The challenge in many early-stage companies is that the executives running them often don’t have as much deep experience in critical areas needed for growth. Usually, the founding team is still learning and evolving their skills and depth of knowledge in the domain.
This is good in the beginning when things are moving quickly, as you need flexible leaders who can quickly learn in new environments. But as you scale, you begin needing expertise and depth as well.
Here are three key questions I ask leaders facing the challenge of how to evolve and plan their professional development. These will not only help the business create the best leadership team; it will help keep people engaged and motivated throughout the growth process.
1. What drives engagement?
The first question to ask yourself is: what do you really enjoy doing that keeps you engaged and continuously challenges you? It’s more than just liking something. You need to really be compelled and driven to get better at it over time to be able to maintain your focus over the long term.
Write down all of the tasks and work that you do. Now think about when and how you engage in that work. Find the three to five things that you notice a high degree of engagement in.
Look for periods where you lose track of time or tend to push off other tasks, or even things like eating, to spend more time doing. Find those activities where you’re totally engrossed in the work and forget about everything else.
If you can’t find any obvious activities, find the ones that you have the most curiosity about and start carving out a little more time and focus to get into them and notice what happens. Does your curiosity increase or do you get bored quickly and want to move on?
2. What are you really good at?
It’s not enough to just enjoy something. You need to be good at it too, in order to create value. Something you love doing that you’re not proficient at is a hobby, not a profession. Look for things where you get lots of positive feedback around and things that people ask you to do frequently.
If you can, get more feedback from colleagues and bosses about what they see as valuable skills and contributions. You don’t need to be a world expert on something, but you want to be seen as having a high degree of skill and performance. Focus on what other people think you’re really good at, not just your own assessment.
Sometimes, we know too much and are too self-critical. You may feel like you don’t really know what you’re doing, or know that there is so much more to learn, but someone not educated in the field may see you as brilliant. It’s more about what others think, not just what you think.
3. What can nobody else do?
Finally, you need to look for the things that nobody else can do like you can. If everyone else is also going at something, there is little room for differentiation or to be seen as a unique resource. You want to find something that you enjoy, that you’re good at, AND that nobody else can do.
If you can’t find anything truly unique off-hand, start looking for ways you can add or combine skills and experiences to create a valuable and unique capability.
Maybe you’re really good at contract law, minored in environmental studies in college, and are a hobbyist rock collector. Can you combine them to focus on contracts involving public land use for mining and forestry?
Developing a niche is an excellent way to become highly sought after and highly compensated. Don’t be afraid to really carve out a unique domain; just make sure there are at least a handful of people and companies who really need that expertise.
Becoming a high-achieving executive is about creating unique and desirable value in your market. Focusing on these three questions will help you find something you’re not just passionate about, but something that you can create a real niche around. As they say, the riches are in the niches.
By: BRUCE ECKFELDT, FOUNDER AND CEO, E&A, GAZELLES/SCALING UP BUSINESS COACH, @beckfeldt
The web hosting industry is a lucrative market, with a projected growth rate of 8.3% from 2020 to 2027. According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, the global web hosting market was valued at $34.8 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $70.5 billion by 2027. That’s $70,000,000,000.00, yes, THAT MANY ZEROES!
The increasing number of websites being created and the growing need for online presence are driving the market’s growth. The profitability of selling web hosting services comes from the recurring revenue model. Most hosting companies offer monthly or annual subscription plans, which generates a steady stream of income.
Additionally, hosting companies can also offer additional services such as website design and development, domain registration, and email hosting, which can increase their revenue streams.The demand for web hosting is expected to continue growing as more and more businesses move online. As a result, the web hosting industry is likely to remain profitable for the foreseeable future.
With HostAgency, you can create a professional hosting site similar to Godaddy, Hostgator, DreamHost, BlueHost, or Hostinger without the need for expensive development costs. It is a cloud-based platform that allows you to create and customize your own hosting sites quickly and easily. The robust features automate the whole Life cycle of your customers.
It is designed with powerful automation features to help you sell more & keep your clients happy. All the tools you need to start a web hosting business today. The beauty of HostAgency is that it takes an incredibly hard process, the process of launching a hosting company, and turns it into a 3 step process. It is not hard at all with HostAgency, it is incredibly hard without it.
E-Selling is A Huge $25 Trillion and Fastest Growing Opportunity. By the year 2040, it’s estimated that 95% of all purchases will be through eCommerce. The #1 reason people shop online is that they’re able to shop at all hours of the day. There are an estimated 20+Million Ecom sites across the entire globe, with more and more being created every single day.
The eCommerce industry is growing 23% year-over-year, yet 46% of American small businesses still don’t have a website. Even after the fact that online selling is the need of the hour and the current Covid-19 pandemic has forced businesses to move online, which has created huge demand in the market it is surprising to see that not many people are jumping in, to Tap the $25 Trillion.
Because of, Lack of the right set of tools, A solution that can build a website/store for you, setting up products & payments, and helping you start selling fast is the REASON why most businesses fail to start even after having a great vision and a great product. Yes, that is true, according to statistics, 85% of entrepreneurs leave their business in dreams even before they start it.
You need to be extremely technical & marketing savvy if you ever want to do it yourself. You also need to Learn the Basics of the Domain, Hosting, HTML, CSS, JAVA Script, Photoshop, and How to Integrate a Payment Gateway. This is a Time Taking Process which will take months and the worst part is you won’t be earning during all.
If you don’t have a product or service, still you If you don’t have a product or service, still you can Start Your Own Profitable Freelancing Services or Agency from Your Home and Tap into $200 Billion Funnel & Website Building Industry. YoSeller Brings You A Huge Opportunity On A Silver Platter. You Just Need To Capitalize On It – The Easier Way.No Competition With Others. See more details here:
Web 3.0 is a largely mysterious domain for most organizations. It is evolving quickly, and already there are talks about Web 4.0 and even Web 5.0. The reality is that the world is still primarily in a Web 2.5 world—one that is attempting to sense-make what Web 3.0 can offer and figuring out a strategy to cross over to this new realm dominated by one compelling feature—blockchain-based digital asset ownership.
Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have been making the headlines, fueled by reports of people paying millions for incomprehensible pieces of digital art and creating hype and speculation for the wrong reasons. As the understanding of NFTs and what they can do becomes clearer, the use cases for these cryptographic tokens will become more apparent, whether they manifest in digital art, game tokens, collectibles or even real-world assets. Organizations looking to integrate NFTs as part of their overall strategy may want to consider these aspects in their planning and execution.
What is the story of the NFT?
What is it designed to be and what will it do? Instead of jumping blindly onto the bandwagon and creating an entire collection of NFTs with no utility value, pause and examine the reason for needing or wanting NFTs in the first place. Define the strategic intent and then craft a clear-cut road map by laying out the use case and how that contributes to your vision.
For example, is the NFT designed to encourage creativity and engagement from fans? If so, how will you engage the community to participate? The communication and long-term value of the NFT undertaking need to be done properly. The point of the design is to give value to fans and loyal users and reward them for their contributions.
There are many ways to do this: For example, do you set it up as a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) and give the power of voting to the fans? Would you integrate the NFT for use in adjacent platforms such as a Web 3.0 game platform?
What is the community-building strategy and engagement plan?
The community is the driving force and lifeline of NFTs. A healthy community is undergirded by high levels of participation through growing the following. It is almost akin to building a culture. A comprehensive social media calendar supporting the NFT strategy is critical—this might include conducting regular Twitter Space AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions, setting up a Linktr.ee site, posting regular updates on Discord and engaging the appropriate influencers in your business space.
How would you identify your top 10 advocates and engage them to create buzz? Some components to note would be: Does the NFT project revolve around a narrative that the community can connect with? How would the technical aspects of the NFT be done, and do you have the necessary capabilities to carry out the project? The initial narrative is instrumental, and to achieve resonance, you need an iterative process to determine both the traits of the NFT and also its utility value.
Who will work through the technical aspects of the NFTs?
This set of activities requires specialist skills and experience. The first consideration would be the design of the NFTs such as visual, audio and textual elements to file format and file sizes. Then there is the selection of the blockchain the NFT is to be built on and the setting up of the smart contracts. Some key questions to answer are:
What are the traits and attributes to be attached to the NFTs?
What is the transaction cost (gas fees)?
Which marketplace would you launch the NFT project on?
What components are on-chain or off-chain?
Are there vestment periods?
Bear in mind the NFT merely indicates asset ownership. Where it can be “used” or traded are key to an NFT’s success. The design should inform the quantity of NFTs to be minted, and the number of rare versus common tokens. If the organization deems that it only has a limited number of viable NFTs that can be created and the attractiveness of these NFTs is very modest, the corresponding cost might not be economically viable to begin with. You should not underestimate the cost of the pre-mint, minting and post-mint expenses.
How will you price the NFTs and prepare for launch?
Pricing an NFT can be a tricky undertaking depending on the nature of the digital asset and its corresponding use case. Working with an established marketplace is essential, and you should also compare the associated fees and commissions based on the services required. Some exchanges are configured to accept a wide array of tokens.
Others are niche or closed exchanges that transact using their proprietary tokens only. Depending on the industry, segment or community you’re in, the choice of a single marketplace or option of different marketplaces can sometimes be bewildering.
Other relevant considerations should include the security practices and the support level for new NFT projects. After minting NFTs, the follow-on, post-mint activities typically include a platform reveal, private whitelisting, releasing NFT teasers and the actual conduct of the private sale and public sale. Promoting the NFT minting event through social media live streaming and leveraging influencers and ambassadors in community-based networks should be part of any NFT public relations and influencer marketing strategy.
Web 3.0 technologies are evolving. Up until now, creating an NFT wallet and connecting it to a crypto wallet contribute to the steep learning curve and adoption. Marketplace support and using technologies that simplify the process for your community and assistance with the road map roll-out are important partnership considerations.
Beyond minting and issuing NFTs, you need a way to sustain value and interest for your NFTs. Maintaining the community is an ongoing job, and you would do well to keep up with community engagement through forums and regular updates. The launch of an NFT is just the beginning—having a robust post-NFT road map is key to its continued success.
When you search in “What is digital real estate” into google, you’re likely going to find guides to obtaining older versions of digital real estate such as domain names, websites, and URLs’.
And this wouldn’t be wrong, as these are still types of digital property that can be bought and sold for a profit. But, in this article, we’re going to chat more about Web3 digital real estate like the Metaverse and protocols like Parcl.
This article is mainly for beginners in this space, but feel free to check out our “What is Parcl” article if you want to learn more about our protocol. So, let’s dive into five things you need to know about digital real estate.
What is Digital Real Estate?
Let’s start with the basics; what actually is digital real estate? Digital real estate can include the ownership of a URL, website, domain name, social media account, and now virtual property in the Metaverse.
The buying and selling of which can be highly profitable if you know what you’re doing. Since we’re a Web3 protocol, we’ll focus mainly on the Metaverse and how you can gain exposure to real-world real estate through the use of digital real estate investing.
So, what can you actually do with the land in the Metaverse? The main thing you can currently do is buy and sell the virtual property, but on some larger metaverse projects like Decentraland and Sandbox, you can design your own events and play with other users.
By designing your own events and games, you can easily monetize this too. You’ll also have the ability to rent out your land to other people if buying outright is too expensive. Currently, the Metaverse is becoming more popular, with large organizations and businesses buying land to advertise their products in both the physical and digital worlds.
Yes. The Metaverse is digital real estate, but it’s not the only way to invest in this space. You can also invest in digital real estate via Parcl. Our protocol built on Solana allows the average person the ability to invest in the real estate market using synthetic assets.
So, we’ve created something called the Parcl price index, which values real estate across the US under certain parameters, which are then tied with a synthetic asset that follows this price movement. Like a derivative in traditional finance, a synthetic asset follows the underlying asset’s price, allowing you to actively trade the asset without ever owning it. Meaning that if you wanted to hedge against the effects that Covid-19 had on the Manhattan property market, you could go short on that area and profit.
Parcl allows you to trade your favorite neighborhoods on a detailed or broad level; it’s totally up to you; the same goes for the investment amount. Many people are priced out of investing in physical real estate, but thanks to Web3 technology, Parcl can offer the average person a way to invest in digital real estate to gain exposure to the physical real estate market.
If you want to learn more about how Parcl works and why we’re so passionate about leveling the real estate investing playing field, check out our Intro to Parcl article.
Of course, digital assets are a growing asset class, and that goes for NFTs and not just virtual real estate. We go into detail about the impact NFTs can have on the real estate industry here. But, in summary, the digital asset class is booming and has made plenty of people multi-millionaires over the past few years.
The NFT “Everyday’s – The First 5000 Days” sold at a Christie’s auction for $69 million. Not only that but a 500 square metered plot of Decentraland land sold for $2.43 million, making it one of the largest sales on record. So, it’s safe to say that yes, you can make a huge profit from digital asset trading. Where Can You Buy Digital Real Estate?
We’ve just determined that investing in digital assets like real estate is profitable, but where do you buy it from? Firstly, you’ve got to have your own wallet to store your land NFT and buy the assets. Check out our phantom wallet setup guide to see how it’s done.
When you’ve got your crypto wallet set up, you now need to just put in a bid for the land, this can be done straight from the metaverse project itself, such as Sandbox or Decentraland, or you could use a third-party platform such as OpenSea or MagicEden.
If you’re looking to gain exposure to physical real estate through investing in digital real estate, join our Discord or sign up to our newsletter for any updates on when our testnet launches.
Is Digital Land Going To Continue To Grow In Popularity?
Yes, and we don’t see this slowing any time soon. With people becoming more interested in gaming and the gamers of the early 2000s growing up and obtaining higher paid jobs, this disposable cash is being spent on digital assets like real estate in the Metaverse, gaming items, and avatars for their digital identities.
But, another thing to remember is that it’s not just for people who game; it’s for those that want to profit from this digital gold rush. As the world moves further into the digital era, we’ll see more people buying digital land, creating digital identities to escape the real world, and spending more on in-world items.
Not only will it be filled with gamers, but tech giants and other organizations will also begin buying up more land to advertise to millions of users. The virtual floodgates have opened, and there’s no way to close them.
How to profit from digital real estate: After buying or making your website, you need to create content on a consistent schedule to attract visitors to your website and generate traffic. Use Google’s Keyword Planner to brainstorm ideas for your blog using words that people are already searching for.
If you’re too busy to write blog posts and promote your website, hire freelancers to write content on your behalf. You can find freelancers from sites like Upwork at affordable prices. Once you’re generating enough traffic to your website, monetize that traffic to generate revenue from your website. Here are a few ways to make money from your web traffic.
Advertising: Sell ad space on your website or use an ad network like AdSense to monetize website traffic. When people click on an ad, you earn money.
Affiliate marketing: This involves promoting and selling products created by other businesses. Whenever someone buys a product through your affiliate link, you earn a commission off the sale.
Selling products: You can also create and sell your own products, like e-books, online courses and software on your website.
Sponsored content: Advertisers will often reach out to you to sponsor blog posts that promote their own brands and products. They will pay you to write about their products on your blog.
Eventually, you may start making a profitable income from your website. Then you can decide whether to sell it for a profit or to continue developing the site to use as an income stream. The choice is yours.
The good news is that you don’t have to open your checkbook or empty your bank account to invest in a website or a blog. The bad news is, unlike when you invest in stock or real estate, you can’t expect the value of your digital real estate to go up over time if you don’t do anything. You have to put in the work to make your website more successful and increase its value. Make sure you’re willing to put in the work before you invest if you want to see a financial return.
Top Marketplaces to Buy Digital Real Estate
Decentraland: This is one of the largest place marketplaces for digital real estate. It allows you to buy and sell land, estates, avatar wearables and other digital goods. The Ethereum network is the foundation for this digital world.
SuperWorld: This company has created a virtual map of Earth. It allows you to buy real-life plots of land, that now exist in the metaverse. For example, you could buy the Taj Mahal, NYC’s 5th avenue or your own home. Someone already purchased The White House for about $354 USD. In total, it has 64.8 billion plots of land for sale.
Somnium Space: Somnium Space describes itself as “a new virtual reality world.” This includes allowing users to buy and sell virtual land.
The Sandbox: A virtual metaverse where players can play, build, own, and monetize their virtual experiences. It boasts NFT collections by Snoop Dogg, Care Bears and Atari.
Upland.me: This platform is still in beta. However, it will be a digital metaverse where users can buy, sell and trade digital real estate.
OpenSea: Currently the largest NFT marketplace. It has a section for virtual land. Here you can buy and sell land parcels, wearables and names from projects like Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, Somnium Space and The Sandbox.
Keep in mind that things happen quickly in the metaverse. New companies are popping up every day with lofty ambitions of creating a new metaverse. As we saw with Meta Platforms, larger corporations are also willing to pivot. If you want to invest in digital real estate, be sure to do a deep dive into all existing marketplaces.
This is good in the beginning when things are moving quickly, as you need flexible leaders who can quickly learn in new environments. But as you scale, you begin needing expertise and depth as well.
