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Nothing fascinates a designer more than to see a blank canvas where they can go crazy with their creativity and play around with colors. It also holds true for designing websites from scratch. Unfortunately, most UX or web designers focus on creativity but neglect how it would affect the overall user experience. At the end of the day, the user will use your website. The user experience they have with your website will determine its success or failure. You should ask yourself how users will perceive your website and how they will interact with it. This would help you to deliver an immersive user experience to your website visitors. Is your website easy to navigate and understand for new users? Does it mention what your business is all about and the products and services you offer? Is your website easy on the eyes of new users? All these considerations and much more take you closer to creating truly memorable web experiences. In this infographic, you will get expert advice from the best UX designers, which will assist you in impressing your web audience with a UX design and increasing sales. Here is what the top UX experts have to say about creating wonderful web experiences.

70% of the startups fail within the first 5 years. Only 10% end up with a million-dollar startup success business. Oh yes, and I was in that 70% for quite some time. Out of 5 ventures, 3 of my ventures were a total failure. After some trial and error, I have established some habits that drove my 4^th venture to new heights. I would like to share that success with you. So, if you are a struggling Entrepreneur or a small business owner, this blog is for you. So, you might be asking, what separates a million-dollar business from a failed startup? What does it take to move your arc in the positive direction? The hard part of any business is to know where you are going. If you get that trajectory right, the tone of your business is set for massive success. If it is that easy, everyone might carry millions of dollars. Unfortunately, though, reality has it the other way around. The reason? Most business owners are unprepared for the hole they are about to fall into. Most of the founders initially have no idea where to start and what to do when their business goes south. Here are 4 tips that you can take seriously if you really want to build a successful million-dollar startup.

1. Work in Silence

"Build in silence; they can't stop what they can't see." Quiane Crews, the chairman of Stealth Performance Communications, "My No. 1 piece of advice for entrepreneurs is to build in silence," Crews said. A common mistake entrepreneurs make is that they get so excited about an idea or business venture we have, and we start sharing our vision with people around us and close to them. The bad part about that is that not everyone is meant to know your vision. "I learned that I shouldn't tell people my next move if I haven't made it yet. If people don't know what you're doing, they can't distract you or get in the way of your goal." According to Crews, by telling people what you're doing or what you're about to do, you're basically showing them your hand before you play it. "I've had my share of ups and downs as well as any successful entrepreneur," Crews continued. "One of the main reasons I was able to gain massive success in a short period is that no one knew what I was doing, and I had an amazing team that was on the same page as me."

2. Focus on the Sales

I don’t care if your dad is a millionaire or you have a billion dollars in your bank; if you are dead serious about running a business, figure out ways to generate sales. There is such a thing as ‘overnight success’; every success is the outcome of 10-15 years of hard work. The fairy tale of a million-dollar business as seen in movies is pretty different than in real life. Movies always end on a good note, but not every business ends on a good note. For a business to succeed, you need to do all-nighters, send thousands of emails, and spend time strategizing what you can do differently that can make some sales. The hardest part is staying focused. There are infinite opportunities out there for you to take your talents and explore. You have to learn to say no to most things. Why? Because your time, as you will quickly come to realize, is your most valuable resource. You can always raise more money. You can always hire more people. But you cannot manufacture more time. Steve Jobs has 24 hours in a day, Jeff Bezos has 24 hours in a day. But what separates you from them is how they utilize those 24 hours. If you are serious about company growth, make sure to focus your activities on personal growth.

3. Say Hello to Feedback

My most valuable learning regarding my business was from my customers and friends. Feedback, when taken the right way, can surely bring a new wave of energy into your million-dollar startup. You don’t have to take everything seriously but yes you need to make sure that you give some thought to the suggestion given by your customers. When setting up my 4th venture, I was confused about what I wanted on my website. But thanks to Branex, a digital agency from NY, who guided me along the way and took away all my worries. If you really want your feedback to be productive, here are two things that you can do to make sure it goes the right way: Disassociate your personal feelings from the feedback. Feedback is not on you, it is on the company business process. There is something lacking in the process and people are pointing it out. Secondly, make sure you go for the greater good. Here you need to ensure that the decision you take is good for the company and for the customer keeping yourself out of the equation.

4. Pivot Your Million-Dollar Startup

Nothing is perfect so it is wise not to act like one. To achieve a million-dollar business, you will have to hit the books on how to embrace both the successes and the failures. There might come a day when everything seems to be going south but stick to the basics and why you started the business in the first place. Keep your values mission, and goals intact. Whatever business strategy you build, make sure to pivot it for your long-term vision. To build a successful company, you must be able to change. In a world changing so quickly, founders and their companies unable to adapt to change will fall far behind.

To End it All

Like many things in life, success in the startup world is a marathon, not a sprint; there are no guaranteed shortcuts. The only thing separating your company from success is hard work and luck. If you focus on what you can control, remove any bias, and evolve with your market - good things will come.

A flat graphic design is like a simple framed picture on your wall - you don't really notice it's there ... until it's gone. Obviously, you don’t want your design to wear out, to drive the visitors away from your website. Instead, you want your design to stand out. And you know what a good web design is like a good film, has a good story, a good director, a good cast, and as a result good audience. So if have followed some of our previous web design blogs you might have realized that we try to offer our readers the best in the market tips. Hey, but if you still have any doubts, feel free to check our previous blogs. The sun is upon us on our heads, which means we are in the middle of the year 2017, Congo to that! But what about the ever-changing trends? Are you following the trends that are currently in the market? If not, no need to worry. We are here to help you out. Our experts at Branex took some time and compiled a wonderful infographic. We are not firing aimlessly on the dartboard instead we have done some work on behalf of you. This is not just some elements on the image. This is a result of the well-researched image that will act as your guideline for the rest of the year.

In the wake of recent “WannaCry” Ransomware attacks, hundreds of thousands of computer systems have been affected around the world. This has raised one important question: “Are our data backup systems enough to ensure data security, privacy, and integrity?” Of course, large corporations already have disaster recovery systems in place to ensure data security, but are small and medium-sized businesses ready to cope with such disasters? There are many ways which cyber attackers employ to infect the systems. The two types which were evident in the WannaCry debacle were the use of phishing emails and a faulty security patch for Windows XP. This is just one of the many threats that SMBs face as most of their data is not on the cloud or redundant backups because of cost constraints. WannaCry ransomware, now, has infected over 230,000 computers worldwide. It affected big conglomerates like Telefonica and FedEx. In Britain, the virus has wreaked havoc in the National Health Services network disrupting surgical procedures. The scale at which this attack was carried out is unprecedented in the history of cyber-attacks, as described by Europol. A backup plan can save you, small business owners, from lots of adverse scenarios. However, according to the latest report based on a survey by CloudBerry Lab, a whopping 49% of Internet users don’t do any type of data backup. However, 11% more business users than individuals have implemented automated backup systems and 20% more business users perform daily backups. These are very depressing stats, to say the least, as businesses seem to be doing much less than what they should be doing in this regard.

Frequent

The frequency of data backup should be uniform as setting up an ongoing backup plan for small and medium businesses ensures they always have the latest copy of the files available in case things go south.

Easy & Simple

In ancient history, backing up your data was a complex process as not everyone was able to conduct the process totally on his own. It required copying data to tapes and later tapes were replaced by diskettes. Now you don’t have to fret a lot as there are quite a few companies that offer cost-effective backup services. So, business owners have no valid excuse now for not going for data backup.

Off-Site

The process of data backup won’t have far-reaching consequences if at least one of the copies is not stored off-site. The cloud-based backup comes into play here. In this way, a business owner can be spared from taking the external hard drive with them all the time. In using a cloud-based data backup, it can be remotely stored anywhere across the globe. As a business owner, you can also have the luxury of choosing that location. It is a good ploy to save the data to a different region or country because in case a disaster happens or war begins, you can easily retrieve the data from that unaffected region rather than choosing your same city or region.

Secure

Cloud-based backup services offer greater security than backing up data onto your servers. It doesn’t mean, however, that cloud backup is foolproof. Choosing a business-class solution for greater security is a good bet rather than a consumer backup or free service. This aspect, however, depends on the funds that you’ve allocated for backing up mission-critical data. So, choose a data backup solution that fits your budget. There can be specific industry security standards, like HIPAA regulations, that some businesses require. If your venture also falls in the same category, be sure to ask your service provider to offer you that level of security.

Swift Recovery

The last factor is about how quickly you can retrieve the data, that is, how quickly you can access your backup when you really need it the most. Some services allow you to get it quickly, while others may require a 24-hour turnaround time. Even a few hours can be too long in some cases, so you need to check this aspect too before finalizing the cloud-based data backup service. The quicker the recovery is, the more it’s going to cost you. But it’s always good to invest in this to protect yourself against ransomware attacks similar to WannaCry that we’re witnessing these days.

Final Word

You need to assess all your requirements before finalizing your data backup plan. Hackers are always altering their techniques to defeat anti-viruses and firewalls by exploiting the system’s vulnerabilities, so protecting against ransomware can be difficult for small businesses. Therefore, going for professional help is always the best option. But if you feel you can handle it yourself, then installing robust antivirus programs, firewalls (both software and hardware), and implementing strong data backup plans can help minimize the severity of such attacks.

“When I am out there walking, cycling, or just sitting appreciating the view around me, I am actually looking for opportunities to capture images for my Instagram feed. All I require is an iPhone or an iPod, which helps me capture and post my inspiration right on the spot,” Jamie Oliver, the celebrity Chef and Entrepreneur. Jamie is not an ordinary chef. If you look at his Instagram followers, you will get the idea of how smartly he is using images to market his brand online. With a humongous following of 412,000+ followers and still counting, Jamie knows the power of engagement, which can be done with the power of visual content. While the iPhone only takes ordinary images, Instagram further adds a ‘zing’ factor to that ordinary photo and converts it into an extraordinary image.

• In an analysis of over 1 million articles, BuzzSumo found that articles with an image once every 75-100 words received double the social media shares as articles with fewer images.
• Facebook posts with images see 2.3X more engagement than those without images.

You can see images all around the internet and with Pinterest and Snapchat changing the way we used to see images, it is now up to Entrepreneurs how they use the power of visuals to leverage their ecommerce websites.

How Visual Marketing Affects the Natural Power of the Brain

Once upon a time communication between people was done purely on the basis of symbols. People used to share ideas and thoughts based on whose content was rich with meaning and the entire thought was conveyed with a single symbol. Now, although letters are also considered symbols, they must be placed together with words to make sense, and those words are put into a sentence to understand the context of those words.

The Modern Way to Express Symbols Via Infographics

If you are a modern Entrepreneur, you probably see a humongous amount of Infographics popping up every single day. This is because an infographic is an effective way to convey a large amount of data in one single image. In one way, you can consider infographics as complex information compressed into a format that allows users to grab information at a glance. New York University psychologist Jerome Bruner has discussed studies that look at the correlation between human brains, visually, and learning. The results show that people only remember 10% of what they hear and 20% of what they read, but about 80% of what they see. In his The Complete Guide to Understanding Consumer Psychology, Neil Patel adds that 92.6% of people say the visual dimension is the #1 influencing factor affecting their purchase decision (over factors like taste and smell).

Why Visual Content Matters For Entrepreneurs?

To start with Instagram itself is a prodigy. Passing the 300 million user mark and surpassing Twitter and its 284 million active users. As per the Instagram website, there are approximately 70 million photos shared each day on Instagram. “As an Entrepreneur, I started my second venture on Instagram and from there onwards it was all easy to get orders without spending a dime on marketing,” says Yousuf Rafi, Serial Entrepreneur and Digital Strategist at Branex. If you are still not convinced about using visual content for your next venture. Here are some more stats. With Instagram, there are 216,000 photos posted, and Pinterest users pin 3,467 images. As for videos, 8,333 videos are uploaded and shared on YouTube and Vine per minute. If we keep in mind that 277,000 tweets and 2,460,000 posts are shared on Twitter and Facebook every sixty seconds, the numbers make a strong case for Entrepreneurs to use images and leverage their content to promote their activities online. Last year, folks at Buzzsumo shared results of 100 million articles, the purpose of those articles is to note what factors make content viral. And as you might have guessed it, it was visual content. However, one mistake Entrepreneurs make while going for visual content is to grab images that appear first on Google and share them on all the various Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter without following a proper strategy. Some share the low-resolution image, which nearly kills the purpose of going for visual content in the first place. So, as an Entrepreneur, you might be wondering how you create images that entice your customers to buy from you. Well, for starters, there are tools that you can use to create fantastic images yourself.

Web-based Tools for Creating Eye-catching Images

You can label Canva as a Swiss army knife for visual content creation, a must for every Entrepreneur going for visual images. Often called ‘the easiest design program for visual markers’ even if they don’t know how to design. You can create Facebook covers or perhaps a Twitter header, this tool will be enough for you to start. And the best thing about Canva is that it automatically optimizes images for every platform. PicMonkey is another alternative to Adobe Photoshop which lets you quickly edit, touch up images, and create some ravishing collages all without the need to sign up for the process. Just start with uploading images from your computer and you can do most of the Photoshop things like adding a canvas, applying a frame, or even adding an overlay to images right with just a few clicks. Quotes Cover is one of my personal favorite tools that I still use. The good thing is that you need zero design skills for this tool. You simply add some text, and this amazing tool will create fantastic images out of it. You have control over the background and colors that go with the text, which makes it even easier.

To Conclude It All

We are living in an age where it is nearly impossible to compete. But Entrepreneurs have the advantage of using tools which make everyday things so simple. So if you are a startup, do tell us what tools you are using to save your time because, in the end, sharing is caring.

Although it is a myth, sometimes myths teach us lifelong lessons, too. The legendary story goes like this: Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him. “It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.” So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the woman his work of art. “It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?” “Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied. “But, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!” To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.” It's like Picasso was born an artist: his first word was "piz," short of lápizthe Spanish word for 'pencil.' His father Ruiz, an artist and art professor, gave him a formal education in art starting from the age of 7. By 13, Ruiz vowed to give up painting as he felt that Pablo had surpassed him. Pablo Picasso was one of the most creative, generative, and influential artists ever lived. A man who created his own destiny – who constantly outperformed himself every time he did the brush stroke. Regardless of what critics think said, he was creating marvelous masterpieces and had fun doing it. So, how does that relate to Entrepreneurship, well, of course, you will have to find out by reading this blog till the end. Also Read: 5 Lifelong Lessons You Can Learn From Highly Successful Entrepreneurs I believe that the personal philosophies of Pablo Picasso can teach young Entrepreneurs a bundle of lessons. Here is how:

1. Work Like a Child

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” ~ Picasso Do you remember when you were a child and you had no limits to creativity? You were given a paper and you scribbled some random things on the paper. You had no concept of good or bad so you drew whatever you thought was right. But as we grow old, we tend to lose that inner child. We lose that creative juice when people decide what we need to think & what we don’t need to think. As an Entrepreneur, you will be faced with decisions every day. Decisions, that can either make or break your venture. If you do some brainstorming, you will realize that the best solutions will come to you when you think like a child. Drifting away in the Himalayas away from Earth, into a new dimension, that will unleash the child within. “It took me four years to paint like Rafael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” ~ Pablo Picasso For most Entrepreneurs, we learn the rules and follow them. But what about unlearning the rules and creating some new ones?

2. Steal Like an Artist

As the master himself says “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” Basically, it is not stealing, it is merely exploring the ideas and adding your flavor to them. It is often said that nothing is original, everything is a remix. For an Entrepreneur, there are thousands of ideas on the internet and in our daily lives. There are hundreds of ways to solve a problem, but what new we bring to the table is the question we all need to be asking. Finding a solution to complex problems is what entrepreneurs do, and then they learn how to earn with that solution.

3. Use What To Have to Get Wherever You Want To Go

“If I don’t have red, I use blue.” – Picasso Picasso was well known for going through certain phases— when he would only paint with a certain color or hue. For example, during Picasso’s “Blue Period” (Período Azul) he only made monochromatic paintings with cold blue/blue-green colors. These paintings tended to be on the moody and melancholy side. The same goes for Entrepreneurs. For them, it is like starting something they don’t know and finding the solutions as they walk on this earth. Many times, you will be faced with problems that require certain expertise, but at times you do not possess those special traits, so what do you do? You focus on your strengths and outsmart the competition with your strengths.

4. Eliminate the Unnecessary

“Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.” – Picasso One good example of Picasso’s working method was his studies on the “deconstruction of a bull.” You see how he started off with a realistic form of a bull and kept subtracting until he was left with what he considered the “essence” of the bull. Just like Picasso did, you as an Entrepreneur need to focus on what is most important for your business. Not your parents, not your neighbors, not your annoying high school friend, it is you who needs to do what is good for your business. And how to do that. Simply, write the pros and cons before making any decisions and then follow your gut to eliminate what you think is not right for your business.

5. Giving Your Gift Away

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” ~ Picasso We all have a gift that we can use to help others. We have a gift to give others— a gift that can empower others to become the best version of themselves. As an Entrepreneur, it is wise to share your learning with the world. Great, a tribe and the young chaps are on their way up. Of course, do not charge them for the lessons you gave because these lessons are your gift to them. As per the words of Tony Robbins, “The gift of giving is the greatest gift one can give to others.” Picasso was an exceptional man who lived according to his standards and was creative until he died. He left nothing undone. He stretched and pushed his artistic boundaries and was prolific as hell. He played like a child, experimented, and always questioned authority and the “rules.” We can all live a creative life like Picasso. It just means reconnecting with our inner child and seeing our creative work like play. It means not compromising with our artistic standards, and making the best art regardless of our situation in life. Oh, btw, if you are willing to get some roof-raising, cool custom-based website for your new venture, do connect with us. Branex is helping brands turn their websites into a fully-featured mobile app that gets diversified traffic & you will get some strong leads too.

Over the past two years, eCommerce took a mammoth turn. With eCommerce sales rising to $300 billion, we are on the verge of eCommerce evolution. By the year 2020, it is estimated that eCommerce sales will rise to $12 trillion, according to Frost & Sullivan. It is important to mention here that the volume of transactions will vary between B2B and B2C. If you are an Entrepreneur and willing to start your eCommerce store, now is the best time to do so. If you have the next big idea, now is the time to turn it into gold. “You could be the next person to succeed if you choose to learn from successful people instead of being envious of them. Moreover, aren't they successful because they learned and continue to learn from others?”  ~ Edmond Mbiaka Here at Branex, we have compiled a checklist that can be a guideline for you to start your business from scratch.

Tips By Gary Vaynerchuk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoydAQlZlHY

Start with a Business Plan

Researchers say that “Business planning is positively related to business success. Entrepreneurs who start with a business plan are more likely to succeed in the real world. I still remember my last lecture on MBA. My professor came next to me and cursed me for not making a business plan for my first start. Which I later realized was the first step I missed. When you create a business plan, you give the impression that you are serious about your venture. You mean business. Yes, for some, this is a tedious job. Well, who is asking to go for complex novel-based documents? Your business plan can be as simple as a one-pager, which you and your stakeholders need to understand.

Pick a Catchy Domain Name

With over $1.17 billion people using Google to search and learn every day, it is nearly impossible for Entrepreneurs to pick a memorable domain name which then can later be optimized for search engines too. So, despite giving some thought to the domain name. Young Entrepreneurs make a very silly mistake. For instance, if you are willing to sell custom shoes, you will surely not find customshoes.com or custommadeshoes.com (which is quite long btw), so Entrepreneurs go with coolcustommadeshoes.com (Which is quite long and not cool at all). Got it, what do I mean? For domain names, do some research on the Internet. See what custom shoes translate to in different languages and pick that. Study the culture of your target market and pick some slang from the local market. There are tons of ideas you can use to pick a domain name, but just keep in mind that it should be short, easy to remember, easy to spell, and doesn’t sound awkward when translated into a different language.

Go for a Reliable Web Hosting Service

Your web host will be the nucleus of your business. I remember the first time my website went down and it took three business days for the web hosting company to get back up. While hosting companies charge a hefty fee for their services, make sure to run by all the services they are offering. Cheap hosting doesn’t really mean a reliable one. Read reviews, ask friends, and go for someone who is working for them. This is usually a one-time deal. You will choose a web hosting that will cater for a one-year or three-year period of time, so make sure to choose wisely.

Spend Time and Resources on Content Marketing

Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic. They are capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it at the same time. For most people, content marketing is just like putting words on the internet to support your SEO. Well, sorry to disappoint you guys. Content marketing is the modern-day golden chicken & egg. If you use it wisely, you can harness the power of lead generation & multiply your sales in no time. It is often good to invest in content marketing for some quality content. This will not just help bring some leads, it will also help you in your SEO.

Pick a Passionate Web Designer

I always respect people who do work just for the sake of work. Yes, go to Freelancer and you will find thousands of web designers who can make cheap web mock-ups for you. But, ask yourself this: will these designs catch the eye of your visitor? The survey suggests that a visitor takes only 5 seconds to judge your website. So, is it worth it to go for a designer who just works for money? I would suggest going for someone who is passionate about their work. Set a meeting with the designer and look into his eyes. Eyes are reflections of our souls. If he is thrilled about the design & feels excited about your project hire him on the spot.

Time to Pick an eCommerce CMS

An eCommerce CMS is the backbone of your ideas. It will display your dreams and manage the inventory of your products. Selecting the right eCommerce CMS is one hell of a job. In this, you need to take care of both the aspects, the developer and the customer side. Will the backhand be easy enough that your team can get along with the interface & will the customers find it easy to browse & search for their desired products? An ounce of research goes a long way. Google some eCommerce CMS and read what people are saying about them. Take notes of the pros and cons and go for that which is good for you.

Use a Secure Credit Card Merchant

While most of the customers will be paying via PayPal, still it is your responsibility to cater to all the visitors who drop to your website. Normally, Entrepreneurs run away from credit card merchant accounts because at the start it might seem pricey. Typically banks charge a set-up fee, a monthly fee, and a percentage of each transaction.

What About Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

What is the purpose of your website if it doesn’t show up on the first page of Google? Nowadays, people hire SEO gurus to fine-tune their websites to attain a high ranking in Google. If you do not know how to set up your SEO, you can always Google some articles and learn before you hire a specialist.

Shipping Rate Structure

Before you even step into your first order, ensure what you will charge for normal shipping, one-day shipping, and date-specific delivery. Even at first, if you lose some money to make some customers, it is quite a good deal. And also, even providing free shipping on certain items is a great way to attract some genuine customers.

To Conclude It All

A simple checklist is often good to keep in hand; this will protect you & your team from a massive amount of misery & slip-ups down the line, & will enable you to hit the ground running with your efforts to drive actual sales.

Don’t let stress corrode your mind into rust. Let the problems of yesterday shrivel & bite the dust. Don’t let uncertainties shatter your equilibrium. Let each new day. Make your life awesome with successful entrepreneurs. They say if you want to go somewhere then you need to ask someone for directions who has been there. Being an Entrepreneur is not an easy task. Trust me. I have been there. You have to do the daily groundwork to be someone. People will surely dislike you for following for dreams. But, if you’re determined enough to create a path of your own then these same people will ask you for help. Uber-successful entrepreneurs didn’t just wake up one day & announce themselves as successful. Infected these people adopted the rituals and practices that make them so. If you want to be one of them, you would have to be like them. Muhammad Ali beautifully said “Fake it till you make it” Yes you need to fake the rituals that successful Entrepreneurs are adopting until these habits become second nature to you. If we analyze the daily lives & rituals of the uber-successful entrepreneurs, this will give us an insight into how they were able to achieve the so-called overnight success in their lives. Therefore, Branex picks our favorite morning routines of successful entrepreneurs. Following them is sure to bring a positive transformation in your life.

Entrepreneurship is like a labyrinth, there are no rules and everything is continuously changing for entrepreneurs. You have to be ready for what comes and even then you have to make sure you truly understand what you are faced with. Moreover, Startups are like F1 cars on a race track. You can drive them slow, not crash, and complete the race or you can drive them fast, risk crashing, and Win!

It's Okay To Say ‘No’

Saying ‘No’ is an art. And not everyone can say no to anyone all the time. But, that doesn't mean you will have to say ‘Yes’ to everything that comes your way. As an entrepreneur, you will be faced with thousands of decisions each day, and with those decisions, you need to decide ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Now the thing is, the more you say ‘Yes’ to things that are unimportant to you or are beneficial for your company, the less you need to worry about saying ‘No’ to everyone else. Now, as per Stephen Covet, there are certain things that are important but not urgent, and then there are things that are urgent & important. If the thing you are saying ‘Yes’ to isn’t urgent but important, you can easily say ‘No’ for the moment and analyze it later to make room for work. Trust me, saying no to your boss, client, or peers won’t hurt if you do it respectably.

The 5 am Rule

Join the 5 a.m. club. The way you start your day determines the rest of the day you will have. Right after you wake up at 5 am.  Do the following:

• Spend the first 20 minutes on exercise.
• Invest the next 20 minutes in rehearsing your goals, and plans for the day.
• Devote the next to learn something new. Whether be it a motivational video, a book, or some inspiring blog.

FACT: From 5 am to 8 am are “The Golden Hours” that the most successful achievers in the world use to set up their days for success. The way you begin your day really does determine how you live your day. Maintain this routine for at least 66 days and note the difference. Waking up early gives you an advantage over others. When everyone is sleeping, you, on the other hand, are busy working on yourself. Doing the necessary work. But keep in mind to NOT THINK ANYTHING NEGATIVE in that particular period of time. Here is why you need to make waking up early a de rigueur part of your daily routine.

Challenge Yourself in the Early Hours of the Day

It is said that if you have multiple agendas in your to-do list, do the ones that challenge you the most when your day begins. Because in the morning when you are fresh, you can come up with multiple solutions to a single problem. The best approach I use as an Entrepreneur to solve difficult problems is, to close my eyes and see the task already done in my mind. I have completed the task and people are praising me for the task well done. This same approach has been followed by many successful Entrepreneurs, from Bill Gates to Richard Branson to Larry Page.

Keep a Notebook With You At All Times

Miracles happen in an instant. Robin Sharma wrote his whole book when he was on his way to work. Einstein presented the Theory of Relativity when he was wandering around. It is a good practice to keep a notebook with you at all times. You never know when, and where you get inspiration, and for that, you need to write it down. Every day spend some time going through your notebook. Pick ideas, and concepts, add your flavor to them, and use them in your daily routine. The best is to use apps like Evernote to do work for you. Easy to handle, and available on all platforms you can use it easily to jot down all your thoughts in one page.

Meditate, Whenever, Wherever You Can

It is good to meditate in the early hours of the day, while some people prefer to meditate at night too. Depending upon your convenience meditate whenever you can and wherever you can. Meditation makes space in your brain to think of new ideas and on the other hand, clear your mind to re-organize ideas that are already there. If you are interested in Medication go grab a copy of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. A complete guide for anyone starting out in meditation.

Find Something That Excites You & Treat Yourself With It

Remember when you were a kid and you got really excited about your new toy train, or when you used to play with your Playgo? Yes, keep that memory in mind and find something that excites you at the same level today. As we grow old, we lose the touch of our childhood. Which makes us frustrated at times, and we make decisions that cost us a lot of money. After a long working day, treat yourself to that one thing. For instance, for me, it is a cup of Coffee. After every day I take this one cup and enjoy every sip of it. No matter how worried I am, I get the peace I want after that cup of Coffee.

Be Optimistic At All Times

I am not saying that ignore the negative. I am only suggesting that everything has two sides of the coin. For an Entrepreneur to be successful it is important to see the bright side of the coin. It is an extremely rare trait in the young breed of so-called-Entrepreneurs but it is one of the most important habits, and traits you need to be successful. And that my friends sum up some business hacks that are beneficial for lazy Entrepreneurs. No matter whether you are a startup or a struggling Entrepreneur there is no harm in trying something that is tested & verified by successful souls out there.

In eCommerce, the idea is the easy part, even starting a business is not that hard, and the hardest part is maintaining that business. Keep the numbers coming & make it relevant to your audience. B2C worldwide sales will surpass $1.5 trillion in 2017 (Research and Markets) “It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics” - George Bernard Shaw. Globally, eCommerce sales soared in 2015, benchmarking $839.8 billion. By 2018, Statista is predicting that B2C eCommerce will balloon to a staggering $1.5 trillion in annual sales. However, as the market catches up to demand, growth will level out, ultimately hovering at the $2.5 trillion marker. For 2017, B2C is projected to rake in about $1.92 trillion worldwide. Think tanks estimate that around 42% of consumers worldwide make online purchases, a number that will progressively climb to 50% by 2020. Also Read: BigCommerce vs WooCommerce: Which is the Best for eCommerce Website? Most businesses focus on generating more leads, regardless of the size of the business they are in. Big-commerce giants like Google are also boosting sales via online channels – for some, it looks easy but for most it is hard.