10 Cool Ways to Embrace Winter

Winter is in full force. As the days get shorter and the nights get colder, even the best of us can get a little down. The "winter blues" are characterized by the mild depression, lack of motivation, and low energy that many people experience during this cold season. Luckily, there’s a lot you can do to both prevent the blues from coming on and get yourself back to normal if they’re already here.

1. Exercise
As if we needed another reason to get fit! Exercise isn’t only for maintaining your weight and staying healthy. It’s great for relieving the stresses of life. Plus, the effects of a good workout can last for several hours after you hit the showers. You’ll have more energy throughout the day, and your metabolism with stay elevated too. Exercise also helps your mind by releasing those "feel good chemicals" that improve your mood. 

2. Eat a Healthy Diet
What and when you eat has a great affect on your mood and energy. Avoid refined and processed foods (like white breads, rice, and sugar). These foods are not only devoid of the nutrients your body craves, but they zap your energy levels and can affect your mood—causing depression, lack of concentration, and mood swings. Try to incorporate more complex carbohydrates (whole wheat breads, brown rice, veggies, fruit) and get your daily 8 cups of water. These healthy foods provide your body (and mind) with nutrients, and stabilize your blood sugar and your energy levels. 

3. Get Some Sun
Most people know that sunlight provides us with Vitamin D. But did you know that it also improves your mood? Winter days are shorter and darker than other months, and because of the cold weather, a lot of people spend less and less time outdoors. Lack of sunlight can cause many people to become depressed—without knowing why! Similar to exercise, sunlight exposure releases neurotransmitters in the brain that affect mood. Try to spend a little more time outdoors.  Keep your shades up during the day to let more light in. Sit near windows in restaurants and during class. Try changing the light bulbs in your house to "full spectrum" bulbs. These mimic natural light and actually have the same affects on your mind as the real thing. 

4. Act on your Resolutions
A recent study from the CDC showed a strong link between healthy behaviors and depression. Women who exhibited healthy behaviors (like exercising, not smoking, etc.) had less sad and depressed days than those whose behaviors were less than healthy. Although researchers studied women, the results are likely similar in men. 
5. Avoid Binge Drinking
Staying in with a cold beer or a nice glass of wine may seem like the only thing to do in the winter months, and many people who feel down also tend to turn to alcohol when they’re feeling down. But alcohol is actually a depressant, and rather than improving your mood, it only makes it worse. Avoiding alcohol when you are already depressed is a good idea. Moderate drinking is fine for most people, but binge drinking (defined as having 5 or more drinks in one sitting) is never a healthy choice. The morning after will have you feeling sick, depressed, and even more tired, which will affect many aspects of your life. This will make your low energy and bad mood even worse. 

6. Treat Yourself
Having something to look forward to can keep anyone motivated. Winter seems endless! But if you plan somethingexciting, your mood improves when you’re anticipating it and when the event actually comes. Plan something that’s exciting to you—a weekend trip, a day at the spa, a party (but keep #5 above in mind), or special event like a play, girls (or guys) night out, or sporting event. 

7. Relax!
You’re busy! Work, class, family, friends, appointments, meetings—even if you enjoy being busy, everyone needs some time off. Don’t be afraid to say "No" to extra opportunities (covering a shift for a co-worker, bringing food to your son’s class party). Try to spend a few minutes each day doing nothing! Read a book or magazine, sleep in on the weekend, go to bed early, try some meditations, or take a yoga class. Relaxation, especially in the form of yoga, can alleviate stress and leave you with a calm energy. Mental exercises like meditation and positive thinking can help keep depression at bay. 

8. Embrace the Season
Instead of always avoiding the cold and the snow—look for the best that it has to offer! Take up a winter sport like ice skating, snowboarding, hockey, or even sledding! Enjoy these opportunities while they last—after all, they’re only here a few months per year. Staying active will boost your energy. Seeing winter in a positive light, with all the fun activities that it has to offer, will keep your spirits high. 

9. Get Social Support
Don’t underestimate the power of friends, family, mentors, co-workers, and neighbors. Who can you turn to when you’re down and need a pick-me-up? Keep a mental list of these special people and don’t be afraid to ask for help or encouragement when you need it. Something as simple as a phone call, a chat over coffee, or a nice email or letter can brighten your mood. 

10. Catch some Zzzz’s
People naturally want to sleep a little bit more during the winter. But with all we have going on, sometimes sleep is the first thing to go. With a little time management, and some self-discipline, you can meet your shut-eye needs. Aim for 7-8 hours each night, and try to keep your bedtime and waking time consistent. That way, your sleeping patterns can normalize and you’ll have more energy. Try not to oversleep—those 12-hour snoozes on the weekend can actually make you MORE tired. Don’t forget naps! A short (10-30 minute) afternoon nap may be all you need to re-energize midday.

THANKSGIVING

Each year on the fourth Thursday in November, Americans gather for a day of feasting, football and family. While today’s Thanksgiving celebrations would likely be unrecognizable to attendees of the original 1621 harvest meal, it continues to be a day for Americans to come together around the table—albeit with some updates to pilgrim’s menu.

THANKSGIVING AT PLYMOUTH

In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers—an assortment of religious separatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith and other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the New World. After a treacherous and uncomfortable crossing that lasted 66 days, they dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, far north of their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River. One month later, the Mayflower crossed MassachusettsBay, where the Pilgrims, as they are now commonly known, began the work of establishing a village at Plymouth.

Throughout that first brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in English. Several days later, he returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before escaping to London and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition. Squanto taught the Pilgrims, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe, which would endure for more than 50 years and tragically remains one of the sole examples of harmony between European colonists and Native Americans.

In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. Now remembered as American’s “first Thanksgiving”—although the Pilgrims themselves may not have used the term at the time—the festival lasted for three days. While no record exists of the historic banquet’s exact menu, the Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow wrote in his journal that Governor Bradford sent four men on a “fowling” mission in preparation for the event, and that the Wampanoag guests arrived bearing five deer. Historians have suggested that many of the dishes were likely prepared using traditional Native American spices and cooking methods. Because the Pilgrims had no oven and the Mayflower’s sugar supply had dwindled by the fall of 1621, the meal did not feature pies, cakes or other desserts, which have become a hallmark of contemporary celebrations.

THANKSGIVING BECOMES AN OFFICIAL HOLIDAY

Pilgrims held their second Thanksgiving celebration in 1623 to mark the end of a long drought that had threatened the year’s harvest and prompted Governor Bradford to call for a religious fast. Days of fasting and thanksgiving on an annual or occasional basis became common practice in other New England settlements as well. During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress designated one or more days of thanksgiving a year, and in 1789 George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government of the United States; in it, he called upon Americans to express their gratitude for the happy conclusion to the country’s war of independence and the successful ratification of the U.S. Constitution. His successors John Adamsand James Madison also designated days of thanks during their presidencies.

In 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday; each celebrated it on a different day, however, and the American South remained largely unfamiliar with the tradition. In 1827, the noted magazine editor and prolific writer Sarah Josepha Hale—author, among countless other things, of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”—launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. For 36 years, she published numerous editorials and sent scores of letters to governors, senators, presidents and other politicians. Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939, when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s plan, known derisively as Franksgiving, was met with passionate opposition, and in 1941 the president reluctantly signed a bill making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.

THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS

In many American households, the Thanksgiving celebration has lost much of its original religious significance; instead, it now centers on cooking and sharing a bountiful meal with family and friends. Turkey, a Thanksgiving staple so ubiquitous it has become all but synonymous with the holiday, may or may not have been on offer when the Pilgrims hosted the inaugural feast in 1621. Today, however, nearly 90 percent of Americans eat the bird—whether roasted, baked or deep-fried—on Thanksgiving, according to the National Turkey Federation. Other traditional foods include stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Volunteering is a common Thanksgiving Day activity, and communities often hold food drives and host free dinners for the less fortunate.

Parades have also become an integral part of the holiday in cities and towns across the United States. Presented by Macy’s department store since 1924, New York City’s Thanksgiving Day parade is the largest and most famous, attracting some 2 to 3 million spectators along its 2.5-mile route and drawing an enormous television audience. It typically features marching bands, performers, elaborate floats conveying various celebrities and giant balloons shaped like cartoon characters.

Beginning in the mid-20th century and perhaps even earlier, the president of the United States has “pardoned” one or two Thanksgiving turkeys each year, sparing the birds from slaughter and sending them to a farm for retirement. A number of U.S. governors also perform the annual turkey pardoning ritual.

THANKSGIVING CONTROVERSIES

For some scholars, the jury is still out on whether the feast at Plymouth really constituted the first Thanksgiving in the United States. Indeed, historians have recorded other ceremonies of thanks among European settlers in North America that predate the Pilgrims’ celebration. In 1565, for instance, the Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilé invited members of the local Timucua tribe to a dinner in St. Augustine, Florida, after holding a mass to thank God for his crew’s safe arrival. On December 4, 1619, when 38 British settlers reached a site known as Berkeley Hundred on the banks of Virginia’s James River, they read a proclamation designating the date as “a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”

Some Native Americans and others take issue with how the Thanksgiving story is presented to the American public, and especially to schoolchildren. In their view, the traditional narrative paints a deceptively sunny portrait of relations between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, masking the long and bloody history of conflict between Native Americans and European settlers that resulted in the deaths of millions. Since 1970, protesters have gathered on the day designated as Thanksgiving at the top of Cole’s Hill, which overlooks Plymouth Rock, to commemorate a “National Day of Mourning.” Similar events are held in other parts of the country.

THANKSGIVING’S ANCIENT ORIGINS

Although the American concept of Thanksgiving developed in the colonies of New England, its roots can be traced back to the other side of the Atlantic. Both the Separatists who came over on the Mayflower and the Puritans who arrived soon after brought with them a tradition of providential holidays—days of fasting during difficult or pivotal moments and days of feasting and celebration to thank God in times of plenty.

As an annual celebration of the harvest and its bounty, moreover, Thanksgiving falls under a category of festivals that spans cultures, continents and millennia. In ancient times, the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans feasted and paid tribute to their gods after the fall harvest. Thanksgiving also bears a resemblance to the ancient Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. Finally, historians have noted that Native Americans had a rich tradition of commemorating the fall harvest with feasting and merrymaking long before Europeans set foot on their shores.

10 Most Powerful People In The World

Claim Your Dream!!

EPIC Motivational Speech 

by Denzel Washington - Claim Your Dream!!

How to Invest In Startups And Make Money

How do you actually make real money?

If you had invested just $10,000 in Amazon, Dell, Apple, or Microsoft, when they went IPO, you’d be a million dollars richer just from that investment according to theIPO Playbook. Apple kicked that 100x ‘Franklin Multiple’ to the curb with a 4,581.7% rise in stock value between 2002 and 2012 alone.

For some of you reading this, $1million may just be chump change. But imagine if you had invested long before the IPO? How would that make you feel right now? What would that do for you?

Even Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth has been trumped by Uber founder Travis Kalanick, at $6B as of 2015. But as a startup investor you don’t have to be the founder, and do all the work to experience viral investment returns.

As a disclaimer, while there are best practices to follow when venture investing, before making money, it is likely that you will lose a bunch. Investing in early-stage startups is truly an art and like leading Venture Capital firm First Round puts it, “there’s no such thing as a formula for success.”

However, for some, startup investing has proven to work mind-blowingly well, and many individuals are finding this an absolutely essential financial move for generating the returns and results they crave. So what are the specific advantages of investing in early stage startups? How can you invest in startups too? How do you actually make money doing it, while minimizing risk, and elevating reward potential? How do you pick awesome startup investments?

Four Reasons People Invest in Startups:

1. Potentially generating uncorrelated outsized returns and provides portfolio diversification
2. Looking super smart when you’re winning startup picks become hot trending topics
3. The desire to generate enhanced investment returns for their investment portfolio for retirement and beyond
4. Craving to be involved in driving positive change, bringing new solutions to life

Pray For The World

Paris (CNN)On a night when thousands of Paris residents and tourists were reveling and fans were enjoying a soccer match between France and world champion Germany, horror struck in an unprecedented manner. Terrorists -- some with AK-47s, some reportedly with bombs strapped to them -- attacked sites throughout the French capital and at the stadium where the soccer match was underway.

4 Reasons Why Competition Can Benefit Your Business

At least during stressful times of business, business people think that it would have been better if there is no competition in business. But, this thought arises because of lack of knowledge on how to utilize competition for the growth of your business. Competition is to be considered as an important aspect of economic growth. The fact is that competition benefits not only consumers, but also businesses in different ways.

Innovative Thinking

Competition makes you think more innovatively which is necessary for the growth of your business. Suppose, yours is the only business in a particular industry and of course you have complete control of the market. Then, you do not have to think on how to satisfy your customers more than your competitor as there is no such competitor. You are the only option for your customers and they have to be satisfied with what you provide whether it is service or product. Thus innovative thinking does not become a necessity which makes you inactive in thinking. But, competition necessitates innovative thinking as you cannot survive without it. You might have to adopt new technologies or business strategies to stand out from competition.

Quality Service

You might not focus much on quality of service you deliver if there is no competition. As there is no other go for your customers, your products might get a boost in the market though customers are not actually satisfied with your service. Quality of service is a key to customer satisfaction. When competitors are around you, you would be forced to provide better quality service. This will lead to more customer satisfaction which of course benefits you in long term.

Better Knowledge about Customer Preferences

As far as there is high competition, you get better information about customer preferences or requirements. When your competitors make more profit than you, it means that they have adopted some great techniques to attract customers. It could be better service, low prices etc. So, you can study strategies that your competitors adopted which makes them successful. Thus, you can easily know the pulse of your customers and this can be utilized to make your business successful. In short, you get better ideas that you can make use of.

Better Motivation

To stand out from competition, you always need to be highly motivated and try to remain as a better business owner in the industry. You really become proactive, alert, creative and above all focused. You stop being complacent and always think of better ways to satisfy your customers. You never wish to go down and you become a real hard working at the same time smart individual though it might be to stand out from the competition. You try to reinforce your strengths and overcome your weaknesses. Altogether, you become highly motivated to achieve great heights.

Tim enjoys blogging about business strategy and enterpreneurship. Over the last 4 years, Tim has written numerous articles on the topic and has been an active contributor in business forums. Aside from blogging, Tim works at customgear.com.au, a company specialising in promotional products.

WORK WINS OVER SMARTS

Nothing comes easy, and behind every success are hours of plain hard work. Sounds intimidating, but Richard St. John proposes a simple shift in attitude to turn mediocre into incredible.

6 Types of Motivation Explained

What makes people do what they do? Why do some people succeed while others fail? The answer just might be motivation. We know that from an early age motivation prompts us to want to learn and exhibit different types of behavior and stimulates us to accomplish new feats of success. As we grow and mature through the different stages of our lives, we hopefully learn what motivates us and what does not.

What is motivation?
Motivation is generally defined as the force that compels us to action. It drives us to work hard and pushes us to succeed. Motivation influences our behavior and our ability to accomplish goals.
There are many different forms of motivation. Each one influences behavior in its own unique way. No single type of motivation works for everyone. People’s personalities vary and so accordingly does the type of motivation, that is most effective at inspiring their conduct.

Types of Motivation
Incentive
A form of motivation that involves rewards, both monetary and nonmonetary is often called incentive motivation. Many people are driven by the knowledge that they will be rewarded in some manner for achieving a certain target or goal. Bonuses and promotions are good examples of the type of incentives that are used for motivation.
Fear
Fear motivation involves consequences. This type of motivation is often one that is utilized when incentive motivation fails. In a business style of motivation often referred to as the, “carrot and stick,” incentive is the carrot and fear is the stick.
Punishment or negative consequences are a form of fear motivation. This type of motivation is commonly used to motivate students in the education system and also frequently in a professional setting to motivate employees. If we break the rules or fail to achieve the set goal, we are penalized in some way.

Achievement
Achievement motivation is also commonly referred to as the drive for competency. We are driven to achieve goalsand tackle new challenges. We desire to improve skills and prove our competency both to others and to ourselves. Generally, this feeling of accomplishment and achievement is intrinsic in nature.
However, in certain circumstances be motivation for achievement may involve external recognition. We often have a desire or need to receive positive feedback from both our peers and our superiors. This may include anything from an award to a simple pat on the back for a job well done.

Growth
The need for self-improvement is truly an internal motivation. A burning desire to increase our knowledge of ourselves and of the outside world can be a very strong form of motivation. We seek to learn and grow as individuals.
Motivation for growth can also be seen in our yearning for change. Many of us are wired by our personality or upbringing to constantly seek a change in either our external or internal environment or knowledge. We view stagnation to be both negative and undesirable.

Power
The motivation of power can either take the form of a desire for autonomy or other desire to control others around us. We want to have choices and control over our own lives. We strive for the ability to direct the manner in which we live now and the way our lives will unfold in the future.
We also often aspire to control others around us. The desire for control is stronger in some people than others. In some cases, the craving for power induces people to harmful, immoral, or illegal behavior. In other situations, the longing for power is merely a desire to affect the behavior of others. We simply want people to do what we want, according to our timetable, and the way we want it done.

Social
Many people are motivated by social factors. This may be a desire to belong and to be accepted by a specific peer group or a desire to relate to the people in our sphere or in the larger world. We have an innate need to feel a connection with others. We also have the need for acceptance and affiliation.
A genuine and passionate desire to contribute and to make a difference in the lives of others can be another form of social motivation. If we have a longing to make a contribution to the world around us, it is generally a sign that we are motivated by social factors.
The real importance of understanding the different types of motivation is in our ability to determine which form of motivation is the most effective for inspiring the desired behavior in either others or ourselves. None of these styles of motivation is inherently good or bad, the positive or negative outcome is truly determined by the way they are used.

10 Bad Work Habits to Eliminate Before Becoming an Entrepreneur

We all have bad work habits, and most of us are content to get away with them for the foreseeable future. Sure, they may make us a little less productive, and they might not look great in a performance review, but they’re relatively innocuous when they creep into our daily lives.

When you step up to be an entrepreneur, everything changes. You’ll have more direction, more authority and more freedom, but you’ll also have far more accountability for your decisions and habits. Not only will most of your actions have a direct and substantial impact on the health and future of the business, they’ll also set an example for the other people you work with, and set a tone for the entire organization.

Before stepping out fully as an entrepreneur, be sure to eliminate these 10 bad work habits:

1. Not planning your day (or week).

You can get away with this in a job you can muddle through, but, as an entrepreneur, if your priorities aren’t clear, you may never be able to dig yourself out of that hole. Each day, and each week, preview everything you need to do and organize those tasks based on order of importance.

2. Reacting to emails as soon as they come in.

Prompt responses are almost always a good thing, so there’s no fault in wanting to respond as quickly as possible. However, responding to emails all day is an inefficient way to go about your tasks. Plan your projects and tasks in advance, and don’t let emails relentlessly distract you. One exception to this rule, however, is sales personnel, whose quick email response may prove essential for landing a sale.

3. Communicating inefficiently.

Inefficiently written emails or conversations in meetings might cause a slight hiccup in someone's average day-to-day work, but in the context of a budding business, these problems may cause serious headaches and make your company look unprofessional. Take an inventory of your communications skills, and make improvements where necessary. Don’t rush through anything, and think carefully about what you mean to say.

4. Settling into a firm routine.

Routines are useful for productivity, especially for everyday tasks you might otherwise forget. However, settling too deeply or firmly into a routine could put you in a poor position when things change abruptly (and they will in a startup). As an entrepreneur, be flexible enough to change your approach when the situation demands it.

5. Never taking breaks.

It often seems like a good idea to work through your breaks to get more done, since it’s basically a free hour or two to add to your total workday. However, working through breaks can take its toll on your psyche and productivity. As an entrepreneur, six hours of great work is better than eight hours of okay work, and you definitely don’t want to run the risk of burning out.

6. Running late.

If you're an employee coming in to catch up on emails, being 10 minutes late usually doesn’t matter. But, as an entrepreneur meeting with prospective clients or otherwise setting an example for the team, running late can damage your image. It’s okay to set your own schedule, but when you say you’ll be somewhere, you need to be there, and on time.

7. Procrastinating on tough projects.

That monster project awaiting you might do fine sitting on your desk in your current day job, but procrastinating the tough jobs as an entrepreneur usually only makes things worse. If you can’t handle something, delegate it or seek outside assistance. Don’t just set it to the side.

8. Delaying hard decisions.

You probably make few decisions in your current position, at least compared to the many you’ll make as an entrepreneur. Hard decisions may take their toll on you, but you need to come down on one side or the other. Even a bad decision is better than no decision, so eliminate your habit of delaying decisions now.

9. Never saying no.

At the lower rungs of the corporate ladder, the word “no” is taboo, and the habit of saying yes to everything seems to stick around in our careers for years. When you become an entrepreneur, you need to get comfortable with saying no. Not every client is worth taking. Not every employee candidate is worth hiring. Not every idea is worth pursuing.

10. Multitasking.

Multitasking is another one of those pesky habits that only seems to save you time. In actuality, it distracts your mind so you complete simultaneous tasks less efficiently than you would had you completed them individually, and with greater focus. As an entrepreneur, you’ll need all the focus you can get.

These ten habits won’t necessarily destroy your business, but they could interfere with your ability to work productively and in a way that ultimately benefits your organization.

It may take some patience to eliminate them entirely, but you’ll be in afar better position once you do.

5 Keys to Achieving Crowdfunding Success

Crowdfunding is also an excellent channel for building a customer base or leveraging an existing one. A successful crowdfunding campaign generates case studies and testimonials and jump-starts word-of-mouth marketing.

The key word here, however, is “successful.” Crowdfunding can be a viable financing approach, but only when done properly. Here are five keys for successful crowdfunding.

1. Inspire

The best crowdfunding campaigns grab people’s emotions, because they're as much about feeling as rewards or return on investment. To hook people's feelings, start with a great idea. Great ideas can be a new solution to an old problem, or solutions to problems people didn’t even realize they had. Crowdfunding is no refuge for poorly thought-out products that don’t meet compelling needs for sizable markets.

To help snare emotions, use the most powerful media for transmitting your message: video. Find a way to tell your story and demonstrate your product this way, and you’ll have a better chance for a successful crowdfunding campaign.

2. Engage

Crowdfunding is much more than a one-way transfer of funds from backers to startups. It is a two-way conversation. So, entrepreneurs seeking crowdfunding must interact with backers and potential backers. Make sure you are watching and available on the social media platforms your customers use. Strive to respond in a timely fashion to each and every comment and question received.

Even though staff and other resources are in short supply in most startups, I urge my coaching clients to devote whatever it takes to make sure they engage effectively with potential backers.

3. Leverage

Increase the scope and power of your campaign by tapping influencers who can bring your message to larger numbers of customers and backers. Trendsetters, bloggers and journalists can lend unmatched legitimacy by writing about or even endorsing your product and telling their followers about it.

While you're making sure you have your social media bases covered, don’t neglect traditional media. Send traditional press releases and story pitches to broadcasters, newspapers and magazines that are seen by your target audience. A mention or review on a show watched by millions can make the difference between a campaign that reaches its goals and one that falls short.

4. Research

Learn everything you can about your market and your customers and their needs before you design your crowdfunding effort. Entrepreneurs sometimes want to rush in. But time and effort spent up-front will pay dividends later once your messages are well-targeted and tell customers exactly what they need to know in order to back your campaign.

While crowdfunding is often seen as a way to fund development of prototype products, entrepreneurs who have refined and market-ready offerings tend to get better results than those with only an idea or blueprints. Consider bootstrapping your product first, using internal and friends-and-family financing to distill your design, vet it with prospective customers and get the idea truly ready for market.

5. Polish

Just as applicants for bank loans have to make sure every detail in an application is complete and accurate, crowdfunders need to present a polished image to their potential customers and backers. All materials used in the campaign should be professional-looking and convey the idea that this is a serious business with a real product and viable plans.

Use clear, compelling language to tell customers why they should back your product and your company. And be sure to include images to ensure your message is getting across in multiple dimensions. It is especially important to have close-up, high-resolution photos to show people you have a real working product that works and is ready to go into production and to market.

Crowdfunding provides entrepreneurs with a way to get financing from any citizen with the money and interest to back startups and new products. Those who can do it well have before them a truly historic opportunity.