice you have ever been given?

If you can make something for a little less than your competition, and sell it for a little more, then you’re doing OK.

Thanks very much for the interview, Have you any plans (personal or business) that you can share with us about your future plans / goals / lifetime goals?

My short term goal is keep growing the business. Mid term, I want to set up a schoolarship to provide post secondary education to deserving students. Long term, I want to set up my own foundation to fund causes that I believe in.