Abhinav Gulyani's Blog

So, hours ago, Facebook introduced the next face of the social networking platform at the f8 conference. I won’t be exaggerating when I say that this new face, dubbed ‘Timeline’ is exactly how social networks should be in an the information age and Facebook has actually made it possible.

Timeline isn’t just a redesign of the Facebook Profile, rather it’s the redefinition of the social networking philosophy and how social networks should let users discover their memories. Without a doubt, Facebook has made the giant leap and has left all other networks behind with this new announcement.

Watch this video for overview, short 1.30 Minutes long.

Interestingly, Timeline is not yet live for everyone but an early preview is available for developers. Since I know a thing or two about code, I am going to help you try Timeline on your Facebook account even if you are not a developer. Simply, follow the steps:

1. Open this link https://developers.facebook.com/apps and click on +Create New App
2. Add the App display name and namespace, this can be any piece of text.
3. On the next page, you will see the App ID and Secret and other details.
4. Click on Open Graph on the left sidebar of this page.
5. Simply define what your dummy app is capable of, like ‘People can read a book’ and click Get Started.
6. In the next page, Action Types, scroll down and simply click Save Changes and Next
7. Next, Time Aggregrations, scroll down and click Save and Finish.

Voila, you just created a dummy Facebook app with Open Graph. Now visit your profile page and Facebook will give you the option to switch to Timeline view don’t forget to thank us.

Although we highly recommend that you leave the poop job to developers and don’t finger with stuff you don’t know about. Thanks!

Don't forget to like this and share with you friends!

As I sit here on my laptop I felt like sharing some thoughts about mistakes I've made as an entrepreneur as well as some strategic advice I'd like to share... this is going to be a multi-post series...

In no particular order...

MISTAKE #1: The Fear Of Letting Go

Okay, by now anyone with half a brain knows that they can only do so much work in a day. In order to maximize the amount of money you make from your business, you must be able to leverage the work of others. It should be no surprise that most millionaires are made from having 5-10+ people working for them, and billionaires are much larger factor of that -- often founding companies that have 1,000s of employees.

In today's "Digital World" and the combined need to leverage the labor of others, outsourcing/telecommuting, etc. makes the most sense. Cost-effective, profitable workers growing your business for you. If you don't get onboard with that basic concept (regardless of what level you take it to) you'll never reach anywhere near your entrepreneurial potential.

The reason why most people don't hire others (outsourced workers or even local employees) almost always isn't because they can't afford to hire some help, it's because of fears related to MANAGEMENT.

Entrepreneurs are IDEA people. If we're honest with ourselves, all we really want to do is just come up with new ideas. We don't want to mess around with bookkeeping, paying bills on-time, setting up AdWords campaigns, writing content, etc. etc. etc. The LAST thing most of us want to do is to MANAGE other people. It's right up there in our minds with going to the dentist.

One of the biggest barriers to hiring others to do work in our businesses often comes down to the simple fact that we are CONTROL FREAKS. Since the moment we decided to start our own businesses we were 1-Man or 1-Woman shows. We did everything ourselves. We learn to rely on ourselves for every single, little, minute thing. We got used to doing everything. We got used to controlling the entire process.

Hiring someone to do some of our work for us, work that we know needs to get done, isn't natural. It just doesn't feel right. And more often than not, we feel (whether it's true or not) that someone else just can't do as good of a job as we can -- so we continue to do everything ourselves.

The fact of the matter is, if you were able to hire 4 people that were each only HALF as good as you are, you'd end up with DOUBLE THE OUTPUT and most likely twice the income that you can make on your own. That's an extreme example, of course, as "half-ass" work could lead to poor quality and bad results, but let's just say they can write content just as well, but each person needs twice as much time to match your superior content-writing abilities. You'd still double your output in the above example -- all for writing a check to have others handle it for you.

The common trait that I see in some of the most successful entrepreneurs is that they not only are they not afraid to let go and have others do work for them, they THRIVE on delegating to others and letting others "run with" certain things and to even use THEIR IDEAS in their business.

Let me say it again... most very successful entrepreneurs thrive on letting other people contribute their ideas to the business.

As much as our society is driven by personal financial gain, what most people don't realize it that SELF-WORTH and CONTRIBUTION are valued almost as much by people. Everyone wants to feel good about contributing to 'something' and feeling like their life has some sort of meaning.

BONUS TIP: This is why it's absolutely critical that if you hire an outsourced worker (no matter how little you might be paying them to do some simple task) that you let them contribute their own feedback and ideas to the task. Often times it's even best to use THEIR ideas even if your own might have been more ideal in minor situations. You MUST let others contribute.

I think one of the biggest entrepreneurial lessons I've learned myself over the course of many years of starting and running businesses is that most people are a lot more capable than we think. Most people will pleasantly surprise you if you give them a chance to prove themselves.

So to sum things up...

(If it applies to you)

1. Stop being a CONTROL FREAK. Just because you 'can' do it all doesn't mean you have to.

2. In business, leveraging the resource of LABOR will bring you the greatest returns in your business compared to anything else.

3. Learn to LET GO and allow others to handle tasks for you -- even complex ones. Let them contribute and let them show you what they can do. You may be surprised to find that many people will often have ideas that are BETTER THAN YOURS. So get over your own ego (I know I had to) and realize THIS is the key to great profits and success in your business.

I'll continue this series later...

HAVE A COMMENT? WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR FEEDBACK. :)

A conversation with a few friends inspired me to write this short post on education. If you've any comments, please ping me with a tweet.

Everybody feels strongly about education, since it affects us all so much, me doubly so because of my background. I left school at 17 and am largely self taught. What was key for me, was that I'd found my passion - marketing. If you love a subject, then it's easy to teach yourself. I just feel that the priorities in the education system are really misaligned with what's really important. In reality, the vast majority of what you're taught at school will be forgotten, especially if you have no interest in it. As it stands at the moment, if you correctly jump through all the hoops presented to you, you'll end up a university professor. In other words the system is geared towards a definition of success that applies to a tiny minority. There should be more scope for flexibility and less hoop jumping.

The crux of the problem though, is that the vast majority of people get to university and don't have a clue what they want to do - or indeed, what they like and dislike. There are no more hoops to jump through, and they panic - taking the first available career at hand. One that may be finically sensible but could leave them with a job they despise for the next thirty years. They settle, and get stuck. My message to them is that as you spend about 80% of your life working, life is too short for a job you don't love. Don't settle, keep searching, keep hungry.

As for the education system, well I feel that it should be designed to expose students to as many areas as possible, so they get a good indication of what they like and dislike. The system has a victorian factory feel, which needs to be changed. There are bells between shifts, and batches of students - it all feels so antiquated. The stigma attached with not attending higher education should also be removed. Universities aren't for everyone and you won't make society 'fairer' by sending everyone there - you'll just get crap degrees.

If you're interested, I highly recommend Sir Ken Robinson's TED Talks, who articulates the problem far better than I could.

When I started doing this crazy business back in 2007, I
knew NOTHING about running a successful business of my own.

I threw myself in the deep-end ... and shit me, was it deep!

But I had just been made redundant. I dropped out. I had no job. I was
essentially unemployed.

Everything was stacked against me from the start:

* I didn't have a clear business plan.
* I didn't know anyone. I had no mentor.

Truth was ... I didn't have much going for me.

But there was ONE THING I did know.

One thing that I was absolutely sure about. I had absolutely
no doubt in my mind about it.

I wanted success BAD. REAL BAD!

I would do WHATEVER was needed to do to succeed.

Sleep?

Are you kidding me?

I didn't do much of that. Not in the beginning. Not for a long time.

15 hour sessions become normal.

I was stressed as hell.

But I was also "happy as larry".

Strange feeling that - stressed and happy.

I was happy because deep down I knew I would never work
a "day job" again. I would never have a boss again.

Do you want success?

I mean ... do you want success REAL BAD?

Watch this YouTube video by Eric Thomas:
http://goo.gl/KBE8v

Brilliant!

Rock on!

Abhinav "Aby" Gulyani :)

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P.S. Read "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho
This short masterpiece is often compared to The Little Prince.  It is an excellent 
story to keep on hand and reread whenever you feel lost.  The fundamental 
message (I won’t spoil it here) is woven in beautifully clear—but not at all 
juvenile—language that makes it a pleasure to read.  Reread annually.

If you want to make more money in your
business, the fastest way to do it is by
analyzing WHERE your money currently
comes from...

Make a quick list.  What are the top 5
ways that bring in the traffic or sales
to your site each month?

Which ones are the TOP TWO?

Your fastest way to more cash lies
within those 2 things.

And within those 2 things there are
2 ways to get more money out of
each of them...

1.  INCREASE IT
2.  OPTIMIZE IT

If one of your ways happens to be
Google Adwords, then you can increase
it by adding more campaigns and
more keywords.

You can optimize your AdWords campaigns
by taking a few minutes to split-test
some new ads and/or raise your bids slightly
to try and generate more volume (which can
produce more overall net profit.)

Everything you do you can simply do more
of it or optimize.  Both methods can bring
in more cash.  Optimizing is typically the
FASTEST method and should be done first.

NOW GET BACK TO WORK. And find them out ;)

A few things to tell you about today...

First...

"Social Media" is all the rage everywhere you turn...

On TV.  In Magazines.  Newspapers.  Movies.  And more.

You've probably heard "Facebook" and "Twitter"
so many times now in your life that you're probably
tired of hearing about them.

But the big question is... is using Social Media
really good for you and your business?

I think for most entrepreneurs the answer is NO.

At least "no" because of the way most people are
using it.  I've always said that Twitter and Facebook
are great for SYNDICATION efforts.  There are
some great ways to auto-publish links to your
articles, blog posts, etc. with them.  And that is
definitely something you want to be doing.

But I see so many entrepreneurs spending hours
upons hours of their time 'chatting' with people
on Facebook or Twitter.  Somehow they feel that
because they are using those sites, and because
the media is so 'big' on Social Media, that somehow
their business is benefiting from it.

In many cases, it's THE OPPOSITE.

Spending hours of time on Facebook and Twitter
is most likely LOSING MONEY for folks.

In most cases, the traffic that can be generated
from those sites is often very untargeted or very
unqualified.  Facebook Ads is the exception and
I highly recommend you test with it and use it
to generate targeted, profitable leads if you can.

Follow the steps.

1. Go here: http://auctions.godaddy.com
2. Sign up or log in with your existing godaddy account
3. Select the two year option when going through the application/options
4. At the checkout enter the promo code FREETDNAM
5. Godaddy auctions gives you the option to purchase sell and bid on domain names that have expired or are up for sale.
6. "In addition to asking price, GoDaddy Auctions provides potential buyers with data about the domain’s traffic over the last month as well as the domain’s Pay-Per-Click valuation...."
7. As of the date of this post it is still working so get in there QUICK!

Enjoy!

Is it too much to ask marketers to prove they know what they're doing? / July 29, 2010
- Martin Ostrovsky

Being an entrepreneur and meeting up, reading, talking to so many of my kinds , I've grown accustomed to a particular world view. Specifically, that all things in life can and should be measured. Now of course, I don't really think *all* things can be measured. I'm not sure if I can measure how much grief I went through when England was knocked out of the World Cup by Germany (days gone without smiling?), but when it comes to selling yourself and your services, if you can't put up a number to back up your story, I raise an eyebrow.

In particular, the marketing industry draws my ire. The inaccuracies and casino-nature of traditional form of marketing and advertising is well documented ("Half of your marketing budget is wasted - you just don't know which half"), but online marketing campaigns are different. There's a slew of companies whose job is to just measure your marketing initiatives. Analytics, analytics, analytics. So in the face of our current mindset of measure, measure and then measure some more, why is it that so few marketers display their effectiveness?

What I'm angling for is a marketer (or "Guru" as the douch-ier ones like to be called on Twitter) to proudly display on his or her website: "I started a Twitter contest campaign for brand X and increased the number of followers for that brand by 25%, Facebook fans by 10% and regional revenue by $1.5M" Is it really asking too much for people to be able to prove that they know what they're talking about? I couldn't imagine building a piece of software for a client and telling them, as I took their money, "You know, I'm not sure if this is even going to compile. Caveat emptor!"

Now I know those in the biz will counter and say "Yeah, but it's hard to measure. How do we know that the increase in sales were as a result of the Twitter campaign and not the weather or some other externality? How do we accurately recognize and attach revenue to any given marketing activity? Give us marketers a break college boy!"

If I was a "social media marketing agency", I would be damn sure to measure everything that I do for my clients. Why? Because when the next potential client comes along, I can increase my chances of landing business by proving my case with hard numbers. What currently passes for "proof" of competence is putting up the logo of a brand you have worked with. That's garbage.

The only reason I can think of why marketers and their agency colleagues don't show numbers is because there's nothing to brag about. They know we're all playing a game called the Emperor's New Clothes and nobody has stood out yet and yelled, "You're all naked!"

Well, you're all naked.

Original Source