17 Growth Hacks to Help Your Startup Scale Faster

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Startups are everywhere on the internet today. It doesn’t matter if your expertise, service, or focus is on technology, business, social media, content creation or even applications — this space is extremely saturated! Everyone has ideas, but only those who know how to implement them and turn their efforts into actions will see real results. Just like it’s easy for anyone to start a website or blog, it’s not so easy to get real traffic and make money.

The same is true for starting any type of business online. It’s all fun and games in the beginning, as you are likely starting from zero… but how long can this immediate growth last?

Rapid startup growth is a common goal for many business owners, but it’s one that is tricky to achieve. You need the right marketing tactics, customer support and operational infrastructure — and you need the resources to sustain it all until the sales start rolling in. This is where the opportunity of running an internet-based business really comes into play.

So, what’s the secret to scaling up with speed? Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best growth hacks for businesses looking to expand quickly.

1. Create Your Brand

Start creating your brand as quickly as possible. Your brand is an important asset for a startup. People need to know what you do and why you do it in order to use your product or service. The faster people know your brand, the faster you will be able to scale up your business.

– Samuel Thimothy, OneIMS – Integrated Marketing Solutions

2. Learn How to Delegate

The fastest way to scale is to optimize your time. Start with the things that are taking up the majority of your time and find someone to manage them. Hire, outsource or create daily efficiencies, and scaling will feel easier than it should.

– Corey Eulas, Factorial Digital

3. Focus on Your Processes

Experiencing rapid growth can be a good or a bad thing, depending on how prepared you are. We experienced and are experiencing this growth currently, and it helped expose areas of improvement in our processes. If your processes are broken and you grow fast, it will only emphasize those weaknesses. If you focus on shoring up processes first, you’ll be prepared for fast growth.

– Joel Mathew, Fortress Consulting Group

4. Draw Attention to Your Brand and Product

Ride on your competition’s research through SEO and advertising. Use Quora as a platform to answer questions related to your product. You will get immediate traffic. Use video marketing on LinkedIn to draw attention and increase followers.

– Trish Agarwal, V Synergize Global Solutions LLC

5. Keep Reminding Your Audience About Your Brand

You have to get out there and get your name out. The more people you know who keep seeing what you do, the more they will think of you when they need what you do or know someone who you can help. This is a big reason why people buy from top brands — their marketing is all over the place reminding you.

– Jacqueline Marrano, Marrano Solutions, LLC.

6. Grow Your Team

The rate-limiting factor of growth of any organization is leadership. Entrepreneurs need to scale themselves as well as their teams. When the team is more effective and growing, the business will automatically grow to greater and greater scale. Nothing matters more than human capital.

– Eric Mathews, Start Co.

7. Don’t Be Afraid to Accept Help

If you insist on rapid growth, you’re going to need help. And once you get that help, you are going to need to trust their abilities. Too many entrepreneurs think they can do it all and they end up exhausting themselves/failing. Let those around you help you.

– Adrien Schmidt, OpenBouquet

8. Put the Customer First, No Matter What

The bigger your business, the greater the need for a solid customer support infrastructure. Prioritize customer communication early on. Each interaction is an opportunity to showcase your brand’s voice and values. Cultivating loyalty and customer satisfaction is a result of having the right solutions and experts to guide your customer service strategy.

– Eng Tan, Simplr

9. Know Your Sales Funnel

Sustainable, fast growth requires every part of the acquisition funnel to be in top shape. This will look different for every business, but it’s always important to pinpoint exactly what isn’t working, whether that’s acquiring leads, converting them or upselling them.

– Jacob Drucker, Supply Clinic

10. Learn How to Get the Right Traffic

You’re great at what you do, your service is wonderful and your prices are well worth the value you provide. The only thing is, nobody knows you and they can’t find you. If you know how to generate foot traffic or web traffic at a good cost, you’ll be able to scale up quickly. Find the right help, or roll up your sleeves and figure out how to do this for your industry.

– Jared Weitz, United Capital Source Inc.

11. Build a Strong HR Team

Most entrepreneurs do not pay enough attention to HR. To scale up quickly, you need to rely on people. You can’t do everything yourself and let your department heads rely on you in order to move forward. HR comes into play and lets you hire people that you can rely on.

– Michael Hsu, DeepSky

12. Aggressively Network

My advice to startups looking for quick growth is to get the word out about their business or service by any means necessary. Spending a lot of money on marketing and promotion may not be possible in the early stages, but one of the cheapest and most effective methods of doing so is to connect with other professionals. Foster healthy relationships with professional peers.

– Bryce Welker, Crush The LSAT

13. Focus on SEO

SEO is still one of the most effective growth strategies, but it’s hard for founders to execute because it requires content development and the ability to build systems and processes effectively. Double down on content and guest blogging to get backlinks. Stick to it for a couple months targeting niche keywords and you’ll see exponential growth. Most give up too early, but it requires time.

– Matthew Capala, Alphametic

14. Make Time for Strategic Planning

Every year, I make a vision board of what I want in my life. Then, I break it down to the top three goals that I feel I must accomplish for growth. Furthermore, I break it down into weekly actions and daily activities. Once a week, I outline my priorities for that week. I analyze what last week’s activities were, and if I find that I was off track or started another project, I cut it.

– Klyn Elsbury, Landmark Makers

15. Get to Market Quickly With Your MVP

It’s critical you get to market as fast as possible to test your assumptions. The concept of the minimum viable product (MVP) is the fastest way to support rapid scaling. It allows you to quickly test your assumptions, iterate your product and accelerate the never-ending work of building a product that remains a must-have to your target consumers.

– Eyal Ronen, Puls

16. Create Value

Nothing ethical and good is done without creating real and meaningful value for another business. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a bottle of Uncle Tom’s magical formula. Focus on value and how to make that something that can be shared and promoted.

– Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now

17. Proceed With Caution

Scale up based on demand, not just because you want to. If you scale up too quickly, you run the risk of overextending your resources and potentially losing your company. Concentrate on the quality of your product and look long term. If what you provide is really worthy of massive growth right away, the market will dictate that naturally and you won’t have to force it.

– Justin Lefkovitch, Mirrored Media

How to Start Your Startup in the Right Direction

Having read through each of the actionable and expert tips above, you likely already have some good ideas for launching or improving your startup. With all of this in mind, it’s important to take advatage of the many benefits the internet has to offer — especially in terms of connections and online tools.

Take some time to run through our list of recommended business tools and resources, and if you are currently having a hard time with raising the necessary funds for your business, this is also a great resource. No matter what direction or method you take, just be sure to take action daily and always progressing in the right direction.

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How Kylie Jenner Built One of the Fastest-Growing Beauty Brands Ever

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It took less than two years for Kylie Cosmetics to reach an estimated $630 million in sales.

July 20, 2018

7 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Excerpted from Growth IQ: Get Smarter About The Choices That Will Make Or Break Your Business by Tiffani Bova with permission of Portfolio, an imprint  of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © Tiffani Bova, 2018.

The traditional makeup market was down 1.3 percent in 2016. But independent brands were up 42.7 percent. The growth of these smaller independent brands is a direct reflection of a change in market context, consumer tastes and buyer demographics. Case in point ...

One of the most successful recent examples of a company executing a highly targeted and effective product expansion growth strategy is Kylie Jenner, best known as being the youngest of the Kardashian-Jenner empire.

Related: This Former Marketing Student Turned Her Knack for Life Hacks Into 6 Million YouTube Subscribers

Regardless of what you may think of reality TV or the Kardashian family, this is an impressive story that takes advantage of many of the benefits that technology and changing consumer behavior provide companies today, which is at the heart of growth IQ.

Taking full advantage of her exposure on the Keeping Up With the Kardashians television show, Kylie became an influential voice on makeup and fashion. In 2012, when she was only 15 years old, she collaborated with the clothing brand PacSun, along with her sister Kendall, and created a line of clothing, Kendall and Kylie, targeted at teenage girls, which was their natural fan and target customer base. In 2014 and 2015, Time magazine listed the Jenner sisters as one of their “Most Influential Teens in 2014.” If that wasn’t enough, in 2015 Kylie launched her own cosmetics line, Kylie Cosmetics. What made her believe she could successfully enter a cosmetics industry occupied by some of the most famous brands in the world?

First, she had a passion for makeup and fashion. Second, she had the ability to leverage a huge platform from both the show and her growing fan base, which allowed her to form (required) manufacturing and distribution partnerships. Third, she saw an unmet need in the market. Fourth, she wanted to focus on customers who were just like her -- teenagers.

Related: This Cosmetics Company CEO Turned a $1 Million Packaging Fail into Quadrupled Sales. Here's How.

Let’s focus on the second one for a moment, because it is an important piece of this lesson. In December 2017, at 20 years of age, she reached 100 million followers on Instagram alone. She also has more than 24 million Twitter followers and 20 million Facebook followers, bringing her social media reach to more than 150 million people. In short, she had one of the largest social media followings on the planet (maybe only rivaled by her big sister Kim)!

As part of a product expansion strategy, its initial collection of discrete cosmetic products was expanded over subsequent months (yes ... months) in two different directions. One direction was related cosmetic categories: Kyshadows (eye-shadow palettes), Kyliners (eyeliner), Snapchat tutorials (which average 10 million views), a mobile app and other fashion products. The other direction was the bundling of products thematically (Kylie’s Vacation Edition, Kylie’s Valentine Collection).

Now firmly established in her target market, Jenner leveraged a personal milestone to stretch the edges of that market with these new products -- to continue to be relevant to her aging, yet still teenage, customer base -- with the #KylieTurns20 product campaign.

Related: Beauty Entrepreneur Bobbi Brown Explains the 'Secret Sauce' to Building a Brand Loved By Everyone

The success of this strategy depended heavily on both combination and sequence. Yes, there is no question that part of her success is based on making the most of her massive platform, but that will only get you so far. Similar to what we saw with Jessica Alba and The Honest Company, being a celebrity might get your foot in the door, but without great products, a loyal customer base and a strong customer experience, it won’t matter.

Many other (much older and more established) celebrities have attempted to extend their brand by venturing into the business world, only to fail. Jenner -- along with her business manager and mother, Kris Jenner, and her extended business team, including Laura Nelson and Josh Nelson of Seed Beauty -- had to first capture a sizable share of her target market by playing off the context of Kylie’s teen stardom and massively loyal fan base.

The sequence of this massive growth was critical. Kylie started by establishing her personal brand first, before she endorsed or released any products on her own. Next, she created her own niche within the family empire, different from her other siblings, and stayed focused there, with various endorsements and partnerships. Then, once those efforts had shown promising results, she launched her own line of “Lip Kits” -- in a limited run, at a premium price -- which sold out in minutes.

Related: Kylie Jenner Learns a Harsh Business Lesson That You Already Know NEXT ARTICLE

Some might argue that this is the classic “scarcity” marketing tactic, and they may be right. Was it intentional or not? Who knows, but she has become a master at knowing her customer base (or, rather, fan base), catering to their needs and continuously pursuing product expansion to extend her product line as her customer base ages into adulthood.

The combination of her marketing and social media moves was a critical component of its success. As social media replaces traditional media, it’s possible you won’t see an ad in Teen Vogue anytime soon from Kylie Cosmetics. Kylie is leveraging all aspects of social media marketing (video, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) to stretch the boundaries of customer engagement.

Fabrizio Freda of Estée Lauder observed: “Younger generations are defining the culture with images of self-expression. They take more pictures in a day on average than their parents took in a year. Sixty-five percent of teens rely on social media to discover and select beauty products. ... Volatility and the pace of change are not diminishing. What we’re living through is not a moment in time, it’s the new reality. ... The art of leading through change is understanding what has not changed and how to leverage our historical strengths.”

Related: Kylie Jenner and 20 Other Extremely Successful Celebrity Entrepreneurs

In less than two years, and with no paid advertising campaigns, Kylie Cosmetics is now a full-service, direct-to-consumer (D2C) beauty brand and social media powerhouse, with an estimated $630 million in revenue. 

Let’s put this all in perspective. How does Kylie Cosmetics revenue performance measure up against other beauty titans? Well, it took fashion genius Tom Ford 10 years to reach half a billion dollars in sales after he launched his beauty line in 2006. It took L’Oréal’s Lancôme cosmetics line 80 years to hit $1 billion. It took MAC 13 years to achieve $250 million and another 10 years to reach $500 million, even with Estée Lauder owning a majority and then all of it during that time frame.

As for Kylie Jenner, the current rate of growth of her company suggests that she will rocket past the $1 billion mark by 2022 while still picking up speed. And there appears to be no end in sight.

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What Type of Video Is Best for Your Brand?

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In addition to guest posting on the UpCity blog, Lemonlight is featured as one of the Top Video Production Companies in the United States. Check out their profile here.

How many videos have you watched today? Chances are you’ve watched more than you can count. That’s because video is one of the most engaging types of content and it’s prioritized by just about every social media platform. By 2021, video will make up 82 percent of all IP traffic. That’s huge! And that means if your company hasn’t started creating video content, you’re probably not reaching your target audience efficiently or effectively.

But if you’re new to video marketing, how do you know where to start?

Don’t worry, we’ve got a couple tools that can help you figure out what type of video content you need and how that content can help you communicate with your target audience.

Attract

If your goal is to attract new customers to your company or brand, start with the following types of video. No matter what you make, your tone should be sincere and authentic, not overly salesy or aggressively promotional. Because people aren’t necessarily ready to buy at this stage, you should focus on informing them and introducing them to your brand.

Commercials – Commercials are brief, attention-grabbing videos that highlight your company’s best features with a dynamic scene, beautiful imagery, or summary of exciting features, and end with a clear call to action. Use a commercial if your main goal is to show off your brand and company in a clear and memorable way.

Educational Videos – Educational videos aim to educate the viewer on a specific issue or area of interest that relates to your company, product, or service. These videos should be focused on educating your viewer and not selling your product. Use these to establish your brand as a credible source of reliable information.

How-To Videos – How-to videos hone in on a specific task or activity and explain it in a clear and concise step-by-step format. This is a specific type of educational video; use it if you want to establish your brand as knowledgeable and credible in a specific, niche area.

Luminzo – Urban Collection // Lemonlight from Lemonlight on Vimeo.

Engage

If you’re passed the attract stage and are looking to engage the users who have already visited your website or interacted with your brand, start with the following videos. Your goal here is really to gather information from them so you can continue to send these visitors direct marketing materials. At this stage, you’re building trust and showing these users why they should trust you to solve their problem.

Product Videos – A product video tells your customers about your best selling products or services and their top features. Focus on highlighting how your product solves the user’s problem; use this video to build trust and showcase why you’re better than the competition.

Social Content Videos – Social content videos are short video clips meant solely for social media platforms. These are usually fun, playful, engaging, and designed to be shared. Social videos should capture the viewer’s attention and keep them interested in your services.

Brand Videos – A brand video offers a high-level overview of your company’s brand, mission, and style. It’s usually a simple “about us” highlight reel that shows your company off in an authentic, exciting way. This video should be less about a specific product and more about your brand mission.

Booenn – Brand Video // Lemonlight Media from Lemonlight on Vimeo.

Nurture

Nurturing your prospective buyers is one of the hardest stages of the customer’s journey. You’ve got some of the user’s information here, your goal now is to take away any of their purchase reservations. You should be convincing them to buy, closing in on the sale, providing value, and continuing to promote top-of-mind awareness. Push for a sale, but don’t push too hard — this could drive your prospective buyers into the hands of your competition.

Testimonial Videos – A customer testimonial is a video that shows past or current satisfied customers talking about their positive experience using your product or service. These videos carry lots of weight and credibility since someone else is speaking on your company’s behalf. Use a testimonial video to communicate trustworthiness and highlight the effectiveness of your product or service.

Product Reviews – Product review videos give your prospects a third-party opinion on your product, usually from an influencer or current customer. Like testimonials, these videos grant your company credibility. They’re the closest thing to a personal recommendation, so treat them as a tool for convincing your prospective buyers to take the plunge.

Tips and Tricks Videos – Tips and tricks videos provide your potential customers with information that adds value related to your product or your product industry. They’re usually short and snappy, fun, and informative. These are excellent videos for anyone doing research just before they buy. Use these to provide value and a fun, engaging, and informational user experience.

My Houston Surgeons – Dr. Boutros (Testimonial) // Lemonlight from Lemonlight on Vimeo.

Delight

Once you have a sale, it’s time to work on keeping your customers happy. Now, your goal should be to provide added value and keep your customers coming back. You want to not only encourage repeat sales, but encourage interaction and participation with your brand so you always stay on their mind. These videos should do just that, entertaining and engaging your audience with fun, useful content.

Thank You Videos – A thank you video thanks your customers for an action, like signing up, attending an event, donating, or making a purchase. These videos are an unexpected way to delight, adding a bit of personalization to an otherwise straightforward process. They can show your customer you care, an important part of building positive brand association and return visits.

Welcome Videos – Welcome videos welcome new customers who have just made a purchase or signed up for a service and lets them know the next steps of the process. These videos are great for providing support and assuring the customer they’ve made the right decision.

Announcements – Public service announcements announce something important. They often relate to corporate updates, social responsibility programs, betterment of products or services, or community engagement programs. These help your viewers feel like they’re part of a community and helps you spread any important messages you need to share.

1st Family Dental Social Media B // Lemonlight Media from Lemonlight on Vimeo.

The truth is there are tons of different types of videos you can make depending on what your specific marketing goals are and what exactly you want to communicate to your audience. There are also videos that can help you grow your team internally, like recruitment videos and team culture videos. Learn about them all with this free eBook: 30 Inspirational Video Ideas for Your Business. It breaks down each type of video in detail with examples and lets you know which is best for reaching customers along the entire marketing funnel.

Can’t wait? Take this quiz to find out what type of video your brand needs in just a couple of minutes!

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Hope Horner

Hope Horner is a three-time entrepreneur that has been featured in Inc.'s Top 25 Entrepreneurs to watch in 2017, Entrepreneur's 11 Marketing Experts that Could Changes Your Business, and Pepperdine’s 40 Under 40. Horner is a regular contributor at Entrepreneur, Forbes, Inc. and multiple other publications where she shares startup insights and scalable solutions. She is currently working on her third startup, Lemonlight, an LA-based business that produces and distributes branded video content at scale.

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6 Easy Life Hacks That Immediately Boost Your Energy

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Right now is when you can start making smarter choices about what you eat and how you care for yourself.

July 20, 2018

4 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

“I just need more energy doc. What can you give me?” With tiredness becoming more prevalent in today’s society, this is becoming one of the most common questions I hear in my practice.

Many people feel tired without really understanding why, and often believe there must be an underlying medical cause. Sometimes, there may be, but most of the time, the answer is much more simple.

Related: 6 Foolproof Ways to Start Every Workday Feeling Refreshed

According to the UK Royal College Of Psychiatrists, it is now thought that 1 in 5 people feel unusually tired and 1 in 10 have prolonged fatigue. With additional concerns around health and safety, fatigue is now recognized as a workplace hazard for both employees and their colleagues. But if there is no medical cause for tiredness, what can we really do to help?

Most successful approaches are based around the law of conservation of energy. We don’t create or destroy energy, we just receive and expend it. So if we apply this in a practical way, we can see that low energy levels are most likely to come from expending more energy than we receive. In crude terms, if we’re feeling tiredness all too often we’re either not getting enough energy from our environment or using too much energy on our daily activities.

Sounds a little too obvious? Maybe, but applying this practice has had incredible effects on the energy levels of my patients and clients over the years. The most successful ways I have found to help people naturally increase their energy include the following:

1. Eating whole foods

Taking the correct form of balanced nutrients that our bodies need can have remarkable effects on our energy levels. It’s not uncommon to feel tired and lethargic after a large unbalanced meal full of starchy carbohydrates and processed foods, and a recent study confirmed that a whole food diet can significantly increase our energy levels.

2. Drinking more water

According to Harvard Health, fatigue is one of the first signs of under-hydration, and there are many health benefits to be gained from drinking more water. Studies have shown that even mild dehydration can affect mood and energy levels in both women and men.

3. Deep breathing exercises

Dr. Andrew Weil, a leader in integrative medicine, has written extensively about the art and science of breathing. With many of my patients and clients over the last two decades, we’ve found that regular deep breathing exercises can increase energy levels in the space of moments. The next time you happen to feel tired, try taking 10 deep mindful breaths from your diaphragm and notice how much better you feel.

Related: 9 Ways High-Performing Entrepreneurs Handle Stress

4. Meditation

Every day can potentially bring stress into our lives. Equally so, it is important to include a daily activity that helps relieve that stress. Mindfulness activities are most beneficial in achieving this, with meditation in particular being scientifically proven to help reduce stress and anxiety and also shown to increase our energy levels.

5. Head outside

Spending time with nature for just 20 minutes each day has been shown to help increase energy and vitality, according to a 2010 study in Rochester. Lead author Richard Ryan concluded that “nature is fuel for the soul” and also helps people build resilience to physical illness. The study also noted that even simply recalling outdoor experiences helped to increase feelings of happiness and health.  

6. Review your daily interactions

Every single day we get to decide how we want to expend our energy. As stress is associated with fatigue, it is essential that we become more conscious of how we’re using our energy. Don’t constantly over-stretch yourself. Become wary of what -- or who -- may be draining your energy. Save your energy for the most deserving causes. And be sure to take some time out for yourself every single day to rest, recuperate and recharge.

Related: To Boost Your Productivity 1,000 Percent, Practice This One Habit Daily For One Year

There are other ways to help with medically unexplained tiredness, and the best approach will always depend on the underlying physical, mental or social factors that contribute towards tiredness. As it was recently shown that the vast majority of tiredness symptoms are mainly thought to be related to lifestyle rather than genes, it’s always worth remembering that a lifestyle problem also needs a lifestyle solution.

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The Top 15 Ways to Come up with New Content Ideas

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I write a ton of blog posts for my websites.

Writing has become a major part of my life throughout the years.

People recognize this and often ask me the same question: How do you come up with these new ideas?

Truthfully, writer’s block happens to all of us. Just ask any writer, and they’ll tell you the same thing.

Sometimes you sit down, and the words don’t spill onto the page as easy as you’d like them to. I can relate and empathize with you there.

That said, I don’t have much trouble coming up with new ideas. I came up with a system a while ago that made it easy for me to constantly source new topics to write about.

These strategies aren’t limited to blog posts.

They can be used to come up with content for research articles, podcasts, and ebooks. You can even use them to come up with ideas for your new video blog or whatever else you’re working on.

Here are the top 15 ways to source new content ideas.

1. Create topic lists in bunches

When you’re ready to write new content, you shouldn’t be sitting down to decide what you’ll write about.

This wastes time, and it’s inefficient.

I like to create long lists of potential topics all at once. Spend a few hours researching subjects for new ideas.

Give yourself enough topics for at least a month or two. If you’re publishing three posts per week, you’ll want to aim for at least 12 to 24 new ideas.

Sometimes, I come up with 50 topics at a time.

When your mind is focused on one task, it’s much easier to brainstorm. Come up with the ideas first. You can perfect the titles when you start writing.

This strategy will make it easier for you to pump out content. You’ll be able to pick a topic from your list and start writing.

2. Social media followers

Start with people who follow you on social media. Click on their profiles and see what they’re talking about.

Read through tweets. Check out photos. See what brands they are interacting with.

Some of these may lead to a dead end, but others can be extremely beneficial to your brainstorming process.

Plus, if you have tons of social media followers, you’ll always have a huge source of ideas.

You could even ask your followers directly. Post a question on your Instagram story, and ask for replies.

For example, let’s say you have a brand related to the fitness industry. Ask your followers a question about their favorite unconventional workouts or what meals help them lose weight.

The answers will help you come up with new content ideas.

3. Blog comments

Review the comments on all your posts. You should do that even when you’re not trying to come up with new ideas.

It gives you a chance to communicate with your audience. Always respond to their comments.

These comments can be a great source of inspiration. For example, here’s one of the comments from a recent post I wrote on the Neil Patel blog:

The reader makes some interesting points here. I could pull a few different concepts from this message to write about in the future.

As you can see, I responded to his comment as well.

If people ask questions in the comments section, those questions could be used as titles for a new topic. Just tweak a few words or so to make it SEO friendly.

Regardless of what your audience comments about, I’m confident you can generate at least one or two ideas from this section of each post you publish.

The great thing about this source is it’s nearly never-ending. As long as you keep publishing new posts, there will always be new ideas hidden in the comments.

4. Conduct interviews

How do you know what type of content your audience wants to see? Ask them directly to tell you.

Conduct interviews. Ask them about their habits.

The great thing about an interview is it doesn’t have to be direct. You don’t have to have a clear black and white question with a definitive yes or no answer.

Just find ways to get people talking.

You’d be surprised how interesting some of these statements can be. The responders may start feeding you new content ideas without even realizing it.

It’s in your best interest to record your interviews. That way, you can review them later instead of frantically trying to write things down while someone is speaking.

5. Competitor websites

If you’re not sure what to write about, check out your competitor’s blog. This is one of the best ways to come up with long lists of topics in bunches.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you to steal or plagiarize. But there is nothing wrong with using their titles and concepts for idea generation.

Look through their posts and start writing down topics you haven’t covered yet.

You have a huge advantage here because you can try to make your post about the same topic even better than theirs. For example, let’s say you’re using a top 10 list from a competitor’s blog as an inspiration for a new content idea. Well, you can try to one up them by creating a top 15 list on the same topic.

In addition to your competitor’s titles for new content ideas, you can also look at other aspects of their website.

Read through their comments section. You already did this with the comments on your website, so it makes sense there will be ideas buried in other sites as well.

See if they have an FAQ page on their site. These questions could all be ideas for the topics you can write about.

6. Google search suggestions

If you’ve got a general topic in mind, start searching for it on Google:

Look at all the suggested topics that come up when I type in “email marketing.”

These suggestions could all be topics to cover.

In addition to the search suggestions, you can also check out the related searches at the bottom of the page:

If you’re not sure what to search for to generate these suggestions, start with content titles you’ve already posted.

The reason why this is such a good strategy is because you know the topics will be relevant to your audience.

Plus, you can assume these new titles will be SEO friendly since you sourced them through Google.

7. Recent events

Depending on your brand, you may not want to be reporting breaking news.

It won’t speak to your audience, and it doesn’t fit with your company image.

But you can definitely come up with ways to get creative. When you’re watching the news or reading updates from an online source, try to figure out how you can make these topics relevant to your brand.

Look up local events or  national trade shows related to your industry.

Give your audience information about the event. Tell them what they need to know if they want to attend or register.

8. Product reviews

Think about recent products you’ve used related to your brand or industry.

You can review these topics in a blog post or video demonstration.

For example, let’s say you run a website related to camping and other outdoor adventures. If you go on a fishing trip and use a new pole, you could write about your experience with the new gear.

If your company is releasing a new product, use this method to build hype for a new product launch.

You could even write reviews for products you don’t own and never used. Just look up products online, and base your discussion around online customer reviews.

9. Topic generator platforms

If you’re still stuck and can’t think of anything to write about or research, use online sources to help you generate topics.

One of my favorites is the HubSpot blog ideas generator.

As you can see, it’s pretty simple.

Just add some keywords you want to include, and the tool will come up with a list of potential ideas.

In addition to the HubSpot tool, you can check out Portent’s content idea generator.

10. Personal stories

When in doubt, tell a story about something that happened to you.

It could be a success story. Or maybe tell your audience a story about a mistake you made.

How did you learn from it? How did you get to be where you are today?

It could be a recent story or one from the past. Master the art of storytelling.

Personal stories are great because they make your content unique. While people may have similar stories, the details of yours won’t be the same as anyone else’s.

11. Sign up for newsletters

Get content ideas delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up for industry newsletters. They’ll keep you up to date with trending topics, news, and events.

You can even sign up for competitor newsletters. See what they are discussing with their customers.

Use the topics covered in these emails to generate new content ideas.

12. YouTube videos

All businesses should have a YouTube profile. Use it to upload videos, and then share those videos on all your marketing channels.

But YouTube can also be a resource for coming up with new ideas.

Treat it the same way as a Google search, which I previously discussed. As you start to type in a subject, you’ll see suggestions.

When you watch a video, there will be related videos on the sidebar for you to consider as well.

Let’s say your brand is in the automotive industry. Here’s an example from the ChrisFix YouTube channel:

This video is about how to change the oil in a car. But look at the videos on the sidebar I’ve highlighted.

These related topics are about how to replace brake pads and how to repair rust on a car. Both of these are suitable new content ideas related to this industry.

In addition to finding topics based on the titles of videos, you can also watch some of them to find some inspiration within their content.

Just as you did with your website and the websites of your competitors, you’ll also want to read through the comments section of YouTube videos. Check out the comments on your videos as well as the videos you’re watching to help generate new ideas.

13. New products and technology

If your company sells something, writing content about a new product release is a win-win scenario.

I briefly mentioned this earlier when I talked about product reviews.

First, you’ll be able to generate a buzz for the release, which will ultimately help you drive sales. But it also gives you something to write about.

Furthermore, staying up to date with the latest technology trends can help you come up with new topics to cover.

It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or what type of business you have, new technology is evolving everywhere.

There could be new software directly related to your business or just a general advancement in your industry. These are all scenarios to consider sharing with your audience.

14. Use data and analytics

Have you seen a recent study related to your brand or industry?

Write about it.

You don’t have to be the one conducting the research, although that would make the content even better. But to save time, you can use new data to write about a subject.

For example, let’s say you’re in the fashion industry. This new study may be something worth writing about:

Use this study to talk about fashion trends that don’t require wearing a tie. Or maybe share ideas about how to wear a loose tie with the top shirt button unfastened.

You could even share a video demonstration about how to properly tie a tie so that it’s not too tight around the neck.

All these ideas came from new facts in your industry.

15. Revisit previously published content

Your old content shouldn’t be dead and forgotten. Use those topics for ideas too.

Just re-work the titles, and write a newer post from a different angle.

For example, let’s say your company is in the field of mobile app marketing. If you had written a post about how to get ranked on the app store, a new topic could be how to boost your ranking to get more downloads.

Although the topics are similar, they are not quite the same.

Or let’s say you’re in the personal finance space. An old topic might have been about how to save for retirement. But you can take some of the content from that piece and write a new article about the best retirement accounts to invest in.

If an old post has outdated research, you can write a new one that includes the updated information.

Conclusion

While you may suffer from writer’s block from time to time, you should never be struggling to come up with new content ideas.

There are many resources at your disposal. Learn how to take advantage of them.

Come up with a long list of new ideas at once.

Go through this guide of tips and tricks, and you won’t have any problems.

What resources are you using to generate new content ideas?

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3 Strategies to Jump Start Your Video Marketing Efforts

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In addition to guest posting on the UpCity blog, SHUFE Media is featured as one of the Top Video Production Companies in Atlanta. Check out their profile here.

Video content marketing has taken the digital marketing landscape over by storm. According to Hubspot, 81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. 99% of those who already do use video, say they’ll continue to do so in 2018, and 65% of those who don’t currently use video, say they plan to start in 2018.

If you are late to the video content marketing party or are trying to learn how to create video content, I’ll catch you up.

Video content marketing is one of the best ways to connect with your audience.

No other media allows your customers to see as many aspects of your personality at once, and no other form of media distribution creates as strong of a psychological connection to the consumer.

If video content marketing is so great, then why hasn’t every company hopped on the bandwagon?

Well…

To be honest, a lot of companies are behind the ball and are playing catch up to the companies who were more hip to the changing content landscape.

Some of the most well-known marketing companies in the world have been doing video content marketing for years before anyone else started, and are now pros because of it.

These companies have spent thousands of hours researching, studying and implementing the best tactics to ensure that their video content marketing strategy would gain their company greater market share.

So if these companies have spent thousands of hours studying video content marketing to become pros at it, how can you catch up to their level?

Simple, follow these three steps:

Create Video Content

The most obvious steps are usually the most overlooked or poorly performed.

Creating video content is easy, creating good video content that people want to watch is the hard part.

The difference between good video content and content that gets passed by comes down to two critical factors: relevance and personality.

Relevance

In order to create good video content, you need to have the content be relevant to your audience. Your video can be fantastic and have massive amounts of valuable information but if the content is not relevant to the people it is intended to serve, your audience won’t care.

For example, if you are trying to market to doctors it is important to know what information that doctors find valuable.

Producing a video teaching doctors how to market their practice so they can bring more clients in is valuable information, if the doctor is looking to market his practice.

If the doctor is trying to sell his practice, he wouldn’t find the information on how to market his practice very valuable and would ignore your video as a result.

When creating relevant content it is important to know what the audience you are targeting considers relevant, otherwise, you are wasting your time.

Personality

Your video content has to gush personality. One of the reasons video content marketing is so popular is because the viewers feel as though they can connect with the people in the video.

If you record your content in a boring manner that will translate to your audience when they consume your content and they will quickly click away from the video.

The more charismatic you are on camera, the more your audience will connect with you and the easier it will be to convert your content consumers into long-term clients.

Personality also differentiates you from your competition.

There is only one you and allowing what makes you unique to show on camera is how you will be able to use your personality to captivate people and differentiate yourself from your competition.

Video Credit: Akbar Sheikh, CEO Sheikh Consulting

Distribute Content

What is the point of creating a viral video if it doesn’t go viral?

There is no point.

As common sense as it is, to distribute the content that you produce, the majority of video content producers create content and don’t distribute it.  

Or worse, they distribute their content on platforms that their target audience doesn’t use.

After you create relevant video content that oozes with personality, you have to distribute that content in areas that your target audience frequents.

This could be popular vlogs within your chosen niche, Facebook, Linkedin or any of the other social media platforms.

Distributing your video content boils down to having a solid plan which covers where your target market frequents, budget for distribution if applicable, what social media platforms to use, and what times to post your content.

It would also be key to include the best marketing practices for the social media platforms that you choose to use.

The more frequently you post and distribute your content the more people will become familiar with your brand and the easier it will be to convince them to work with your company to solve their needs.

Video Credit: Russell Brunson, CEO ClickFunnels

Leveraging Your Content

After you have created your video content for your brand and distributed it, the next step is to leverage that same content to create more!

This will require a bit of creativity, but here is the premise.

A single video can be transcribed into text to create a blog post, images of the video can be screenshot to create Instagram posts, Facebook posts, and even Linkedin Posts.

When leveraged correctly, videos can be transformed into several different high-quality posts that span across all social media.

By leveraging your video content, you are creating the illusion that your company is ubiquitous.

The more ubiquitous your brand is, the easier it is to outshine your competition and move to the forefront of a customer’s mind.

Instead of spending countless hours producing large amounts of content, now you can just spend a few hours recording a few videos to produce the same amount of content.

This will save you time, money, and ensure that your intended consumers will see your content.

The pros in the video marketing landscape have been following these three steps for years and have done so in order to secure their respective positions at the top of their niche.

A Short Recap of the Three Steps:

• Create Video Content: In order to compete with the pros, you must produce like them. By making sure your video content is both relevant to your audience and has your personality injected into it, you will ensure that your content will be well received.


• Distribute Your Content: When distributing your content, you will need a video content marketing strategy that includes: target market frequents, if necessary include your budget for distribution, what social media platforms to use and what times to post your content, it would also be key to include the best marketing practices for the social media platform that you choose to use.


• Leverage Your Content: Turn a single video into different forms of content which you can then use to distribute across all platforms. This strategy will save you time, money, and make you appear to be ubiquitous to your customers.

If you are looking carve out a space for you and your company at the top of your niche then following the three steps above is a necessity.

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Jordan Satary

Jordan Satary is the CEO and Owner of SHUFE Media, a Digital Marketing Company that focuses on creating custom video solutions to support their clients with marketing. Based in his office in Gwinnett County, Jordan works tirelessly to improve the quality of service that SHUFE Media provides its clients while managing his other companies.

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10 Pieces of Advice I Wish Every Woman Could Hear

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After 15 years in the tech industry, I've learned many things the hard way.

July 19, 2018

7 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

There are plenty of things I wish I knew when I started working in tech 15 years ago. Jumping into any new role or working in a new industry that you're not always familiar with can feel overwhelming and even intimidating.

Related: The Woman CEO Who Changed My Life -- and the Lessons She Taught Me About Business Success

Throughout my career, first with PayPal, then eBay, and now Facebook, I've learned many things the hard way that helped get me to where I am today. I'm sharing these lessons with the hope that they may help you in your career.

1. Confidence is a gift you give yourself.

One of the things I struggle with the most is mentoring people who lack self confidence who I know are stronger than they think. Nothing I say seems to change how they feel about themselves because they can't see what others see in them. Reach for the assignment and believe that you will learn how to do it. You are not asked to take on assignments so you will fail; people offer them because they see your potential.

2. Maybe they're saying it because you are a woman, but that doesn't make it any less true.

I've received a lot of tough feedback during my career. My immediate reaction is to discard anything that would not have been said to a man in the same position. For years, I was told I was not warm or approachable. I realized I had two choices -- ignore or adapt. I learned to adapt because this perception was holding me back. Pretending it didn't matter changed nothing.

3. Listen to feedback, but choose what you change.

A lot of time when we receive feedback, we react by making a change, but all of those changes together could end up taking away what makes you uniquely you. Choose who you want to be and what you want to be known for, and remember that these choices may change over time depending on your position.

Related: How Losing Her Job Helped Jaclyn Johnson Find Her Inner CEO

4. Everyone suffers from impostor syndrome.

Some fake it better than others. I mentored a leader on my team who was struggling in her new, expanded role. Her lack of confidence showed in how she spoke and led. I pulled her aside and asked what was wrong. She said that she was used to being the expert, and she felt out of her depth taking on managing a new team. I told her that I felt like I had no idea what I was doing every single day. She was really surprised and felt reassured that she was not alone. We all feel this. Those who learn to manage it come out ahead.

5. Guilt and worry are anchors weighing down your well-being.

Free yourself. Guilt and worry are burdens that women needlessly carry, and I decided to set these non-productive feelings aside. These twin emotions often result in negative thoughts about what could have been or what you should have done. Rather than regretting, I choose what to do differently next time.

6. Seek alignment, not approval.

Many times women leaders worry about being liked, which makes it harder for them to have impact. I have done this many times; I see something that's wrong, but I'm afraid to speak up because I don't want to be labelled as non-collaborative or unsupportive. By seeking to be liked and avoiding confrontation, I was holding back what I truly thought. While I still struggle with how people see me, I realized it's more important to seek alignment and understanding.

Related: The Mentor for This Clean Beauty Retail Founder Lent Her Influence and Credibility

7. Stereotypes run deep.

I'm a mom of three; I had a baby at each of the tech companies where I've worked, so my coworkers have seen me sleep deprived and struggling to navigate life with newborns. I decided early on that there was no use hiding this, even knowing how significant maternal bias is. Data shows that across industries mothers face more disadvantages than non-mothers when going after a job. In fact, even signs of motherhood, such as listing PTA membership on a resume, make it 79 percent less likely to be hired and, even if hired, offered $11,000 less in salary.

I have personally recruited many moms to Facebook. I consciously choose to share openly about my family in order to illustrate that us moms are no less committed to work than women who don't have children. It's important to become a role model for the stereotypes we want to change.

8. Don't give up.

Studies show that women leave tech at twice the rate of men. Considering only 20 percent of engineering and computer science degrees go to women, the share of women leaders in tech declines the further you get in your career. Many women feel the pressure of work and home are too overwhelming without support.

A decade ago, about a year after my son was born, I gave my resignation to a VP I worked with and told him I was leaving the field. My career felt stuck, and the stress of being a new mom made it hard to contemplate continuing. A sponsor of mine reached out to me, and I ended up taking a role on her team where I could continue to work part-time and be challenged. I know what it's like to live on that precipice of not being sure if this is all worth it, and I assure you that with time, distance and support, it is.

Related: In the Era of #MeToo, Telling Women to 'Lean In' Does More Harm Than Good

9. Learn to ask directly.

I spent 20 minutes with a woman on my team as she circled the topic she wanted to address. She recounted her history and aspirations. I waited for what the question was. Finally, I asked, "Are you asking me if I'm going to promote you?" She said yes, but she was afraid I would say no. I suggested that she instead say, "What do you see as the gaps between where I am now and the next level? What would it take for me to get there?"

So often we are afraid to ask the direct question because we worry about being judged. But, not asking means we pass up an opportunity to get feedback and progress.

10. Find your community.

Laszlo Bock, formerly head of Google people operations, studied high-performing teams at Google; he told Freakonomics Radio that "the most important attribute of a high-performing team is not who leads it or who's on it or how many people or where it is. It's psychological safety." Finding a team and company where you feel you can make mistakes and take risks is critical to your success.

When I joined Facebook, a handful of former PayPal colleagues joined around the same time. That support helped me take a leap even though I was feeling overwhelmed as a new mom. Based on that experience, I work to cultivate that feeling of safety and support within my own teams.

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How to Get to the Bottom of Why

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It’s good to have goals. It’s even better to have the drive and ambition (and perseverance) to follow through on pursuing those goals. Goals can empower you with a sense of purpose, a sense of direction. You know where you want to go and it’s just the “simple” matter of figuring out how to get there.

“I want to move to California,” you might tell yourself. “I want to own a million dollar mansion,” you might say. (For context, a million dollars won’t get you very far in many parts of California.) “I want to quit my job and live the dot com lifestyle,” you might exclaim. These are all valid and they are perfectly reasonable goals that you can set for yourself… but they’re ultimately empty until you can answer the question of why.

Why do you want to move to California? Why do you want to own a mansion? Why do you want to quit your job and live the dot com lifestyle?

What is critically important here is that you need to dig a lot deeper than just a superficial response. What is it about the $2 million mansion in California that appeals to you? Is it the perceived lavish lifestyle that this would presumably entail? Why do you want to have that instead of a centrally-located penthouse in the heart of Manhattan? Why do you want that instead of a quaint cottage in the country? And why do you want to quit your job? If that’s the case, why are you working this job in the first place at all?

It is perfectly understandable that a lot of people, myself included, dream of the day that we can enjoy untold riches beyond our wildest dreams. But why? It may or may not surprise you to hear that the greatest power that money can wield is that, at some level, it can free you from worry about money at all. This is almost ironic, because it is the people who meticulously track their money — both income and expenses — who have the best shot at making more money.

If you want to make it in the world of business, online or offline, you need to have a firm grasp of your numbers. I think we can all agree on that. Passion alone is not enough.

Now, everyone’s situation and preferences are going to be different. Of course they are. That being said, when we drill all the way down the question of why, a few common themes typically emerge.

1. I don’t want to worry about money.

This is a nice hope to have, but the truth is that unless you become someone like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos overnight, there will always be someone who is wealthier than you are. Until you can get past the point of envy and be happy with what you have, you will always worry about money, at least a little bit, because there is always something better, something more than you desire.

At the same time, it’s awfully freeing when you can sit down at a restaurant and actually order what you want without going through the mental math of how much the check is going to be at the end of the night. It’s awfully freeing when you can walk into the Apple store and walk out with the computer you actually want and not the one you can simply afford by maxing out your credit card. That’s freedom.

2. I want to be in control of my own career.

Even if you love your current supervisor or manager at your day job, you are still at the mercy of someone else. You are not the true captain of your ship. When you strike it out on your own, there are risks involved, but it means that you control your own destiny.

You choose what projects and opportunities you want to explore. You choose who you want to work with. You choose when and where you want to work. You’re the captain now. One of the single greatest components of happiness is the sense of perceived autonomy. That’s the ability to do what you want, when you want. That’s freedom.

3. I want to be free from obligation.

Perhaps this is the biggest and most profound answer to the question of why. The reason why most people work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, is because that is what is expected of them. What if you wake up Wednesday morning and you don’t want to go to work? What if you would rather work on Saturday? You can’t. Because business hours are what they are.

And you want to have that paycheck at the end of the week.

This is where our discussion comes full circle. When you get to the point where you are no longer doing something because you have to, but only because you want to, you are truly free. Anything that is done out of obligation, no matter how pleasurable at first, eventually becomes a chore when it’s something you have to do.

So why choose the dot com lifestyle? Because it’s a choice that is wholly your own and you can shift and pivot and adjust to keep things fresh and interesting (and profitable) for years to come.

Click Here To Download John Chow’s New eBook, and Live The Dot Com Lifestyle!

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Are You Sitting on Top of a Million-Dollar Idea?

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4 lessons you can learn from a successful entrepreneur about the business ideas that may be right under your nose.

July 19, 2018

5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The following excerpt is from Scott Duffy’s book Breakthrough. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | IndieBound

Sometimes we can’t see what’s right in front of us, and often, solutions to everyday problems turn out to be our ticket to a breakthrough. Consider the story of Sara Blakely. She bought a new pair of cream-colored slacks, planning to wear them to a party. But when Sara put them on and looked in the mirror, she didn’t like how her butt looked. The panty lines ruined the whole effect, and she needed to find some way to smooth them over, fast. So she cut the feet off a pair of pantyhose, put the slacks back on, and headed out to the party.

Little did she realize at the time that she was about to tap into her tremendous entrepreneurial spirit, but this was an “aha” moment. Even though her first experiment didn’t provide the perfect solution—the hose kept rolling up her legs that evening—it kicked off the process. Plus, she really, really wanted her invention to work. Her moment of inspiration, born out of a combination of necessity and vanity, became her Big Idea.

Sara, you see, was a born entrepreneur. As a youngster, she created haunted houses and charged neighborhood kids admission. As a teenager, she set up an unlicensed, unapproved babysitting business at a nearby Hilton hotel, watching kids for $8 an hour.

After college, she found jobs selling office supplies, even hustling fax machines door-to-door. Then she learned how to cold-call, and realized she was a natural salesperson with an ego impervious to rejection. At 25, she became her company’s national sales director. Her life was starting to get on track—and then those cream-colored slacks came along and changed everything.

Sara was convinced there was a way to make it work, and she did. With $5,000 saved up, she invested in her vision for the future of underwear. By day, she worked full-time selling office supplies; at night, she researched patents and studied fabrics. She also got turned away by numerous undergarment manufacturers who weren’t about to take the time to help her make a prototype.

When she finally figured out how to keep the abbreviated hose from riding up her legs, she saved money and wrote her own patent. She found a factory operator with daughters who liked Sara’s idea so much they forced their dad to make it. She came up with a name, too: Spanx.

She designed her own flashy packaging and set about selling her new product. Her wares went on sale at upscale department stores like Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, and Saks. When she didn’t think Spanx were getting prominent enough placement at Neiman’s, she bought her own display rack, smuggled it in, and set it up by the cash register.

Armed with all her chutzpah and desire, born entrepreneur Sara Blakely got a break even she couldn’t dream of when, in 2000, Oprah Winfrey touted Spanx as her favorite product of the year. The orders came rolling in, and Sara finally quit her day job.

Sara harnessed the power of her “aha” moment to crack the code of entrepreneurship and made it work for her: She took a perceived need and, with her business instincts, made it a business breakthrough. Her story has some lessons for all of us. Consider these four:

1. Think big. Sara wanted to sell to millions of women. Remember that the size of your vision will help determine the size of your success. Keep in mind that almost every franchise, big brand, and major product began in the mind of a single entrepreneur.

2. Embrace failure. From an early age, Sara put herself out there— cold calling, selling door-to-door, and learning how not to take rejection personally. Failure is an integral part of being an entrepreneur. Accept it and use it to your advantage.

3. Leverage technology. When Sara started Spanx in 2000, she had to use the Yellow Pages to find someone willing to make her prototypes. Today, you can research everything on the inter­net. Technology can help in other ways, too; the advent of 3-D printing, for example, has made it easy to produce prototypes of many consumer goods.

4. Be inspired. Spanx made $4 million in its first year; today the company has sales of $250 million a year. Sara still owns 100 percent of her business, and in 2012, at age 41, Forbes named her the youngest self-made woman billionaire in the world. To do this, she didn’t need to reinvent the wheel. And you, wheth­er you’re an entrepreneur or intrapreneur who innovates from within an existing company, don’t necessarily have to either. Sometimes a key improvement or iteration can change every­thing.

Think about the return on Sara’s investment: from $5,000 in savings to $1 billion. Today, she’s the youngest self-made female billionaire in America. She had been looking for an opportunity, working hard to find it, and all the time she’d been sitting on her big idea.

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'Tonight, We Stand Here, and It Feels Like We're Finally Winning,' Say Sexual Abuse Survivors in Inspiring Speeches at ESPY Awards

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More than 140 women, including Aly Raisman, Sarah Klein and Tiffany Thomas Lopez, took the stage to receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

July 19, 2018

5 min read

At the televised ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) Awards Wednesday night, one of the centerpieces of the event was the presentation of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

This year, a group of more than 140 women took the stage to receive the award, all of whom are survivors of sexual abuse. The award honored the hundreds of women who were victims of abuse by former U.S.A. Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar over multiple decades. Nassar was imprisoned on child pornography and sexual abuse charges after The Indianapolis Star reported on a pattern of incidences.

At last night’s ceremony, the survivors spoke about the experiences they endured in a video that played prior to a series of remarks by current and former gymnasts Aly Raisman and Sarah Klein and former Michigan State University softball player Tiffany Thomas Lopez. These women were also among those who provided statements at Nassar’s sentencing trial.

Related: These Two Sexual Health Companies Have Responded Differently to the #MeToo Movement

Watch the presentation, and read the complete transcript of Klein's, Lopez's and Raisman’s remarks at the 2018 ESPYs, below.

 

Sarah Klein

“It's a privilege to stand up here with my sister survivors as we represent hundreds more who are not here tonight. 

“Make no mistake -- we're here on this stage to present an image for the world to see, a portrait of survival, a new vision of courage.

“The abuse of Larry Nassar began 30 years ago with me. For 30 years, people at the United States Olympic Committee, U.S.A. Gymnastics and Michigan State University all placed money and medals above the safety of child athletes. Thirty years, until the work of Detective Lieutenant Andrea Munford of the Michigan State Police Department and Andrea Povilaitis, the assistant attorney general who prosecuted the case, finally putting our abuser away for life. 

“Speaking up and speaking out is not easy. Telling our stories of abuse, over and over and over again, in graphic detail, is not easy. We're sacrificing privacy, we're being judged and scrutinized and it's grueling and it's painful, but it is time. 

“As a mother, I am here to say that we must start caring about children's safety more than we care about adults' reputations. And as a survivor, I'm here to say that if we just give one person the courage to use their voice, this is worth it. If one more victim of sexual abuse feels less alone tonight, then our suffering has meaning.” 

Tiffany Thomas Lopez

“In my sport, softball, we typically measure ourselves with wins and losses. Well, the amount of loss is almost immeasurable. Tonight, we stand here, and it feels like we're finally winning.

“There are a lot of conversations in our society that we tiptoe around as if they're something to avoid. I know in my life, people have looked that way at two issues extremely personal to me: race and sexual abuse. Sexual abuse claims victims in every race, showing no discrimination. Just like Arthur Ashe, I stand so very proud representing not only minorities, but all of us as humans, the human race. 

“I encourage those suffering to hold tight to your faith, and stand tall when speaking your truth. I'm here to tell you, you cannot silence the strong forever.”

Aly Raisman

“1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. These were the years we spoke up about Larry Nassar's abuse. All those years, we were told, ‘You are wrong. You misunderstood. He's a doctor. It's OK. Don't worry. We've got it covered. Be careful. There are risks involved.’ The intention? To silence us in favor of money, medals and reputation. 

“But we persisted, and finally, someone listened and believed us. This past January, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina showed a profound level of understanding by giving us each an opportunity to face our abuser, to speak our truth and feel heard. Thank you, Judge, for honoring our voices. For too long, we were ignored, and you helped us rediscover the power we each possess. You may never meet the hundreds of children you saved, but know they exist. 

“The ripple effect of our actions, or inactions, can be enormous. spanning generations. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of this nightmare is that it could have been avoided. Predators thrive in silence. It is all too common for people to choose to not get involved. Whether you act or do nothing, you are shaping the world we live in, impacting others. All we needed was one adult to have the integrity to stand between us and Larry Nassar. If just one adult had listened, believed and acted, the people standing before you on this stage would have never met him.

“Too often, abusers, and enablers perpetuate suffering by making survivors feel their truth doesn't matter. To the survivors out there, don't let anyone write your story. Your truth does matter. You matter. And you are not alone.

“We all face hardships. If we choose to listen and we choose to act with empathy, we can draw strength from each other. We may suffer alone, but we survive together.”

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