Successful entrepreneurs don’t wait for success to come to them – they go out and make things happen. Hustling can help you become a better entrepreneur as it helps you manage your time properly and take your own initiatives. By improving your hustle, you can take your business to the next level.

A strong work ethic is a vital part of being successful in your business. Work ethic is a set of values based on the ideals of discipline and hard work. Forming good habits such as focusing, staying motivated, honest with your clients, finishing tasks immediately, and more helps to create a good work ethic that will impress prospects and clients.

Hustling teaches you the importance of determination despite failures and roadblocks. A successful entrepreneur understands that failure, rejection, or negative feedback are not signs of stopping, but signs to keep moving forward and persevering.

My wife Grace and I have dedicated our whole life into building the business and brand – A Nerd’s World.  We recently celebrated our 15th year in business and we’ve only got started.  If you need any assistance with your website design, logo design, or SEO feel free to reach out to us today at nerd@anerdsworld.com

Chris A. Hughes
A Nerd’s World
“Real Work by Real Nerds”

The post The Importance of Great Work Ethic in Business first appeared on A Nerd's World.

How I developed a one-of-a-kind work ethic in 4 easy steps:

1. Plan out your day in advance – use calendars & alarm clocks.

2. Consistency – show up to work every single day and give 100% no matter what is happening in your personal life.

3. Grade yourself – recognize and work on your weaknesses.

4. Stop wasting time – no Facebook, no personal phone calls, no friends.

What motivates you in business? How would you grade your work ethic? Very big important questions to ask yourself!

Do you need help with your custom SEO Toronto Campaign or a Website Design for your business? I’m always available to talk.

Thank you for your time,

Chris A. Hughes
Founder of A Nerd’s World

The post INCREASE YOUR WORK ETHIC FOR MORE SUCCESS first appeared on A Nerd's World.

I hear a lot of misconceptions about the life of an entrepreneur. Perhaps this has to do with social media, advice they have received or what is heard through the grapevine but often these insights can derail a person from taking the plunge in the entrepreneurship world. Or cause them to jump on the entrepreneurial bandwagon, when they have no business doing so.

Here are my five myths about entrepreneurship.

All the best,

Chris A. Hughes

The post 5 MYTHS ABOUT ENTREPRENEURSHIP first appeared on A Nerd's World.

It all began with a single question: Could anyone start a small online business from scratch, with few resources and still be successful online?

As an entrepreneur and manager of a Website Development Company in Toronto, I’ve worked alongside many different companies. From early stage startups to established companies – all of our clients share one thing in common — they all want to run a successful online business and grow their brands.

Unfortunately, most people don’t have tens of thousands of dollars for marketing or SEO per month, or the willingness to quit their current job to focus on this new business venture.

There is a proven sequence of steps you can follow to guarantee your online success when you’re starting a new website. I’ve seen thousands of people start and grow successful businesses by doing the following:

1. Empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

2. Product & Services – Before you start selling, you need to find the right product or service with the potential for online profitability.

3. Pricing – Can you compete with competitors?

4. Website – None of the above matters if you don’t have a properly built ecommerce store that sells your product or service and provides an intuitive shopping experience.

5. Traffic – Will you dedicate time in driving potential clients to your website?

6. Innovation – Understand weaknesses and make changes without hesitation.

7. Statistics – Want to succeed with your new online business? You MUST follow statistics and make changes based on actual facts!

Anyone, from newbie to seasoned online entrepreneur, can benefit from this process and if you are in need for a passionate, experienced Web Development team in Toronto please contact us today.

Thank you,

Chris A. Hughes

The post HOW TO START A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE BUSINESS | 7 STEPS first appeared on A Nerd's World.

Every industry has its jargon. But some words and phrases can be unclear, unnecessary, or even offensive. Maybe some of these are words and phrases you like building into your business vocab, but use them with caution. If you’re going to offend or loose a sale, or if there’s a clearer way to say something, why not go the easy way?

Our little caveat: every office has different protocol. If you’re friendly with your clients, it’s not so strange to talk to them about personal issues. And if you’re in the thick of the consulting, tech, or business world, you might feel inclined to use the lingo and play along. But the joy of language is that there’s always another way to phrase something.

Do you want to increase sales in your business? Never say these twenty words out loud, or in email form.

1. Hope
2. Should
3. Might
4. Can’t
5. That’s impossible
6. You misunderstood
7. Are you upset?
8. I’m busy at the moment
9. Yes (when you don’t mean it)
10. Sorry I was late
11. That wasn’t my fault
12. I was just doing as I was told
13. I didn’t have time
14. That will never work
15. My bad
16. But
17. I assumed
18. Sorry for my delay
19. You’re wrong
20. You’re not listening to me

I appreciate your time,

Chris A. Hughes

The post 20 WORDS THAT YOU SHOULD NEVER SAY TO A CLIENT first appeared on A Nerd's World.

What do you want people to think of when they hear your company’s name and you are not in the room? Of course you want a strong, positive impression to come to mind. But whatever they think of, good or bad, that is your businesses brand.

Branding is vital to all businesses, but to the small business especially because branding is what enables you to stand out from the competition. After all, if you and the guy down the street are selling the same product, what is it that distinguishes your business? The answer is: Your brand. Your brand should communicate to potential customers why they should choose you.

Here at A Nerd’s World – branding has played a massive role in our companies success.  We are recognized as the leader of our saturated industry in Toronto.

Thank you,

Chris A. Hughes

The post 5 STEPS TO BUILDING A BRAND FOR YOUR BUSINESS first appeared on A Nerd's World.

If you’ve ever spent time around kids, you’ve been subjected to a barrage of the most classic of childhood queries: “Why?”

Even from a young age, we know intuitively that the motive behind an action is the most important piece of any story. When it comes to your business — whether you’ve already launched or if you’re still in the whiteboard phase — knowing your “why” will help you stay committed to your dream and help others get on board, too.

There are many reasons why people become entrepreneurs: personal satisfaction, creative independence or financial autonomy — the list goes on. Yet all of these have one thing in common. At the core, they all are about freedom.

That freedom can come in many different forms: the freedom to make changes without waiting for corporate green lights, the freedom to offer a product or service that does business differently or maybe the literal freedom to actually make that dentist appointment once and for all.

What is it that drives you? The reason probably isn’t money — at least it shouldn’t be. There’s a reason that career counselors across the country ask the same time-old question: “If money were no object, what would you do?”too much to bear. This is when your “why” becomes imperative.

If a paycheck is just a means to end, how do you know when you’ve reached it? Is it after five years? 10? Or when you finally make a down payment on a house? The more material possessions you acquire — a car, a house, that timeshare in Vermont — the more that steady, safe paycheck becomes a crutch. So ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?”

Once you find an answer that speaks to your soul, the next question should be, “What am I waiting for?

Chris A. Hughes
Founder of A Nerd’s World

The post HOW DO I STAY MOTIVATED IN BUSINESS? first appeared on A Nerd's World.

I met Gary Vaynerchuk aka Gary Vee this afternoon in Toronto at a speaking engagement. I apologize if I sound negative in this video, but I had one hell of a day in the office. Want to jump directly to Gary’s speech? click here 5:15

My take home from the event? Don’t overpay for VIP tickets, when the general admission would be just fine. Gary’s talk was great, and I will practice what he preached with a new Facebook & Instagram PPC campaign for www.anerdsworld.com.

I will be giving away my autographed copy of Gary Vee’s book, simply leave a comment below and I will do a random draw in exactly 14 days (the amount of time I will need to read it).

Have a wonderful evening, and thank you for the support.

Chris A. Hughes
Founder of A Nerd’s World

The post I MET GARY VAYNERCHUK first appeared on A Nerd's World.

In today’s global marketplace, it’s not simply enough to just have a digital presence. To capitalize on opportunity and captivate real, live, human readers, an optimized, functional, interactive website is a must. Unfortunately, the Internet is swarming with poor website designs that miss both the technical and content mark. Worse yet, clients and developers alike continuously contribute to the current outbreak of design delinquency in equal measure.

It’s time to end ugly websites, once and for all. Let’s take a look at how clients and developers perpetrate this trend of low-quality websites and pinpoint new design and development standards in 2018 that will help end this vicious cycle of “all-surface-no-substance” sites.

A client’s unrealistic expectations can doom a website to fail before the design process even begins.

Unfortunately, many clients have limited knowledge of what a website should look like, and more importantly, what a functional, intentional website can deliver. They underestimate the value of going beyond esthetics with their sites, assuming that build success relies solely on an appealing interface. Clients believe that, as long as their site “looks good,” it will float in cyberspace, effectively extending brand reach while magically attracting millions of interested users and converting them into customers.

The truth is, that’s not how website magic works.

To deliver digital results, a website must offer an engaging, dynamic user experience. Yes, graphics are critical to the design process. However, to optimize success, your site must provide more than compelling graphics. Your developer is or, at least should be working hard behind the scenes for you, creating a sophisticated infrastructure of both site and SEO functionality that must be developed and tested before going live. That is where the website magic truly begins.

A client’s budget expectations can also play a major role in launching an inferior website. When it comes to promoting your brand, it’s important to remember that you ultimately get what you pay for. Effective, intuitive website design is complicated. But the return is well worth the investment. So, clients, invest already. And trust your developer’s insight, talent, and experience as you navigate through the process to a final design that doesn’t just look great, but also achieves all of your critical online marketing goals.

Website Developers

Of course, clients aren’t the only ones perpetuating bad websites. Developers themselves can also contribute to the slew of poorly-designed, ineffective sites plaguing the Internet. How? It often starts by treating must-have digital marketing features as “extras” when offering site packages to clients.

Not cool, developers. Not cool.

Developers, 2018 is the year you up your game and raise the bar on acceptable industry standards. No more static, one-dimensional tactics that render a site into a mere Powerpoint presentation (aka ugly website). Going forward, refuse to work on a design that isn’t multidimensional and fully-functional. Every project you take on should have all necessary digital marketing functions to elevate both owner and user experience.

2018 Website Feature Checklist

Ready to put an actionable plan in place to redefine the new normal for 2018 sites? In my video you will find my 10 non-negotiable standards to implement on your website.

Need Help with Your Website?

We are ranked the best Website Design and Development Company in Toronto.

Chris A. Hughes
Founder of A Nerd’s World

The post TOP 10 MOST IMPORTANT WEBSITE DESIGN TIPS first appeared on A Nerd's World.

Deac from Philly asks: “Hey Chris, Do you have a video on your design process, maybe a 5 step video on how you go about the design process with a client.”

Yes, I have a website design and development process that we follow for every single website project. This video will detail our website development process from start to finish.

Almost every Web Developer and Website Designer can attest that much of their work is repetitive. We find ourselves completing the same tasks, even if slightly modified, over and over for every website project we take on. Following a detailed website design and development process can speed up your work and help your client understand your role in the project. This video tries to show how developing a process for Web design can organize a developer’s thoughts, speed up a project’s timeline and prepare a freelance business for growth.

Chris A. Hughes
Founder of A Nerd’s World

The post OUR WEBSITE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS first appeared on A Nerd's World.