SafePal and Ultron: Pushing for Crypto Mass Adoption

The inclusion of Ultron’s ULX coin in SafePal’s platform represents a significant stride towards Ultron’s objective of promoting the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. With SafePal’s reputation for user-friendliness and its extensive reach across various platforms, it provides an ideal gateway for users worldwide to access ULX easily. This move not only amplifies the accessibility of the ULX coin but also empowers individuals to join the crypto revolution, thereby fostering widespread crypto engagement. 

Ultron Foundation: Opening Possibilities for ULX Hodlers

Ultron’s move to make ULX available on SafePal’s hardware wallet ushers in a wave of opportunities for ULX hodlers and significantly aligns the coin with other influential blockchain projects. This integration opens up a new potential for ULX, offering hodlers access to a secure, trusted, and user-friendly platform for managing their assets. Additionally, the wide reach of SafePal’s ecosystem allows ULX to tap into an extensive network of crypto enthusiasts, further expanding its user base. This step serves as a strategic move in penetrating deeper into the crypto community, bolstering the credibility of ULX and adding considerable value to it.

In recent news, ULX has been garnering significant traction in the crypto world thanks to its continuous listings on top centralized exchanges. Each new listing amplifies the coin’s visibility, broadens its accessibility, and enhances its appeal among potential users. This trend is a testament to the growing recognition of ULX in the global crypto space and is a well-calculated move that positions ULX for increased growth and user adoption.

SafePal: Redefining ULX Accessibility

The availability of Ultron on SafePal’s seamless and intuitive app, brings an innovative approach of owning ULX coins in one of the best technologies for hardware wallets. SafePal has been pivotal in dismantling barriers in the crypto world with its secure and smart crypto management solutions to the pros and rookies alike. The top-notch security implemented on SafePal is lauded by its users. The private keys of its users never leave their non-custodial wallets, ensuring that access is exclusive to the user alone. This makes storing ULX and completing crypto transactions more convenient on SafePal’s technology.

SafePal stands out through its wide-ranging cross-platform support. Its wallet is available as a software mobile wallet on iOS, Google Play, and Android and has extended its reach to include web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. 

Moreover, Ultron Foundation extends its reach by using SafePals presence in 196 countries. The hardware wallet is also known for its community-focused approach, frequently adapting to feedback and delivering user-focused improvements. This reinforces SafePal’s status as an industry leader and strengthens ULX reputation in the crypto community.

About SafePal:

SafePal is a pioneering blockchain technology company offering comprehensive, secure, user-friendly crypto management solutions. Trusted by over 6 million users worldwide, SafePal is making cryptocurrency more accessible to everyone. Learn more…

About Ultron Foundation:

The Ultron Foundation is a trailblazing Layer-1 blockchain company specializing in innovative DeFi solutions. It has quickly amassed a global following, becoming the fastest-growing blockchain project in the industry.

Learn more about Ultron Foundation

Join the community!

Telegram

Discord

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook

Linkedin

Github

Among the latest advancements in this area is the creation of MetaSites, a modular 3D internet framework that leverages Metaverse, cloud, and AI technologies. MetaSites offer a compelling proposition to businesses, as they can help strengthen their brand’s value in a variety of ways. First and foremost, they can be used for brand awareness by creating branded virtual experiences, such as interactive product demos, brand-sponsored games, or virtual pop-up shops. This helps to foster customer engagement, as MetaSites provide businesses with a new way to showcase their products or services within virtual worlds, such as creating a virtual store where customers can try on and purchase virtual versions of their products. Finally, virtual test drive experience enables brands to undergo the trial-and-error stage on the virtual ground, before setting up an actual physical store. These features combined turn MetaSites into a cutting-edge solution for companies that empowers businesses to build and manage their virtual presence with ease and flexibility, allowing them to customize their virtual experiences to suit their brand and marketing objectives. 

XLA, a community-driven organization of video game and entertainment industry professionals, has announced the launch of MetaSites, a modular 3D internet framework that leverages metaverse, cloud, and AI technologies. With an initial funding of $100 million, XLA MetaSites enables users to create unique content and transform virtual worlds. The platform’s high-fidelity graphics, instant access through a browser, OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 integration, and ability to semantically analyze text and generate 3D scenes in Unreal Engine 5 make it a versatile tool for creators. XLA believes that the future of the internet lies in 3D and aims to partner with creators and brands from all spheres and industries to build it together. MetaSites will be available for individual creators and enterprise clients through a revenue share model, giving users full control and management of their content. The closed beta is set for summer 2023, with full commercial release expected in Q4 2023.

To explore the benefits of MetaSites and how they can help businesses succeed in the digital world, I spoke with Alexey Savchenko, a Chief Product Officer at XLA. In this exclusive interview, Alexey shares insights into the advantages of Metasites, common misconceptions, and how businesses can get started with this cutting-edge technology.

1. To begin with, can you explain what Metasites are and how they work?

>>> Hello everyone! Sure, I think the key here is to take things as simple as they are, not overburdening them with existing metaverse narratives. Metasites are 3D spaces developed with Unreal Engine, deployed online and interconnected between each other. They are exactly what they sound like – evolution of websites in 3-dimensional space. We function pretty much like the internet does: you can build or work with us to help building your own Metasites, which will look like a city, or a shop, or a fantasy land, or whatever you want it to be, and have users visit it for information, fun, communication, commercial activities, brand and IP exposure, etc. Framework we build allows us to develop and deploy Metasites quickly, scale it potentially infinitely and make sure they are in perpetual function, so it’s not time-limited events. Quite literally, it’s a 3D version of the internet, we are trying to reimagine considering all the new tech and changes going on in recent years.    

2. In what ways do MetaSites offer a competitive advantage over traditional brick-and-mortar stores, and how can businesses leverage this to drive sales and customer engagement?

>>> I wouldn’t really counter those two so much, by which I mean that nothing really stops small family businesses to build small 50 to 50 sqm 3D locations, connect it to Metasites framework and engage users into both digital and additional physical sales. Big part of our mission is actually to provide anyone with capability of using sophisticated technologies like Unreal Engine, AI and emerging online protocols in a very simple fashion, and lower down friction between businesses/creators and online cloud-based 3D ecosystem, to which people sometimes refer to as Metaverse. On the other hand, it’s also important to mention that we are seeing a lot of people moving into virtual spaces for business activities and there is a high chance, businesses can get additional audiences, with higher payment conversions in virtual space. New markets, more capabilities, more revenue, more possibilities for development. 

3. Can you discuss any potential risks or challenges associated with using MetaSites, and how businesses can mitigate these?

>>> I don’t really see any risk associated with launching a website in 3D — only benefits On the challenges, we try to simplify development and operations as much as possible from our end, intending to provide creators and owners closer to the end of the year with a versatile SDK, that will allow us to build Metasites as easily as Wix does it for websites. What is important here, aside from usual practices in Metaverse, to try and build an online game or time-limited event, we are concentrating on building an internet service for everyone to use and as such it exists on the internet, we expect people to use it to different extent. Creators will probably build personal spaces. Small businesses most probably will build small shops and areas to advertise and represent their businesses. Intellectual property oriented businesses will build hubs for communities. Brands and enterprise clients will be looking to build massive portals, campuses, cities and space stations. Each of those endeavours is associated with a different amount of effort and support, but we are ready to help any of them from tech side, vendor recommendation, production, development and integration of cutting edge features. 

4. How do you see MetaSites integrating with other emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality?

>>> It’s a very good question, and like any tech enthusiasts, we are incredibly intrigued by capabilities and alignment of AI and LLM’s. Personally, I also think that there are too much singular utilisation around AI, which is much more than just a tool, it’s a phenomenon and next-level information based model with potentially unlimited social and humanitarian implementation. At Metasites, we simulate all individual NPC’s and character as a society with simulated 50-100 years of relationships. Characters have their lives in this simulation, they have families and professions, they can create news and inform you of your home if you made some friends among them. This creates a level of modality of conversation that builds more emotion, sincerity and interpersonal relationship, which in its turn opens almost uncharted horizons in creating synthetic media between human agents and AI. We are also trying to include into the SDK everything fun and interesting we see emerging on the market, like professional avatars, innovative way of use of blockchain and data management methods, creative tools between Metasites and existing social networks in all fields of the content. Everything is also in the cloud, so can be used with a variety of interfaces. We initially launch with PC and mobile, but intend to add VR later down the road. 

5. In your opinion, what industries or types of businesses stand to benefit the most from using MetaSites? Why?

>>>  Once again, it’s very different ways for different businesses and individuals to benefit! Content creators can build 3D visualisations of their work, movie producers can deploy their content in networks of cinemas around the Metasites, small businesses can increase their agency and outreach, entertainment can maximise their singular events like festivals and performances, education businesses can present their archive elections and information for users in the form of video and text. In terms of communities, products in development can gradually build embassies of their products in 3D and crowdfund for further development, everyone can experiment with functionalities they might not be able to realise in their core products and of course, power of self-expression in photorealistic 3D, nothing has worked better yet. On the revenue side, we allow businesses to monetize through screen time revenue distribution in smart contracts, which is often largely covered for users by advertisements and loyalty programs by brands. There are also traditional ways to monetize digital item sales, events and referrals through portals between Metasites. Those are effectively hyperlinks, or in some instances, banners in traditional understandings. 

6. Can you share any insights into how MetaSites can be used for marketing and advertising purposes, beyond just building an online presence?

>>> The big thing here is the combination of personal agency through an avatar and your own personal Metasities (a.k.a your home you can freely modify) and 3D provides a larger immersion factor in communicating with different types of mediums. You can buy an object on the shelf in your house, other people will see it when visiting and you might discuss it as well. Goods and events can be advertised by AI agents or friends and you can gain an instant digital access, because these are cloud locations connected by instant portals. There are dozens of new ways to advertise, especially, through influencers and creators’ activities that are participants in long-term revenue share in those campaigns. It’s an upcoming age of virtual entrepreneurship largely incentivized by advertisement, brands, IP’s and enterprise. 

7. How do you see MetaSites transforming the e-commerce landscape, and what impact do you anticipate it having on the overall digital economy?

>>> Well, can you imagine Amazon and every “flat” marketplace all of a sudden becoming a vibrant, living city where you can visit any commercial enterprise and see objects you are buying as you see them in real life? Or, how cool it is to be able to communicate with a professional avatar of a creator or any celebrity after buying their products in their personal space? Is there a possibility to create an environment where every creator is entitled to fractional payout after any object re-sell in digital? Revenue share aimed to break gate-kept marketplaces and ensure an honest economy supporting creators and everyone who participates in value creation? I believe that we are on the brink of positive and disruptive changes in e-commerce, that is going to become more open, more liberal, more rewarding to people who create value. 

8. Can you discuss any ethical considerations or concerns related to the use of MetaSites, particularly in terms of data privacy and security?

>>> It’s once again pretty much the same level of problems the internet has. Once of the key pillars of Metastasis, we keep ownership of each of them at the person or business that built or runs it. In that sense, we build something we shall never own, something for everyone, but we intend to help in keeping this environment growing and provide multiple services for people who will be developing this phenomenon in ages to come. I think that Metasites will be eligible to the same legal restrictions and laws as current websites are, and will evolve its own stipulations in this respect. I mean, should someone be reported of being rude to an AI vendor at someone’s Metasites? I think they should, but maybe that’s just me who thinks that a relatable AI persona should be treated with the same level of respect as a living human being  

9. Finally, what advice do you have for businesses who are just starting to explore the potential of MetaSites and want to make the most of this technology?

>>> I would suggest not to overcomplicate it. We all did a horrible job by making Metaverse a horrible mambo-jumbo barely understood by anyone, with all that interoperability, open standards and complex tech issues. People who use the internet are not very much interested in TCP/IP and tiers of providers, guys. People mostly just want to use something cool for good stuff, and Metasites are essentially just 3D websites on steroids, interconnected, you can infinitely travel and do lots of fun while you are there. As a business or creator, you can try to get in touch with us so we can build you one, or we can just get you guidelines and tech requirements, you can download an Unreal Engine and build it yourself, we will deploy and operate it for you. Maybe, forever In the near future, with SDK being out, you won’t even need this process, you will be able to get it, set it, and build the 3D space of your dreams in days and make sure everyone can engage with it. 

This post is tagged with: How to rank your website on google, How to rank your website in 2023, Google ranking in 2023, Rank your website on Google, How to

Innovation is critical to your company. It is the process whereby your teams conceive new products, creative services, and better ways of doing things. Innovation is also the process by which you can solve your most challenging business problems. Without innovative ideas, your business will stagnate as competitors leave you behind. 

To create a unified problem-solving team does not mean that everyone on the team is the same. Diversity among the team members is crucial and a strength that can help companies make better decisions and be more productive and innovative. 

A diverse workforce inherently provides new perspectives and distinct experiences—the fuel of innovation. Business leaders that see diversity and unity as incompatible opposites are missing an important principle—your business teams can never achieve unity by ignoring and isolating members of your team who seem to be different. 

Unity, when problem-solving, is undoubtedly a desirable and achievable goal, but it should not be subtractive in that we disregard the significance of our differences. Unity should always be additive as we strive to understand, appreciate, and integrate diverse skills, life experiences, and points of view. 

What do unity, diversity, and innovation have to do with T-shapes and Jigsaws? Everything. Let’s unpack these ideas and see how they work together.  

You can best understand and teach others the concept of T-shaped skills by visualizing a large capital letter “T.” The vertical aspect of the shape represents an employee’s or job candidate’s core strengths—the skills and abilities for which you hired or are considering them. If you’re trying to hire a computer programmer, for example, the vertical part of the T represents their ability to write code. You’ll want someone with the knowledge and experience needed to do their job, but don’t stop there. 

The horizontal part of the letter T in our metaphor represents the candidate’s ability to collaborate across disciplines, communicate, and work well with others. Our hypothetical programmer could be a whiz at coding. Still, if they cannot accept input from other team members, engage in critical thinking, and express their ideas clearly, they might not contribute to the innovation you need. 

When creating a problem-solving group in which innovation can flourish, the final component is deploying a cooperative method called a Jigsaw strategy. Like pieces of a puzzle, each one is necessary. The team needs input from diverse perspectives. This strategy enables team members to contribute their core strengths (the vertical part of their T-shaped skills) to help find a solution to a business problem. 

Within Jigsaw teams, members rely on their collaboration and communication abilities (the horizontal part of their T-shaped skills) to determine how their core strengths can contribute to an innovative solution. Our programmer can see solutions that team members from other departments with other core strengths could never envision. And likewise, the other team members will offer different valuable ideas. 

As a business leader, your job is to see over the horizon and identify potential problems. As you do, suppress the temptation to prescribe a solution single-handedly. Instead, assemble Jigsaw teams composed of a diverse set of employees that have demonstrated solid T-shaped skills. This group will deliver possible solutions that you could not formulate alone. 

About Adam Ferrari

Adam Ferrari was born and raised in the south suburbs of Chicago, IL. He is the grandson of an Italian immigrant coal miner who worked in the mines of Coal City, IL. From an early age, Adam was taught the value and dignity achieved through a hard day’s work. The oil and gas industry provides good-paying jobs for millions of blue-collar men and women across America. This is one of many reasons Adam and his company, Ferrari Energy, are such staunch supporters of the oil and gas industry. Blue-collar men and women built America, and the modern oil and gas industry keeps America moving forward.

As millions across the globe now begin to make their first foray into the world of crypto, this new world might seem exciting, but much more than just a game.  

Here are seven key tips to help get you started in the crypto market.

1. Make sure you understand not just how to buy but also how to sell and exchange crypto to your flat currency.

It’s not exactly easy to walk into a grocery store with 100 Dogecoin and pay for your groceries, so it’s fundamental you’re aware of how to buy, sell and withdraw your cryptocurrency so it’s easy to access.

Many crypto platforms make this process easy to do, but it’s not always clear cut. 

2. Diversify your portfolio, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

This is one of the most common rules when it comes to any form of investment – it’s important that you aren’t relying on just one investment to give you a return on your cash. If this one investment goes big, great, but if it doesn’t, you could come out wearing a loss, and a big one at that. 

Investing is a game of risk, and when you do it right, the reward can be astronomical. But if you do it wrong, you could find yourself in a much worse spot than you began. Be smart about where you put your cash.

3. Always do your due diligence.

Crypto isn’t just Bitcoin. There are thousands of different varieties of currency out there – some with very different methods of management and levels of return. 

Don’t ever buy something simply because it looks good. Do your background, chat to some people, read some forums and make an informed decision.

4. Check the price history and developer activity before picking a project to invest.

Some of the best due diligence you can take is looking at the detail behind a particular project. Price histories are usually a great place to start. Are you buying in a dip? What’s the recent trajectory of the stock?

Developer activity is always key. Is the project simply artificially inflated?

5. Timing is everything.

Beware of FOMO and FUD – don’t buy because of FOMO and don’t sell because of FUD – always check the factors before you buy or sell.

With a growing market comes a growing investor base. While you may be seeing indications a certain currency might be rocketing towards the moon, a lot of this might simply be hype. 

Always make smart investment decisions, and don’t rely simply on Reddit to tell you where you should be investing.

6. Never invest more than what you can afford to lose.

Another key tip when it comes to any form of investment. If you’re relying on what you’re investing to put food on the table, chances are you probably shouldn’t be investing in the first place.

The world of crypto trading is rewarding and exciting, but it’s also risky. The risk of losing everything can never be eliminated, and it’s important you don’t find yourself in a position of struggling to afford to live.

7. Think long term.

Avoid keeping all your money in exchanges if you would like to trade on a day to day basis, do that with only a portion of your portfolio and keep the rest in a secure wallet. 

Choose only a trusted exchange for trading and always secure your wallet’s private keys. Trading is perfectly fine, but you shouldn’t, ideally, trade more than 30% of your crypto assets.

Often the best returns will be seen from longer-term investments. Keep an eye on your portfolio, but know that sometimes things take time. 

The Global EdTech Revolution

EdTech uses modern internet networking and software tools to reach students with cutting edge training methods that were previously out of reach. EdTech provides digital alternatives to learners who otherwise have significantly limited opportunities to engage in tech training. This is because EdTech is much more than merely presenting traditional teaching materials for consumption. In essence, it is an entirely new academic discipline, providing learners and teachers with digital means to supplement old-form instruction with interactive and modern “hands-on” learning. 

EdTech processes use virtually all media types, including audio, video, images, and animations, along with traditional educational text to help the learning process in evolving software applications. Learning is quickly becoming more efficient and less expensive everywhere as a result of EdTech developments. Students who are unable to travel to traditional classrooms or who feel challenged in rooms full of other students are particularly well suited to individualized EdTech concepts.  

The learning possibilities presented by EdTech are and will be limited only by the power of human imagination. EdTech can use IoT devices and robots to create virtual classrooms and learning environments remotely and onsite at training facilities. Machine learning and blockchain technology are already streamlining grading and monitoring of homework and other coursework responsibilities. 

EdTech In Africa

EdTech has also evolved in Africa to a lesser degree. Starting in  the 1960s, some countries were able to use television and radio to supplement traditional teaching. By the 1990s, some schools started to be able to use computers and educational software to help students learn. In countries such as Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda, internet access began to assist educators. The rapid advances in online technology across much of the continent in the last decade through increased infrastructure investment, bandwidth capacity and advances of mobile technology have allowed to provide EdTech capabilities to more Africans. 

In the last decade, worldwide expenditures on education have exceeded $5 Trillion annually and are continuing to grow. A growing percentage of mobile apps and software programs are dedicated to educational uses, and the overall EdTech market in 2020 is expected to be worth in excess of $250 Billion. 

EdTech startup firms in Africa face some challenges that are different than those in other parts of the world. Globally, successful EdTech startups require sufficient infrastructure, available human resource assets, support from local populations and governments, and investment capital. African EdTech startups are no different, and companies like Gebeya, Inc., located in Ethiopia and serving all of the African continent strive to use EdTech to promote IT training and career services to students and workers throughout Africa.  

(Pictured: Ceo & Co-founder Amadou Daffe, Graduate Ismael Kedir, and Co-founder Hiruy Amanuel)

International Investors in EdTech Are Attracted to Africa’s Growing IT Industry

Meanwhile, venture capitalists have been increasingly active in recent months in investing in firms involved with AI and EdTech development, with venture capital funding in the industry approaching $20 billion in the last year. Investors are very interested in participating in funding companies and developers that are on the cusp of major technological breakthroughs in development, training, and programming projects in diverse industries, including computer-aided design, autonomous automobiles, and medical diagnostics and imaging, among others.

The rapidly developing EdTech industry is breaking new ground throughout Africa and is attracting attention from investors globally. IT training and local talent development is being aggressively promoted by progressive firms such as Gebeya, Inc., Instruction in programming and AI development has traditionally been centered on Western and Southern Africa, and Gebeya, which was founded 5 years ago, presents new opportunities for training and career development for programming talent in the rapidly growing Eastern Africa region.

Hiruy Amanuel is an innovative investor who strives to bring both economic and technological greatness to Ethiopia and Africa as a whole. Hiruy Amanuel co-founded Gebeya and was the first angel investor to bring international VC and telecom companies to Ethiopia to invest in technology. Gebeya, founded five years ago, was Amanuel’s first entrepreneurial venture he co-founded and invested in as an Angel. Amanuel recently stated, 

“Gebeya in January 2020 secured a $2 Million seed round investment co-led by Partech and Orange Digital Ventures and followed by Consonance Investment Managers that help to solidify Ethiopia as a prominent player in the tech landscape across Africa. Gebeya is currently fundraising for Series A round, now 18 months post closing the seed round investment.

Gebeya’s mission now is to scale up our existing developer core capacity of over 5,000 and integrate them into the platform we have recently launched. As we match profile clients with developer teams, the process is becoming more automated and efficient for the client by utilizing the platform. 

We plan to give tech talent from all across Africa a vibrant platform from which to work with international clients at very competitive wages. Gebeya will provide training and job skills development to promote the development of high-tech talent from everywhere in Africa to enter into the marketplace around the globe.”

After Gebeya received international investors in 2020 and pivoted to remote training, the Gebeya incubator program was temporarily shut down to focus all company resources on capacity building. Hiruy resigned from his day to day position as Director of Innovation with Gebeya just prior in 2019. Although he remains an active member of the board and steering committee, he has recently launched his own fund to invest and continue to build the tech ecosystem in Africa. Since its inception in 2019, the fund has focused on early stage investments and mentorship of pre-seed startups in Africa. The fund, “Gullít” has deployed into one mobile gaming startup to date.

Hello Derek, could you please tell us a little bit about yourself and your background? what’s your story?

I didn’t know what I wanted to do in high school, so I got the best grades I could so I could get accepted into one of the best business programs in the country. I had no idea what else I could do with my life, so I just tried to put myself in the best position possible academically. After getting to university, I was still completely oblivious as to what I wanted to do with my life. I had decided I was going to complete my degree and go get an accounting job, or an equivalent paying business-related position. My mindset started to shift when I noticed that one of my mentors had developed a successful business via his presence online. He was posting blog articles and YouTube videos during the early days of YouTube. This inspired me to start writing blog articles and recording videos shortly afterwards. That is how he started, and I figured I had nothing to lose so I bought a domain and started writing. Anything I’ve been interested in I’ve always become obsessed with learning as much as I can about it, so I already had a decent amount of knowledge about pharmacology, endocrinology, fitness, nutrition, exercise, etc. before I started writing. My knowledge in 2016 pales in comparison to where it’s at now though and will likely pale in comparison to what it will be a few years from now. I’m constantly learning, and that’s what keeps me going and is also why I am so passionate about what I talk about. 

Have you always wanted to become an entrepreneur in the fitness industry?

No, and even though I am often lumped into the same category as “fitness YouTubers” I don’t really consider myself a fitness industry specific platform. I originally thought I was going to work a reasonably well-paying desk job for some big company with my business degree, and that was going to be my life. The thought of it didn’t excite me at all, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around entrepreneurship at the time, or how to even get started with it. I always had a strong feeling that the path I had laid out for myself was selling myself short. Fortunately, that feeling was right and I acted on it. 

You’re now an established fitness expert on YouTube, how did it begin?

I started working out when I was in grade 11 in high school because my friends would drag me there. I didn’t even want to go because all I cared about was basketball and getting more muscular didn’t seem like an endeavor worth spending time on. My friends were all committed to getting as big and strong as possible at the time, and eventually convinced me to start working out. I was a 138-pound rail at the time and definitely needed to add some size. I couldn’t even bench press the bar when I started. After a month of training, I started to enjoy it more as I could see progress on the scale and on the weights I could lift. I was hooked to the gym after that. 

What gave you confidence to be doing your own business instead of choosing a conventional corporate career?

I have always been extremely hungry for success. Every time I worked for someone else in an industry that I was passionate about, I felt like I was selling myself short. It was almost like I knew deep down that I should do this myself, but I just didn’t know where to start. Shortly thereafter I aligned myself with some great mentors who helped me wrap my head around some of the basics of entrepreneurship. Fortunately, I already had the confidence in myself to invest in my own future, and once I had a clear path of what I needed to do in front of me, I started investing in myself heavily. I knew that investing in myself and my own ventures would be the most profitable decision long-term, rather than working for someone else, even if working for someone else would yield more up-front cash. I still work with other companies in an affiliate context as it would be physically impossible to start a business for every single product and service I want to promote, but anything I am directly focused on and am extremely passionate about I try to find ways to monetize directly via my own ventures. 

How do you feel about the influence of social media today in entrepreneurship?

I feel that it has a massive influence and it is the number one way to scale your business. If it weren’t for social media, many of us would not have the opportunity to get our information out at scale. Social media has afforded many entrepreneurs a platform to capitalize on their aspirations, where it would’ve been nearly impossible to do so otherwise. 

Can you tell us something about your training methods?

As of now, I do what I consider to be roughly the minimum effective weekly volume in the gym. This allows me to train 3-4 days per week at most and get in and out of the gym in an hour. My priority is business right now rather than developing my physique, so I do just enough to stay in shape and maintain what I have built up over the years. I also go for a couple short 10-minute walks per day after my meals. My workout routine isn’t overly complicated, and it is very easy to adhere to. 

As an entrepreneur, what was your biggest failure? What did you learn from this mistake/failure?

My biggest failure was not investing in myself sooner. Even though I eventually came to my senses and realized that the best investment I will make is investing in myself, I spent a lot of time working for others and growing their businesses, even though my monthly overhead and general expenses were low enough that I could’ve gone full board on building up my personal brand sooner. I easily lost 1-2 years of progress by not aggressively investing in myself sooner. And by investing in myself I mean spending money on courses to educate myself, hiring employees to take tasks off my back, getting better camera equipment, getting a faster internet connection, etc. These are all things that will cost you money up front, but will earn you exponentially more down the line. 

Can you tell us more about the projects you are working with right now?

Right now I am focused on building up the More Plates More Dates brand, my supplement company Gorilla Mind and my hormone replacement therapy (HRT) clinic Marek Health. 

More Plates More Dates is my social media platform and what most who follow my content know me for. 

Gorilla Mind is a dietary supplement company I launched in December, 2017. Our main product offerings right now are our cognitive enhancing Nootropic formulas and our pre-workout formulas that I’ve designed. 

Marek Health is a telemedicine-based HRT clinic that I launched last year. The goal is concierge level care from high quality doctors who reflect the most up to date literature in their practice. 

Being an expert in the fitness industry, what advice would you give to aspiring youngsters who wish to get started?

If you want to succeed in the fitness industry nowadays you need to be different. You need to stand out in some way. That sounds like an obvious suggestion, but most newbies are still doing the same cookie cutter vlogs, full day of eating, etc. that everyone else is. If you don’t have an extraordinary personality or physique, the likelihood of getting traction doing those videos is low. I advise thinking carefully about what it is that you are truly passionate about. If it is actually fitness and you aren’t just posting fitness videos because you think becoming a fitness influencer would be cool, then by all means start posting about it, but be unique. Go look at what other up and coming big channels are doing not only in the fitness industry, but also in other more mainstream industries and see how you can integrate those ideas into your own content. It is rare that a fitness influencer really looks outside of the scope of the fitness industry for content ideas, but that is where I would go first to look for unique ideas and inspiration and try and figure out how to tie it back into my niche. At the end of the day, the best advice I have is to go full board into whatever it is that you’re truly passionate about. Do not start a fitness channel if you don’t truly love something related to health, exercise, bodybuilding, nutrition, etc. Even if you build a big following and are successful, if it isn’t in an industry you are truly passionate about, you will very likely burn out and it will be far less likely to make you happy. 

More details about Derek can be found at: https://www.instagram.com/moreplates_moredates/ 

Why localized marketing is important

When looking for a restaurant nine out of ten consumers use local search. Almost  all of these searches are dominated by Google 3-pack results. If a customer searches for “restaurants near me,” or “restaurants” the Google 3-pack would display three restaurants near the user’s current location.

We have to accept the fact that restaurant chains can no longer speak to their customers the same way across different locations. So a localized marketing strategy can help them with communication at local level.

How to become a top restaurant in localised market

You need to ask yourself some questions and do a little research around them.

Some areas to do research could be:

• Does your restaurant have a good presence in localized search results across the top three platforms? 
• What is the response rate for your restaurant like? 
• Are you posting localized content and engaging with consumers?  

Starting with small steps

• Optimize all local pages. 
•  Responding to local reviews in a timely manner.
•  Checking and optimizing the ranking factors across the three big platforms.

There have been many startups which lead a good route only because of their flexibility. CGroupon is one such example. It started as ‘The Point’ a platform that gathered like minded people around shared interests and goals that aim to make a difference in the world. It was originally included in the business plan as a possible way for The Point to make money. But the idea of group buying wasn’t seriously considered until a group of users of The Point gathered up to save money on a product they all wanted to buy. The Point led to the pivot and focus on Groupon with customer insights, market conditions at the time in 2008 and mediocre traction .

Sometimes the vision doesn’t change, but the way problems are solved does change. Yelp was created to solve the founder’s challenge of finding a good doctor. It learned that the hypothesis of making users exchange and publish email recommendations between friends wasn’t what the customers wanted. They wanted to write and read reviews.

What is often seen is that many entrepreneurs naturally start searching for easier paths. It is unbelievable how little startups accomplish in comparison to how much they work for. A simple fact that all of the projects which are started don’t live to see the light of day. Changing ideas and plans every week based on what seems to be an easier path is what is called startup poison.

We know that the coronavirus pandemic has presented new challenges. To help those businesses looking to adopt digital solutions to help with the recovery, Google encourages customers to shop at small businesses and leave reviews on their business profile.

To get the most out of this initiative, Google has suggests small business owners to make sure their business profile is up to date with business info and photos.

To check out the special offers and tips for making the most of Google’s Make Small Strong campaign, visit: https://grow.google/intl/en_in/smallbusinesses