What Does the Color of Your Logo Say About Your Business? (Infographic)

Close your eyes and picture McDonald's famous golden arches. Now, imagine if they had been gray. Would the burger chain be the international success it is today?

The color of some logos is more powerful than the logos themselves -- think the red of Coca-Cola or the pink of Barbie or the rainbow colors of Google.

Color can become a key part of any brand. Whether your logo is red and intense, yellow and joyful or black and mysterious, its colors are announcing something to the customer. As you create the perfect logo, be sure to pay attention to the color messages you're sending.

Check out the infographic below to figure out exactly what your logo's colors are telling potential customers.

From Entrepreneur

The Single Most Important Habit of Successful Entrepreneurs

In his book No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs, business coach and consultant Dan Kennedy reveals the steps behind making the most of your frantic, time-pressured days so you can turn time into money. In this edited excerpt, the author describes the one habit you should adopt--and stick to without fail--if you want to be successful.

I'm sure there are exceptions somewhere, but so far, in 35-plus years of taking note of this, everybody I've met and gotten to know who devoutly adheres to this discipline becomes exceptionally successful and everybody I’ve met and gotten to know who ignores this discipline fails. Is it possible that this one discipline alone is so powerful it literally determines success or failure?

The discipline I'm talking about is punctuality -- being where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there, as promised, without exception, without excuse, every time, all the time. I cannot tell you how important I believe this is. But I’ll tell you some of the reasons why I believe in its indescribably great importance.

First of all, being punctual gives you the right—the positioning—to expect and demand that others treat your time with the utmost respect. You cannot reasonably hope to have others treat your time with respect if you show little or no respect for theirs. So if you're not punctual, you have no leverage, no moral authority. But the punctual person gains that advantage over staff, associates, vendors, clients, everybody.

It is my conviction that a person who cannot keep appointments on time, cannot keep scheduled commitments or cannot stick to a schedule cannot be trusted in other ways either. There is a link between respect for others' time and respect for others’opinions, property, rights, agreements and contracts. A person reveals a great deal about himself by his punctuality or lack of punctuality. As a general rule of thumb, I use this as a means of determining whether or not I want to do business with someone. And, when I violate this, as I occasionally foolishly do, I always get burned.

Let me give you one example. Dozens of years ago, a person seeking to do business with me arranged to meet me at an airport, where I had a 90-minute layover. We agreed, and I confirmed by fax that we would meet at my arrival gate, at my arrival time, and then go to that airline's club room right there on the concourse for the meeting. When I arrived, the guy wasn't there. Some ten minutes later, I'm paged and told to meet him in the main terminal where he is because he ran late getting to the airport. It takes me ten minutes on the tram to get to the main terminal, and I have to cut another ten minutes of our meeting to allow time to get back to my gate. I have to go through this to meet with a man so disrespectful of a commitment made and of my time that he cannot organize his life to arrive at a meeting on time in his own home city. If he could not be relied on to honor such an easy commitment, why should anybody believe he would honor more important ones?

Still, violating my own rule, I went ahead and accepted this guy as a client. It was predictably ugly. He lied, he cheated, and he was completely disorganized, dysfunctional, and unreasonable. He sucked up a pretty good chunk of my time, and it cost me thousands of dollars to get rid of him.

Now, here's a“success secret”for you: I'm not the only person to have figured out this punctuality-integrity link. I'm just not that smart. I’ve stumbled on something that a whole lot of other smart, successful, and influential people already know and secretly use to make their determinations about who they will buy from or not buy from, do business with or not do business with, help or not help, trust or distrust. If you are not a punctual person, others you wish to positively influence negatively judge you.

If you think that successful people—people you want to deal with—do not have their own little“systems”for judging people, you're very naïve. Not only do they have such a system, most successful people make a point of having “instant reject criteria,” to save time in determining who they want to deal with and who they don't.

One of my earliest business mentors said that there were only two good reasons for being late for a meeting with him: one, you're dead; two, you want to be.

So, to borrow from Dale Carnegie, if you want to win friends and influence people, be punctual. And, if you'd like to save yourself a lot of time and trouble, start using this as a means of judging those who would do business with you. 

From Entrepreneur

Hate Small Talk? How to Break the Ice When Networking for Business

One of the most important aspects of networking is the small talk that occurs at networking functions. These ice-breaking conversations are important because they are the first opportunities to identify and begin to grow connections with other people, connections that may lead to business referrals in both the short and long term.

The fear of small talk is a common objection those who shy away from networking. Many people simply dread thought of having to carry on conversations with people they don't know. It's easy to label these people as shy, but only a small minority of people is too shy to enjoy talking with others. Most people aren’t afraid to talk, they are just intimidated by the task of finding something to talk about.

For this reason, it's important for business owners to stay on top of pop culture and current events. The latest issues and stories in the news are great ways to break the ice and help you find common ground with a person you may never have met before and with whom you may not have much in common.

But with the media explosion, it's increasingly difficult to have a firm grasp on water-cooler talk, particularly when it comes to conversations with people in different age brackets.

So, how do you start - and maintain - a conversation at a networking or other event with someone you don't know at all?

The answer is clear. . . just ask questions.

This sounds simple, because it is. A great way to get people to talk is to ask a few"feeder" questions that will help you learn what the other person is interested in. Then, simply home in on that subject.

You don't have to know anything about the topic to converse about the topic.

You just have to know enough to ask the questions.

Now I can hear many of you groaning: "I'm already working 24-7, now I have to constantly search for articles on pop culture and current events?"

It's easier you think. Mobile news sites such as CNN.com are have set up their pages with easy-to-read convenient categories, such as Top News, Sports, Entertainment and Tech. Either at night or first thing in the morning, you take just a few minutes to read the headlines, and maybe the first one to two sentences. You’d be surprised how much you can learn about “what's hot” from just a cursory glance. You have enough information to start asking questions and conversing with someone new.

Another important point: By asking questions, you make the person you're talking to feel like an expert.

I still remember when I realized the value of asking questions and letting someone answer them. I was flying for business, and just prior to taking off, I struck up a conversation with the person seated next to me. I’m not sure what started the conversation, but I wasn’t familiar with the business he was in, and I asked a question. That question led to another, then another. . . and at the end of that two-hour flight, I realized that he had talked the entire time. We made a good connection, I had learned something new, and, as we were gathering our belongings, he complimented me for being a good conversationalist.

A savvy networker I know named Susan reads the sports section in her newspaper from cover to cover every single day, even though she has zero interest in sports.“Why on earth would you subject yourself to this?” I asked her, as I am admittedly not a sports fan, either.

She replied, “My networking functions are primarily attended by men. I don't want to stay on the sidelines while important conversations are going on, conversations that invariably start with a discussion about last night's game.”

The bottom line is this: Taking a few minutes each day to browse enough headlines to arm yourself with enough knowledge of current events, pop culture -- and yes, even sports -- to be able to ask questions and get a conversation going is simply a good networking strategy.

As a bonus, you'll learn a lot from these conversations you might never have otherwise.

From Entrepreneur

Smartphone and Social Media Usage: Men vs. Women (Infographic)

The old adage -"Men are from Mars, women are from Venus" – absolutely holds water when it comes to how consumers use mobile technology.     

Men turn to social media for business reasons more than women do, according to data compiled in the infographic below by personal finance website FinancesOnline.com. Men also, somewhat surprisingly, turn to social media for dating purposes more than women do.

Women, on the other hand, are more likely than men to use social media to stay in touch with family and friends, share photos with friends and to find how-to information.

Similarly, men and women look to their smartphones for different reasons when they interact with brands. Men are more likely than women to scan a QR code or coupon code. Women, meanwhile, are more likely to follow a brand on social media so that they stay up to date about deals.

Take a look at the infographic below for more details on how men and women see the mobile technology world differently. 

From Entrepreneur

6 Steps to Connecting With Influential People

Influencers -- those well-connected, knowledgeable voices to which others listen and respond -- are coveted connections. They can provide insight, recommendations, introductions and opportunities.

Most people already know who the influencers are in their industries, says attorney and entrepreneur Steven Babitsky, co-author of The Street Smart MBA: 10 Proven Strategies for Driving Business Success (Apress, 2012). They're often popular authors, speakers, bloggers, columnists or successful businesspeople. Babitsky has an effective formula for connecting with many of them. Here are his six steps to connecting with influencers in your industry.

1. Offer something.

"Give three things and ask for one," Babitsky says. In other words: Give more than you take. When he's interested in making contact with an influencer, Babitsky first determines what he can offer that will be of value to the contact. He may be writing a white paper or book or be organizing a conference where he can offer the individual a speaking gig.

Of course, not everyone is writing books or organizing conferences every day. However, you can offer to interview the person for your blog or for a special report on your web site. Alternatively, you might be involved with a professional or trade organization where you can introduce the individual to your own network of influencers.

2. Do your homework.

It's usually possible to research influencers' past writing and speeches, interests, and pet causes with a simple online search. Don't waste their time asking basic questions or for information that is easily available online. Instead, find common points and use those to find areas where you might connect.

3. Get in touch.

Babitsky likes to reach out via phone or email instead of social media because it's more personal, he says. However, take your lead from the influencer's cues. If he or she is active on Twitter or carries on online conversations on his or her blog, that might be a good way to get in touch, too.

4. Limit the ask.

When reaching out for the first time, make it short and sweet. Don't ask for anything that will take more than 10 or 15 minutes -- a brief interview or a straightforward question or two. People generally like to help, but they may not have time to answer lengthy questionnaires or get involved in a seemingly endless back-and-forth.

5. Keep in touch.

Maintain a database of contacts that also includes searchable keywords related to interests. That way, if you come across an article or information related to some of your contacts’ interests, you can easily send it along, keeping you relevant and memorable.

6. Ask to reciprocate.

If someone has helped you, Babitsky recommends asking the individual if there is anything you might do to help him or her. The individual may be dealing with a challenge you can help alleviate, he says. If not, the ask is another form of relationship building, showing the influencer that you're interested in giving back.

From Entrepreneur

How Twitter Is Making it Easier to Travel Back in Time

When you step into the Twittersphere, it often feels like you're surrounded by zillions of tweets. Finding the ones that matter can be a challenge, especially if you're looking for something posted a long time ago.

For example, wouldn't it be nice if Twitter provided a quick and easy way to see what your biggest competitor tweeted about last Memorial Day without having to scroll back through a year's worth of posts or do some fancy search work?

Twitter has done just that, unveiling a new date range option on its advanced search page. Advanced search also allows the user to filter specific users, hashtags and location.

This feature has been available previously, but you had to be familiar with the way Twitter search worked and its language, according to Tech Crunch.

Advanced search is not available on the mobile app.

But mobile users aren't entirely out of luck. If you only have your mobile device handy, and are need of knowing what kind of March Madness promotions were mentioned in March, type in “march madness sales since: 2014-03-01 until: 2014-03-31”in the search bar.

Pro Tip: Don't forget to select “All Tweets” if you'd like to see everything, not just“Top Tweets.”

From Entrepreneur

Why WhatsApp is worth $19 billion

WhatsApp's jaw-dropping $19 billion price tag took the world by surprise. But Facebook might have actually gotten WhatsApp for cheap.

We're serious. Hear us out.

What is WhatsApp? WhatsApp is a mobile messaging service that functions as a kind of a social network. WhatsApp users can send messages to one or many recipients at the same time, and they can even share their locations.

In many ways, WhatsApp's users are just the kind of customers Facebook is looking for. They are extremely active, sending more than 600 million photos a day -- more photos than Facebook users upload. A whopping 70% of WhatsApp users are active every day. By way of comparison, 62% of Facebook users are active daily.

People around the world send 19 billion WhatsApp messages per day, including 200 million voice messages and 100 million videos.

Crucially, WhatsApp has a strong presence internationally, particularly in Europe, India and Latin America. Those are regions where Facebook is trying to grow its base of users. WhatsApp and other mobile messaging services also are widely used by teens and tweens, a group that has notoriously been ditching Facebook for rival services, including text message services and Snapchat.

"Facebook users were complaining dearly about the lack of one-on-one personalized socializing and sharing, which WhatsApp clearly has been successful with," said Vidya Nath, research director at Frost & Sullivan.

How WhatsApp makes money: WhatsApp is also growing at a blinding speed, adding 1 million new users per day. At that rate, WhatsApp should hit 1 billion users sometime next year. With its $1 annual subscription fee, 1 billion users would translate into significant revenue for Facebook.

"Large scale networks like WhatsApp are rare and provide significant monetization opportunity, justifying their valuation over time," said Robert Peck, analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

The messaging service, founded in 2009, has been so successful because it understood from the start the importance of embracing mobile technology. That's something Facebook struggled with, notably going public without any revenue from mobile devices. Facebook now gets more than half of its revenue from advertising on smartphones and tablets, but it still is looking to expand its mobile reach.

"WhatsApp took chatting to another level, and it further strengthened the phone as a central point of a consumer's universe," Nath noted.

As a result WhatsApp managed to attract far more users in its first four years than its competition was able to over the same time period.

Growing faster than other social networks: Four years in, Facebook had just 145 million users. Google's Gmail had 123 million. Twitter had 54 million. And Skype -- now owned by Microsoft -- had 52 million users, according to Heather Bellini, software analyst at Goldman Sachs.

Although WhatsApp is more limited in its scope and capabilities to Facebook and Twitter, mobile messaging services are becoming competitors to traditional social networks.

In many ways, Facebook's purchase of WhatsApp mirrors its 2012 Instagram acquisition.

The $1 billion valuation scared some investors at the time, but as young social network users gravitated towards photo-sharing services, Facebook wanted to scoop up what could have eventually become a big rival.

WhatsApp may be "cheaper" than most rivals: Facebook paid just $30 per Instagram user at the time (the service had 33 million users when Facebook bought it, compared to 150 million today). Facebook is spending $42 per WhatsApp user.

But given WhatsApp's enormous user base, its purchase price might be a bargain compared some of its competitors. LinkedIn's share price values that professional social network at $153 per user. Twitter trades at $140 per user, and Facebook is at $123. Even at its latest $2 billion valuation, Snapchat trades at $50 per user. (And Snapchat reportedly turned down a $3 billion offer from Facebook last year.)

"We don't think the company overpaid for WhatsApp," said Peck. "We think WhatsApp and Facebook were likely to more closely resemble each other over time, potentially creating noteworthy competition, which can now be avoided."

From CNN Money