If I sign on for your service. For how many months am I obligated to pay for your service?

They expect it to be a free service because there are other free services that do something similar. In order to get income you can either 1) Get people to understand that your product is substantially better (for their actual needs) than the free competition. You will then be able to charge money for your service. 2) Find out how your free competition is getting income and copy them (ads?) If you do in fact have features that are better than the free competition, I would recommend making two versions of your service: A) A free version which has basic features that are shared with the free competition B) A paid version which also has the 'pro' features which your free competition does not have. This could for instance be an ability to better customize the types of alerts you can get, or change the sound of audio alerts, etc. C) (optional) It will also help you get sign ups for your paid service if you add a third option which is a little more expensive than option 'B'. Simply the presence of a more expensive option will make people see option 'B' as a better deal, than if there was no more expensive option 'C' (it's a psychological thing). Option 'C' should be everything you get with 'B', but also comes with something extra. This something extra could for instance be an email that the user gets once a week summarizing 4 - 5 news stories about the stock market, or anything else you can think of. In the end though, this is not about 'tricking' anyone into paying for a product they don't want, it's about helping them make the decision to get something they will be happy with. In other words, your product (option 'B') should be fairly priced for the value they will get out of it. Keep in mind, that even if your product doesn't have any obvious abilities that your free competition has, if you package your product in a more easy to access, and pleasing to use way (i.e. make signing up easier, make the UI more intuitive and pleasing to look at, etc), many people might be willing to pay for that too, even though you might not see it as a feature.

Just because two people are connected to each other on LinkedIn, doesn't mean that these two people have a strong connection to one another. So first, ask your Mentor directly whether (s)he knows this person well enough to make an introduction. Also, I'd suggest that instead of asking that the introduction be made via LinkedIn, that the introduction be made directly via email. The way this best happens is to email your mentor with a two paragraph email explaining why it is that you want an introduction to this person and explaining why you think this person would want to meet with you. Then your mentor can forward this email directly to this person with a request for an introduction. If the person replies to your mentor, your mentor will then connect you two directly. If the investor is interested enough to accept an intro, then you'll likely get a 30 minute to 1 hour in-person meeting or call scheduled. In terms of what that investor will be looking for, I've written a lot of answers to questions around seed-stage financing that I encourage you to review. I'm happy to schedule a quick call to give you some specific feedback on where you're at and how investors might perceive your progress to date. Best of luck with this connection!

I love you, enjoy the journey.

I've worked with a number of business coaches and used a few different frameworks. I also have a post coming up in Smallvile (http://smallville.com.au/) on just this topic in the next week or so! The framework I like best is quite simple and I first heard about it from Taki Moore, although I just found it on another site (http://katelmccarthy.com/throw-the-business-plan-out-the-window-still-build-a-kickass-business/) Basically, you create a grid. In the top left corner, you create your dream - where do you want to be in 3-5 years. What do you want your business to look like? What do you want your life to look like? The next box is where you write your 12-month goals. In order to achieve your 3-year vision, where do you have to be in a year? What must you achieve? The next box is for the next 90-days. Where do you have to be in 90-days in order to be on track for your 12-month goals? What key things do you need to have completed? The last box is for this week, and you can use a post-it note for this. You list what tasks you have to have completed for you to stay on track for your quarterly goals. List 3-5 things you can do this week to ensure you're on track. Each week, put a new post-it note on this box. At the end of the quarter you can flick through and see everything you've achieved! You can also put a post-it note on the 90-day plan so that you use the same plan for a year. Each year, review your plan to ensure you're still going where you want to go, and making the progress you need to make. Use this tool to stay focused on and on track - but not to beat yourself up! I hope this was useful! If you need more information, I'm happy to jump on a call with you. :-)

It all begins with understanding who your best potential customers are. Spend some very focused time in determining not only who they are (moms; small business owners; homeowners; etc.) but want needs and desires they have. How will these align with your products or services? Also—talk to these people! Don't assume you know who they are and what they are thinking. Otherwise, you could build "a better mousetrap" or launch the greatest business ever (in your mind)...only to find it doesn't resonate with anyone. Narrow your focus as much as possible. It's very tempting early on to try to appeal to everyone ("every woman will love this!), but that is a recipe for disasters. As the saying goes, "The riches are in the niches." Aim for a tightly defined audience and ensure they will be treated like royalty. Remember, it's not about how great you are—or how many features you have or how much better you are than alternatives that may exist. It's about the value you can bring to those potential customers. If you are introducing something brand new into the market, why should they care about it? If you are bringing a new twist on an existing product or service—opening a new shop, starting a consulting business, becoming a Realtor or whatever—why should they consider switching to work with you? Once you understand your ideal customers' persona, the strategy part will be easy. Go where they go—online and offline. Pick a few key channels at first and pour your marketing time and dollars into them. As you grow and have more profits to invest in marketing, you can increase what's working, cut what's not—and experiment with new channels. Finally, think more in terms of objectives, which I like to remember with the acronym PLOT: People—whom you are trying to reach L-a measurable level you are hoping to accomplish O-what outcome you wish to achieve T-Timeframe An example could be: • Invite at least 75 small business owners to attend a free webinar (download an ebook; attend a free tasting; etc.) in exchange for signing up for our mailing list by July 1st