If you want to grow your business, you must invest in a CRM. A CRM software is the one central place where you’re going to store all of the information around your leads and customers. It also lets you track sales opportunities, send marketing emails, make calls, and do dozens of other functions all in one central location.

Now there are countless CRM tools you could use but my recommendation really depends on your business. To help you make the right choice, we’ve listed the top four CRM software we consider to be the best for small businesses, so you can compare and choose which one is right for you.

What Makes a Great CRM Software?

When looking for a CRM platform for your business, the first thing you need to know is the key qualities you should consider when choosing a CRM. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Cost

Cost is a major consideration, especially for small businesses. There are platforms that start from $15 per month or where you only need to pay for the email contacts and SMS messages your business needs.

Ease of Use

Another important factor to consider is the ease of use. You’re going to be using your CRM software every single day. It will be incorporated into your daily operations, so you’ll want something that you and your team can hit the ground running with. Whether it’s your sales team, marketing team or support team, the software should be approachable for everyone using it. Plus, it shouldn’t require a specialist to set up and manage your account.

Level of Automation

A good CRM tool should make it easier for you to build automation workflows, so you can collect more leads and convert more customers. Some software even has features for measuring campaign performance through analytics, tracking sales and following up on leads.

Ontraport

Pricing: Plan starts at $79 per month with a 14-day free trial.

Ontraport is an all-in-one business and marketing automation platform. It’s one of the best CRM systems in the world for small business owners. It enables users to manage all sales, marketing and business processes in one place.

Ontraport also has done-for-you campaigns for lead capture, lead nurture, conversion, follow-up and more. All you need to do is answer a few questions and Ontraport’s Setup Wizards will create your campaign in minutes.

If you’re selling online courses, memberships and subscriptions, managing payment plans can be a hassle due to different factors such as cards that expire and people signing up or cancelling payments. With Ontraport’s built-in payments platform, it makes getting up and running with online sales faster than ever. Click here to check out this awesome tool.

ActiveCampaign

Pricing: Plan starts at $15 per month. New customers are eligible to receive 25% off 3 months.

When you want to create an incredible customer experience, ActiveCampaign is a great option for you. Whether you’re an eCommerce, digital business or B2B company, ActiveCampaign can help you make meaningful connections with your customers.

With ActiveCampaign, you can automate your welcome series and email follow-up campaigns, easily find your most engaged contacts and integrate with applications your team uses. Its drag-and-drop email designer feature makes it easier for users to set up beautiful campaigns in minutes. For more details about this software, you can click here.

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Copper

Pricing: Plan starts at $29 per user, per month with a 14-day free trial.

If your business involves high-touch, high-value selling to a relatively small number of targets (say less than 200 per year), you may be better off with a CRM that is built to help manage personal relationships. So if you have chosen not to go with a solution built for scale, like Ontraport or Active Campaign, we can recommend a solution called Copper.

Copper is designed for G Suite so entrepreneurs, startups, and small-but-mighty teams can grow their businesses right from Gmail. Through seamless integration with Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Hangouts, Copper empowers you to effortlessly track leads, work deals, add tasks, and collaborate — all from your inbox. You won’t even notice you’re using a CRM. For more details about this handy tool, click here.

Klaviyo

Pricing: Only pay for the email contacts and SMS messages your business needs.

Klaviyo is one of the top-rated CRM systems for any eCommerce business. Klaviyo’s eCommerce CRM gathers all of the information about your customers and subscribers in a single view. Whether a customer subscribed, purchased, or both—Klaviyo shows you a historic timeline of their activities and personal information. Then you can use all this information to deliver a more personalised customer experience.

With Klaviyo, you can also send bulk SMS campaigns and targeted SMS messages with powerful automation. You can send welcome messages, SMS reminders and thank you messages.

When paired with a solid email marketing campaign, an SMS marketing campaign can generate more sales for your business. Klaviyo allows you to set up and schedule personalised marketing campaigns such as abandoned cart campaigns, welcome series and a post-purchase upsell campaign.

In addition, Klaviyo’s email marketing is often used alongside platforms like Shopify to help users build a holistic marketing ecosystem. If you want to check out this tool and its many features, simply click here.

Now that you’ve discovered some of the best CRM tools in the market, we hope that you can find the perfect tool for your business. Most of these tools offer a free trial so you can test and see which one works for you.

More Tools for Business Success

Are you looking for more tools to save time and improve your productivity? Check out some of the top tech tools that we love using in our business. All you need to do is click here.

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It is never more true than in business. While you’re frantically filling orders, keeping up with staff demands and dealing with suppliers, the world of business doesn’t stop growing and evolving.

Ten years ago, smartphones came and changed everything. Around that time, the introduction of the cloud also revolutionised the way we do business. Now we have caught up with those technologies, the next ones are on the horizon. Think artificial intelligence, widespread voice control, new transport options, even better connectivity and ‘green’ options for almost every purchase.

The thing is, it’s hard to adapt when you have your head buried in your business. This is why ongoing education is so very important.

The Importance of Having a Coach or Mentor

No single business owner has achieved it all on their own. They not only have outstanding teams behind them, but they also have a reliable mentor, coach or educator standing beside them.

If you ask any major player in the world of business about the secret to their success, they will all say a big part has been surrounding themselves with the right people to provide advice and guide them along the way.

Steve Jobs famously mentored Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Designer Yves Saint-Laurent learned from Christian Dior. British actor Alan Rickman (known for playing Severus Snape, amongst many, many other standout roles) mentored Colin Firth and Warren Buffett mentored Bill Gates, having had a mentor of his own.

Education plays a huge role in mentoring. Your mentor will share their experiences and the failures they have learned from, and will also point you in the right direction of what you need to brush up on. With the right guide, you’ll access the information you need to succeed and get where you want to go faster.

How to Get a Business Education

Many business owners see an MBA as the only way to educate themselves. However, these qualifications come with very high price tags and a lot of stress to pass exams and perform. It’s not always what you need when you’re running a business.

If formal education isn’t ideal for you, you can still seek out the information that will help your business from other providers. For example, if you need to know more about how to get media exposure, wouldn’t it be amazing to have an on-hand video, webinar or online course you can watch? Ideally, this will have been created recently and be presented by someone who is active in the industry themselves.

You could also find you need to nail your marketing message. A session with a guru will pay off more than a long-winded qualification which covers elements you don’t really need to be aware of.

When it comes to getting a business education, one of the best ways is to learn from the people who have come before you. If these people have been there, done that, and built their own business, they’ll be able to help you, starting now.

Act Now & Attend Your First Business Training FREE!

Imagine being able to skip the stress of staying up to date with the latest business strategies and accessing almost everything you need to know in order to grow your business the right way, in just one day.

By attending our free online workshops, you can discover the best techniques to improve your marketing, systemize your business, streamline your operations, get more organised, find more time in your day… and the big one—make more money!

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Attend Our Free On-Demand Training

These brand new training will be fast, focused, and give immediate value. From creating a marketing plan, business systems to hiring a virtual assistant, you’ll learn everything you need to build a thriving business. Go to https://businessblueprint.com/training and start learning now.

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The founder and CEO of Canva, Melanie Perkins started the company in a bid to make designing simple and easy for everyone. In this article, we’ll explore Canva’s humble beginnings and how their company grew. You’ll also discover how you can use Canva to put your small business front and center of your competition.

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Small beginnings

Canva’s story began back in 2007 when co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht created an online school yearbook design business, called Fusion Yearbooks. They set up an office in Perkin’s mother’s living room, with limited resources and little business experience.

Fusion allowed school students to collaborate and design their profile pages and articles online, which were printed and delivered to schools across Australia. This was the prototype version of what would become the Canva system. The business was a success and became Australia’s largest yearbook publisher. It has even expanded into France and New Zealand.

But for Perkins, it was just the first step to make her grand vision a reality, so she began chasing investors. Before long, the young couple was winning over major investors and launched Canva to the world in 2013. Now, the Sydney-headquartered company has more than 55 million monthly active users in over 190 countries.

How to Use Canva for Small Businesses

Are you ready to get started with Canva? Here are five different ways to use Canva for your small business.

• Online Video Editor

  As a small business owner, it can be difficult to create professional videos for your business.
  Up until today, creating videos has required complex and expensive software. With the launch of Canva Video Suite, video editing has now become simpler and easier than ever before.

  Canva Video Suite is an easy-to-use platform that combines intuitive editing, recording, and collaboration features, thousands of customizable video templates, and an extensive media library. Powerful functions like the ability to add animations, add scene transitions, or split clips, are also available.

• Access Free Stock Photos

  In addition to thousands of free templates, icons, and fonts, Canva offers 100+ million premium stock photos for Canva Pro users. Having stock photos right in your dashboard allows you to save time hunting for the perfect assets for your project.

  Whether you need stock images for your website, social media, blog article or whatever design project you’re working on, getting access to millions of free stock photos is a huge saving and just one more reason why small businesses should start using Canva.

• Design a Brand Kit

  Whether you have a small or large business, a brand kit is essential to communicate a consistent message to your audience. As your business grows, you want to make sure your brand image and message don’t become misrepresented. Use your brand kit to ensure that all marketing and communications are accurate and on-brand.

  Set up your own brand kit on Canva to keep designs on-brand across your team. You can also set up brand control to restrict them from using only what’s in your brand kit.

• One-Click Resize

  If you regularly use social media to reach your audience, one of the things you’ll notice is every platform has different image requirements. Whether that be Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest or YouTube. And if you don’t crop your images in advance, they will crop them for you. That is why it’s best to optimise images for social media to make them more eye-catching for your audience.

  This is where Canva Pro’s Magic Resize feature comes in. With the click of a button, you can recreate your design in every size you need. To make the magic happen, all you need to do is click Resize, choose the dimensions you need, and hit Copy & Resize.

• Remove Image Background

  If you want to remove image backgrounds, you can use photo editing software like Photoshop, Lightroom or Luminar AI. But if you’re not a professional graphic designer, this can be a tedious and time-consuming process. Fortunately, Canva Pro’s background remover can do the hard work for you. It’s the fastest way to automatically remove image backgrounds without compromising the quality of your photos. After removing the image background, you can then place the image over your brand colors or add text in your brand font.

• Create & Share Posts

  Schedule social media content to 8 platforms including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. Canva is a handy tool to create captivating social media graphics. But the best thing about this tool is that you can post and schedule upcoming social media content directly from Canva Editor to a range of social networking platforms, like Facebook pages and groups as well as Twitter, LinkedIn, Slack, Pinterest, Weibo and Tumblr. This solves the need for manually downloading your designs and paying for social media scheduling tools.

• Create a Canva Team

  With Canva, you can invite team members and collaborate on any design. They can post comments, tag other team members, assign tasks, share designs, and resolve suggestions directly in Canva. From presentations, social media graphics, video content to print products, you can keep your collective ideas and creativity flowing. Simply invite your team, choose their access permissions, and start creating stunning designs in seconds.

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If you want to take your business to the next level, it’s safe to say that Canva can no longer be ignored. It’s one of the best tools out there that can simplify and quicken the design needs of your business. For more information on why we love this tool and how to sign up for a free account, click here.

The post So is Canva The Best Small Business Design Tool? appeared first on Business Blueprint.

Realistically though, who can say it’s at the very top of our priority list? Even though we know we should do it, we have plenty of other things to be focusing on in our business. The very fact that there are just so many hurdles when it comes to video creation sometimes makes us throw it all into the “Let’s learn to do it later” basket.

All of us are experts in our own fields. We know how to answer the FAQs that come into our inbox daily, or when a customer rings up… I’m sure a lot of us are sick of answering the same questions over and over again. Right?

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1. Organising the content that’s floating around in your brain, into consumable bite-sized pieces for video
2. The actual filming part – knowing what equipment you should have, setting it all up, or finding a videographer who understands what you are trying to achieve and doesn’t cost the earth
3. The video editing part – do we really have hours and hours free… as well as the patience to figure out how to edit our own videos? And if not, then how do we communicate our goals to a video editor effectively?

Video editor? What video editor?

How do you even get a video editor?

Then when you get them… how do you know they’re going to be any good?

Here are the 5 steps to finding a video editor to help you get your content done.

1. Determine Your Budget

How much are you willing to spend on a video editor? This is the first place to start. Depending on your answer, you’ll probably find yourself in one of the following categories:

1. Don’t have anything to spend right now – need to do it myself
2. I have a little in the budget – find an offshore video editor
3. My time is more valuable than money, and I want editing done professionally with as little input
4. from me as possible – find a local editor or use an agency

If you find yourself in Group A or C, reach out on www.joyceong.com/contact and I can point you to the right resources, or introduce you to the right people to help along your video journey… but read on anyway, as the following points will still be helpful for you!

If you find yourself in Group B, then the rest of this article is just for you!

2. Create A Video Editing Brief

What you’ll need to do next is create a brief for your video editor, so they’ll know what you’re trying to achieve. Include a description of what you want done, as well as any assets you have that you want in the video, such as your logo files, or a link to videos you’ve got from the past.

Also make sure to include links to other videos that you like, so they have a reference for your style. For example, if you want a light hearted video with upbeat music, find videos that are light hearted and have upbeat music. The last thing you want is for a video editor to spend hours and hours creating a dramatic, emotional, moving video that makes you want to cry (unless this is what you’ve requested, of course!)

3. Post Your Job Online

There are several platforms you can use to find video editors offshore, such as freelancer.com, fiverr.com, and upwork.com. They’re all ‘same-same, but different’… but my personal preference is upwork.com , which I’ve been using specifically to hire video editors for the last decade.

You’ll need to create an account, post your job and editor’s brief along with your allocated budget, then wait for the applications to roll in. You have the option to choose what countries you want to hire from as well.

4. Conduct Interviews & Choose An Editor (or two!)

Now comes the fun part! Don’t be surprised if you suddenly have 30 applicants to filter through. Go down the list, take a look at some of their past work and create a shortlist of applicants to interview.

Reach out to them via message and have a chat to see if they’re a good fit. I always like to ask if I can meet them over video, as I find I can connect with them better and the interviews flow a lot faster than back and forth messages. Just keep in mind that not everyone is comfortable chatting on video.

Another thing I always do in this stage is hire two editors and give them the same project (a small project). While this may seem counterintuitive to spend double the money on the same project, you’ll gain valuable insights into not just their editing style, but how fast they work, and how well they communicate and follow instructions.

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Editor #1 wanted to really impress. He went all out and created this full blown, dynamic video that took him 14 hours to make. Yes, he made an amazing video, but it was definitely not what I asked for, and cost me an extra 11 hours of time. Not happy, Jan!

Editor #2 followed the brief exactly, created a simple video and only took 1 hour. He was more expensive than Editor #1, but followed the brief exactly. I delivered this video to the client, who was very happy with the outcome.

Creating videos is like creating art. You’ll be surprised at how different the results are, from exactly the same brief.

5. Manage Your New Editor!

After testing a few editors, you’ll find someone who is a good fit. The next step is to manage them effectively. Ensure you are very clear with your communication, especially with deadlines. Always factor in buffer time for things that may go wrong along the way. Before you know it, you’ll be on your way to getting your content created with your new editor!

Written by Joyce Ong

Joyce is an international photographer, video producer, best-selling author and educator.

When she’s not working with her industry leaders such as Virgin Unite, Johnson & Johnson, OzHarvest and Sony Music, Joyce is passionate about wildlife and has filmed documentaries in Africa. Joyce also enjoys running workshops around Australia and online, to share her skills with others.

If you’d like more detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to create a job description and hire someone on Upwork, plus a pre-made video editor’s brief where you just need to fill in the blanks, and a list of the exact questions to ask when conducting interviews, then head to www.joyceongcreative.com/hiring-toolkit and grab ‘Your Essential Toolkit For Hiring A Great Video Editor.’

The post How in the World Do I Find a Great Video Editor?! appeared first on Business Blueprint.

Bonjoro is a tool you can use to leverage the power of the smartphone to help you convert and retain more customers through personal videos. When you get a customer inquiry, you’ll receive a notification via your phone. You can very quickly send them a personalised video, thanking them for getting in touch and answering their question, welcoming them aboard or promising to follow up on their query. You can also use Bonjoro to follow up on emails or send birthday/anniversary good wishes. It is up to you how creative you want to be and the message you include.

How Businesses Use Bonjoro

There are many different ways you can use Bonjoro in your business. You can use it to convert more leads, activate new customers, retain existing customers and grow your business.

Here are five different ways businesses can use Bonjoro:

Engage outbound prospects

Bonjoro makes it easier to reach out to prospects and convert them into customers. Instead of sending generic pitch emails, personalise your outreach by adding custom videos in your emails. By taking the time to send a personal video, you’ll cut through the noise in your prospects’ inbox, boosting your chances of getting a reply and closing the deal.

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Convert inbound leads

Although inbound leads tend to be warmer than outbound leads, they still do not guarantee a sale. You need to build rapport if you want to successfully convert inbound leads. Sending custom videos will help you stand out in their inbox, spark that human connection, and make sure that they engage with you.

Use Bonjoro to send a personalised video welcoming them by name, showing that you understand their business challenge, and explaining how you can help them solve it. Then be sure to add a call to action on your Bonjoro video to drive the next step from your lead; whether that’s booking a demo, hopping on a call, or something else that will lead them to success.

Reduce “no-shows”

After capturing new sales leads, the next step is locking in some time to meet and hope they show up or don’t cancel on you at the last minute. Bonjoro puts an end to no-shows by allowing you to send personal reminder videos to prospects days or hours before your call.

In the video, let your leads know who you are and explain what you’ll cover in the meeting. Now you are no longer just a salesperson, but you are a human, who took the time to record a video, and their connection to you is strengthened. They’ll know your face, feel at ease, and feel more obliged to show up.

If you’re running webinars, workshops or free events, aside from sending reminder emails, you can also send them a personalised reminder video before the event. In the video, you can reinforce the value of your event, share what you’ll discuss on the day and how the event will transform their business.

Onboard new customers

The onboarding process is the most critical part of the customer journey. This is where you get new customers to use your product. With that said, you need a good customer onboarding strategy in order to achieve a higher customer retention rate. But we see so many businesses struggle in this area.

If you want to create a better onboarding experience and get more customers to stick around, Bonjoro is the perfect tool for you. Send a personal video within the first few hours of your new customer signing up. Welcome them by name, let them know how they will be supported by you and your team, explain your product’s features and give them a signpost on the next best steps to take to get amazing value from your product.

Get reviews from customers

Your customers hold the key to unlocking untold profits for your business. So you need to be smart and collect reviews from your customers. This helps boost your presence in online search results and add credibility to your business. Not only that, but reviews also act as social proof to your potential customers and help them make a decision on whether or not they should do business with you.

Instead of sending templated emails, why not make it more personal by sending a video using Bonjoro and making a personal request for a review. Then make sure to read and reply to all reviews (good or bad). This helps build customer trust and they’ll know that you value their input. As a result, they may leave more reviews in the future.

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How It Works

Once you’re ready to try this awesome tool, sign up for a free 14-day trial here.
After creating your account, your first step is creating a video task.

Create a Task

Before sending a Bonjoro video, you need to create a video task. There are three ways to create video tasks: add a person, add a group or upload a CSV.

To add a person or group, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Bonjoro account
2. Click ‘New’ and select ‘Add a person’ or ‘Add a group’



3. Enter in the contact’s information
4. Enter in a task identifier and hit ‘Ok’
5. Assign the task to a team member
6. Click ‘Create’ to confirm and create the new task

If you want to upload a list of contacts, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Bonjoro account
2. Click ‘New’ and select ‘Upload CSV’



3. Select a CSV file from your device
4. Click ‘Upload’ to save the new contacts

Once done, you’ll view the new contact in your task list. Then you can now start recording a video with Bonjoro.

Record and Send a Video

Now that your video tasks are ready, you can start recording and sending your first video on a desktop or mobile. Read the steps below on how to record using your webcam or mobile device.

1. Log in to your Bonjoro account
2. Select a contact from your task list
3. Click ‘Record Now’ and start recording your video



4. Pick a thumbnail for your video
5. Select a template you want to go along with your video
6. If you’re happy with your video, hit “Confirm and send”

If you want to discover more tools that will help you build a successful business, check out some of the tools we love here. Once on the page, you’ll find links to more than 30+ products, services and software tools, you should know about.

The post How to Use Bonjoro to Welcome & Onboard Clients appeared first on Business Blueprint.

Airwallex is a financial services platform built for modern businesses. It enables customers to create international bank accounts instantly, access interbank exchange rates and send money through local and international clearing networks to more than 130 countries.

Now before you say, I don’t do business overseas, think again. If you have virtual assistants or are outsourcing jobs on Fiverr or Upwork, that’s doing business overseas. Plus, a large percentage of our expenses are paid to US companies that charge in US dollars and every time that happens you are losing money. So if you want to stop that from happening, Airwallex is the perfect solution.

For more information on Airwallex and how to get started, check out this video I recorded with Airwallex’s Director of Partnership Phillipe Dewinter.

If you want to follow along, click through the link below to sign up and get $20,000 worth of foreign exchange fee free.

bburl.co/airwallex

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Send Money Overseas

Airwallex enables you to make payments in 23 currencies, into over 130 countries around the world. If you have freelancers, contractors or virtual assistants all around the world, this tool can be a game changer for your business.

Once you have your account set up, Airwallex also allows you to send money directly from your account to any global bank account at a very low rate. It charges just 0.3% to 0.6% above interbank FX rates, which means you can save more money.

With Airwallex, you’ll also save time by scheduling payments in bulk. You’re able to upload recipient and currency lists in .csv format which is perfect if you have a number of overseas employees.

In fact, we worked out that for a small business with a couple of virtual assistants, Airwallex could save you around $5,000 per year. For bigger businesses with overseas suppliers or customers, you can save up to $25,000. That money should easily pay for another family holiday or be put back towards growing your business.

Here’s a quick guide on how to transfer money to a foreign bank account:

1. Create an Airwallex account and verify your business
2. Transfer money into your Airwallex wallet
3. Enter in your recipient’s banking details
    
   NOTE: You’ll need to collect the following details from your recipient:
   • Contact details: Name, address, email
   • Bank details: Routing number, bank name, account number & BSB for Australian recipients
   • Additional transfer information, such as proof of payment or order information
4. Check the real-time FX rate and fees to know how much it will cost
5. Confirm your bank transfer

This process may take 1 to 5 business days, depending upon your destination and the currency pair. You can track its progress on your desktop or mobile.

Receive International Funds

As a business owner, one of your main goals is to make it easier for customers to do business with you. If you have international customers, Airwallex allows you to receive funds in foreign currencies. You can open global accounts in EUR, GBP, AUD & USD within minutes.

Here are the steps for creating a new global account on Airwallex:

1. Log in to your Airwallex account
2. Navigate to ‘Wallet’ and select ‘Global Accounts’
3. Click the ’Create Global Account’ button in the top right corner
   • Select the currency for this new account
   • Enter your account name
4. Review applicable fees for your new account
5. Download your account statement

After creating a global account, you can now invoice and accept payments from international customers in their preferred currency. Then, you have an option to have those funds stay as foreign currency in your Airwallex account, eliminating unnecessary conversion fees. You can also use those currencies to pay for your expenses that are charged in US dollars.

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Pay International Expenses

If you’re paying an overseas supplier, CRM software, Facebook Ads or project management software, it’s most likely that you’re paying in US dollars. Airwallex enables you to open local currency accounts in the United States without leaving your office.

Now with your own card set up, you can get the best FX rates no matter the transaction volume. This means you’ll have the option to send a full payment amount on delivery when using Airwallex’s local transfer method.

If you have more questions or want more training on how to use Airwallex, you can visit their support page here.

Want to discover more amazing tech tools?

If you want to know more useful tools like Airwallex, come to our 1-Day Marketing Bootcamp. You’ll not only discover new tools but also unique strategies that will help you boost the profits of your business. When you apply the strategies gradually, one per week, you’ll be sure to see amazing results.

Register now to secure your seat and don’t miss the chance to do things bigger and better for your business. Click here to claim your ticket.

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More importantly, what is it that inspires you to be pushing the boundaries, testing your limits and striving to make a difference as a business owner?

The answer to this question is your ‘why’.

Of course, part of the answer as to why you’re doing what you do is to make a living. But there are hundreds of different, and probably much easier ways to earn a dollar than by striking out on your own as an entrepreneur.

Sharing the reasons that drive you beyond money can be one of the most powerful tools in building your brand and business.

Finding your ‘why’

What picks you back up when you get knocked down? Is it your family? Is it your past experiences? Perhaps you are driven by a desire to help others which is impossible to ignore.

To find your ‘why’, start by making a simple list. Write down those reasons for getting out of bed in the morning. It could be to provide a better future for your children, to continue your weight loss achievements or to spread the word about a cause you are passionate about.

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Your ‘why’ story will begin to emerge from your notes. It may have begun in childhood or it may have begun last year. It may involve a challenging experience, a moment of enlightenment or a major change in your career status.

An amazing example of a ‘why’ story is shared by property expert Ian Ugarte. Always ambitious, Ian was motivated to educate himself and build a positively geared property portfolio. He managed to do this so successfully that he was able to quit his job and live off his investments, while supporting his wife and family.

Despite achieving what most people would define as ‘success’, Ian woke up one morning feeling incredibly depressed and unfulfilled. It finally dawned on him that his wealth counted for nothing if he wasn’t giving back. This led him to found Small is the New Big, a business which helps property investors while addressing Australia’s affordable housing crisis.

Sharing your ‘why’

The above ‘why’ story is an excellent example of how you can share your purpose as a way of attracting not just customers but also media attention. Ian and his business have been featured across numerous publications, and he now sits on several sustainable housing boards.

Once you have your own ‘why’ story, don’t keep it to yourself! Add it to your website, your social media and anywhere else people go to find out more about your business. You can do this in writing, through a photo gallery, or even through a one – two minute video.

Your ‘why’ story doesn’t have to be long, it simply has to explain the motivation behind what you do in a way which will appeal to your user or viewer.

Why ‘why’ matters

By sharing your ‘why’ story, you are providing your customers with more motivation to do business with you. This is for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, if you are choosing between two very similar businesses, with very similar prices and products, you need a factor which will tip the balance one way or another. A compelling ‘why’ story can make this difference between you and the competition.

Then, by sharing your ‘why’, you are allowing your potential customers to get to know you. They can see beyond the logo and the hard sell to gain a picture of someone who is motivated by more than money.

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Creating a ‘why’ story shouldn’t take much thought as you probably already know your reasons for being in business. Getting it out there shouldn’t be a big deal either and it will pay dividends in the form of more customers, who know what you are about and wish to support you.

Finally, if you want to get more inspiration for your business, then it’s time to join the world’s #1 business program. You’ll get access to world class speakers and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs. Click here to learn more about Business Blueprint.

The post What’s Your Why? appeared first on Business Blueprint.

I would have thought the same 5 years ago before I cracked the code to scale a multi 7 figure lifestyle business.

Currently I am writing this as I sit by the beach in far North Queensland, 3 months into my year travelling around Australia while my team runs my business for me (and also having three back to back record months in my absence!)

This has only been possible by implementing the exact strategies I am going to share with you in this article.

The biggest problems getting in the way of more business owners like you creating financial freedom come down to three things;

1. You don’t know what financial freedom actually looks like by your own definition
2. You haven’t linked your activity in your business to the profit required for you to fuel your financial freedom ambitions
3. Your business is built around you being the hero of the story which in turn means you have no freedom, no flexibility and struggle to escape your golden handcuffs

Trust me, I used to be there too and it sucks.

The way business owners learn to scale a business is by osmosis. We observe the way others grow their business; typically through 60-80 hour weeks, paying themselves last, working themselves to death for the hope of one day selling their business and sailing off into the sunset when they are old and grey to sip rum out of a coconut on a tropical beach, only then reaping the rewards of all of their hard work.

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I watched my father follow the same path for decades, working 16 hour days in his variety of business ventures hoping he would be able to squirrel away enough money to retire at 65 and live the dream.

Unfortunately, at 66 he was diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer and died shortly thereafter.

This is the harsh reality of life.

So how do we do this the right way?

Get clear on your definition of financial freedom

This is the biggest issue that plagues most business owners we work with. They have an abstract idea of what financial freedom means, but it is more of a dream than a goal.

If you want any chance of using your business as a vehicle to manufacture financial freedom, you need to get crystal clear on what financial freedom means to you and your family.

Do you ever want to retire completely?
If not, how much would you expect to work and how much would you earn?
How much does your ideal lifestyle cost in today’s dollars?
When do you want to achieve this goal?

By answering these questions, we can work out your F3 (Financial Freedom Figure).

For example, let’s say you never plan to fully retire but expect you can consult and make $30,000 a year after tax. Then your dream lifestyle considering the home is paid off, the cost of living, lifestyle expenses and holidays will require you $150,000 a year. That means our wealth only needs to provide us with $120,000 a year.

We now have a clear north star and we can work out how to make it happen.

The simplest financial freedom formula you will ever need is as follows;

F3 / 5 x 100 = net worth required

Eg – $120,000 / 5 x 100 = $2,400,000

This is the total wealth you need to achieve your financial freedom goal. This might seem a little scary but we will talk about how we get there next.

Understand the personal levers

The challenge for most wealth accumulators chasing financial freedom is that they are in the passenger seat of their wealth journey.

They are relying on market returns, financial advisors, accountants, and other professionals to achieve their goals. By doing this, they are abdicating financial responsibility into the hands of others, taking a leap of faith in hope they achieve their goals.

After working in this space for over 14 years, I now realize that this fails for more people than it helps successfully create financial freedom, and for those it helps, this is more based on luck than any scientific formula.

You as an entrepreneur need to take control of the financial reigns, sit in the drivers seat and be the master of your own financial destiny. Any other way is going to result in you being unable to control the outcome you desire.

So how do we achieve this?

We firstly need to understand the 11 levers available to us across life and business. Let’s start with the personal levers.

When it comes to wealth creation, there are four levers you can pull when it comes to creating wealth;

1. Current wealth – how much do you have in investment assets currently
2. Contribution – how much can you add to your portfolio
3. Risk – how much risk you can afford to take, and in turn the expected return
4. Time – how long are you prepared to wait to achieve your goal

By understanding these levers, we can have complete influence over the outcome we desire.

For example, if we have $400,000 now, want to achieve a total wealth of $2,400,000, expect an 8% average return and can afford to contribute $1,000 a month, it will take us 19 years and 4 month to achieve this goal.



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But what if we want to achieve this in 10 years? What levers should we pull?

Well, we could take more risk and chase a 10% return. But as this is an external variable, this isn’t guaranteed. If we achieved this, it would reduce the time taken by 3 years.

What if we kept an 8% return but increased our monthly contribution to $8,300? We will get there in exactly 10 years.

You’re probably thinking – well, Jackson that is a lot of money!

This is where we review your business levers.

The business levers

There are 7 business levers we can pull to maximize our profit and cash flow. I will go into this in more detail in a separate blog, but for now we need to know that the 7 levers are;

Volume – the number of clients you take on
Price – the price you charge for your product or service
Cost of Sales – the variable expenses to deliver your product or service
Operating Expenses – the fixed expenses to run your business
Accounts Receivable – the time it takes you to get paid from your clients
Work in Progress – the work you are currently delivering on
Accounts Payable – the time it takes you to pay your bills

By understanding these levers and how they can impact your profit and cash-flow, we can identify the simplest path to achieving the level of surplus required to fuel your wealth.

Good news is, we have developed a simple calculator that allows you to reverse engineer your goals into your 7 levers and work out the best path to smashing your goals.



If you want a copy of this Profit Accelerator Calculator, you can grab it along with free copies of my best selling book in our free Facebook Group. Link is bit.ly/YLBGroup

Remember, financial freedom is all about getting you into the driver’s seat. Let’s make all of your hard work pay off so you can live the dream you deserve.

Written by Jackson Millan

Jackson Millan, also known as The Wealth Mentor is an international best selling author and award-winning wealth coach. Jackson has spent the last 12 years dominating the wealth and business strategy space having worked with over 1,000 clients to help them build over $1.2b in combined wealth.

Want to learn more about growing your business and creating financial freedom? Join the world’s #1 business program, Business Blueprint. By joining our community, you can get access to Jackson and other world class mentors.

The post The Secrets To Scaling Your Profits, Buying Back Your Time & Creating Financial Freedom appeared first on Business Blueprint.

So here’s a question for you: Are you making the most of this powerful little device you carry around with you every day? Are you creating videos with your phone? Videos that can be used in your business to engage with new prospects, show what you’re about, and eventually make you some sales?

Hint: Don’t say yes if you just love browsing social media… this doesn’t count!

I’m not having a go at you. I’m always browsing social media. Facebook is my platform of choice, but whether you’re on Facebook or Instagram, you’ll probably notice that around half the posts you scroll past and click on are videos. And if you’re on YouTube, well then, they’re all videos.

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What you may not have noticed is that a huge percentage of these videos have been created with a phone. Of course there are also beautifully made, professional videos with perfect lighting too… but did you know, if you don’t have the budget to get this done, you can still create high quality video content with just your phone?

I’d love to share with you the 5 reasons I love shooting video on my phone, followed by my top 10 tips for shooting on your smartphone.

It’s always on me

If you’re anything like me, then your phone is never more than a few metres away from you (yes… I may be addicted, and I’m okay with that). This has proven to be super handy in many situations.

When I was in Africa filming an elephant documentary in 2019, we had set up the proper big cameras, and we were interviewing the incredible Francoise, owner of Thula Thula Game Reserve. Midway through the interview, her two curious rhinos decided to come right up to the fenceline about 100 metres away to see what we were doing.

“Quick!” the Director exclaimed. “Let’s get footage of the rhinos before they go away!”

We didn’t have time to move all the camera gear and adjust all the settings (plus, we were in the middle of an interview!), so I whipped out my phone, crept over to the fenceline and started recording the rhinos.

I love that it’s so fast to grab out and easy to use, which leads me to my second point.

It’s easy to use

There’s no steep learning curve to filming with the phone. My 11 year old piano student Elka often films and edits some very impressive Tik Tok videos, and sometimes films Behind The Scenes videos with me when she’s over at my place. No doubt you know some children who are very handy with filming on the phone too, right?

Since the phone is always on you, and so easy to use to record video, it’s super handy to record on the go at any time. For example, when an idea pops up you want to speak about, why not speak it out into a video while it’s fresh in your head?

Or if you’re at a networking event and you bump into someone who sings your praises, ask them if they wouldn’t mind sharing that quickly into your phone. There’s a good chance they’ll be more than happy to do so. A few minutes later, you’ll have a video testimonial you’ll be able to use in your marketing.

It’s easy to master

I became a full time photographer about a decade ago. Along the way, people began asking me if my camera shot videos too. Eventually I explored the world of professional videography… but after a couple of years, I decided it wasn’t for me, and became a video producer instead (hiring professional videographers and organising the shoots for my clients).

What I didn’t enjoy was the steep learning curve in videography. With the big cameras, there are so many settings to adjust, so many more things you need to know – white balance, colours, frame rates, bit rates, as well as sound levels, lighting etc etc… it’s not just one step up from photography, it’s like 20. (Kudos to any photographers turned videographers out there – respect!)

I didn’t want to invest the time and energy into becoming an expert at this, when so many of my colleagues are experts at it already. However, I still do videos… on my phone!

When we have a shoot on, one of my favourite things to do is record Behind The Scenes videos for our social media channels. These highlight our clients and their companies, and also show our amazing videographers in action.

It’s inconspicuous

People often get nervous when they see a big camera around and sometimes, it’s just not appropriate to bust out the big cameras. Earlier this year, when I was on an OzHarvest road trip to the countryside, we needed to get footage of OzHarvest Mobile Market in action, including a few words from some of the locals.

Man, was this tough. Even when I had my camera down by my side, it felt like I was a magnet repelling people away from me. It wasn’t until I put my big camera back into the car and just used my phone that people began to loosen up and talk in front of the camera.

It speeds up the entire video process

Finally, I love shooting video on my phone because it’s fast. It doesn’t take long to set up and shoot, and often, the editing process is a lot quicker too (especially uploading and downloading files to offshore editors).

A couple of years ago, we were filming The Song Company, who were rehearsing for their annual performance at the Sydney Opera House. They were very tight on rehearsal time, and only gave us 20 minutes to film them.



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Most professionals would take longer than 20 minutes to just unpack and set up their gear, let alone have everything filmed, and the shoot done and dusted within that time frame. This was the perfect scenario for us to film with the phone, and they loved the end result! If speed is an important factor, then shoot the video on your phone.

TOP 10 TIPS FOR SHOOTING PHONE VIDEOS

1. Check your storage and battery before filming. Also bring a portable battery bank.
2. Don’t use the zoom, it loses quality and makes things look pixelated.
3. Shoot in well lit areas, as the low light capability on the phone isn’t great yet.
4. Shoot in airplane mode and turn your wifi off, so you don’t get interrupted with calls and notifications.
5. Shoot horizontally, in landscape (unless you’re shooting an IG or FB story).
6. Give your phone lens a quick wipe before you start so there aren’t any fingerprint smudges or dust on the lens.
7. Shoot at eye level and think about what’s in your background.
8. Get an external microphone for better sound quality.
9. Use the exposure tool to focus and expose your subject correctly.
10. Keep the phone as steady as possible by using a tripod or gimbal.

If you’d like to learn more about shooting high quality video content with your phone, head to www.joyceongcreative.com/JSOMP
(that stands for “Just Shot On My Phone!”)

Written by Joyce Ong

Joyce is an international photographer, video producer, best-selling author, educator and founder of New Heights Media. New Heights Media is a video production company with professional teams in every state of Australia, specialising in the creation of online content for small businesses.

When she’s not working with industry leaders such as Virgin Unite, Johnson & Johnson, OzHarvest and Sony Music, Joyce will most likely be travelling the world, filming and photographing wildlife and nature.

Joyce also enjoys teaching the skills she’s learned over the past decade, to others through live workshops and online training. Find out more about Joyce by visiting her website: www.joyceong.com

The post 5 Reasons I Love Shooting Video On My Phone appeared first on Business Blueprint.

Want to find out who is talking about you or your business?

Google Alerts is a free online tool that allows you to track your chosen keywords and phrases so that you never miss another important conversation. It helps you track conversations and mentions that you may not be aware of.

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Here’s how the notification would look like:

But a surprising number of people don’t know how to leverage this simple yet effective and easy-to-use tool.

If this sounds like you or your business, there’s no need to worry. In this article, you’ll learn how to set up and use Google Alerts for your business.

Creative Uses of Google Alerts

Aside from performing automated vanity searches and finding out who’s talking about you, Google Alerts can also be used for the following:

Follow a trending story

Be kept up-to-date on current news and trends in your industry. If you’re trying to build your expertise in an area, creating alerts around trending industry stories ensures you’ll never miss any news updates. Then you can share this content on social media to increase visibility and demonstrate thought leadership in your specific industry.

Search for product discounts

Get notified about sales, discounts and promotions from your favourite brands. You can set up alerts so you’ll receive emails about coupon and discount codes, and sales or promotions.

Spy on your competitors

Set up Google Alerts to find out if your competition is releasing a new product, making a press release, or making headlines in some other way. You can create alerts for your competitor’s name, and receive a notification when they’re mentioned in the news.

Track keywords for new content

Google Alerts is an excellent tool for finding potential keywords to target and brainstorming new content ideas. Keep an eye on discussion forums like Quora to see what questions people are asking about your product or the problems your product solves. Then, create a list of content ideas that answers those questions.

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Job search

If you’re looking for freelance work or a full-time job, you can set an alert to notify you of new job openings, or a type of job you’re looking for. Since most job sites are indexed by Google, you can set an alert for “freelance copywriter” or whatever type of work you want, and chances are, you’ll receive a notification when jobs pop up on freelance and job sites.

How to Set Up Google Alerts

Google Alerts is easy to set up. Simply follow the steps below on how to create, edit and delete an alert.

Create an alert

1. Go to Google Alerts.
2. Enter a topic you want to monitor.



3. Click Show options to change your settings. You can customise:
   • How often you get notifications
   • The sources of the news
   • Your language
   • The region where you want info from
   • How many results you want to see
   • What account gets the alert
4. Click Create Alert.

Whenever there are matching search results, you’ll get an email in your inbox.

Edit an alert

1. Go to Google Alerts.
2. Next to an alert, click the pencil icon to edit an alert.
3. Make your changes.



4. Click Update Alert to save changes.

Delete an alert

1. Go to Google Alerts.
2. Click Delete next to the alert you want to remove.

Optional: You can also delete an alert by clicking Unsubscribe at the bottom of an alert email.

Now that you know the steps to setting up Google Alerts, make sure you give it a try. This free tool has the potential to help you grow your business without breaking the bank.

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