Peter Nguyen

This article is published on March 08, 2013 on tech.co and Peter Nguyen thoughts on Selling your Brand

Tech companies often attempt to duplicate other sensational websites or brands, hoping to achieve the same success. While it’s beneficial to implement a proven business model and stay up-to-date with emerging trends, it’s also crucial to incorporate elements that differentiate your company. Succeeding in today’s crowded digital marketplace is all about building a unique selling point (USP).

The most useful question to ask when defining your brand’s USP is, “What do we do that sets us apart from our competitors?” Let’s take Zappos, for example. The company started as a shoe superstore, but has now branched off into other product lines. Zappos’ USP is built on superior customer service through its “family core values.” They reinforce the message of superior customer service in every step of the shopping experience — including 24/7 customer support, free shipping both ways, and a 365-day return policy.

Another online retailer that stands out is Warby Parker, an eyewear boutique with a “rebellious spirit and a lofty objective: to create boutique-quality, classically crafted eyewear at a revolutionary price point.” They sell vintage prescription eyewear starting at $95. Customers can choose five styles to try for five days and keep their favorite pair. Plus, for every pair purchased, Warby Parker sends a pair of glasses to someone in need. 

I’ve created a nine-step checklist to help tech companies properly configure USPs. After analyzing hundreds of top brands, I’ve found that most had these qualities in common:

1.  Positivity: The message tied to your brand should be confident and optimistic.

2.  Customer-centric: Your USP should speak to the customer and how she can benefit from your product or service.

3.  Empowering: Strive to inspire your clients.

4.  Self-explanatory: Define yourself with a straightforward name, logo, and tagline.

5.  Specificity: Less is more. Be particular about what you’re selling and whom you’re selling it to.

6.  Core: What’s at the heart of your business? What makes you who you are?

7.  Relevancy: Understand your market. Why do your customers need your brand?

8.  Long-Lasting: Strong brands have timeless names and messaging.

9.  Differentiated: Why should people rely on your brand, instead of others in the industry?

Brainstorming sessions are great ways to develop your USP. There’s no such thing as a bad idea. Create a list of potential messages, and then decide how each measures up on the USP checklist.

Of course, there will always be exceptions to the rule. Most brands can’t fulfill all nine qualities, but the more, the better. For instance, if your name doesn’t explain what you do, your tagline should.

Typically, USPs with a direct and positive message will have the most success. Most importantly, however, you must perform market research. Survey those people who are part of your target demographic. Let the customer tell you what he wants. This isn’t a guessing game. 

It’s crucial that your entire company embody your USP. It’s more than just your logo and name; the customer experience is significant, too. From your initial advertisement to your website’s landing page, every aspect of your customer experience should be consistent with your brand.

Peter Nguyen is President of Literati Institute, the leading Internet marketing private training program created to help people launch their own products or services online. Peter is an entrepreneurial thought leader and one of the foremost authorities in Internet marketing. He has created several multi-million-dollar Internet campaigns and is the creator of Advertiser360, which is now being taught at the second-ranked entrepreneurship university in the U.S. He welcomes anyone to reach out to him @peternguyen.

This article is published on February 21, 2013 on killerstartups and Peter Nguyen thoughts on Tips For Attracting Top Talent To Your Startup

The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

1. Cultivate Future Leaders

“Highlight the experience your company can offer. Don’t focus on recruiting top talent by offering all the perks in the world; instead, make cultivating talent, who will eventually become leaders, a priority. It should be about the prospect’s passion for what your company is doing, not the daily catered meals (though I’m sure that’s nice, too).”  - David Politis, BetterCloud

2. Understand What Makes Them Tick

“Everyone wants to be heard, and certainly understood. We’re a very strengths-based organization and we start from the day we begin recruiting or courting new talent. If you take the time to get to know what someone is looking for and what drives them, you not only can qualify if they’re the right fit for your team, but customize their role and your offer to what’s most important to them. Win-win!”   - Lauren Perkins, Perks Consulting

3. Sell the Vision

“We pay less. We work harder. We work longer hours. The only reason to join our team is because you want to be a part of what we are building. The best people want to be a part of big visions, so sell the vision. “   - Adam Lieb, Duxter

4. Be Aggressive and Relentless

“Anybody that’s any good, especially in a city like San Francisco or NYC, is going to be looking at a dozen or more offers. In order to close him, besides being generous with compensation, you have to be aggressive, getting your investors to call him on your behalf. Relentlessly follow up. Even more important, be organized with your interview process and move quickly without delay.”   - Matt Mickiewicz, Flippa and 99designs

5. Get Great Press

“Aside from selling the mission and vision of your startup, a great tip for reeling in awesome talent for your firm is to attract great media attention. Press is a wonderful conduit for getting more exposure to your business. Being able to share your mission with a broader audience means that your startup will get more eyeballs, and that extra reader may be your next best team member.”   - Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc.

6. Empowerment and Passion

“Empower them with ownership and the opportunity to make decisions. People drawn to startups are disillusioned by big corporate structures and weary of working in an environment where they have no voice. If you tie the talent to the success of the company, everybody wins. Moreover, allow them to exercise the skills they enjoy employing. Retention skyrockets when talent is empowered and impassioned.”   - Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer, AirPR

7. Discover a Shared Passion

“Share your vision for your startup and what you hope to accomplish. Trying to lure top talent with perks, pay or other options may get their attention, but the people you should really be seeking are the ones interested in finding a role where they can have a meaningful contribution to something exciting. Plus, someone who isn’t passionate about what you are doing won’t be a great fit.”    - Brant Bukowsky, Veterans United Home Loans

8. Networking at Conferences

“We have found it helpful to attend industry-related conferences and casually chat with people who are attending or speaking to spread the word regarding available opportunities. If the person likes us, they will like working with or for us and/or recommend us to others who they think would be a good culture fit. Finding the right culture fit is more important to us than the depth of their skills.”   - Shradha Agarwal, ContextMedia

9. Take Your Time

“If you’ve set your company culture the way you want it, take your time during the hiring process. The culture will attract better people instantly. I’ve been known to conduct as many as five one-on-one interviews before hiring new personnel. That’s on top of several phone interviews with the prospect and other staff. I need to be absolutely sure the talent is where I want it. “  - Brian Moran, Get 10,000 Fans

10. Be Transparent

“I’m always transparent with potential new hires. I show them our progress, but I also want them to see the warts. This is important for two reasons: 1) They’ll know exactly where the company stands. 2) It builds trust. Sharing the bad with the good shows employees that they can trust you to tell it like it is. Transparency sets an important standard for any company.”   - Mitch Gordon, Go Overseas

11. Don’t Sell

“Conventional wisdom is to sell potential recruits on the company, vision, perks, etc. Don’t. Just tell them what you are and, more importantly, what you aren’t. You may lose some “rock stars” along the way, but you’ll build a loyal group of employees who know exactly what they signed up for.”   - Bhavin Parikh, Magoosh Test Prep

12. Show Off Company Talent

“A-players want to work with other A-players. So, it’s critical to showcase just how talented your current team is to a prospective employee. Besides making the recruit feel special, it also makes your team feel special to know that you value and respect their talents and abilities.”   - Sarah Schupp, UniversityParent.com

13. Give Them a Piece of The Pie

“Hiring known talent is a great way to attract venture capital, but many startups don’t generate enough liquid assets to be able to pay highly talented individuals. Usually, you have to give this person a piece of the business, which you shouldn’t be afraid of. It will provide an incentive for making your startup succeed.”   - Joe Martin, Merchandize Liquidators

14. Hire Non-Local Talent

“Recruit people to your company and to your city. Santa Monica sells itself. When people relocate for a job, their commitment level is high, and their external social distractions are low. It’s an ideal circumstance for a startup where hours are often unreasonable.”   - Wade Eyerly, Surf Air

15. Make a Great Leadership Team

“A great leadership team is essential for attracting talent. Talented people want to work with those who add value to areas they can’t; they want to be around people they have respect for. Make sure to create a culture and team that will attract the best talent.”   - Peter Nguyen, Literati Institute

16. Culture Fit

“Our company doesn’t necessarily look for “top talent” so much as it looks for high-character people with a good work ethic and technical aptitude. We look for people who are a fit for our culture, which is more important on a long-term basis for the good of the team.”  - Joe Barton, Barton Publishing

This article is published on January 25, 2013 on Gettingsmart and Peter Nguyen thoughts on The Advantage of Structured Learning in Entrepreneurship

Here’s a novel concept for you: Entrepreneurs can learn from other entrepreneurs in an accredited capacity. When striking out on one’s own, it’s an established practice to seek the advice of those who’ve been there before and have made a success of it. So it makes perfect sense that business students, paying and working hard for an education, would greatly benefit from the insight that successful businesspeople can bestow.

Bursting the Bubble of Academia

Tenured professors don’t often like to hand the reins of their class over to someone who isn’t a faculty member. Yet the problem with most business professors lies in the nature of academia: They come straight out of their master’s or Ph.D. programs and directly into the lecture hall. In other words, they have no real-world business experience of their own, so much of what they teach is theory. It might be really smart, innovative theory, but without an instructor who has the experience of application, business students aren’t getting “the real McCoy.” Additionally, the business world changes so fast that textbooks quickly become outdated.

On the flip side, a lot of entrepreneurs might not be great teachers, have the time, or more importantly, the desire to teach anyone else what they themselves spent a lifetime learning. So finding someone who is successful in business, a willing instructor, and a natural in the classroom can be a daunting task, to say the least. However, entrepreneurs are taking time to educate more and more, so business schools and startups are finding new ways to instill a foundation of skills for student entrepreneurs.

Structured Learning to Teach Entrepreneurship

Structured learning is typically thought of as a university-based model, but many startups are launching in order to bring this type of learning environment to anyone in world — and they are focusing on the needs of entrepreneurs.

Coursera, an online platform for free higher education, offers a “Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies” six-week course and a “Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship” program. These classes are taught through video lectures, and each requires passing quizzes and a final exam.

Skillshare, an online community of professionals, creates courses for entrepreneurs from experts in the field with the promise of learning skills you can apply right away. Financial modeling, UX, acquiring users, and obtaining funding are just a few of the topics covered. Content can be accessed at any time and the site makes it easy to collaborate with other students and the teacher.

Startup Weekend provides one of the best experiences for budding entrepreneurs. Designers, developers, and those with the “big ideas” come together for a 54-hour rush to pitch an idea and launch a company. Hundreds of cities across the globe — from Corvallis, Oregon to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia— have hosted their own three-day entrepreneurial training events.

For those more interested in a campus setting, more than 2,000 universities in the U.S. have created some type of entrepreneurship program, whether this is a full degree program or simply a course in the subject. Babson College was founded on the mission to “shape entrepreneurial leaders who create economic and social value everywhere.” The University of Texas at Austin founded 3-Day Startup, a nonprofit organization that recruits 45 student participants, top-notch entrepreneurs, and inventors for a three-day event with the end goal of developing tech startups in a single weekend. Baylor University’s Accelerated Ventures class gives students the opportunity to raise real funds, launch real products and services, and generate real sales. A faculty member, a CEO with a record of success, and a board of experienced entrepreneurs leads the class.

Practice Makes for (Eventual) Prosperity

Classes that utilize entrepreneurs inspire students to discover the direction in which they want to take their own businesses. However, just because students learn what they want to do from a class doesn’t guarantee they’ll have instant success. Starting a first business is always difficult. Making the first million dollars is always the hardest. Sheer talent is not enough; budding entrepreneurs have to practice. An athlete doesn’t just read about being an athlete in a book and then go out and instantly become a world champion. She has to apply what she’s learned; she has to practice.

The same rings true for students of applied entrepreneurship, and the whole “applying what you just learned” method is part of why this is such a hot topic. If someone’s first startup wasn’t successful, it’s no big deal. It can be viewed as practice. He’ll learn from his mistakes, and he’ll do better next time. There are always incredible lessons to be learned while failing, and once you’ve gone through it a few times, new ventures are lessintimidating.

An entrepreneurship class gives students the chance to learn exactly what they need to know, and it gives them the experience and confidence to build beyond the classroom. That’s why we’re having such unheard-of results. If you give entrepreneurs the relevant, practical information that will help them succeed and pair that with some experience in actually starting up a company, their future ventures will be much more than mere practice.

Peter Nguyen is President of Literati Institute, the leading Internet marketing private training program created to help people launch their own product or service online. Peter is an entrepreneurial thought leader and one of the foremost authorities in Internet marketing. He has created several multi-million-dollar Internet campaigns and is the creator of Advertiser360, which is now being taught at the second-ranked entrepreneurship university in the U.S. He welcomes anyone to reach out to him @peternguyen.

This article is published on January 25, 2013 on killerstartups and Peter Nguyen thoughts on How To Start An Internet Business

Peter Nguyen was not impressed by his education at the University of Florida and, as an alum of the rival and superior school Florida State University, I am not surprised. (I kid, I kid.) But, what Peter was really disappointed with was the lack of focus on entrepreneurship education. He decided to change that and founded the Literati Institute, the leading internet marketing private training program where you can learn how to start an internet business. We caught up with Peter to talk Literati beginnings, lunch with Branson, and who gets him in the mood to hustle.

Tell us a little more about what inspired Literati.

The higher education system is pretty broken for entrepreneurs. I graduated with a finance degree from the University of Florida years back. As a serial Internet entrepreneur in college, almost all my knowledge, training, and skills were completely outside of the classroom. Higher education teaches you to get a job and work for corporate America. Entrepreneurship programs around the country are outdated and not very practical.

What I wanted to do with Literati is create the world’s leading entrepreneurship program that encourages people and walks them step-by-step, from A to Z, through the process of creating their own business. Our program is already doing amazing things in schools like Baylor University (ranked the No. 2 entrepreneurship program in the nation) and other top programs. We not only teach them the most important and practical things they need to know, but our students also create profitable online businesses while learning it all. We have had several students make millions from the knowledge they learned through our program, and want to replicate this around the world.

What does a typical day look like?

Most of my day still revolves around building various Internet businesses. I have a couple dozen companies and various Internet campaigns. I have project managers or partners who run the day-to-day of most of my businesses, which is almost entirely automated. We like building a campaign and have it run mostly on autopilot.

On a typical day, I try to wake up somewhat early in the morning and self-reflect, meditate, pray, and plan out my day or week. My assistant tries not to book any meetings until after 11a.m. so I can use the mornings to catch up with my own work. My schedule is pretty slammed the entire day with various meetings with partners or potential partners. I try to keep my work separate and leave it in the office so when I’m home I can spend quality time with my wife.

Got any great bootstrapping tips for the lean startups out there?

Whether I have a few thousand in the bank (like when I first got started) or a few million, I don’t think I have changed very much in how I start up businesses. I treat every startup like it was my first one with no money. So I am always bootstrapping. I think that’s part of my key to staying on top and building very profitable businesses early on.

There’s only two ways to make a campaign more profitable: 1) charging more for it, or 2) spending less for it. The problem with charging more is that it usually lowers conversion rates, and you need to give more value to the consumer. The great part of spending less is that it only takes a little negotiation and a somewhat frugal mindset. The consumer wins at the end if you can pass the savings.

If you could have lunch with one person, who would it be, what would you eat, and what would you talk about?

I think one of my favorite guys I would love to meet is Richard Branson. I just got done reading his book, and I have even that much greater respect for him. I love that he is wildly imaginative and has a “Screw it, let’s do it!” mentality.

As a serial entrepreneur myself, Richard Branson has not only built out successful companies in one or two different industries — he’s been able to get a piece of just about any industry he enters. He’s not the biggest player in any industry he’s in, but he’s still a billionaire. I think I would love to eat one of his meals prepared by one of the cooks on his private island. I would love to get some inspiration and learn from someone like Richard Branson… see if perhaps we could work together on some projects and talk business.

Biggest startup challenge?

I think for most people, it’s the confidence in themselves that they can do it. I think that’s the number one thing I’ve noticed in the entrepreneurs and the wantreprenurs. Confident people get what they want in business. They have an abundance mentality, and if you couple that with a hunger to succeed, there’s no stopping them. Also, if you do what you love and it’s fun to you, you’re more than likely to succeed. You’ll work harder, you’ll work longer, and you’ll be more passionate about it. So when times do get hard, it doesn’t hurt so badly.

Web app or site you couldn’t live without and why.

Gmail. I think I spend the majority of my workday either sending out emails or in meetings. Although I get a few hundred emails a day, I have built in good email habits that I learned from going through Getting Things Done by David Allen. It has really helped me stay structurally organized.

What’s your music-streaming site of choice, and what’s currently playing?

Pandora or GrooveShark. I am a big fan of Jay-Z — it gets me in the mood to hustle.

What’s the greatest thing about Literati?

We actually care about our students and want to see them succeed. Not only do we have the most comprehensive material in the world, but we also have an incredible amount of successful people who have gone on to make millions going through our program.