Sqeeqee.com: How to Negotiate Effectively

Negotiation is not about being forceful or bluffing your way through talks, and it’s definitely not about winning or losing. Negotiation is all about striking the best possible deal between parties without short-changing any party involved in the transaction. However, many negotiators disregard the goals of the process and allow their emotions to take hold of them. This could crash a productive or profitable deal. To avoid such mishaps, here are some strategies to follow that will help you become a better negotiator:



Planning

Start by making a list of meeting goals and items that ought to be discussed. Now make a list of all possible outcomes and try and build up a case for achieving the best result. Make a Plan B just in case the conversation does not go your way. Ferret out your opposite number’s weaknesses and try and capitalize on them as you go about making your plan. Planning for a negotiation is like planning to argue a case in the courts – the only difference is that negotiations are friendlier.

Once your plan is ready, you should have the following in hand:

How your proposal benefits all the parties involved
A list of possible outcomes
The course that you would like to steer the conversation on

This exercise will help you prepare for the negotiation and ensure that the discussion is results-oriented.



Kill Your Ego

The ego makes you do or say things in a way that pleases you and makes you feel powerful. It incites you to tower above everyone else. It makes you a selfish beast and if you allow your ego to rule you at the negotiating table, you may end up killing the deal and alienating people. Leave your ego at home or elsewhere and be neutral while negotiating and you will see the difference. Remember, the negotiation is not about “I,” it’s about “We.”



Discuss Concerns

Don’t be afraid to voice your concerns, but voice them in an affable or jovial manner. Don’t get aggressive or raise your voice while discussing your problems and try and engineer a solution with feedback from the others.



Body Language

Positive body language helps. Use your eyes and expressions to your best advantage. Sit upright with elbows on the table, don’t lean back, don’t grimace, don’t shake your head or fold your arms across your chest, make direct eye contact, pay attention, smile and nod when required, etc. Body language says a lot about you and your attitude, and you must draw attention of others with positive body language and expressions.



No Result?

If the negotiators do not reach an understanding, do not panic or appear anxious. It may be possible that the other party needs some more time to chew over your proposal. Leave the door open for future meetings and sound sincere about it.



Analysis

Analyze what went wrong and what worked during the meeting. Build up on your strengths and correct your weaknesses and get ready for the next meeting.

These tips should help you get the basics right. How you take it from here is entirely up to you. Good luck.

Sqeeqee.com Explores History’s Innovators were Lifelong Learners

Technological innovation didn't begin in the Silicon Valley, and the people responsible for many of the creations and processes we take for granted never went to college. Some barely made it through high school, either due to extreme poverty or what would today be diagnosed as ADHD. However, those people most renowned as innovators were lifelong learners, both in terms of technology and market demands. The most innovative people in history were avid learners. They absorbed information that they incorporated into their innovations from several sources: the library, which offered an untrammeled learning experience unlike that obtained in a classroom; from working at odd jobs; and through association with others who had specialized expertise.

Both Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison were library junkies. Carnegie had access to Colonel James Scott's private library when he worked as a bobbin-boy in a textile factory. His inquisitiveness led him to read about and learn American history and the ideals of freedom and democracy expressed by the Founding Fathers. He internalized the American ideal of individual liberty and the Jeffersonian ideal of every person being a free agent in a free market and these two concepts ignited his empire-building dreams. Edison was forced to learn independently; as a youngster, he was thrown out of public school by a teacher who labeled him "addle-brained" - a perjorative term that today would translate to "learning disabled" - because of his overwhelming inquisitiveness and imagination. His mother first hired a private tutor, but when Edison's reach exceeded the tutor's abilities, he chose the path of independent learning. Many innovative people feel restricted in a formal educational setting; with the availability of not just books but digital information today, there exists ample opportunity for any person to access information about nearly every subject.



Innovators also learned from other people who were more experienced in their fields. Henry Ford was determined to learn more about mechanics, physics and the basics of engineering, so he apprenticed himself to the Michigan Car Company, a firm that assembled railroad cars. When he wanted to learn about electricity, he did the same thing with the Detroit-area Edison Electrical Works. During his tenure, he met and made friends with Thomas Edison, who remained a friend throughout his life. Andrew Carnegie learned the basics of business from Thomas Scott, division manager for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Mentorships, apprenticeships and networking in general are still valid means by which to learn new skills, processes and gain new ideas. "Master Mind" groups were used by the business titans of the Industrial Age and championed by Napoleon Hill as a way for every member to increase his or her knowledge, abilities and eventually, net worth.



The idea that learning stops with a high school or college degree is one that promises a life of mediocrity. Today's technology and global marketplace demand that everyone involved in commerce - whether as an employee or an owner - stay engaged in learning what works, what fails and what an ever-changing marketplace demands. Questions often open the door to new opportunities, and for the innovators of our generation, to the creation of new industries that meet the needs of the market.



About Sqeeqee.com

Sqeeqee.com, which is free to join, is a social commerce platform designed to enable its members (non-profits, students, business companies, individuals, celebrities, and startups) the ability to monetize and generate ad revenues from their profiles, socially interact, market to niche demographics, search for data, expand their wealth, and increase their overall net worth on the Sqeeqee platform: the only website in the world where social networthing™ is what users do. Sqeeqee differentiates itself by creating a new action-oriented online platform that unites worldwide users through a single hub. The site's innovative system allows users to make money doing what they already do online: building a network of associates, post status updates, share pictures, host videos and browse pages in line with their interests. Sqeeqee is the first platform to integrate the best features of numerous world-renowned websites and allow its users to monetize their daily social networking. The website is now available in eleven languages, including English, Russian, German, Italian, French, Dutch, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, and Spanish. Sqeeqee provides weekly giveaways for new registered users and access to financially rewarding experiences. Seven unique monetization features exist, including an eCommerce marketplace, 50% profile ad share, 30% referral ad share, 70% mobile download profit share, 30% mobile ad profit share, 30% media ad share, and 70% game development profit share. Sqeeqee makes it possible for users to monetize their social networking experiences each day.

Sqeeqee: Our Status, 3 Months After Coming Out of Beta

How time flies when you’re having fun, right? It certainly has for our Sqeeqee team, and sometimes 24 hours in a day just isn’t enough!

We have been crazy busy enhancing our platform, and we would like to share some of those enhancement features with our users in this blog post:

Customized Background

Users can now customize the background to their profiles with any colors, images, or videos by using one of Sqeeqee’s licensed images or videos or using one of their own.

Privacy Settings

We have enhanced our privacy settings where we are putting our users in the driver's seat. Users can choose to open their entire profile (including postings on walls, photos, and videos to the world) or be selective and only share it with buddies. Users can choose to allow all photos and videos to be public, allow only certain photos or videos to be public while keeping the rest private, or simply keep everything private. Users can also be selective and allow photos and videos to be viewed by only those who are following them or those they are following as well. All of these options are available, and it’s up to each individual to choose what best fits his or her needs.

Page Customization

Sqeeqee’s “page customization” is an enhancement dedicated to some of our early users who gave us their opinions—and we’re letting them know that we’re listening! Some of our users wrote to us asking if certain features could be customized so that they wouldn’t be shown on their home wall until they need to utilize such features. Given the gazillion unique features Sqeeqee has to offer, we do understand how overwhelming things can be for first-time users. While we believe our default settings for the home wall are best suited for our “networthing” model, as it offers all of the tools one would need to maximize one’s potential to build income and wealth, we also understand not everyone may need all of these features. Some may want crowdfunding but not fundraising. Others may simply want a cleaner home wall where they can post conversations with friends and share photos and videos. The options are endless, and our Sqeeqee team totally gets it.

With “page customization,” users are in the driver’s seat to rearrange, add, or remove any of the features shown on our default home wall according to their own desires. We respect our users; and therefore, we have made the necessary enhancements to give them full control of their profiles. After all, one has to be comfortable with his or her own profile in order for “social networthing” to be in full swing and effective. At any time, users can always choose to return to our “default” settings, and Sqeeqee’s original look will reappear.

Photos and Videos

Sqeeqee's platform was originally a closed platform where photos and videos could not be shared with other social media networks. However, our users asked that we enable photos and videos to be shared with friends, family, and followers from other social media networks, so we have granted this request. With our enhancement to photos and videos, each given photo and video on Sqeeqee’s platform will now have its own individual unique URL. With this unique URL, users can choose to share with any other social media platforms and/or the world. Just be sure to update your privacy settings allowing you to do so. After all, our users are in the driver's seat, so they are free to do whatever they wish with their photos and videos.

Mobile Apps

As we are making much progress with our enhancements above, this has taken a slight toll on the development of our mobile apps. Oh, don't get us wrong; we ARE going to roll these out soon enough, but we’re just a bit behind schedule. Sqeeqee’s social commerce platform is intricate, and if certain areas are being enhanced, this is bound to affect other areas like our mobile apps. Therefore, to our many fans and users, thanks for your patience. Our apps will be rolling out before you know it. 

Remember one of Confucius’ most famous quotes: “It doesn't matter how slowly you go—so long as you do not stop.”

We don’t believe we’re moving slow at all. Given that we’ve only come out of beta just three months ago, we’ve made so much progress. Just take a look at our “press” page and you’ll see.

Think we're done? Far from it! We're just getting started!

Blogs for Bucks: 5 Ways to Monetize Your Blog

Having a blog is only half the battle. Once you have achieved the readership you desire, it’s important to actually monetize your audience. Monetization is the act of leveraging a successful blog to actually make money from it. While the process of monetization is often difficult and time-consuming, but it pays off in the end. Time is money, putting out a bit of time you can eventually attain passive and consistent income that will steadily grow. You can always start by blogging on Sqeeqee.com. Let us know how we can help you get your blog rolling!!

1. Begin with the Banner Ads
While pay-per-click advertising networks may not be the most exciting or unconventional method of monetization, it’s still very important. The major advertising networks today include Google and Bing. When your blog is just starting out, you may only make a few dollars on pay-per-click revenue a month. However, if your blog suddenly receives a tremendous amount of hits you could strike gold. This type of windfall can be unpredictable: a single link could be posted to a major site and increase traffic by a hundred-fold.

2. Market Associated Products
Affiliate marketing through third-party sites such as Amazon is a fantastic way to make money. You can write product reviews or simply link to related products and the third-party merchant will do the rest. Any time someone clicks from your website to theirs and purchases a product, you’ll receive a certain percentage as commission. As your blog grows, this can be extremely lucrative.

3. Sell Your Posts
There are many websites that allow you to get paid for posts on certain topics. You don’t necessarily have to hawk products: you can simply give a balanced review of a product with the requested keywords. These posts can pay anywhere from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars depending on how comprehensive the post needs to be. Usually you can command more money depending on the audience of your blog.

4. Get Sponsorship
Many sponsors will pay to get their name on a well-trafficked site or to re-skin a site in a certain format. You can get ads directly in this fashion and you can usually charge much more than ordinary banner ad rates. As you get more popular, sponsors will contact you directly. However, you should also feel free to contact companies you think are a good fit and ask them if they might be interested.

5. Sell it All
A surprising amount of blogs simply sell out entirely. Once you have amassed a significant enough readership in a niche topic, it can be come easy to sell your blog for thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars. Sometimes selling the domain name alone is enough to make you a considerable amount of money. If you’ve tired of your blog, or simply feel that you don’t have the time to devote to it, this can be an excellent option.

The Differences Between the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 5S

On September 20th, Apple users all over the world were given the ability to buy the newest iPhone models. Unlike all previous iPhone releases, however, Apple decided to release two different versions of the new phone—the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 5S. Taking them at face value, it might appear that the only differences between these two different phones are mostly cosmetic (the 5C is plastic and colorful while the 5S has the same metallic look most iPhone users have grown accustomed to). If you take a closer look, however, you will notice several differences between the two models, which should help you decide which one is right for you.

1. Materials – When it comes to the newest iPhones, your first impressions of the difference between the 5C and the 5S will probably be based on how they look. The 5S is very similar to the old iPhone 5 (which has been discontinued) in that it has an aluminum casing, which gives it a somewhat sturdier feel. For the first time in the history of Apple’s mobile devices, the exterior casing on the 5C is made of polycarbonate (also known as plastic). This cheaper material translates to the phone being able to cost you less money.

2. Price – The other most noticeable difference between the 5C and the 5S is the starting price of each phone. An iPhone 5S starts at $199 (with a two-year contract) for the 16GB model. As storage increases, the price goes up ($299 for 32GB and $399 for 64GB). The iPhone 5C, on the other hand, is Apple’s attempt at offering a “low-cost” version of the iPhone. It starts at just $99 (with a two-year contract) for a 16GB model and has a 32GB model for $199.

3. Colors – The major selling point for the iPhone 5C seems to be all the different color options for the device. Apple has released the phone in five bright hues: green, pink, blue, yellow, and white. For the release of the 5S, Apple redesigned the color options available for its traditional device to include a very popular gold version. In addition to gold, “space grey” replaces the black phone, and silver replaces white.

4. Processor Speed – Unless you are very technically-inclined, the differences between the processors in the iPhone 5C and 5S will probably go over your head. Put simply, however, the A7 chip in the iPhone 5S is much faster than the A6 chip in the iPhone 5C. Essentially, the 5C has most of the same component’s of 2012’s iPhone 5 with the only key difference being the fact that its aluminum exterior has been replaced with plastic. Inside, the components of the 5C are almost identical to last year’s phone.

5. Fingerprint Scanner – When Apple announced the iPhone 5S, one of its major new features was the addition of a fingerprint scanner for added security. The scanner, which is built into the phone’s Home button, ensures that you are the only one who is able to access your device and replaces the need for a passcode to unlock your iPhone. This new feature is exclusive to the iPhone 5S and won’t be found on the 5C.

6. Camera – The cameras on both the iPhone 5S and the 5C both offer 8 megapixels and the ability to capture HD video up to 1080p. While these basic specs are the same, however, the camera on the 5S takes much better pictures than the one on the 5C. It has a dual-flash, which improves how well it captures colors. The 5S camera can also record slow-motion HD video as well as being able to take up to 10 photos per second.

When you are making the decision between buying an iPhone 5C and a 5S, there are several things to consider. If you are interested in the most technologically-advanced iPhone, the 5S is easily the best option, though it does come at a premium price. If you have always been kept out of the iPhone market because of the high cost, however, the 5C might finally allow you to join the revolution because its $99 entry point is the cheapest Apple has ever offered. On the other hand, if you already have an iPhone 5, there is no reason to upgrade to the 5C because they are essentially the same phone. In the end, you will have to make the decision based on which iPhone seems to fit your usage habits and budget best. Don’t worry, though—even if you make the wrong decision now, you can be sure that Apple will change everything once again when they come out with the next big iPhone release next fall.

Why You Should Be Tweeting About Your Failures, Not Just Your Successes

It might seem counter-intuitive to say that everyone, including businesses and professionals, should be tweeting about their failures. However, that's exactly what you should be doing. By tweeting only your successes and not the mistakes, you risk losing some of your followers and making your tweets less interesting.

The stories of failure, regret and mistakes can often be the most entertaining ones that you can tell. While it's nice to hear about all the good things that people are accomplishing, it's also nice once in a while to sit down and enjoy some old-fashioned schadenfreude. Think about your favorite comedy sitcoms or dramas. Which scenes stick out most in your mind? If you're like many people, you immediately think of awkward or disastrous situations as the best scenes. If you want to entertain your followers, you'll have to revel some things that revel your clumsy side.

Sometimes the funniest stories are ones where you don't look like the strong, macho hero. Become comfortable with being able to laugh at yourself. Others will respect you more if you can see the humor in everything.

Remind your followers that you are human and make mistakes like everyone else. When a company tweets only about their successes, they risk people forgetting that there are real people behind that company. Human interaction is key when developing business relationships or clients, so let your followers know that there is a human writing all of those tweets.

Remember, misery loves company. Everyone has been in a bad situation at one point or another, and you know that sometimes it can feel good to see that others are having just as many problems as you are.

Don't be afraid to ask for help. If you find yourself stuck on a project or in a bad situation, ask your Twitter followers what they would do. Of course, make sure that you aren't asking for help with something that you should be expected to do on your own. For example, if you business makes apps, you shouldn't ask your followers how to build an app.

People will respond to cries for help, however, because they love to feel needed. Let this be their time to shine. Ask them for advice or what they would do if they were in your shoes. When they response, tweet them back sincerely but kindly, and don't forget to thank them.

If you do find that you've made a large mistake that has cost the respect of your clients and followers, be sure to apologize publicly. Part of that public apology should include Twitter. Remain brief, but acknowledge that you did something that you should not have done. If there is a specific person who you have slighted, make sure to apologize to them personally as well.

It's okay to not be perfect. Part of being human is making mistakes and learning from them. Don't be afraid to show your Twitter followers that sometimes you do fail but that you are growing from it. If done correctly, it can engage even more followers and earn their respect.

Here are "10 Extrememly Successful Failures" you might find fascinating [http://super-trainer.com/10-extremely-successful-failures/]

Sqeeqee.com Presents Clear Vision for the Future of Social Networthing™

Sqeeqee.com Presents Clear Vision for the Future of Social Networthing™

Sqeeqee offers an innovative new approach to social media

Irvine, CA, September 19, 2013 — The hardest part of any uphill climb against competitors is dodging the rocks being thrown downhill from the king of the mountain. Those at the top of the heap are always going to strive to protect their perch, and together with like-minded critics they are going to cast doubt upon their challengers.
A recent blog posting regarding the vision of Sqeeqee.com [https://sqeeqee.com] is a perfect real life example of this metaphor [http://www.crowdfundingguide.com/sqeeqee-an-innovator-or-a-confused-vision/]. Sqeeqee offers an innovative new approach to social media that combines all of the best features of social sites like Facebook, eBay, and Amazon, and puts them all under one roof. While these major players might not be taking notice yet of Sqeeqee, industry pundits have and are admitting a sense of confusion in Sqeeqee’s vision for social networthing™.

Addressing the Critics

While the blogger was kind enough to offer a tip of the hat to Sqeeqee as an innovator, at the same time it was suggested that Sqeeqee’s vision for itself might be cloudy. At the heart of this comment was the writer’s confusion with one of Sqeeqee’s services, the gaming platform.

What makes Sqeeqee innovative in the field of online social platforms is the rare combination of the best features of other sites in one place. With one simple profile on Sqeeqee, individuals or businesses can have a social media presence, an online store to buy and sell goods, access to mobile app creation (and sales through their aforementioned e-commerce page), and even use crowd-funding to launch new products or campaigns.

Along with all those other features, Sqeeqee is currently developing its gaming platform to give users a fun past time to partake in while also increasing their reach. The inclusion of a gaming element to Sqeeqee’s profile seemed to baffle this blogger, despite the fact that it is not uncommon.

For those who have been long time users of Facebook, gaming platforms within a social media site are not a new thing. Facebook has a long standing relationship with Zynga games and in-game advertising and incentive programs appropriately link gaming platforms on social media to user profiles and the overall purpose of connecting online.

Setting the Record Straight

Sqeeqee is new, so confusion is inevitable. However, that doesn’t mean that confusion and misinformation needs to take the place of accurate facts. Sqeeqee is without question an innovative approach to social networking. Rather than promote itself as simple social networking, Sqeeqee has coined the phrase social networthing™ [http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sqeeqee-birth-social-networthing-155800988.html].

That is what Sqeeqee is all about. All of its services are offered under one roof to help any individual or businesses develop a greater social worth. Consider a small business for example. With one profile on Sqeeqee it is possible to grow the profile and image of this brand from one platform.

The social profile of the business offers a means for communicating with current and former customers, giving it a face and personality for customers to interact with. At the same time, the business can use its e-commerce page to sell its goods and services directly to customers online. When the company wants to drum up a little extra activity, it can create and launch a coupon campaign offering discounted services.

But there is much more that a business can achieve on Sqeeqee. Expansion and growth takes financing, and for many smaller businesses that can be difficult to come by. Crowd-funding is the fastest growing social phenomenon online these days. Through its social network on Sqeeqee, a business can potentially identify other members interested in financing new projects.

As for the questions surrounding Sqeeqee’s gaming platform, it is admittedly under development but far from clouding the vision of Sqeeqee’s future. Social gaming has a place on any social networking site. Whether it is there for members who want to develop and market their own games on Sqeeqee, or for businesses looking to advertise/sponsor a game relevant to their industry, social gaming has an important spot at Sqeeqee’s packed dinner table.

5 Tips for Making a Pitch to Investors

Even though I am no longer on Wall Street, but I am still being asked from fellow entrepreneurs of the best ways to give a good pitch to investors. While there are a number of different ways, but I would like to share my own personal experiences. If you’re an entrepreneur (and you’re not independently wealthy), eventually you will need to make a pitch to investors to solicit funding for your venture. This forces you to use a completely different set of skills than you used to develop your business idea! Nevertheless, if you need funds to launch the business, this stage can’t be avoided.

Here are five tips to help you make your pitch a success.

1. Do some research on your audience. Learn everything you can about your potential investors. Find out whether they have experience in your sector – especially whether they’ve ever invested in it. Then tailor your pitch to the particular audience you’ll be facing.

2. Present a concise, clear plan. In your first session with potential investors – there’ll be a second session if you do this well – your objective is to provide a package of information that they can easily understand and that they will be able to repeat to their team. Don’t present too many numbers at this stage. Instead, focus on the viability of your business concept.

3. Know your material. You should prepare so thoroughly that you’re familiar with every statistic, claim, and projection – including everything pertaining to competitors – included in the business plan. You must be able to explain how all the data fits together and respond to any questions or comments – all without excessive reliance on notes.

4. Practice your pitch. Gather your colleagues and present the pitch to them, emphasizing that you need them to be brutally honest. Then listen to their feedback and revise the pitch accordingly.

5. Pay attention to your audience as you give the pitch. Watch their reactions as you talk, and alter your approach – within the broad outlines of your script – if it appears they’re not being persuaded. After you’ve spoken, ask for questions, and try to answer each query honestly and straightforwardly, using the data you’ve committed to memory.

While it’s impossible to predict what any group of investors will do – there are many factors that shape their response – a pitch incorporating all these recommendations will be impressive. If the result is not positive, learn from the experience by using any feedback to improve your presentation in preparation for the next pitch!

SEO Resource Guide: Your Guide to SEO Resources and Practices

July 30, 2013 Posted by SEO Resource Guy under SEO Resources


http://seo-resource-guide.com/sqeeqee-gives-birth-to-social-networthing/


Social Barrel – The most recent Social Networking News and Marketing Tips

Social networking has converted into the premise to speak between clients and companies, from conglomerates to online companies. Companies now get access to a few of the remotest areas around the globe, because of social networking. Despite the fact that the growing coverage from the Internet plays the main role in most of the, the acceptance, ease, and wide using social networking makes business-to-customer associations simpler and simpler.

Social networking has remained generally unchanged in the side from the user, since it began. Nowadays, internet marketing creates vast amounts of dollars in annual revenue, however the bigger slice would go to the pockets of Google, Facebook, and various social networking companies.

Because of its part, Sqeeqee offers the first considerable change in social networking, since its commencement, with a brand new method the social commerce company states will turn social media into social networthing.



The Excellence

Aside from extensive use, most social networks supply the same services to Internet customers. Personal profiles allow customers to include new contacts and reunite with acquaintances. Business profiles allow brands to construct their image in public places, form brand loyalty, build relationships target clients, and see and touch new marketplaces.

The main difference between Sqeeqee and also the levels of competition are exactly what the former needs to offer. It grabs the best features from social media, entertainment, media, and ecommerce sites over the Internet and syndicates them. Just one account has all of the tools required to monetize online interactions. Because of this , why Sqeeqee introduced the idea of social networthing, instead of social media.


Sqeeqee #socialnetworthing logo design. (PRNewsFoto/Sqeeqee.com)



The Highlights

Sqeeqee doesn’t need a company or person to possess distributed accounts over the Internet for a number of services, for example internet marketing, social media, and ecommerce. For instance, Sqeeqee syndicates the best options that come with Amazon . com, eBay, Facebook, and Pay Per Click.

A Sqeeqee profile opens the gate to many services a person formerly may find in one site at any given time.

Every Sqeeqee account produced provides customers a rooted ecommerce shop to purchase and sell products or services online. This key feature offers smaller businesses and online companies an chance to lessen costs of operation by saving 1000′s of dollars from maintenance costs of the professional website. A Sqeeqee profile enables a company to produce a social media presence, and never only expand to new marketplaces, but additionally target individuals clients around the platform.

A comparatively new idea in social networking is crowd-funding. This means pitching a task to larger categories of prospective traders and requesting financial support. Sqeeqee offers crowd-funding. The traders might be an individual who comes with an interest to get familiar with the whole process and growth and development of the work.

Other notable feature of Sqeeqee is really a native internet search engine, presently pending for any patent, to permit customers look around the platform for prospects to boost and share revenue.

Sqeeqee states more revenue is moved to customers who drive those activities and development of the web site, instead of large internet marketing companies, for example Google and Facebook.

Sqeeqee Gives Birth to #SocialNetworthing

Social Barrel – The most recent Social Networking News and Marketing Tips

Sqeeqee: Turning Social Networking Into Dollars and Cents

Leah Arnold-Smeets, PayScale
Aug 06, 2013


http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2013/08/sqeeqee-turning-social-networking-into-dollars-and-cents


Do you have a large social media following and wonder how you can make a few bucks off of your social influence? Well, one company claims to help you do just that. Sqeeqee (pronounced "squeaky") is a new social networking platform that provides a way for its users to monetize their social media sites through shared ad revenues.


(Photo Credit: StockMonkeys.com/Flickr)



Jenny Ta, Founder and CEO of Sqeeqee, wants to put the "users into the driver's seat [and allow] them to make real money while networking online." She calls this process "social networthing." In addition to the monetization factor, Sqeeqee has an impressive list of integrated features that include an e-commerce market, an internal search engine, a virtual stock market, crowdfunding, and charitable contributions options, coupons and daily deals, and mobile apps. This platform is intended to be a one-stop shop for individuals to cash-in on their online brands by doing what they normally (and frequently) do online -- post, share, and network on social media.

But don't quit your day job just yet. Let's cover the basics of what Sqeeqee provides its users:

1. E-commerce marketplace. (Similar to Amazon and eBay platforms.) For users to list, sell, or buy new or used items in their "store."

2. Internal search engine. (Similar to Google and Bing.) This feature allows users to search Sqeeqee to locate new revenue possibilities within the site.

3. Advertising campaigns. (Similar to Google Ads and Facebook Ads.) Users can advertise their own products or services, or they can have others advertise on their page. This feature is different from Google Ads and Facebook Ads in the sense that the users actual get a decent kick-back from their successful campaigns, as opposed to the bigger companies mentioned above that pocket a lot more of the revenue.

4. Crowdfunding. (Similar to Kickstarter and Indiegogo.) This feature provides users with a platform to pitch new ideas to their followers in hopes of collecting seed money from an investor or interested party. Social media has become a hub for crowdsourcing due to the fact that reaching people on a national and international basis is as easy as clicking a button or adding a tag or hashtag to your post. Sqeeqee offers its users crowdfunding/sourcing directly from their Sqeeqee site.

5. Coupons and daily deals. (Similar to Groupon or other "daily deal" sites that advertise sales for given products and services.) Sqeeqee allows its users to create and promote their coupons to their audiences without having to pay expensive fees to advertise their deals on third party sites. The customer never has to leave the Sqeeqee site to search products or services, locate deals, purchase products, and share their experience with their social media following.
So, what exactly does this mean for you? Basically, if you have a decent following and people take interest in what you're sharing online, then you may have the means to create an additional income stream through your own Sqeeqee site. Or, if you have a product or service that you want to begin advertising and selling online but don't have the means to pay for a separate commerce site and website, then Sqeeqee might be what you're looking for.

Tell Us What You Think
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Famous Entrepreneurs Who Launched Businesses on Shoestring Budgets

As the informal gig economy becomes the norm and dream jobs become harder to find, more Americans than ever are venturing into the choppy waters of entrepreneurship. While the difficulty of finding the necessary funding to get a new venture afloat may seem like a deterrent, it’s good to keep in mind that these successful business people started out with little more than moxy:


Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin was a punk guitarist and NYU student who began running Def Jam Records out of his dorm room. Rubin couldn’t afford labels for the first records he distributed and is said to have used brown paper bags as packaging. He soon began working with legendary hip hop performers such as LL Kool J and Run-D.M.C. Today, he’s a low-profile millionaire and one of the most sought-after music producers in the world.



John Paul Jones DeJoria
In his early years, DeJoria was raised in the poverty-stricken home of his single mom. Later, he wound up in the Los Angeles foster care system. After an adolescence in street gangs, he worked a series of jobs. After working for Redken, DeJoria decided to launch his own hair products company with Paul Mitchell. The initial investment that got them up and running was a $700 loan. His business interests diversified when he created Patron tequila. Today, his net worth is 4 billion.



Bert Jacobs
Bert launched Life is Good in 1994. Sales of the products that have drawn such positive attention to his casual lifestyle brand are in the range of 100 million annually. The early years of the company he founded in Boston with his brother, however, were not lucrative. The two conducted their first sales from a van that they also slept in.



Michael Dell
Before Dell was synonymous with the word “computer,” Michael Dell was a student at the University of Texas at Austin when he started running his first computer business. Successful at bidding for government contracts against larger companies with higher overhead, he was able to take his casual enterprise out of his dormitory and into an office in a condominium. The expansion was financed with around $1000, a sliver of what it costs to operate the global powerhouse known as Dell today.



Julie Aigner-Clark
In 1996, Julie was a new mom spending so much time at home, that it’s where she based her first company. Julie had no prior background in business when she came up with the idea to sell educational resources for kids and launched Baby Einstein out of the basement. Her company’s first product was a low-budget video featuring her two daughters. By the time her company was bought by Disney for an undisclosed figure, however, Baby Einstein’s approximate value was about 400 million dollars.

Sqeeqee Gives Birth to ‘Social Networthing’

Read more at http://socialbarrel.com/sqeeqee-gives-birth-to-social-networthing/52690/

Francis Rey Balolong on Jul 30th 2013 in Business, Social Media

Social media has turned into the cornerstone to communicate between customers and businesses, from conglomerates to startups. Companies now have access to some of the remotest areas across the world, thanks to social media. Even though the expanding coverage of the Internet plays the major role in all of this, the acceptance, ease, and wide usage of social media makes business-to-customer relationships simpler and easier.

Social media has stayed generally unchanged from the side of the user, ever since it started. Nowadays, online advertising generates billions of dollars in annual revenue, but the bigger slice goes to the pockets of Google, Facebook, and numerous social media providers.
For its part, Sqeeqee provides the first considerable shift in social media, since its commencement, with a new method the social commerce company says will turn social networking into social networthing.

The Distinction

Apart from extensive use, most social networking sites provide the same services to Internet users. Personal profiles allow users to add new contacts and reconnect with acquaintances. Business profiles allow brands to build their image in public, form brand loyalty, engage with target customers, and determine and touch new markets.

The difference between Sqeeqee and the competition is what the former has to offer. It grabs the finest features from social networking, entertainment, media, and ecommerce sites across the Internet and syndicates them. A single user profile has all the tools needed to monetize online interactions. This is the reason why Sqeeqee introduced the notion of social networthing, rather than social networking.

SQEEQEE.COM LOGO
Sqeeqee #socialnetworthing logo. (PRNewsFoto/Sqeeqee.com)


The Highlights

Sqeeqee does not require a person or company to have distributed accounts across the Internet for various services, such as online advertising, social networking, and ecommerce. For example, Sqeeqee syndicates the finest features of Amazon, eBay, Facebook, and Google AdWords.

A Sqeeqee profile unlocks the gate to several services a user formerly could find from one site at a time.

Every Sqeeqee user profile created provides users a rooted ecommerce shop to buy and sell goods and services online. This key feature offers small businesses and startups an opportunity to reduce costs of operation by saving thousands of dollars from maintenance costs of a professional website. A Sqeeqee profile allows a business to create a social networking presence, and not only expand to new markets, but also sell to those clients on the platform.

A relatively new concept in social media is crowd-funding. It means pitching a project to bigger groups of prospective investors and asking for financial support. Sqeeqee offers crowd-funding. The investors may be a person who has an interest to take part in the entire process and development of the project.

Other notable feature of Sqeeqee is a native search engine, currently pending for a patent, to allow users to explore the platform for prospects to raise and share revenue.

Sqeeqee says more revenue is transferred to users who drive the activities and growth of the website, as opposed to large online advertising companies, such as Google and Facebook.Bookmark & Share

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+Twitter
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Sqeeqee: A bold approach to profit sharing

Sqeeqee’s appeal isn’t limited to the communication tools it provides social media users and their circle of friends.

With many of our Sqeeqee users, the chance to meaningfully share in the advertising profits our website generates ranks right up there with the cutting-edge social media features we provide. In fact, it may be what first draws them to Sqeeqee.

So how exactly does our profit sharing work?

As you can imagine, the formula we use in sharing profits with you has everything to do with the use you make of Sqeeqee’s “networthing” tools. The number of friends who actively join you interacting online and the opportunities thus created for sponsors to get their message out into the marketplace—are richly rewarded. Advertisers pay for eyeballs. If you are particularly good at supplying them, then we definitely want to share the resulting income with you!

Our rapidly growing advertising revenues will continue to be generated not only on the value Sqeeqee provides to your Internet experience, but also on your own creativity in making use of what we have to offer.

There are a number of ways Sqeeqee provides users with opportunities to monetize their online social networking including: a built-in e-commerce marketplace that allows users to buy and sell at minimal cost; revenues from ads you choose to appear on your profile page; exciting ways to directly profit from mobile apps or online games you develop and feature on our website; and ad revenues from the use of AdSqee, our own onsite tool that competes with Google’s AdWords.

In fact, the many income choices Sqeeqee currently offers users are only a sampling of even more to come, as we roll out new features in the coming months.

Why shouldn’t your social media time mix pleasure with income?

Dr. AnnMaria De Mars: Five things I learned from start-up meet-ups

Five things I learned from start-up meet-ups
Filed Under 55 things


There are, or so I have heard, people who are energized by parties, meet-ups and social events. I am not one of those people.

Dinner with the family

If I had my choice, I would never go to any gathering larger than our family dinners for the rest of my life. It’s not that I don’t enjoy talking to intelligent people nor that I don’t appreciate all of the great people that I get to work with in the course of the year – I really do. However, I have to confess, that is a fringe benefit. What I am most interested in doing is sitting at my computer solving problems. If there was some way to get anyone else to go to the meet-ups, demos, conferences and pitches, I would do it.
Most of our staff at The Julia Group is like that. When meet-ups or other networking opportunities there is more whining than taking a kindergarten class to church.

“Oh, man, do I *have* to go?”

“I just went last time.”

“Can’t I go next time?”

“Isn’t it somebody else’s turn?”

In fact, we DID hire someone, our new Chief Marketing Officer to handle these responsibilities because I got so tired of hearing the whining from everyone, including me. Now I only go when she tells me that I have to – and I still whine.

In my experience, most meet-ups will have from zero to one good point that is worth knowing. Usually that comes from whoever they have as a speaker, but not always. You’ll meet, if you are lucky, one interesting person with whom you wish to follow up, several people who want to sell you stuff and a couple of people who have an idea and are looking for someone to give them money so they can pay someone else to make it. Yet, I still go because that one point is worth hearing and the one person is worth knowing.

Here are five points I have learned from start-up meet-ups. Since you read my blog you can tell your CMO that you get to skip the next five (she probably won’t buy it, but it’s worth a try).

1. Cash is more than king. – From Jenny Q. Ta, founder of sqeeqee.com. This advice from a highly successful founder confirmed what I have thought for years. At one point our company rented an office because I thought we should have one to look like a “real company”. Almost no one ever went there. Most of us work at home and we have people in several states. Now we Skype, FaceTime, email or meet in the office downstairs in my house. If we need a conference room, I rent one at the business center a half-mile away. Sometimes people are unimpressed that we still haven’t permanently moved out of the downstairs, but what we save on renting offices for a dozen people goes a long way to making sure we are in the black every month. If you have a healthy cash flow, you can get by without investor money for a long time.

2. Put off taking investor money as long as you possibly can – This is another good tip from Jenny Q. Ta The sooner in the game that investors come in, the more of a risk they are taking and the larger percentage of your business they are going to want.
I find it ironic that the two things that might impress a casual observer – paying for office space and getting angel investor money are the exact points that she argued against. (She’s not the only one, check Paul Hawken’s wonderful book Growing a Business). We have people putting in considerably more hours than they are getting paid for a share of the business – those are co-founders and that is the best investment we can get because not only is it equivalent to funds but it brings the talent with it.

3. Don’t believe everyone knows more than you. I heard this at a General Assembly start-up event and it is worth repeating. There was a time when I thought all of these people spouting so confidently that the target market for their product was in the hundreds of millions (it isn’t) or that the best choice for an application was Ruby (it wasn’t) knew so much more than me. Now I realize that many of them are just posturing. They’re either trying to sound confident for investors, or they just have a different world view than me. I’m a statistician. If I tell you we’ll make $5 million on a product I believe there is a greater than 50% chance based on the facts at my disposal. Others, if they say they’ll make $500 million are basing it on an assumed 5% chance and convinced they’ll make it with the right strategy.

4. Find a co-founder or two. I believe the optimal number of co-founders is three. More than that, you dilute decision-making too much. Less, and you probably haven’t covered all of the key skills.

The fifth and most important thing I have learned and I have heard it several times – most of success is just keeping working even when it’s hard and frustrating.

Speaking of which, I was taking a break from revising our first game to write this post but now I’m going to get some sleep and hit it in the morning.
(And there you have five more things I have learned in almost 55 years.)

Sqeeqee: The inventor of #SocialNetworthing™

Social Media has quickly become the fastest growing online phenomenon over the last few years. Despite its limitless potential, the Internet has become a global stage for idle chatter and low quality dialogue as social networks have become a ubiquitous part of the online experience. Social interaction and the creation of online identities has become one of the biggest draws to the Internet; nearly 2/3 of American Internet users actively participate in a social network. However, today’s social networks are failing to evolve, limiting member’s online activities to communication with friends and failing to recognize the potential value of online networks. It was this potential that spurred the creation of Sqeeqee.com, a bold evolution in social networking aimed at providing members a new way to maximize their online experience and enhance daily engagement through a progressive platform and modern. With Sqeeqee, users can monetize their online profiles and share in theadvertising revenues they generate for the first time ever. The site will feature dynamic new integrated features never before seen on social networks including an e-commerce market, search engine, virtual stock market, crowdfunding, coupons, charitable donations, and even mobile applications that can be purchased from this all-in-one platform. Sqeeqee.com is transforming the world of social networking by giving average users the tools to create not just a new account or an extensive network of associates but a profile that can be monetized.

As the Internet’s technological sophistication has increased exponentially so has the size of its user base. In the U.S. alone 63% of internet users engage in social networking, making the internet the premier place for advertisers to reach a wide range of potential clients. In 2011, Facebook generated $3.5 billion in advertising revenue and was estimated to reach $5 billion by the end of 2012. Sqeeqee.com will elevate social connectivity by providing users with interactive features, enhanced communication, unique marketplace features, profile monetization, effectively creating a bridge to end the gap between social interaction and financial success. Current social media outlets provide little else besides a place to broadcast trivial tripe that ultimately does little to positively impact the world. Sqeeqee engages users in a brand new way by cultivating a platform focused on driving revenue through Internet advertising and creating a wealth-focused environment for users and companies alike. The company engages the public through numerous strategically designed viral marketing and traditional advertising tactics which have been specifically developed to generate a broad based online exposure. These efforts will ensure that Sqeeqee is branded as the first platform in the world that gives individuals, business entities, start-ups, celebrities, politicians, and non-profit organizations the ability to monetize their profiles, socially interact, market niche demographics, search for data, expand their wealth, and increase their overall net worth on the Sqeeqee platform through the innovative new concept of social networthing™.

Sqeeqee is a social commerce platform that gives its users the ability to monetize and generate ad revenues from their individual and professional profiles. For many, social networking has morphed from a way to interact and reconnect with friends into an essential component of their online experience. Sqeeqee differentiates itself by creating a new action oriented online platform that unites worldwide users through a single hub. The site’s innovative system allows users to make money doing what they already do online; building a network of associates, post status updates, share pictures, host videos and browse pages in line with their interests. In this way Sqeeqee is the first platform to integrate the best features of numerous world-renowned websites and allow its users to monetize their daily social networking.

Enabling users to access all of their favorite internet activities from the comfort of one platform is something no other site has attempted. Sqeeqee provides users with the opportunity to utilize a patent pending internal search feature to seek out information, locate e-commerce pages to list and sell new or used items on an open network, share revenue through user sponsored ads, compete in a virtual stock market, crowdfund projects, start a fundraising campaign, donate to charities, create and offer deals or coupons, develop and sell mobile apps, and more. With more than 555 million global websites users appreciate the ability to market their Sqeeqee e-commerce profiles on an integrated platform, which cuts down on the “noise” of the marketplace and allows low cost differentiation as well as brand recognition and loyalty.

The company’s unique and innovative business model provides unparalleled benefits in an advanced social commerce networking environment. Through the utilization of Sqeeqee’s revolutionary open network small businesses would no longer have to maintain expensive websites and domains to achieve a web presence. These features position Sqeeqee to effectively distinguish itself from the extensive lineup of competitors and capture a targeted niche that will continue to expand as the site becomes used on a regular basis. As a result, Sqeeqee will be able to meritoriously outperform its competitors and quickly become one of the world’s largest industries as a revolutionary social networking platform cultivating a greater sense of worth among its users through social networthing™.

Confucius: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

I can’t really say that Confucius is right nor can I say that he is wrong. For the many years that I was on Wall Street, I loved what I was doing. I ran two investment banking firms that I personally founded. I was surrounded by people I loved seeing every day. I loved the adrenaline rush of seeing millions and millions of dollars swing upward during bull markets and vice versa when there were bear markets. I met a lot of fascinating people, some of whom became extraordinary friends, and others who gave me invaluable advice. I made a lot of money—lots of it. I live a comfortable life of more luxury than most of my peers. But where I believe Confucius may not be so accurate is in the level of strategic thinking, planning, strategizing, innovating, and if not stress that still comes with the job we love. If this is what Confucius meant to “never have to work a day in your life,” then it is certainly not true.

Some current billionaires like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and some of the most recent newcomers like Laurene Powell Jobs and Sara Blakely probably would not agree with Confucius’ quote as well. I’m sure these billionaires worked their butts off, and some are still sitting at their desks more than the usual hours of 8 to 5 daily (well maybe with the exception of Ms. Jobs smiley). Still, what I am most sure of is that these billionaires love what they are doing. They have a passion, and they don’t mind spending hours and hours doing what they love.

Like them, I am no different. While stocks and bonds gave me the adrenaline rush in the past, Sqeeqee is my adrenaline rush of the present. A different kind of adrenaline rush. Within the past 12 months, seeing how this very sector of social media, which is still in its infancy, continues to rise in popularity, many of these early start-ups have been snatched up by larger companies. The most recent uproar occurred after Yahoo acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion just last month. Then just yesterday, social maps and navigation Waze was snatched up by Google for $1.3 billion. These acquisitions will most definitely continue to occur as giant sites struggle to stay hip, while newer ones (like Sqeeqee wink) emerge to grab the spotlight. Today’s giants could be tomorrow’s MySpace—slipping into obscurity. Therefore, these giants (like Yahoo or Google) have to make acquisitions in order to upgrade their current sites and features aiming to tap into the younger and hipper newcomers of social networking who can attract millions of regular visitors daily, or to simply so that their competitors would not have access to its technology and users.

I can’t say the CEOs of these giants have it easy. They may be billionaires. Certainly, they could buy whatever it is they want and wine and dine without needing to look at a menu, but in return, I’m sure they have to “work.” laugh Yes, yes, yes. I know, I know, I know. This quote means if we choose a job we love, we won’t ever feel like a day of work is strenuous. But now can you see why I still find it a bit difficult to swallow? Ha-ha!

Actually, I would prefer the following quotes from Confucius: “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop,” and this quote, “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”



Social Media Acquisitions Within the Past 12 Months

Social media is still a young industry, and it is continuing to rise in popularity. Companies get bought and merged into larger companies every year.


1. Waze acquired by Google (Jun 2013) for $1.3 billion
2. Tumblr acquired by Yahoo (May 2013) for $1.1 billion
3. Eloqua acquired by Oracle (Dec 2012) for $810 million
4. Wildfire acquired by Google (Jul 2012) for $250 million
5. Yammer acquired by Microsoft (Jun 2012) for $1.2 billion
6. Buddy Media (Bright Option) acquired by SalesForce (Jun 2012) for $689 million
7. Meebo acquired by Google (Jun 2012) for $100 million
8. SlideShare acquired by LinkedIn (May 2012) for $119 million
9. Vitrue acquired by Oracle (May 2012) for $300 million
10. Instagram acquired by Facebook (Apr 2012) for $715 million

Our Founder's Story

Jenny Q. Ta doesn’t lack ambition. She was born in the midst of the Vietnam War where her father was a lieutenant colonel. After the fall of Saigon, her father was amongst the thousands of men who were captured as prisoners of war by Communist forces. They were kept as live prisoners after the war’s conclusion for the United States in 1973. Jenny was only 2 years old at the time and was raised by her single mother. A few years later, her mother chose to leave their birth country to seek freedom in the U.S. when Jenny was only 6. Jenny has oftentimes emulated the risk-taking and adventurous traits of her father and the determination and conviction of her mother.

In 2010, Jenny was invited by friends to check out the new social networking and micro-blogging craze. Being on Wall Street for nearly 20 years specializing her investment selections to predominantly technology stocks, it didn’t take long for Jenny to realize the tremendous potential for growth of a “new wave” in social media. At the same time, she immediately saw what was lacking, uninteresting, and potentially problematic for those social networking or micro-blogging platforms.

For as long as Jenny can remember, she has done most of her strategic thinking and planning strolling alone along the sands of beautiful Huntington Beach or Newport Beach. On her usual stroll early one morning, she began to connect the dots to her own questions about how to resolve those lacking, uninteresting, and problematic areas. She started drawing sketches right on the sand when ideas instantly started popping into her head. The concept that resulted was based on her own questionings of what if, why, and why not. The answers would not only have to solve existing problems, but also be disruptive. After several hours sketching on the sand, she did not have her mobile phone with her to snap a photo for safekeeping (that was the first and last time she would not be glued to her mobile phone). She ran to her car to search for paper, but found nothing but a permanent marker. So she used the next best thing—the white t-shirt she was wearing. Good thing she also had a sweatshirt on. Otherwise, it would have been quite chilly around 7 a.m. with the waves crashing in. To this day, she still has this t-shirt. It was the visionary blueprint for Sqeeqee. Two and a half years later in July 2012, Sqeeqee was officially launched in “Beta.”

Sqeeqee went through several name changes. Initially, Jenny started out with the name “Spoopad.” According to Investopedia, “Spoo” is a slang term for an S&P 500 contract that trades on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and “Pad” was simply because Jenny knew at the time that the tablet market would explode and could potentially wipe out the PC market. It wasn’t until nearly a year later when she was talking with a few good friends that she learned there was also a different meaning for the word “Spoo.” It certainly wasn’t pleasant, and when combined with “pad,” it was a really bad combination! While she still wanted to keep the word “Spoo” due to its uniqueness and the Wall Street meaning behind it, Jenny went in search of something to replace the word “pad.” At the time, she had started working on the design of the logo and “keys and locks” were meaningful. She chose the word “key,” but for the pure uniqueness of it, she spelled it “Qee.” Then “Spoopad” was changed to “Spooqee.” In October of 2011, around Halloween, close friends and buddies started to tease Jenny by pronouncing it “spooky.” It took her another six months to settle with the name “Sqeeqee” (pronounced “Squeaky”) with the two sets of keys and locks in the logo that we see today. Please check out the meaning of “Sqeeqee” in one of our blog posts here >> Blog.

One of many inevitable hardships for any entrepreneur is having the cash to turn your vision into a reality. It can be close to impossible to seek any type of capital (bank loans or angel investors) based purely upon one’s idea. Jenny was fortunate enough to have her own savings and the unconditional love and support of family and friends. Her advice to the next generation of founders is that having an innovative vision is key, but having the cash to back up that vision is just as crucial. Without cash, it doesn’t matter how great an idea one has. It will never become a reality. One’s immediate family and friends are the first sources for funding your idea. If your family and friends do not believe in your vision or have trust in lending you money, then you should go back to the old drawing board and continue with that 8 to 5 job. Live as tightly as you possibly can and save as much as you can, so that eventually you will have enough of your own money to turn your vision into a reality. More and more entrepreneurs are taking this very step. "How investing his 401k savings in whiskey made an entrepreneur millions"


As the founder of Sqeeqee and an experienced entrepreneur, Jenny is elated that the company has evolved immensely since our beta launch last July. Sqeeqee has accumulated an amazing number of users during beta testing and is now ready to engage the world in an effort to evolve typical social networking into the innovative new concept of SOCIAL NETWORTHING™.

Giving users’ access to e-commerce, social networking, crowdfunding, mobile app, and even educational features from a single account, Sqeeqee has eliminated the need to manage multiple accounts. The company’s one of a kind open network magnifies both individual and professional account capabilities, allowing members to brand and promote themselves beyond that of competitive platforms and outside any geographic constraints. Each profile retains information enabling members to target niche markets based on interests and behaviors, demographics that would be otherwise unreachable. And at a time when economic volatility continues to effect families across the globe, Sqeeqee users can monetize profiles in more than 7 ways, making Sqeeqee the most rewarding platform in the world.

Sqeeqee: Our Journey...

Sqeeqee Founder Jenny Q. Ta (pictured) talks about fundraising from your loved ones and other survival tips for aspiring entrepreneurs.

By Insiyah Saeed (Founder, TheLipGloss)

The worsening of the “Series A Crunch”, and the stresses involved in managing professional investors, has some entrepreneurs wishing for a more “friendly” source of funds.

Sqeeqee founder Jenny Q. Ta has done just that for her seed round – she turned to friends and family and raised $2 million dollars – remarkable for a “friends and family” round. When done right, she says, the result can be a winning outcome. She urges new founders to tread with caution, however.

With over twenty years experience managing two brokerage firms she started on Wall Street, Jenny is no stranger to managing large sums of money. Now having raised the $2 million from her circle of family and friends for her social commerce platform Sqeeqee (think Facebook + Ebay), Jenny states her tried and true rules for fundraising and beyond:

Tip #1 – Put your own money in it first.

“Have an idea and/or vision? Sell whatever valuables you have and put it into your startup. If your own parents, siblings and friends will NOT give you money, then shut that idea down. It isn’t going to work.”

Tip #2 – Have a track record.

“When borrowing money in the family, did you always pay your siblings back, or were you the type of kid that would never pay them back?”

Tip #3 – Don’t give up on your vision.

“It doesn’t matter what people say, even though what they say, it may be 90% correct, if you still feel that that 10% is worth it, you drive forward, because you believe in what you have.”

Tip #4 – Always hire an attorney.

Jenny says one must always cover their back. “I would say when someone has an idea, the first thing is you go to your family and friends to get that first few thousand dollars, and at that point you need to sit down with a professional attorney, especially an IT one.”

Tip #5 – Sign detailed contracts with everyone.

Jenny advises to have contracts in place for everything when you start developing your product. “I always tell people that I am the Winklevii twins in The Social Network. Because of that movie, I learned to always tell people to sign something – it doesn’t matter if they are in India, Philippines, China – or any of those countries, I make them sign the documentation. If they don’t sign, take ‘em to the curb.”

About Sqeeqee founder Jenny Q. Ta: Years after the fall of Saigon, Jenny, 6, and her family escaped in 1978 by fishing boat on a treacherous journey to the United States, almost not surviving the trip. After growing up in the U.S and attending college in Fresno, she launched her own full-service brokerage firm investing in technology stocks in the 1990’s and became a self-made millionaire by age 27. Her childhood experiences have taught her to be fearless and take risks. Based in Orange County, CA, she started another brokerage firm, which she subsequently sold. She brings her financial expertise to her social commerce site Sqeeqee, where she blogs. Jenny chronicles her life story in her upcoming book, “Wall Street Cinderella”, which will be released this year in both English and Vietnamese versions.

Women 2.0 readers: Have you raised funds from F&F? What went well and what didn’t? Let us know in the comments

About the guest blogger: Insiyah Saeed is a freelance writer and founder of TheLipGloss, an upcoming product discovery site for women. She loves to write about serial and offbeat entrepreneurs. She is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism. Email her at insiyahss [a] gmail dot com.

Read more at http://www.women2.com/how-to-raise-funds-from-your-friends-and-family/#GwrWHdxeJ8fUGqUp.99

Sqeeqee is ‘Making the Rounds’: Tips to raising startup funding, opinion on working remotely, and more…

It has been a while since our Sqeeqee Group’s last blog post. Let’s just say we have been quite busy with a number of things…finalizing our iPhone, iPad, and Android apps; working with our legal counsels to put the final touches on what we call “mumble-jumble,” (terms and conditions) that all websites should normally have, especially those with e-commerce features before being completely off of “Beta” status. Last but not least, we have been traveling—“making the rounds” to different funding events across several states, from New York to San Francisco and then back to Los Angeles.

We met quite a few fascinating people like Robert Tercek (http://www.roberttercek.com), a genius who is usually way ahead of our time in innovation. We sat in for his nearly 45-minute “Vaporized” presentation at a recent LaunchFEST LA event hosted by iHollywood Forum in Santa Monica, CA, and we thought some of his points were quite fascinating. Then there were the guys from a Funding Post (http://fundingpost.com) event on the East Coast who threw a great event with a ton of entrepreneurs, Angels, and Venture Capitalists all in one compact room, presenting ideas, networking, and of course chowing down on a buffet-style dinner—the buffet was awesome!

We also attended an all-women’s event hosted by the women at Women 2.0 (http://www.women2.com) where we learned from Fran Maier (one of the members of the founding team for Match.com) about how Match.com’s founder, who created the world’s biggest dating website, only walked away with $50,000. Boy, doesn’t that hurt?! We’d done a lot within the first two months of 2013, and we didn’t even include the in between flights to a number of one-on-one private funding meetings; follow-up meetings; and back-and-forth meetings to negotiate the term sheet, management, and board members! So you see, we have been busy, very busy!

Raising capital is inevitable for startups. It is the number of times concerning “Who” we meet and “Where” we meet that lead us to having a quicker answer as to “When” capital will be received. Raising capital is a never-ending story and literally a full-time job in itself. There are a lot more events scheduled for the rest of this year. While our Group is looking forward to each and every one of those events, but we are planning to keep ourselves busy ramping up a positive revenue stream for the company instead (hint!).

As we were hoping from one airport to another these past few weeks, some of the most intriguing news that we read on our smartphones was how Marissa Mayer, chief executive officer of Yahoo!, made headlines for banning “working from home” by asking all Yahoo’s remote employees to start coming into Yahoo’s offices by June and stating that anyone who couldn’t or wouldn’t should quit. WOW! Our first thought about Ms. Mayer’s announcement was that either it was quite smart if she was taking the route of “self-termination by quitting” because Yahoo wanted to cut costs and avoid a massive layoff, or two, that she may face criticism for being the head of one of the largest tech companies in the world while not understanding the nature of modern work—working remotely. Since our Group has members working remotely, we cannot say if Ms. Mayer’s decision is right or wrong because it should be based on individual companies—large or small. Only time will tell if Ms. Mayer’s bold strategy will work for Yahoo in the long run. Who knows? If it works out perfectly, “working from home” may become something of the past as others follow suit. That will certainly help boost up the currently depressed commercial real estate market, since most companies would need larger office space to accommodate all of their employees. Either way, we give Ms. Mayer “kudos” for making this very bold, courageous, and tough decision and for diving into a territory that none of her predecessors wanted to deal with. As for our Group, a number of our members are working remotely and will continue to doing so because it has been working out well for us—at least for now. Ha-ha!

Finally, based upon our experiences, we’d like to give our thoughts, opinions, and advice to the many entrepreneurs who are seeking startup funding. While Sqeeqee is also a startup, but after meeting with several dozen visionary entrepreneurs, we know that our Group is in a separate league of its own. We have a number of seasoned management members and great advisors. Bottom line is, we just know what we’re doing.

Here is our Group’s opinion on raising startup capital:

1. As an entrepreneur, you should ask yourself what stage you are in. An idea? A vision? Embryonic? Prototype? Emerging? Alpha? Beta? How about is your company “Growing” or “Mastering” its revenue? It would be extremely difficult to seek funding from Angel Investors with just an idea, a vision, or even being at a prototype stage. At these levels, it would be best to dig out one’s savings, credit cards, school loans, and most importantly, funding from friends and family. There’s a saying that goes, “If your own friends and family would not lend you a dime for your vision, why should anyone else?” Makes sense, right? We would also suggest you visit a number of Crowdfunding sites, apply to a number of University Incubators, seek out “initial seeds” Accelerators, and contact a number of “Seed Stage Angels” if you’re lucky enough.

“Normal Angels” invest in a company when it is at a “Growing” stage, and Venture Capitalists (VCs) and Private Equity (PE) players will dive right in to give you money if:
● your company is in an industry that has huge potential
● your company has a seasoned management team with a proven track record of making business decisions and executing them appropriately by understanding its own business, its competitors, and the markets it is competing in; and
● your company is profitable, which would be a great thing, but it is the “sustainability of your business” that is usually more critical. Most importantly, have a vision to make it big—huge!

Our Tip: VCs mostly focus on technology, bio-tech, and clean-tech types of industries, whereas PE companies invest across all industries. PE companies almost always buy 100% of a mature and publicly traded company through leveraged buyouts (LBOs) of at least $100 million and up into the tens of billions for much larger companies, in a combination of equity and debt. VCs only acquire a minority stake—usually less than 50%, less than $10 million for early-stage companies (like Sqeeqee), sometimes pre-revenue (like Sqeeqee), and strictly in equity only. So, if you’re just a startup, forget about Private Equity firms and stick to either Angels or VCs.

2. “Angel Investors” normally only invest from several thousand to no more than $1.5 million ($2 million is rarely seen). If your company has what it takes to seek that “Series A” Round (like Sqeeqee) of more than $2 million, then it would be best to sit down with a number of VCs for a VC deal syndication. Why “Venture-Capital Syndication?” Well, let’s just say that there is a limit to the amount of capital that a venture fund can commit to any given startup. If your company has two VCs (as commonly is the case for the Series A Round), the theoretical amount of capital available to your startup is greater. Voila!!

Our Tip: Be prepared to give a clear and precise “Exit Strategy” since you will be asked. We’ve heard a lot of entrepreneurs’ answer that they would take their company to IPO 3 to 5 years out. We are NOT saying this is the “wrong answer,” but if we were to take a look at the data, which we believe is for every 30+ million businesses, there would only be 10,000 or so able to seek the IPO market. Therefore, it wouldn’t be a great choice as an answer to an exit strategy question. A great exit strategy is purely having your company acquired. It is every Angel’s and VC’s dream!

3. Which top three cities in the U.S. have the most startup funding due to them having the most active startups? According to a report written by Jeffrey Bausch: “25 Most Active Startup Cities in the World,” here are the top three cities:
#1 is Silicon Valley (San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Jose, and Oakland)
#2 is New York City (NYC, Brooklyn)
#3 is Los Angeles

Globally, London, Toronto, and Tel Aviv fall somewhere between NYC and Los Angeles, but if you stick to just the top three areas in the U.S., you should be in great shape!

Our Tip: If you are launching a business outside of these top three areas, MOVE! While traveling to any and all events offered in these top three areas should be most productive to getting that first initial investment check, it is also quite costly. If your company can sustain it, then more power to you. Otherwise stay local. Our Sqeeqee Group has been traveling nationwide, and we believe it is quite beneficial. The more people you meet, the closer you’ll be to obtaining the capital your company needs.

We will conclude this blog post with this: As “bloggers” ourselves, we often like to read a number of other people’s blog posts as well. One of our most-liked blog posts is “Learning by Shipping” (http://blog.learningbyshipping.com/stevesi/) by Steven Sinofsky. As you may or may not know, Steven was the former president of the Windows division at Microsoft. He ended his 23-year career with Microsoft just late last year. Particularly, our Group really enjoyed reading his latest blog post, “Dealing with Doubt and Over-confidence in Building Something New” that he posted on February 27 because concerning many of his viewpoints, we have been there and done that. There are a number of things, challenges that will always lie ahead for each and every company, startup, or mature business—some known, some unknown. Take Steven’s advice, “…just stubbornly move ahead as though no one has expressed any doubt.”

Our final tip from one startup to many others out there is this quote by Henry David Thoreau, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

“Shark Tank” and Valuation: Mama Didn’t Raise No Fool

How to valuate a company depends on whom you are asking—the buyer or the seller. As a buyer, of course you would want your money’s worth and would think about the future growth of that business. As a seller, besides the “dough” you have put into it, you must also consider the blood, sweat, and tears, not to mention the innovative, revolutionary ideas that went into inventing the product or service the company offers.

There are a number of ways to valuate a company. In Silicon Valley, we’ve heard of the infamous “acqui-hire” where a company buys a startup with the sole intention of obtaining the startup’s team, rather than to own any of its products. Another way to judge the value of a company is to consider the patents it holds. The company that is buying it, whereupon acquiring it, can generate literally a hundred to a thousand times more revenue owning the patent rather than paying a royalty for life. As for companies that have already generated revenue, calculating the profits and losses of the business from the past, present, and projected future can also give the buyer an idea of the business’ future profits and losses, which are directly related to making a valuation. Many times, even with companies that haven’t yet generated a revenue stream, using comparable numbers or prices from similar businesses within a similar sector would also give the buyer a pretty good determination of that particular company’s valuation.

Just this past Friday, our Sqeeqee group had some downtime together. We were hanging around eating pizza, drinking sodas, and watching an episode of “Shark Tank” on ABC. The guys from “Coffee Joulies,” Dave Jackson and Dave Petrillo, intrigued us. Not only did we find their products interesting, but how they decided on their “dealings” with the Sharks made us wonder if their decision would be the right one and if we would make the same choice if we were in their shoes. Both Daves were asking for $150,000 in exchange for a 5% equity stake in their company, Coffee Joulies, valuing their company at $3 million.

The Facts: The cost to make each “Joulie” is $3.65, which includes all of the testing. They are retailing a package of 5 units (5 Joulies) for $50, therefore, selling it at $10 per unit. They did not mention how much they were selling each Joulie at wholesale prices. Their sales came in last year at $575,000 in revenue with a net of just $50,000. They anticipate generating over $1 million in revenue this year.

The Sharks’ Offers:
A. Four Sharks, including Kevin O’Leary, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, and Lori Greiner joined together to offer both Daves $150,000, the requested amount for NO EQUITY, but asking for a royalty of $6 for “any retail” unit and $3 for “any wholesale” unit sold until their invested $150,000 is recouped. Once recouped, the royalty rate will drop to just $1 per unit in perpetuity thereafter for life!!
B. Mark Cuban was the only shark who went solo on this deal. His offer was $250,000 for 12% equity stake, valuing the company at $2,083,333. He asked for no royalties and no covernance, but his preference was NOT to go into wholesale, retail, or even QVC right away. Mark clearly saw an opportunity for a liquidity event and suggesting the deal from the Four Sharks has a “perpetuity” that is tied to the deal may sour any future deals.

Clearly, the difference between the two offers was the “strategy” behind their investments.

Our Sqeeqee Group’s Personal Analysis:

Our analysis of the deal from the Four Sharks goes beyond their $150,000 investment, since either way, they will recoup that entire amount for every Joulie sold. That would mean if Coffee Joulies generated the precise amount that it did last year ($575,000 in revenue) the Four Sharks would totally recoup their $150,000 even though both Daves said they only raked in $50,000 in net profit. The Four Sharks’ deal is based on the “revenue,” NOT the net profit, since they are asking for $6 per unit sold regardless. So our personal analysis is based only on their royalty deal of $1 perpetuity for life! This is the “catch” of their deal, not the $150,000 investment amount.

Now, the “perpetuity” deal with the Four Sharks is no different than obtaining a 10% stake of revenue. Why? Because for every 1 Joulie (1 unit) sold for $10, the Four Sharks will be getting $1, a 10% stake of revenue! If a package of 5 Joulies is sold for $50, then the Four Sharks would be getting $5, a 10% stake of revenue!

As we mentioned above, valuating a company can be done a number of different ways. With Coffee Joulies, if both Daves are projecting that they will be generating over $1 million in revenue this year, it is not too farfetched for the company to be valued at $3 million, or even at Mark Cuban’s valuation of $2.08 million based on his offer. If revenue is at $1 million, then the Four Sharks would be making 10%, which is $100,000. While the Four Sharks did not ask for an “equity” stake, by having the “perpetuity” clause tied into the company’s revenue stream, let us inform you, the deal has quite a bit of “cloud!” Why? Well, imagine if a group of private equity (P.E.) players wanted to acquire Coffee Joulies for say, $10 million. Even if both Daves wanted to jump at the deal and sign on the dotted line, the P.E. players would not want to close such a deal without first sitting down with the Four Sharks—unless if they want to continue paying the Four Sharks $1 per unit for life after the acquisition. Trust us when we say that P.E. players would NOT want such a deal. They would want to buy out that “perpetuity” clause so that Coffee Joulies is free and clear of any “ties.” P.E. players would want to be in control, and being in control is NOT giving away 10% of your company’s revenue stream, maybe “net” but not “revenue.”

We were totally surprised that even with the call from the two Daves to their advisor, Timothy Ferriss, an author and entrepreneur, they accepted the deal from the Four Sharks. In our opinion, Mark Cuban’s deal of $250,000 for a 12% equity stake would have been a much “cleaner” deal for Coffee Joulies. While 12% may sound like a steep loss in equity, sometimes letting go of some equity is not a bad thing if you have a guy like “Mark Cuban” on your team. Well of course, having the other Four Sharks on your team is totally “stoke” as well, but we are literally having to make a choice between “A” or “B” here. There is no choice for “All of the above.”

In Mark Cuban’s case, owning 12% would make him a part of the Coffee Joulies team. If he is going to cut a 12% ownership stake check for himself, then both Daves (or their investors) could also cut an 88% ownership stake check for themselves, and that should be based on the NET profit, not revenue. If Mark takes a 12% cut from revenue, then the 88% stake could also do the same—a balancing in scale. If additional investment is needed, Mark could also help because of his 12% ownership stake.

On the other hand, the deal from the Four Sharks would NEVER add an additional penny into Coffee Joulies if additional capital is needed, unless a new deal is made. They are just plainly going to earn $1 per unit, or 10% of revenue NO MATTER WHAT! What a sweet deal for the Four Sharks. We would like to CONGRATULATE the Four Sharks for such a fine, awesome deal they’ve made!!

We are coffee junkies due to staying up late as developers and programmers, so we have no doubt that Coffee Joulies will continue to do well. Our Sqeeqee group would NOT have accepted the deal from the Four Sharks and would rather have accepted the deal from Mark Cuban. But hey, that’s life—for every loser, there is a winner, right? No two parties can both be winners. Only time will tell for the team at Coffee Joulies if their decision was what’s best for them. From one startup to another, we would like to say to them, “Sail on and conquer!”

In conclusion, we can say that our Sqeeqee group has had an experience or two with a few “Sharks” and private equity players here and there. It doesn’t matter which side of the coin you are on—the buyer side or seller side—analyze things well; stick to your guns, your plans, and your beliefs; and just remember that Mama didn’t raise no fool!

Sqeeqee in 2013: Continuing the Journey with New Partnerships

Here we are, a week into a brand “New” year—2013. The family members and old and new friends who have been crashing on the comfort of your carpeted floors, sofas, or crammed into your full-sized bed have all packed up for the long drive home or headed out to the jam-packed airports. All that is left is a messy house full of gift wrapping paper, confetti, deflated balloons, empty beer and XO bottles, and stale pizza. It was an awesome few weeks, but reality is now hitting in full swing. Got to clean up and get back to work!!

There's a famous quote by Felix Sabates that states, “All work and no play is not good for the soul,” or simply put, work hard and play hard is the name of the game. Looking back at 2012, Team Sqeeqee officially launched its social network site with some of the most unique, one-of-a-kind, patent-pending features that exist on no other site. It was a long-awaited launch since it took us over two and a half years to turn our ideas into reality—a fully functioning site!

Team Sqeeqee is also starting out 2013 with a blast (given all of the partying) with new partnerships and new ventures. While we are continuing to work on our mobile apps, which we plan to roll out within the first few months of 2013, we are also working on being completely “off” of “Beta” in conjunction with our mobile apps once they are completed and launched. Things could not be more exciting for our team and Sqeeqee!

With every new year, there are new goals to be made, a new chapter to be written. Establishing goals gives us guidance and direction. Having direction will put a powerful force behind accomplishing everything from the littlest things to some of the biggest things in life. So, if you are like us, take out a piece of paper (or better yet, your handheld mobile should also work fine) and take a few hours of your time to write it all down. By doing so, it will be an affirmation of you, your life, and your ability to choose. Then let it ride—get it right!

We would like to conclude our first 2013 blog post with a quote from Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936), an English writer: “The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.”

Happy New Year and do keep an eye and ears out for Sqeeqee's upcoming news of our new partnerships and exciting new ventures!