Advertising vs Marketing: What’s the difference?

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Business owners often overlook the monumental difference between marketing and advertising. From colossal highway billboards, full-page print ads, recurrent radio ads, and primetime television airtime, there seems to be a lot more advertising than marketing strategies. While we acknowledge that both are of equal importance, a sense of balance and a strong distinction is necessary to come up with calculated strategies that will ultimately address the growth of any business.

Delineation: Advertising vs. Marketing

Advertising is a single constituent of the whole marketing plan. If marketing were to be a metaphor, it would be that big pie, and advertising is but a slice of the whole piece, together with other slices such as promotion and branding. Advertising is the clear articulation of the promises that you want to tell your customers. You advertise to create interest in your product or service. You make the customers want or need what you’re offering. Effective advertising will initiate the ultimate action plan – buying your product and generating repeat customers. It HAS to invoke a purchase or the actual consumption of your goods or your services. This will be the measure of its success.

Advertising involves ad placement in different mediums such as TV, radio, newspaper, direct mail, and the Internet. The placement, frequency, layout, and content should be concise, clear, and commercially captivating. It should make your product stand out and be memorable at the same time. With the plethora of competitors in the market, appeal is definitely imperative.

Marketing, on the other hand, is the bigger picture. Marketing is a system of strategies that are geared towards knowing your market better. It is a process where you focus on why people buy. What makes them shell out 100 dollars on lingerie and only 10 dollars on food? What kind of branding will get their attention? Will gold packaging really make them get your product when placed right next to a competitor in the supermarket? Marketing entails a closer look at your target demographics and their buying motives. Before you even advertise, you need to lay the basics of an effective ad that will capture your target market. From competitor research, sales strategies, media planning, pricing, advertising, distribution, and customer support, every detail needs attention and research to come up with a seamless marketing plan. All these factors should have a unified purpose to reach your business’s bottom line.

The Cliché Syndrome

In both advertising and marketing, you simply can’t use any more clichés and platitudes. A lot of advertisers and marketing professionals get stuck in hackneyed taglines like “We go the extra mile” or “Best in Business since 1910.” These are empty words that have become so trite that consumers are not buying them anymore. If you are in the process of making a marketing plan, be sure that you stick to concepts that will differentiate you from the rest of the people offering the same thing in the market.

Another common clichéd indication in a business is the use of seemingly important announcements with absolutely ZERO market value. For instance, a restaurant spends on advertising by displaying a big banner that says “Under New Management” or “Newly Renovated.” To the owner, this might seem like a significant feat or maybe even a big difference in customer perception. But to ordinary bystanders, this sign says nothing more than management troubles in the past. If the owner had taken the time to do market research, he would have known that people who eat in his restaurant come back because of the organic produce or the freshly squeezed juices that they don’t find in nearby food establishments.

This is the best example of poor advertising without market research because there’s definitely no market for “Conveniently Located,” “Newly Renovated,” “Wide Selection.” Not even for “Under New Management.” J

Five Ways To Protect Yourself Against Cyber Threat

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As the summer season is underway, people are increasingly taking holidays. Whether holidaymakers have chosen the beach, the countryside, the mountains, or an urban setting, one thing is certain: no one is immune to having their devices stolen or hacked while away from home. Cybersecurity experts at NordVPN provide travelers with seven tips for a cyber-secure holiday.

Back up your data

“My whole life is on my phone” — if this phrase sounds like something you would say, remember to make sure you have your phone’s contents backed up before you leave. After all, no one is safe from losing their phone or having it stolen. This also applies to the SD cards of your cameras.

Safe payment methods

Instead of your main bank card, use a separate prepaid debit card abroad. This card can be topped up with any amount you want. That way, if your card details are stolen, you won’t lose all the money you store there.

Take a portable charger with you

Don’t go out without your portable charger or a charging cable. Why not? Simply because charging stations can be a playground for cybercriminals. A USB/lightning cable can be modified by a malicious person, like in this demo made by a hacker in 2019.

Avoid public Wi-Fi

Using mobile data while traveling is always a good idea because it is encrypted. However, if you have no choice and need to use public Wi-Fi, don’t forget to use a VPN. This tool will protect you from cybercriminals, who can retrieve your personal data through a public network. They later sell the stolen data on the dark web.

Do not post your photos in real-time

Posting a picture of your plane tickets can make your social media followers jealous. But more than that, doing so puts you at risk. It’s a perfect way for cybercriminals to find out your personal data and use it later for various malicious purposes. It’s also worth remembering that posting your holiday photos while you’re still away can be dangerous and can lead to robbery in your home. Whether your account is followed by hundreds of thousands of people or just a few, stay vigilant in all circumstances.

Keep your documents secure

Many people make a photo or a copy of their ID or passport in case they lose their documents. But this is not the most secure way to deal with your documentation. Unencrypted ID or passport scans and photos that you store on your phone can get leaked. Then you run the risk of your identity documents ending up on the dark web. A recent study by NordVPN showed that the American ID card had an average price of $76.45 on the dark web. The average price for an American passport was worth $20.77.

Use unique passwords

Create new passwords before you go abroad. If you have used the same password for all your accounts and one of them gets hacked, it puts the others at risk. Don’t hesitate to use a password manager such as NordPass. It will help you create sophisticated passwords to make life difficult for hackers.

“No one is safe from hackers, who are becoming increasingly creative in stealing and selling your data. It is worth remembering that a data leak can also happen to the service providers you use (hotels or transportation companies often get hacked). So don’t hesitate to ask how they store your data or what kind of encryption and other cybersecurity tools they use before giving your data to these companies,” Daniel Markuson, a cybersecurity expert at NordVPN, recommends.

Meet The Entrepreneur Behind The Cover Of The August 2022 Issue Of MoneyCentral Magazine: Carl Runefelt

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With the crazy crypto boom around the world, there is a bit too much information to process, and hard to take your pick. But few special people have both the understanding as well as the belief. “Carl Runefelt” is one such individual. The billionaire has made his fortune with considerate assessment and belief in the law of attraction. The golden boy from the crypto industry shares an exclusive interview for the readers of MoneyCentral magazine.

Carl is very firm about his vision of crypto being the only currency we will use in the future. He has always believed that one bitcoin can be worth millions in the extended imminent stripe. He has advised us that he has invested in more than four hundred crypto startups, making him possibly the world’s largest crypto angel investor. With a following of over five million subscriptions across all social media platforms, Runefelt is prompting more and more people to share his journey, lifestyle, and reliance on the decree of magnetism. His youtube channel has been one of the most significant apparatuses in his accomplishment and distinction.

Runefelt, who hails from Sweden, dropped out of school early as he had a hard time focusing because of attention deficit disorder (ADD). He started working at a department store for a living, but within two years, he realized that he could never be successful or make his parents proud if he continued in that profession.

The founder of The Moon Group’s faith is in the law of attraction. He believes firm visions of your future can lead to possibilities of all your goals and dreams. The know-how of leveraging the internet to mint money and the ability to foresee the future of digital money have allowed him to climb up the success ladder.

Carl says, “I began to picture myself as a rich, cheerful and effective individual.” He even pretended that he was successful even though he was still working at the grocery store. He always took the train to his job, but he imagined driving a Ferrari in his head. He also started to look for yachts for sale online, envisaging that he was ready to purchase one. His life changed in just a couple of years more than he thought or most people would think could be possible.

Runefelt says, “There is no similarity between then and now.” He started probing for methods to get successful; he ran over a few speculations and meetings with fruitful individuals. What struck him more than anything else was the “law of attraction.”

Twenty-seven-year-old Runefelt mentally transformed himself into a successful person. From where he was, to where he is now, and where he’s headed. It’s been a shift of mindset and approach towards life. Self-belief and optimism about the future gave him the enthusiasm, courage, and strength required to overcome the barriers.

Carl did his research on cryptocurrency extensively a few years back, both online and by pouring through whatever literature was available at the time. He concluded that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins are designed to work as a medium of exchange. Educating people frequently about the traders and investors would be necessary and became his life’s purpose. Being a millennial, Runefelt realised the power of the digital world early on.

In no time, he created a YouTube channel, TheMoonCarl, to disseminate adequate and correct information about the control and value of cryptocurrencies, educating people on its nuances and how it’s competing against a broken system.

Runefelt says, “My life completely changed in just a couple of years, more than I thought or what most could even think possible. There’s no comparison between now and then. Being with people who share your ideals and goals is important; your company matters.”

He believes achieving success isn’t a matter of luck; it’s a decision. He says: “I thank myself every day. I decided to become the person I am today because I wasn’t happy with who I was before. The way to become whoever you want is to believe in your mind that you’re already that person. Act as if it’s already your reality, and you’ll attract it.”

The entrepreneur wants to be remembered for his extensive career. Wealth creation is no longer a motivating factor; he wants to contribute to society through philanthropic ventures. He says: “I want to be remembered as a great person who did great things. I already know that I’ll be one of the wealthiest people in the world, so it’s no longer a big motivator anymore. I want people to remember me as someone who did well for other people.”

In recent times, Carl announced his official partnership with Formula 2 & driver Ralph Boschung. An avid fan of racing, Runefelt’s multi-million-dollar sponsorship puts his name “The Moon” at the forefront of Formula 2. Runefelt says, “Bringing mass crypto adoption is my goal for 2022. Not only do I wish to bring more awareness to crypto but also to children with disabilities.” Carl himself is donating 30,000 USD every race to his charity for helping children in need and is motivating people to do so as well over a QR code printed on the car’s nose. “Formula 2 gives me a platform for both subjects that are near and dear to my heart. Crypto has built my wealth over the years, which has allowed me to make major donations to foundations that help children with major disabilities such as Down Syndrome, which my little brother has.”

Carl Runefelt, a serial entrepreneur and renowned crypto leader, is set to launch another exciting blockchain project, CryptoJobs.com. CryptoJobs.com aims to revolutionize the Web3 job space with an innovative employment platform for job seekers and employers.

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5 Things To Consider Before Investing In A New Business

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For any investor, the essential thing is to see a return on their investment. The primary reason why investors put their money into a business is to make more money. However, the company investing data demonstrate that this is not always the case. Many investors have lost money as a result of a company concept that appeared to be “infallible.”

Investment is a business facet that necessitates meticulousness and a broad basis of financial understanding. Anyone who enters this profession must be willing and prepared to learn many vital measures for successful investing. This post will go over “5 things you need to know before investing in a new business.

1. Understand The Business Structure Completely

One of the essential things to know before investing is understanding business structure. A thorough grasp of the business structure is one of the things to know before investing in a new firm. This is significant because it will impact how the IRS and legal system evaluate liabilities and earnings.

When you begin to understand the company structure thoroughly, you will be able to predict the likelihood that the firm will fail. According to the Business Administration – about half of small enterprises fail within their first five years.

Understanding the business structure will assist you in determining if you will be personally liable for any unpaid debts or liabilities if the firm fails. As a result, we usually urge potential investors to consider carefully minimizing their responsibility.

2. Recognize The Importance Of Patience

Before investing in a firm, you should know that you may not see any profits for several years. That’s why we refer to it as comprehending the essence of patience. Any prospective investor must realize that investments are similar to seeds planted in a firm.

They, like seeds, require a certain amount of time before they begin to produce excellent harvests. You should be aware that the longer your cultivation period, the greater your profits. When you invest as a new investor in a business, you should know that the startup will require all the funds it can receive. That’s why patience is something significant that an investor must do before investing in a new business.

3. Conduct Your Research

Knowing the importance of all factors to consider before investing in a new business is essential. Before investment, do as much research as you can. This implies you must be familiar with the background of everyone involved in the business’s management. Before investing essential resources in a firm, you should research the industry and market competition.

In reality, you should request a thorough written business plan that includes the company description, market study, SWOT analysis, financial strategy, marketing methods, and so on. Making your study will assist you in determining whether the company has an actual plan to carry out its grandiose aspirations.

4. Interacting With Customers

Besides financial factors to consider before investing, interaction with customers is also essential. It is also beneficial to converse with consumers or customers. Collect as much consumer information as possible. First, we recommend speaking with at least 3 to 5 people who use that business or product.

The explanation for this is straightforward. You’re attempting to gain personal knowledge of how that thing feels and how valuable it is. You would also receive pertinent information on any flaws in the product or service that should be addressed.

5. Make A Diversification Strategy

It is essential to develop and implement a diversification strategy. As a private investor who only invests in two or three firms, your chances of success are small. According to Kauffman Foundation research, the standard technique is to have roughly 7 to 10 investments.

As a result, it is critical to determine how much you plan to devote to your asset class. The objective of diversifying your assets is to reduce risk while increasing your chances of success.

Last Thoughts

Follow the above five things you need to know before investing in a new business. The secret to successful business investment is avoiding investing money you cannot afford to lose. As a result, we recommend that you should not invest in a company where the only way out is through an initial public offering. Before investing, you should learn how to invest wisely.

Five Strategies Businesses Can Implement To Adapt To The New Normal

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SKYBIZ, the business solutions arm of SKY Cable Corporation, partners with Microsoft’s Crayon Software Experts Philippines, Inc. to help entrepreneurs and enterprise owners shift and grow amid today’s digital age of doing business as it conducted a special webinar event, showcasing the features of the all-in-one business suite Microsoft 365.

Alongside the introduction and demonstration on how to use Microsoft 365 to help in aiding business operations in today’s times, the event, in line with SKYBIZ’s ongoing Grow Together campaign, shared business tips and factors to consider to sustain work progress and productivity.

Here are some key takeaways from the webinar hosted by SKYBIZ and Crayon Software Experts Philippines, Inc. that would help small, medium, and large enterprises grow their ventures to new heights in today’s age of digital transformation:

1) Business alteration and reset

Indeed the pandemic has changed our way of living, including how we do business.

According to Crayon Philippines’ solutions architect Danica Francisco, many businesses are finding ways to make their businesses thrive amid these uncertain times, ushering the new normal in how we communicate and transact with our clientele.

“We’ve seen how businesses changed and shifted focus on making their ventures thrive. I’m not only talking about the large enterprises, even the small businesses. Here, we could see the resiliency of these businesses, some didn’t make it, but others thrived in today’s times,” Francisco shared.

Shifting to digital could be beneficial for many business owners in order to cope with the ongoing new normal set-up and make operations accessible and run more smoothly.

2) People are the driving force behind progress

Despite the ongoing shift in today’s digital transformation, people are still pivotal in driving success for all businesses.

With this in mind, companies and smaller businesses alike should continue addressing the needs of their employees to establish trust and bolster rapport in boosting work productivity.

Plus, considering a more work-friendly set-up for workers, including the implementations of work-from-home or hybrid arrangements, would be beneficial in promoting work productivity and safety.

“It is important for organizations and companies to address their current needs. We know that it is difficult to go to work due to these uncertain times with COVID affecting the transport sector. We need to think of how we can help our people to stay motivated at work,” Francisco added.

3) Real-time collaboration

One of the worries of business owners is how flexible working set-ups would hamper real-time collaboration, with employees now working apart from one another to maintain their safety.

But with the help of modern technology, including the Microsoft 365 business suite, businesses can run smoothly as usual with real-time collaboration applications that would help them interact with one another and continue doing their work together virtually.

Another vital factor to note in virtual real-time collaboration is to introduce a user-friendly interface so all employees, whether tech-savvy or not, can seamlessly conduct business activities without the worry of being left behind.

4) Strengthening digital security

Going digital may also introduce new risks, including cyber threats that would potentially affect one’s business.

From stealing personal information to breaching bank funds, investing in additional digital security measures is key to protecting all crucial data from hackers and other digital perpetrators alike.

5) Taking note of costs

Shifting to digital may also be heavy on the pockets of most businesses.

With costs in the equation, it is apt to find an all-in-one solution to cut costs while enjoying the benefits of virtual real-time collaboration and digital security.

This is where Microsoft 365 enters, providing a business suite for collaborating through its Teams app with access to all of the essential Microsoft Office applications, which is helpful in documenting and presenting their day-to-day progress.

Plus, its security features also ensure companies and business ventures that their vital information is locked in within their system to avoid potential digital threats, whether on mobile or on their computers.

Together with SKYBIZ’ reliable internet connectivity, users can fully utilize Microsoft 365 and integrate it in their day-to-day activities at ease.

Upon subscribing to SKYBIZ’s BIZBB PRO Fiber, it comes with speeds of up to 200 Mbps and free access to Microsoft 365, plus gift vouchers from Grab or ABS-CBN Dash to help in sustaining business growth in today’s digital age.

Business owners can also subscribe to SKYBIZ’s BIZTastic Bundeals, which also come with fiber business internet connectivity, plus access to Microsoft 365 and a free ABS-CBN Dash voucher. Promo is extended until June 30, 2022.

To know more about SKYBIZ’s internet plans and promo updates, visit www.skybiz.com.ph.

5 Effective Ways To Market Your Website In 2022

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Now that you’ve got your website up and running, the next issue on your mind will undoubtedly be how to advertise your website. Is it possible that if a website is made on the internet but is not connected anyplace, no one will ever see it?

Suppose you’re curious about how to advertise a new business website, and you’re still in the early phases of your business. In that case, you’re probably scared that the only efficient approach to increase visitors will be to spend a fortune on ads.

Fortunately, there are several ways to advertise a business site available. This piece will look at a few ways to promote your business website in 2022.

1. Search Engine Optimization

The most important bit you can do to promote your website is to use SEO or search engine optimization. If you don’t keep your website search engine friendly, you risk it becoming lost in the flow of information. There are over 2 billion websites on the internet, and more are being created every second.

There are thousands of online ways to promote a business that may help you enhance your website’s SEO, so you don’t need to pay an SEO consultant. Most SEO issues on your website may be resolved by yourself with a few basic tweaks.

There are two significant factors to consider when it comes to your website’s SEO: on-page SEO and off-page SEO.

Everything viewable on your website is referred to as on-page SEO. This includes content, pictures, videos, meta descriptions, responsive design, and even your website’s structure.

Off-page SEO refers to what goes on behind the scenes of a website. This includes things like who is linked to your site, how authoritative it is, and how engaged readers are with it.

2. Social Media

Social media is the most popular free means of marketing new websites for a good reason. Platforms with billions of users, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, make it simple to interact with other local companies and advertise your own. These all social media platforms help you with how to advertise your business website.

However, before you begin using social media, you should examine your company’s brand voice, whom you’re marketing to, and whom you’re attempting to reach. If you have enough money to spend on advertising your website, Facebook Ads are the best way to market your business on social media.

Facebook Ads include many targeting choices, making it simple to narrow down your target demographic. You may also opt to target folks who are friends of your existing followers or who follow specified other pages.

3. Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is a terrific strategy to promote your business and get connections to your new underused website. To demonstrate your competence, you publish a guest post for a reputable blog in your sector (or a related one). You’ll be able to route traffic from a trustworthy source back to your new website by linking back to it at least once in each guest post.

Whether you’re a new business or in marketing, you may find it tough to get a guest posting place on some websites due to circumstances beyond your control. Given that guest blogging for other publications used to be a hugely popular SEO practice, many websites either thoroughly scrutinize who guest writes for them or don’t accept entries.

The most important thing to remember with guest blogging is that it is less about SEO and more about developing connections with the publication and your audience. This is one of the best ways to promote your business website.

4. Content Marketing

Information marketing is one of the best ways to advertise your business site since it boosts your SEO while also producing content that your target audience will find beneficial. A popular fallacy is that to perform content marketing, you must blog, but this is not always the case. While blogs are the tried-and-true content marketing channel, you can also make videos, launch a podcast, or even start a newsletter centered on your work.

An important point to remember about content marketing is that the information you publish must be helpful, intriguing, or entertaining to your target audience. Doing a lot of keyword research before you start is the most significant way to ensure you’re answering people’s queries.

5. Email Marketing

If you want a tried-and-true way to promote directly to your consumers, email marketing is a terrific alternative. Establishing an email marketing campaign is simple once your business site is fully operational and many email marketing services are available for free or at a small fee.

The amazing thing about email marketing is that people don’t even have to visit your website to sign up for your email newsletter, so you can start advertising your new website before it ever goes live. Most email marketing programs let you share a signup URL with your subscribers so they may join your email list without having to visit your website.

Final Words

Now you don’t have to worry about how to advertise a new business website. Some of the methods discussed above will be more appropriate for your website than others, but they should all help you take it to the next level. Every website marketing approach we’ve covered will assist you in getting the word out about your site.

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Top 3 Best Business Ideas For Every Aspiring Entrepreneur For 2022

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Being your own boss sounds just so enticing that most people leave the corporate world to start their own business. With the promise of time flexibility, an ideal effort-to-income proportion, and the chances of limitless growth, more and more individuals are venturing into the business scene and tinkering with their entrepreneurial instincts.

If you have been considering starting your own business but don’t know where to look for ideas, then this should be a good read.

Make Money from your Hobbies

There’s probably nothing more fun than making money from something that you already enjoy doing for free. Hobbies such as photography, sewing, cooking, and even gardening are a few niches that can turn into promising businesses. The key is making time to learn beyond the basics and to hang out with people who can help you improve your hobby and turn it into a moneymaking craft. If you simply like taking photos, then you may want to take extra photography workshops and become an events photographer in the long run. Occasions like birthdays, showers, and weddings happen all year round so if you take it seriously, your hobby may just land you frequent bookings for the whole year.

Craig Jenkins-Sutton, the owner of Topiarius, considered himself a green thumb and did gardening only as a hobby. He had no formal landscape training but his love for designing gardens has turned into a business with average annual revenue of $1.2 million. Megan Duck had a similar story from sewing. From her first project of sewing ornate linings for the coffins of her employer’s Halloween décor to the silk chandeliers that she made for The Mirage in Vegas, her average annual income from her sewing and rental business is now at $6 million. Both have been featured on the site Entrepreneur.com, and they continue to inspire new breeds of entrepreneurs across continents.

Turn your Network into a Pool of Talents

The 21st century has definitely changed the business landscape in terms of offshore and outsourced projects. From BPOs building operations facilities in Asian countries, to Western brands banking on offshore talents for services like accounting, design, translation, IT jobs, etc., you cannot argue that there is indeed a growing demand for a diverse and competent workforce who can get the job done without having to think of added operational expenses and employee benefits.

If you are one of the rare people who have quite a diverse network of skilled people, then this simple “advantage” can be turned into a thriving business. Third party vendors like agencies are becoming lucrative businesses because they bank on a local pool of talents those offshore providers are looking for. For instance, if you are an engineering major, you may have a lot of connections with a similar crowd. You may find it surprising that there are actually dozens of real estate companies who are looking for freelance teams who can do structural drawings and renderings on their behalf. A lot of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean students also run online to find English teachers who can teach from home. If you have friends or relatives who fit the bill, then you may want to connect them with these students. The trick is finding legitimate providers and matching them with the skills of the people who are already in your existing network. Just be sure that all terms and fees are set at the beginning to maintain a smooth and professional workflow for everybody. Remember, you want to build bridges while helping people and earning in the process. The last thing on your list is a fatal mismatch that can give your “agency” negative publicity. If your “hires” provide quality service, then referrals can come pouring in. Good output always translates to better business transactions.

A Pocketful of Passion

Most of us have passions. Genuine passion means loving something on a deeper and more profound level than just a hobby that you simply enjoy. Some develop a different passion for vintage cars and end up with an auto shop that specializes in car restoration. Your passion for instruments or the performing arts such as dancing, acting or singing can be turned into conceptualizing a small school where you can help more people share and develop the same passion as yours.

Terry Finley had an intense passion for horse racing which prompted him to buy his first horse at $5,000. With a lot of learning and advice from the pros, he has managed to build a business with 55 syndicated horses and 550 investors who also earn when their chosen horses are sold, bred, and even when they win those infamous horse races. Terry has mastered the art of the trade and decided to share his passion with the same people who loved the things that he was into. In the process, he was able to start West Point Thoroughbreds, a label that now earns around $6 million annually.

While being an entrepreneur takes a lot of technical strain in terms of cash flow, permits, and marketing strategies, newbies have to realize that they definitely need to start somewhere. They can start small, but at least take the first step and test the waters with one foot. Starting a business and building a label empire does not happen overnight but when you start to take off, you’ll realize that you’ve built a business that will be positively rewarding even after retirement age. By then, you’ll realize that those paperwork, sleepless nights, and zero months have finally become worth it.

Meet The Entrepreneur Behind The Cover Of The June 2022 Issue Of MoneyCentral Magazine: Dr. Apollo Emeka

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Dr. Apollo Emeka is a leadership and organizational coach and consultant with a vision to see everyone reach their full potential for good. If you saw Apollo as a kid, you probably wouldn’t expect he’d grow into the type of guy who’d be fortunate enough to start, grow, and run his own business. In fourth grade, he essentially stopped going to school and officially opted for the GED at 17 years old. Few would have thought he would ever earn a doctorate, join the FBI, become a Green Beret, or become a successful entrepreneur.

Apollo continuously took unconventional and sometimes counterintuitive steps to achieve success. He distilled what he learned as he reached milestone after milestone and distilled it into a system that helps others achieve seemingly impossible personal and professional feats. Apollo is the ultimate coach, consultant, and accountability partner to help high-performers stay focused on the strategies and actions they commit to.

MoneyCentral Magazine recently caught up with Apollo to discuss his journey in the industry, and here’s what went down:

Could you please tell our readers a brief background about yourself and how you became a leadership and organizational coach?

Growing up, I didn’t go to many schools and never graduated high school. Despite my unconventional start, I had ambitious hopes and dreams. I knew if I had any chance of accomplishing greatness, I’d have to do it unconventionally. By the time I was 36, I had accomplished nearly everything I had set out to do when I was 18.

I battled my way through community college, then went on to earn a BA and a doctorate from USC. I served in the FBI for six years; I became a Green Beret and did Special Forces work worldwide, built and sold a business, and started a family. My ability to accomplish so many big tasks in such a short time frame drew the attention of a friend and fellow entrepreneur, Chris, who asked me to consult on his business. That was 2016, and he was my first client. I’ve always had a passion for growth and performance improvement, but it was Chris who helped me see that I could build another business out of that passion.

Is there a particular moment that comes to mind when you realized leadership coaching was your calling?

Some leaders energize and empower teams, and other leaders create chaos and stress. Like most people, I’ve worked for both types of leaders, which made me understand the impact leadership can have on people and outcomes within organizations.

When I attended the Special Forces qualification course, I learned how transferable leadership skills are. I came out the other end of that 15-month course completely transformed. I figured if I could learn all of these skills, anybody could. I carry the philosophy into my own company and help other entrepreneurs embody the same skills.

How did you get into this line of work? What qualifies you to be a leadership and organizational coach?

Coaching is such a strange profession right now. There are coaching certifications you can earn in a matter of hours online and others that take months of study, in-person meetings, and supervised coaching sessions. But I believe that anyone can be a coach in areas where they are knowledgeable.

Every single member of a Special Forces team is a coach in their areas of expertise. My specialty was communications, so I regularly coached my teammates on radio operations. I’d also get coached by our medics on things like hemorrhage control and get coached by our engineers on the safe handling of explosives. I believe that what qualifies one to be a coach is the proven experience in impacting the desired outcomes of the person they are coaching. And that if you are a member of a team that has skills that others don’t, it is your obligation to coach them.

So, what qualifies me to be a coach? I have a track record of personal accomplishments despite daunting obstacles. I’ve built and sold a business, I’ve coached across language and cultural differences worldwide as a Green Beret, and my doctoral work focused on organizational development and leadership. Every time I help clients achieve their goals, I become a little more qualified. Being a great human is all about continuous learning and development. Coaches have an even greater obligation to continuous improvement. I never stopped learning.

What are some primary issues that you see your clients going through?

All of our clients want to shift their team culture to incorporate diverse perspectives and generate high-performance results. Their challenges range from managing change and its fear to understanding what skills and systems will drive high-performance. Even as teams become more diverse, the status quo is a powerful cultural force that prevents diverse perspectives and ideas from being leveraged to their fullest potential. As a result, innovation efforts fall flat, things feel overwhelming, calendars are packed, and organizations plunge into a reactive fire-fighting mentality. Our services are designed to help our clients overcome these challenges and achieve consistent success.

What is the most difficult part of your job?

The most difficult part of the job is also the most fun. Unlike most coaching and consulting agencies, our goal is to build capacity within the companies we work with. We’re not trying to be the smartest people in the room; instead, we aim to help our clients become stronger, better, faster versions of themselves. When clients have a growth mindset, their ability to generate high-performance results improves quickly and dramatically. On the other hand, working with some clients feels a bit like trying to coach a couch potato to run a marathon. It doesn’t do any good for us to run the marathon for them. But that’s also the fun part because everyone gets super pumped when the couch potato not only crosses the finish line but becomes a motivator and coach themselves. That’s a cultural shift!

Another big challenge is that we are committed to outcomes, not deliverables. We don’t get tunnel vision on completing a deliverable at all costs, even when we know it won’t move the needle. We stay focused on the desired outcome and constantly engage in reflection and retrospection with our clients to understand how we need to pivot our activities to get the results we all want.

What form of marketing has worked well for your business throughout the years?

I take two approaches to marketing: passive and active. Our passive efforts consist of thought leadership content. We’ve gotten a surprising amount of business from videos and blog posts that resonate with people.

My active marketing approach is hyperfocused networking. I’m not talking about going to the Chamber of Commerce meeting and swapping business cards, then having ten lunch meetings to keep in touch. I have a list of companies we want to work with, and I actively ask happy clients and close personal connections to make introductions with the pretext of working together. I’m surprised by how few people take this direct approach. It’s how we’ve generated the bulk of our business.

What is the toughest decision you had to make in the last few months?

In the last few months, we had to make the tough decision to end our work with a client once I realized our values weren’t in alignment. Our company values are courage, inclusion, authenticity, intention, and growth, and we take them very seriously. This client didn’t display the courage necessary to generate the ambitious results they said they wanted. It felt like we wanted to hit their goals more than they did. It also became painfully clear that this client was not committed to inclusion which is inconsistent with the makeup of our company and the vision of the world we seek to co-create.

We don’t expect the companies we work with to mirror our values. We look for companies with complementary values that create magical synergies to foster close working relationships and create mind-blowing results. That type of synergy is what we have with the rest of the leaders and teams we work with.

What new business would you love to start?

I’m completely obsessed with our current business, and I’ve prioritized exciting ways we’re going to grow and expand to serve more people even better.

That said, if I were starting a business today, it would probably be in the mental health space. Emotional intelligence is so important, and most people are never explicitly taught how to develop it. Couple that with the increasingly complicated nature of just being a human, and you get a massive market need and an opportunity to do some real good in the world.

What is the best advice you have ever been given?

The selection process for Special Forces is a physically, mentally, and emotionally daunting three-week event. On the first day of selection, a crusty old medic with a thick Boston accent addressed around 500 other soldiers hoping to qualify for Special Forces and me and said, “I know you’re all here because you think you want to be hard. But there’s hard smart, and there’s hard stupid. If you’re about to hurt yourself or get injured, just stop and come see me.” He paused a moment and then exclaimed, “Don’t be hard f***ing stupid!”

That quote really hit me. I hear that thick Boston accent every time I think that I might be pushing myself too hard. You can’t fight if you’re broken!

What advice would you give to a newbie Entrepreneur setting up their first business?

People tend to focus too much on admin and operations early in the business formation stage. Like, “Should it be an LLC or an S-Corp?”Or, “What kind of software should I use?” The only thing you should be thinking about early on is, “How am I going to create massive amounts of value?” It means finding a big problem you can solve for someone or a massive opportunity you can seize.

If you can create an opportunity for someone to save or gain $10 in value, you can easily charge them $1. That math works into the millions. If you can create an opportunity for someone to save or gain $10million in value, you can charge them $1million. Before you think about what you’re going to sell, identify a target market and talk to them about their challenges and hopes. Once you’re really clear on the size of the value there, you can start building your product or service to create massive value and capture a portion of that.

Top 5 Things All Small Business Owners Should Be Doing Every Single Month

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At the end of each month, every business owner should be reflecting on what they have accomplished and then planning for the next month’s success. This applies to both their personal and professional lives.

If you’re a business owner wishing for an even more successful year, consider adopting each of the things every business should do listed below.

1. Recognize Your Value Drivers

One of the main points of small business must-haves is understanding your value drivers. Understanding what resonates with your audience, whether you’ve been in the company for five months or five years, is a significant element in deepening engagement, brand loyalty, and repeat buyers, readers, or watchers. Knowing what works doesn’t feel evident at times, but don’t scrimp on the facts.

Examine your previous six months of business—where did your clients or viewers come from? Which of your products, services, or blog posts was the most popular? Make a comprehensive list of all the places you collect data, such as social media, email marketing, accounting software, and your website.

2. Create Client Personas

You’re in a better position to revisit your dream customer now that you have a more profound knowledge of your value drivers. You most likely did this to some level when you first started your firm. However, as you gain experience, your clientele will alter and adapt. In those first few years, you learn a lot and have a much better feel of who your primary consumer is.

3. Refresh Your Digital Presence

Now that you’ve got an amazing idea of who your ideal customer is, it’s time to align your digital presence accordingly. Your social media, website, and message come in the list of things needed to start a business. All should be entirely consistent with your primary mission, target audience, and overall business objectives. If you’ve been in the game for a long, or if you’re swiftly developing a better understanding of your target audience, it’s time for a refresh.

4. Invest in the CEO

One of the best things every business should invest in is the boss. As a business owner, it’s tempting to place yourself at the bottom of the priority list. You’re a one-woman show for many of us, the Chief Do-er, planner, Executive Assistant, and so on. When that is the case, and everything relies on you, it is even more critical to invest in yourself.

You are your own company. This can take a variety of forms, but now is a good moment to consider what investing in your company’s CEO entails. It might indicate that you’re ready to set new boundaries.

5. Carry Out Your Accounting

Nothing is worse than arriving at the end of the year and having to slog through an entire year’s worth of accounting in one sitting. Adding this to your business monthly checklist will make your future self pleased. Sign up for Quick books and establish a separate bank account and Paypal account to keep your company and personal costs separate.

If you plan to sell anything on your website, you should use a separate payment gateway such as Stripe. Use a scanning app to scan your actual receipts as soon as you get them. Make accounting files separated by year, then a month.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, the things listed in this article can assist you in developing and implementing successful plans to help your company succeed this month. The stronger these five variables are, the more likely you are to succeed.

Meet The Entrepreneur Behind The Cover Of The May 2022 Issue Of MoneyCentral Magazine: Steven Cravotta

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Steven Cravotta is the self-taught creator and developer of the original Wordle app, a word-based puzzle app he uploaded to the Apple’s App Store when he was 18. He eventually abandoned the entire project because it averaged merely one or two downloads per day in the four years since he uploaded the app.

Fast forward to last December; after checking the app’s stats, he shockingly noticed it had 500,000 downloads in just five days! After investigating the source of the spike in downloads, he realized that thousands of people looking for the web-only game “Wordle,” created by software engineer Josh Wardle, were downloading his app by mistake.

“I was doing one-two downloads a day, and then all of a sudden, a couple of weeks ago, I checked my developer dashboard, and the graph just went vertical, and I was getting 50,000 downloads every day,” Cravotta told ABC News.

Instead of keeping all the proceeds for himself, Cravotta reached out to Wardle and offered to team up with him to impact the world positively. Cravotta decided to donate $50,000 of the app’s revenue to Boost West Oakland – an organisation that provides free tutoring and mentorship for children in Oakland, Calif.

MoneyCentral Magazine recently caught up with Steven to discuss his journey in the industry, and here’s what went down:

What are you currently doing to maintain/grow your app?

Currently, I am marketing Puff Count on TikTok. I make videos educating viewers on the dangers of smoking nicotine and then offer a solution to help them quit. You can check out my TikTok account here: www.tiktok.com/@puffcount.

What social media platforms do you usually use to increase your brand’s awareness?

TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are all platforms I utilize to increase Puff Count’s awareness. TikTok has been the most successful platform thus far.

What is your experience with paid advertising, like PPC or sponsored content campaigns? Does it work?

In my opinion, paid advertising is getting less and less effective every year. Apple’s new privacy updates have made tracking users exponentially harder, which is a great thing for privacy, but bad news for paid ad platforms.

What is your main tactic when it comes to making more people aware of your app and engaging your customers? How did your app stand out?

My main tactic is posting as much content as I can on TikTok. Creating TikToks costs me virtually nothing but my time, so my customer acquisition cost is $0. Puff Count stands out from the crowd because, unlike other quit smoking apps, it will guide you through the process of reducing your usage to make quitting more achievable.

What form of marketing has worked well for your app throughout the years?

Organic marketing has worked well for all of my mobile apps. Because the margins on mobile apps are slim, you have to get creative in the way you market.

What is the toughest decision you had to make in the last few months?

Removing the paywall from Puff Count. I want to make quitting nicotine accessible for anyone and everyone who wants to, and that requires me to make Puff Count a completely free application.

What money mistakes have you made along the way that others can learn from (or something you’d do differently)?

There are no mistakes, only lessons. I learned that your product would never be perfect; you just have to keep moving fast and listening to customer feedback.