Actually, I was all sulky and demotivated for a couple weeks. It just came out of nowhere.

2 years after our launch, I was officially burnt out. All the things that I’ve been doing and juggling finally took a toll on me.

I was moving slow and obsessing less about our goals. I was the worst person to talk to. I was all “doom and gloom.”

I just wanted to step away and have nothing to do with the business. I guess this is the feeling other entrepreneurs have spoken about.

You’ll reach a point where you want to give up and it really takes everything to get you out of that mindset.

I can see how other entrepreneurs failed to get past it and entered a depression stage. It’s very easy to just give in.

I’d like to share some things that got me back on track.

REALIZE

I had to realize and admit to myself that I was in a funk. Sometimes, us entrepreneurs just keep chugging along like nothing affects us.

RESET

Take a break, refocus yourself on your goals, why you’re doing this. In my case, I took a hard look at my to do list and calendar, cleaned it up, took out a notebook and started writing what I’m thinking, what I was feeling and what steps I needed to do next to get back on track.

TALK

Not everybody will have somebody to discuss this with. Sometimes, it’s a lonely road for entrepreneurs. Talk to your spouse, people you love, your friends. Even if you feel like they cannot relate, it will help.

POWER THROUGH

You’ve taken a break. You’ve charted a course and realigned your goals. Now, start getting back on track with a renewed mindset.
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Being an entrepreneur is not easy. It really isn’t. Challenges are non-stop, the pressure is always there, the mental toll can be too much. If you feel like the world is just crumbling around you, listen to me, it won’t.
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Take a deep breath, realize, reset, talk and power through.

Your company needs you to be strong. You family is rooting for you to succeed. You are not alone.

Now, let’s get your ass back to work.

This is just a super short post. Just wanted to share what I experienced recently, it might help somebody out there.

The post Burning Out by Being a Proactive Founder and How to Deal With It appeared first on Dennis Seymour.

I love e-commerce, I love the agency model but right now, I can definitely say that I am in love with the SaaS model. I definitely prefer it over the traditional agency model.

Why?

CONTROL

Sure, the agency service model will net you bigger returns per contract but with a SaaS model, you own the product, you get a more predictable monthly income, you can scale faster, you have more possible solutions to explore for various problems, and you definitely are in control of your destiny. You control what you product becomes, what you do to acquire users, to activate them, to convert them and so on.
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PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

The actual product part is a lot of fun for me to be honest. Being part of the brainstorming, development and feedback loop is just so much fun.
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Though it can get overwhelming fast, I definitely enjoy the process. If you don’t enjoy this part but like SaaS, be sure your partners love this part because your product will suffer if nobody on the team actually loves to improve it.

CHALLENGE

The challenge is also really crazy, both mentally and physically, at least for my most recent startup, SeriousMD.

The mental toll from all the product iteration, promotion efforts and so on, while traveling and meeting with users from all parts of the country is draining and balancing that with personal matters… well, let’s just say that I have to keep reminding myself of why I’m doing these things to keep myself sane LOL.

HIGH BARRIER TO ENTRY

SaaS is not for everyone. It also takes a lot of time and you’ll need a very good idea. You’ll also need a solid way to acquire users, activate users and build a good feedback loop.

If you’re a bootstrapped SaaS, then you’ll have to double the level of the challenge and if you’re a funded company, well, that has it’s own challenges.

On the flip side, there are less competitors and sometimes, practically zero direct competitors and that’s why I love it. For me, competitors in the market is just a nice to have but I’d rather be the only recognized player and have a monopoly especially on emerging industries.

——

Anyway, this is just a quick post and it’s by no means telling you that SaaS is better than what you are doing now. This is just here to inspire soon-to-be SaaS founders and those already in the trenches with their own SaaS to remember what made them love SaaS so they’d push on and succeed.

Keep SaaS-ing.

The post Here’s Why I Love Working on SaaS appeared first on Dennis Seymour.

“I need to generate ideas to make money.”

I still do ask that myself as the entrepreneurial bug can never be squelched.

BUT, is generating a list of ideas enough to get you started?

Chances are, you are reading this because it hasn’t.

In most cases, you probably generated a list of ideas then it’s still stuck on your notebook or to-do list somewhere, right?

I know how that feels, I have a whole notebook with ideas from back then.

I’m creating this short post to help out a fellow entrepreneur out there that’s on the same boat I was.

I kept creating a list of ideas and taking no action because I simply didn’t know where to start.

So, what I did was to look at it from a different view to come up with a system that will help me filter make money ideas and help me take action on what I really want to do right now.

What can I do?

I start by asking myself, what can I do? Basically, this is a list of business ideas or services that I can offer. This can be really long or you can end up with just 2.

What ideas do I like?

This part is simple, which of the ideas from the list are things you’d “like” to do. It should be interesting to you. Why? Business is hard, and if you are engaged, you will keep pushing.
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It’s easier to quit if you don’t like what you are doing.

What do I want to do?

Now, filter which of these things that you actually like to do. Trust me, not everything on your list is something you’d like to do because most of them are tedious. Be honest, look at them and select what you really want to do.

What can I take action on now?

Now, the final step is to pick out which you can take action on right now. This is the “be realistic” step. You can’t do everything. You probably have a job. You probably need to spend time with your family. You probably have other hobbies. There’s just not enough time even if you hustle 24/7. So now, just pick 1 from the remaining business/ make money ideas because that’s all you have time for right now.
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Having a hard time to pick 1? Pick your top 3 realistic things and from there, you’ll see that it’s easier to pick your number 1. As for the rest of your ideas? It’s not goodbye forever, just for now. You can come back later on after you execute what you realistically want and like to do.

Now, grab your notebook, write the four things above, take action and go be successful… then tell me about it.

The post How to Systematically Find an Idea that Will Make You Money appeared first on Dennis Seymour.

Some say we charge too little.

Some say we shouldn’t be a subscription.

Some say we should be free.

What is it really?

We all know the famous saying that people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.

For most SaaS companies, what you create doesn’t really have an existing market. That means, you are a new product to the people you want to serve. It’s why you will certainly face some push-back to your pricing.

We faced that and are still facing that to this day even with ultra happy subscribers relying on our app daily.

It’s just the nature of the beast.

This post is not going to tell you how you can come up with the perfect pricing because there’s no such formula.

You know your value. You know your costs. I don’t.

That’s why you need to come up with your pricing yourself.

What this post is for is to show you how I look at these different segments and how to deal with people like them.

To those that say we charge too little

These are your top guys. They are the early adopters that are willing to test and will stay with you in the long run. They will be the ones that promote you to their friends. They are the people that see your value already. It won’t be hard to keep them, so be sure to keep them happy. Give them a good offer if you can. Communicate with them regularly and they will forever love you.

To those that say we charge too much

These are your middle of the pack guys. Either you lose them right off the bat or they give it a try and see the value in the long run. These are the people you nurture and if you lose them, you lose them. Don’t fret and get mad if they send you a message that you are expensive. Just keep your cool and realize that they don’t know you. The fact that they are there tells you that they are interested, it’s up to you and your team to close the deal. If you look at it like that, then you’ll start to see the possibilities and not just look at them like nagging prospects.

To those that say we shouldn’t be a subscription

You will get these people. Much like the previous group, you can still close these people. Don’t get angry. Don’t let your emotions get the better of you because they don’t know any better. They don’t know the costs involved, how much your servers are, how much a great developer is worth, how much support costs and so on. Chances are, these same people are using an existing software that they bought for a 1 time fee (and a 1 time setup fee) and in many cases, they are paying for maintenance costs, then they pay support costs if they need help.
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Now, isn’t that also a subscription?
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Get on the phone, talk to them about their concerns and show them how you differ. Trust me, the other party can’t match what you offer, it’s why they are contacting you nagging about you being a subscription!

To those that say we should be free

These are the worst type. These are freebie seekers or just spoiled from all the free stuff out there. There’s a lower chance to convert these people but if you do get the chance to get them on the phone, just explain what they are losing because of free-ware. Most industries have “standards” and what they are using are usually not complying to standards. Most of them also lack the stuff they need, it’s why the person contacted you. The usual suspects: mobility, encryption, security, limits, updates and support. There’s a reason why those are free, right? They just don’t realize it yet.

As you can see, there’s always a way to deal with these different segments of people.

Talk to them, pre-qualify them to see if you’re a great fit and go from there.

To many prospects, they just need somebody to talk to. At least in my experience, that already makes a world of difference.

The post People think we charge too much, but the others say we charge far too low. How do you deal with them? appeared first on Dennis Seymour.

Just do your best.

That’s the only thing you can do.

Shit will come in non-stop. You won’t have much time to service everybody, especially since you are starting up. You just don’t have enough people.
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Requests will come in.

DEMANDS will come in.

Things will fall apart when everything has been working perfectly for the past month! (Murphy’s Law)

Shit just happens.

That’s why after you filter the things and prioritize, just do your best and deliver a product that you’ll be proud of. A real, kick-ass product that your market needs.

Your users will appreciate what you do. It ALWAYS shows in your work if you really put everything into it.

Over time, they will learn to be patient. They will learn that it’s not magic and you can’t just magically make things appear inside your app as they appreciate the improvements you make.
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There are also plenty of advantages for being small, one of which is your speed. Your competitors won’t be able to match your speed in churning out the things your users want. People love and appreciate that.

As your user gets to know you and your company, they will start to appreciate you more and understand what you’re dealing with on your end.

Just don’t forget to communicate it with them.

Sure, most of them won’t answer. Usually, you’d think that they don’t really see your notifications, newsletters and such but they do.

So on that end, just do your best and communicate with them as well as much as you can.

Cliche, I know, but this is coming from my own experiences.

Trust me, just do your best and things will work out.

The post In SaaS and Software, Just Do Your Best appeared first on Dennis Seymour.

“A Half Assed Product From a Bunch of Great Ideas??”

He didn’t like that tone one bit. He was pumped, but I shot it down. He was PISSED.

Not so positive, eh?

So, I asked him to calm down and let me explain.

As entrepreneurs, we’ve already made this mistake multiple times in our lives.

For new entrepreneurs, stop making the same mistakes as your predecessors and save valuable time.

It’s natural to want to turn a bunch of great ideas into a (crappy) product because you are short on time and you want to do everything at once.

What you’ll get in the end is what I call a half-assed product.

You have to face the facts and swallow your pride. You just can’t do everything you want at the same time if you want to do it well, that is.

Your time is limited, your resources are definitely limited  and your focus is finite. Trust me, it is. You can only focus on so much each and every day.

Spreading yourself too thin will lead you to NOTHING.

It’s hard enough to do one thing right.

Trying to do ten things well at the same time? Just forget about it.

My advice? Sacrifice.

Cut your ambition in half. If your core product idea is great, then you are doing it for the greater good of those that need it, those that you will serve.

Your “MVP” is not just a product with half features chopped out.  It’s not a way to get the product out the door earlier.

In fact, the MVP doesnt have to be a product at all.

An MVP is not something you build once and then consider the job done. An MVP is a process that you repeat over and over again. Your whole MVP is a constant process you need to improve upon to reach that one GOAL.

When you build a product, you make many assumptions.

You assume you know what users are looking for, how the design should work and so on. No matter how good you are, some of your assumptions will be wrong. The problem is, you dont know which ones are wrong.

That is why you have to build out a clear process for everything you build and do.

Focus on one thing at a time and put out a half-product that is already great on it’s own at what it does.

You’re better off with that than a half-assed whole product.

Most of your great ideas won’t seem all that great once you get some perspective, anyway. And if they truly are that fantastic, you can always do them later.

Trust the Process

As a Sixers’ fan, AKA, a Sam Hinkie fan, I do trust the process. Sometimes, it’s a chore, it’s a grind, but it usually works for the better in the end.

Focus on one great thing, build it, test, improve it, iterate. Then you can add your next great idea on your kick ass half-product.

How do you know? You’ll start getting messages like this…

I’m speaking from experience. From building my products, to eventually starting a SaaS app for doctors (seriousmd.com).

Even with a team of great minds, you can still fail by putting together a half-assed product.

Remember, directors cut good scenes.

Musicians drop good tracks to make a great album.

Writers eliminate good pages to make a book great.

Developers cut features to make something work better rather than having a cluttered UI.

Your MVP is a process.

[Tweet “Your MVP is a process.”]

Don’t fill it up with everything. Focus on what’s important right now, the one thing that users really need. Then you can build further from there. This is my go-to “Trust the Process” Technique.

Now go, be smart, be motivated and build a kickass Half-Product. Then tell me about it!

What’s your kickass half-product?

The post The Other Day, Jimmy Told Me That He’d Build an “MVP” to Make All His Great Ideas Happen. Here’s What I Told Him. appeared first on Dennis Seymour.

They guarantee 60 days turnover time, which is fine with me as I ordered a bunch of items that are just for kicks.

Then, the wait started.

7 days.

30 days.

I checked the tracking info inside the app. The stuff arrived in the Philippines in less than 2 weeks.

I asked Wish about it and they recommended that I wait it out and they will refund it for me if it doesn’t arrive in time.

I waited until the 70th day and asked for a refund.

A week later, the local post office dropped off a card to let me know that I had a package. Note: it was just 1 card (out of 6 orders) and I’m assuming the rest weren’t even processed yet.

So…

It took a good 2 months and a half to process my packages. Perhaps it took 2 months to process, then 2 weeks to send the card to me. The post office is a 15 minute walk from my place.

I’m in no way blaming the personnel in my local post office. I’ve met them and they are a hardworking bunch but I’m not so sure about what’s going on in there. I know there’s some kind of automation, but it’s a safe bet that most of the processes all pretty much manual. There might also be a lot more packages coming in nowadays and they are undermanned. I don’t know, there must be a reason.

I had somebody in the US order the same thing from the same Wish merchant. Item took 2 weeks to arrive in California. In less than a month, the item was with him.

See the issue there?

If not then let me put it like this:

The US is like a million miles a way and China is literally besides the Philippines. Come on! The math doesn’t add up!

Obviously, our postal system here in the Philippines is broken and needs a much needed upgrade.

If you guys in power are reading this, then yes, you can hire us to fix it for you but for entrepreneurs reading this post, this is an opportunity. It’s ripe for disruption. 

Find a way to be the alternative to the Philippine postal system. Come up with something, I don’t know what, just come up with something. There must be a way to improve this and I’m sure it will be profitable as e-commerce grows bigger and bigger over the next years.

The post Disrupting The Philippine Postal System appeared first on Dennis Seymour.

Our startup, for one, also adapted it.

Build, measure & learn.

It’s how you get from the assumption, to building it out, to tracking/learning from the data.

After all, the faster you test things, the faster you get to product-market fit, the closer you get to success. It’s why this approach is so effective.

But with all great things, there are times that it can be a detriment to your success.

As you already know, it’s very important to document and validate your assumptions.

The one thing that can definitely affect you is the time that you waste always trying to validate all your assumptions.

Go, Waste Time & Validate All Your Ideas

Validating ideas and assumptions. It’s super important.

Actually, it’s just as important as getting actual data from real people that use your product.

What I’m referring to is how you might possibly be wasting time being obsessed at testing every single thing, eventually losing sight of what you really need to do, to get to where you need to go.

As a startup, your most precious resource is your time and your time is tied up with focus.

[Tweet “As a startup, your most precious resource is your time and your time is tied up with focus.”]

The more unfocused you are, the more time you waste. It’s just that simple.

Besides the tests you need to run and validate, you need to plan to get to where you are headed. You also have different things that pile up along the way, such as team members leaving, building culture, random shit happening, unexpected downtime and so much more. It’s very easy to get distracted, get pissed off and just totally lose focus because of all the ups and downs that happen with startup life.

That’s why when it comes to your startup’s (product) progress, you really have to be laser-focused. The last thing you want is to also waste time with that and have competitors sweep the rug out under your feet. You will almost certainly fail.

So, what do you need to do?

Step 1: Re-focus

Write down your main goal. What is it?

Compile everything you are validating now and what’s coming next.

Is everything you are testing contributing towards that main goal?

Weed out those that are irrelevant or flat out BS. You should be able to spot them without much issue. We all make rash decisions sometimes, so it’s ok to admit that you went too far with something that you shouldn’t have.

Step 2: Prioritize

You already know by now that a huge chunk of a startup’s early period is spent on validating those ideas. That’s why you need to prioritize which you need to do first.

Sure, it’s always great to have more information about the market you are serving but are all your tests really critical to getting you from where you are now, to product-market fit?

I’m sure the answer to that, is no. (If it’s a yes, then why are you even reading this. Go and continue your perfect life.)

Anyway, just sort and score each idea you have lined up. If you have new ideas, it goes to the bottom of the pile unless it’s determined to be really important based on your startup’s current direction.

Research, Data, or a Story to Support Your Opinion

I personally experienced this with SeriousMD.

I began to realize that validating and wanting to see data about everything is basically just hindering our progress forward. We used to ship regularly but as we added more and more features, we had to run more and more validations.

I noticed that the team became so hell bent on testing everything that it became a hindrance to our productivity and our progress. Sometimes, it even became an excuse.

Somehow, the focus was lost in-between, so we had to refocus.

We went through what we were doing that wasn’t contributing to our end goal. In our case, we were focusing on adding improvements to existing modules when the usage there clearly wasn’t being affected.

We identified the main issue we have, re-focused on that and did our tests there. So far, so good.

What’s Your Take?

There are a lot of die-hard fans of the lean startup method out there. I’m sure a lot of what I say here will get smashed and I’ll get crucified.

I don’t really care.

The whole point is that there are people out there running a startup that’s doing everything right from the get go. But all of a sudden, finds itself in a hole.

I’m on the same journey and as much as I want my startup to succeed, I also want your startup to succeed. It’s why I’m sharing my experiences here on this blog.

I hope you find your way back and continue to kick butt. If you don’t really need this, then go and continue to live your perfect life. You are a rockstar.

I’d love to hear your story, [wp_colorbox_media url=”http://denseymour.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Snapchat-Dennis-Seymour-Philippines.jpeg” type=”image”] or leave a comment below about your experiences.

The post Why the Lean Startup Approach might be Wasting your Time appeared first on Dennis Seymour.

I often say it’s not easy.

But, in all honesty, it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.

It’s a long road to get to where you want to be. You need to be mentally tough if you are going to start your own company and fight against the currents.

You won’t magically hit product-market fit. You won’t make the right decisions all the time. You won’t find the right message you need to be delivering immediately. You won’t find the perfect audience that you need to be selling to right off the bat.

That’s #StartupLife. It’s a journey where you will face ups and downs. Mostly downs, but when you do go up, you really go up.

We all know this saying…

Nothing in life is ever easy.

We’ve been hearing it from our parents, family and friends. But is it true? Does it apply with everything, including your journey as a founder?

Challenges of an Entrepreneur and Startup Founder

With this blog, I’m basically documenting what’s happening or what has happened to me. My hope is that someone out there that reads this, will learn from my mistakes, trials and solutions so they can cut the process and jump in front.

I have obviously faced a ton of challenges over the years, but nothing as big and challenging as how we’ve set out to change healthcare in the Philippines, and possibly expand to other countries by the end of the year.

I’ve been learning along the way as it’s my first time to be in the trenches for an app startup. Nothing has been easy so far.

We’ve had challenges changing mindset, crafting the right message, communicating the way that they expect and so on. Basically, all the things that even our counterparts in the first world countries are also facing when it comes to the same market.

Besides the obvious challenges, there are other things that you, as the founder, will probably have to think about.

You are the blood and guts of your company. You are the morale. You are the culture. You are the dreamer and builder. You are the marketer. You are the growth team. You handle analytics. You are the customer acquisition arm. You are the support person. You have to go to the bank to pay bills.
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You even have to be a janitor sometimes to clean up the office.

On and on, and on, and on.

The reality is, if you are starting a company, chances are, you will be have your hands in a lot of things until you have the cashflow to hire great people. As a proud bootstrapped company, we know this is a necessary situation. Even those with funding can often be frugal in order to focus on what’s really important rather than burning away the cash.

With the things I mentioned above, there are 2 primary things that I always see to be the main challenges for a founder.

Challenge 1: Loneliness and Isolation

The fact is, with all the challenges you face as a founder, there’s a loneliness and isolation that’s attached to it that you will eventually feel.  This one is often a big killer for aspiring entrepreneurs. Some people just can’t deal with this.

People break down because they’re so passionate and they feel like there’s nobody like them. They feel like the world is against them. They think the team isn’t giving as much effort as he is. Any of these ring a bell with you?
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Let me know.

Challenge 2: The Roller Coaster

The reality = starting a company is hard work.

You need to understand this or learn fast on the job if you want to stay the course.

It’s very stressful. The competition, the environment, the things you want done, the update that’s delayed, the team member that’s absent for a lengthy time, the CTO disappearing, the money constraints.

It’s stressful! Full of emotional ups and downs.

Even today, I still have my days where I doubt myself, I get super pumped, I get stuck or just flat out coast through days. It’s why it’s important to identify these feelings early and deal with them to the best of your abilities.

—

Coping Your Way to Success

Actually, a lot of people hate the word “Cope” because they see it as a sign of weakness. I see it differently.

I like it because as the definition states, it means that you are actually dealing with the issue and facing it head on.

I have been in the trenches for a while and have experienced the ups and downs in the past with other businesses, which is why I’m able to adapt in most cases.

I think there are certain things that you need to do and practice in order to better cope with the ups and downs.

1. Find your Anchors

Your anchors should be someone or something that keeps you grounded. Stressful as it can become, your anchors will keep you in familiar territory. It will help you calm down, regroup, have time to think before going at it again.

A daily routine of how you start the day can be an anchor. I’ve been tweaking my own routine for the past years until I’ve finally reached a point where I know I got it down, though I still add some things to test from time to time.

You family can be your anchor as well. Your family is more important than anything and you shouldn’t forget it even if you think that you love your company just as much. Talk to them, enjoy their company, regroup before going back to war for your company.

2. Have a Long Term Goal

As entrepreneurs, a lot of us just want things done now. Not later. It has to be NOW.

I am definitely not the best long term planner. I have to thank my co-founders for being able to do this. Have a long term plan and work towards it.

Accept setbacks because they will happen, one way or another but that shouldn’t set you back from your long term goal. In fact, the things you learn from setbacks can even speed up what you’re doing and you might reach your goal earlier.

Plan things out. Apply, measure, learn, iterate. The earlier you do this, the less effect the “downs” will have on you.

3. Surround Yourself with the Right Team

Having the right people around you will most definitely have the biggest effect.

A team that stands close together comprised of people that you can count on. From the right co-founders, to team members that are ready to go through a wall for you.

But first, people don’t buy into your company without a WHY. You must show them your vision.

If somebody shows resistance and hurts the group’s mindset, then you need to regroup and let him go.

In the long run, it will affect your morale for the better and will help you manage the ups and downs better.

4. Understand your Limitations

You will always expect too much from yourself. It’s natural for entrepreneurs.

You have to accept that you can’t answer everything on your own. You have to rely on other people sometimes. Understand your weaknesses and ASK QUESTIONS.

Lower your pride a bit and just try it. It’ll give you an outlet for your frustrations and it can give you solutions that you normally won’t see.

Get a group of fellow entrepreneurs that you can trust. Find a mastermind if you have to. A personal opinion of mine, you’ll need straight shooters that will give you answers, direct to the point. No fluff.

5. Learn to be Self Aware

I mentioned earlier in the article that you need to identify what you’re feeling early, so you can deal with it accordingly.

Understanding yourself, how you think, how you react, where you are lacking, the gaps in your thinking and so on, is super important.

The better you understand yourself, the better you can “spot” things and find a solution to how we deal with things.

Here’s a recent example.

I was breaking down with all my never ending tasks and to me, they are all major, high impact tasks. I had too much on my plate and at the same time, I was feeling frustrated with the slow progress in development and I was pissed with customer communication because of how vague the answers always are.

I found a solution by hitting the gym and letting my frustration out with the weights there. Something as simple as that kept me grounded and I found a solution rather than expressing it in a way that I will regret, which might end up hurting the company long term. Within 45 minutes, I got to clear my mind, come up with solutions to my tasks and how to deal with the other furstrations rather than sulk the whole day and be unproductive.

Your solution might be different, that’s why it’s important for you to be self aware.

—

How You Doin’?

Earlier in this article, I mentioned the saying “Nothing in life is ever easy.”

Well, I think it’s partially true, until you get to a point where things will come easier.

As we grow, we’re going to see more humps. It’s just a fact. BUT as we get better, the ride gets smoother.

You just have to learn to understand yourself and how to cope with the challenges.

The fact is, #StartupLife is pretty much the same with regular life.

Challenge after challenge. More downs than ups.

But you’ll eventually  get to a point where it’s smooth sailing even though there are still the eventual humps or turbulence.

Loneliness, emotional breaking points, stress, being overworked, fear of failure, the weight of the world riding on your shoulders. It’s all part of the game.

Know yourself   Come up with processes/routines/solutions Pull yourself back up and go back to war. This time, you go back better and more knowledgable.

This time, you’ll win.

Now, go and destroy that fucking roller coaster.

Then tell me about how you did it on the comments or [wp_colorbox_media url=”http://denseymour.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Snapchat-Dennis-Seymour-Philippines.jpeg” type=”image”]. I’d love to hear your story.

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It’s a weird world that we live in.

Now that Snapchat is going public and they see the valuation since the press is eating it up, they are now asking me about it and surprisingly, a lot of them already downloaded it, though I’m sure they’d stop using it right after signing up.

Snapchat isn’t really the easiest thing to understand for older people and that’s just the “idea” of disappearing messages, not yet considering how they get around the UI of the app, which by itself is confusing for most people when they first use it.

They’ll have a harder time understanding how this is even a social network since it doesn’t have a publicly visible “Follow” system, which is one of the staples for the other networks. They probably just have a couple friends on it if they browsed the contacts list, which is already a reason to not even “try” the app for most users.

Once you uncover the beauty of the app and it’s network though, you’ll start to see how fun it is as well as it’s power and value.

Everybody knows that Facebook tried to buy it off back then and now, it’s on an all out war to kill it by blatantly copying “Stories” and putting it on Messenger and Instagram. I’m not hating on Facebook. Just stating a fact. (I’m pretty sure Instagram Stories will work better than Messenger Stories though.)

With all those things going against it, why should you still use Snapchat?

Why Use Snapchat?

There are multiple reasons why I recommend getting on Snapchat, no matter how old you are but I do change up my answer depending on who I’m talking to.

As an entrepreneur, I think you really should give Snapchat a chance. Why? Here’s why.

1. Unique Perspective

You can show a different perspective on Snapchat Stories. It feels more personal as you show people how you see it from your point of view. Your followers typically see your pretty photos on Instagram, text thoughts on Twitter or just a picture of you and your bae on Facebook.

Snapchat shows a different, unedited side of you and that connects you better to your followers.

2. Self Expression

Draw cool stuff. Make cool shit. Create.

You can do lots of creative things with the tools you have there. From basic drawing, to sticking emoji’s to moving things, world filters, heck, even “cutting” an image of your friend’s face and making that into an emoji that you can stick anywhere in your Snaps.

As an entrepreneur, this is a creative outlet and it’s one that I use to express ideas I have in mind, or at the least, I can do mindless shit on it during a break, so I can refocus on the tasks that are coming up.

Check out CyreneQ on Snapchat and how she creatively uses the tools offered by the platform.

3. Self Development

There are a lot of ways you can use Snapchat for self development. For me, it’s a way to motivate and hold myself accountable.

I’ve always had trouble waking up early. I’m writing this now at 5 am. I tell myself that I have to Snap it so I can prove it. It sounds dumb, I know, but it has worked for me. I want to help inspire the people that see those Snaps as well.

I also do challenges to improve certain aspects of what I do. I just finished one challenge and there’s an upcoming challenge on the way.

4. Real Time Stories

As an entrepreneur, we’re always going to have our “marketer” side show up in the articles we write. Snapchat Stories opens new marketing opportunities that you can make use of for your business.

Increased your brand recognition and loyalty by connecting to your customers. Convert better through a richer customer experience by giving them exclusive deals and exclusive content, like how I use it to show behind the scenes of my startup.

It’s the sign of the times. People are changing, so are their needs.

Who would have thought 10 years ago that videos that can only be viewed in 24 hours would be good for marketing?!

5. Personal Connection

Your Snaps are tailored directly to the recipient and that makes your followers feel special. Your Snaps cannot be forwarded nor shared. It’s just between you and the person you are sending it to.

For your company, it gives you the ability to form a personal connection with customers. Can you do that effectively on another platform? I doubt it.

Though a lot of influencers and companies show other content types or promote more creative videos they make through their computer, for the most part, your Stories can be viewed in their unedited glory and that gives an authentic feel, which makes you relatable.

6. Engaged, Loyal Userbase

There are over 100 million active users on Snapchat all around the world. There are 7 billion views on Stories each day.

7 freakin’ billion views from rabid fans waiting for your content that are highly engaged.

Do your Twitter followers pay attention to your tweets? Do you see the fluctuating views on your Facebook Page? Do you get comments on Instagram that aren’t from bots?

Start engaging people on Snapchat and in no time, you’ll see that it really is different from the other social networks out there.

Look at Chris… Inadequate Chris.

7. Mobile Only

The main weakness and possibly, the main advantage it has is that it’s exclusively available for mobile devices.

I don’t know if they will ever release a web app or a desktop app. They probably won’t, unless they add a killer “phase 3” for their app. (Phase 2 = when they released Snapchat Stories. It was a killer feature that changed the game.)

The good thing with mobile only is that you already know that more people are now “living” in their apps. The usage of apps has grown so significantly over the past years and it’s stupid to still ignore it. Snapchat knows it’s audience well because of this and it enables them to give more features that work for you and your followers.

It also challenges you to work with what you have and that leads to some really creative, awesome art.

Since we’re talking about Art and how you can make really awesome things with the tools given, take a look at how Geeohsnap uses Snapchat. Tell me how you can’t create anything because you’re “limited” because once you see this guy’s work, you’ll be blown away.
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8. Demographics

Once you hop on, you already know the demographic that’s already settled in there.

Primarily 13-34 year olds. Oh, and it’s getting older each day.

Your competition is already involved and the earlier you start, the sooner you reap the benefits.

Much like with any platform, you need to invest. Time, money and so on but potential losses at this point is insignificant. Waiting just makes you more vulnerable. Just do it.

Just Do It

There are definitely things going against Snapchat, from it’s not so easy to pick up UI, to having a limited follow system and even the current crop of copycats, but I still think that you need to give it a good go. Invest a month, really try to learn it and see what happens.

The audience and engagement alone will be different and the time you spend on it won’t be that much. You can also export the Snaps and upload them to Instagram Stories if you really have to.

Yes, ephemeral marketing is a thing now and you need to hop on board. Stop putting it off and just do it.

Here’s what you need to do:
1. Based on the stuff I wrote above, pick one thing that you’d like to do, either to challenge yourself, improve a skill, reach your market, etc.
2. Create an account and download the app
3. [wp_colorbox_media url=”http://denseymour.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Snapchat-Dennis-Seymour-Philippines.jpeg” type=”image”]
4. Tell me what you’ll be using Snapchat for. I’d love to hear from you.

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