Category: Entrepreneurship

  • Carrot Honored as One of Empact Showcase’s Top Companies

    Carrot Honored as One of Empact Showcase’s Top Companies

    We’re super excited to announce that our very own Trevor Mauch has been (deservedly) recognized as one of the nation’s top entrepreneurs under 35.

    empact100
    It’s pretty cool that we get to use this badge of honor, eh?

    What’s most meaningful to us isn’t really the award, although it is super cool… it’s what it means for rural entrepreneurs, especially in Oregon.

    You don’t need to be in a big city to be a global company.

    Heck, you don’t even have to be in a major town.

    All it takes is passion and a whole lot of dedication and hard work… and anything is possible.

    Thanks to all of our dedicated members for helping us grow our little business.

    We totally appreciate your support and encouragement.

    Here’s the full press release:  

    InvestorCarrot from Roseburg, Oregon Honored to be included in Prestigious Empact Showcase and recognized at United Nations 

    Founder Trevor Mauch among the United States’ “Showcase of Top Companies Started by Young Entrepreneurs”

    One of Empact Showcase’s Top Companies

    Roseburg, Oregon, Oct. 6, 2014 – InvestorCarrot today announced that it has been named to the 2014 Empact Showcase by Empact, an organization that celebrates the impact and diversity of young entrepreneurs.

    Now in its fourth year, the Empact Showcase recognized Trevor Mauch, Chief Value Creator for InvestorCarrot as being among the United States’ “Best Companies Started & Run by Young Entrepreneurs”.

    “I’m honored to be included with such an elite group of entrepreneurs and companies,” said Trevor Mauch. “It’s great to show folks in Rural Oregon that a little start-up like ours can be included on this elite list of Top Companies.”

    Empact Showcase companies were started and are run by entrepreneurs who are age 35 and under. In 2013, the companies comprising the Empact Showcase contributed more than 10,000 jobs to the economy, and controlled over $1 billion in revenue.

    Founders in the Empact Showcase will be recognized for their achievements at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City in October. Past celebrations have taken place at the White House and United Nations.

    “Young entrepreneurs are having a big impact on our economy, and it’s so powerful to have so many of these leaders in a room together,” said Sheena Lindahl, Co-Founder of the Empact Showcase. “Many of the companies are social enterprises that are also making a huge difference in people’s lives. It is never an easy road to build a successful organization, and we believe it’s important to celebrate all the spirit and grit these entrepreneurs have put into making the world a better place.

    About the Empact Showcase

    In early 2014, entrepreneurs meeting the minimum criteria from across the country were invited to apply for the Empact Showcase.

    Applications were then reviewed by Empact and Empact’s Academy of leading entrepreneurs, and include:

    • Jeff Hoffman, Founding Team Member, Priceline.com
    • Clifton Taulbert, Author and Speaker
    • Richard Caruso, Founder and Chairman, Integra Life Sciences
    • Elizabeth Gore, first Resident Entrepreneur at the United Nations Foundation and Chair of the UN Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council
    • Chip Paucek, Co-founder & CEO, 2U & Former CEO, Hooked on Phonics
    • Kay Koplovitz, Founder, USA Network & ScyFy Channel & Chairman, Springboard Enterprises

    The Academy selected honorees in several categories including the Empact100 (the top 100 companies in the Showcase), Most Disruptive, Largest Potential, Biggest Social Impact, and Best Female Founder.

    Honorees were selected with factors including revenue, employees, social impact, growth over the past year, and innovativeness coming into play.

    For more information on the Empact Showcase, visit http://www.empactshowcase.com, or connect with Empact via Facebook at www.facebook.com/iEmpact or Twitter at www.twitter.com/iEmpact.

    About Carrot

    Carrot (Carrotly LLC) is a startup Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technology company based in Roseburg, Oregon.

    Carrot helps small businesses around the world more easily generate inbound leads online using the Carrot software suite that includes lead generation websites, Lead Pages, SEO tools, cutting-edge trainings from world-class experts and more.

    Learn more at oncarrot.com.

    Carrot was founded in 2012 by Trevor Mauch, an internet marketing expert, and serial entrepreneur.

    About Trevor Mauch

    Trevor is the CVC (Chief Value Creator) and founder of Carrot, a tech startup from rural Oregon.

    Trevor is also an investor in other tech startups; CallLoop.com, AutomizeIt.com, and AthletesBrand.com with clients like New York Times best-selling authors, professional athletes, and Inc 500 companies.

    Trevor is passionate as heck about entrepreneurship and the power of small communities doing big things.

    With other go-getters, he’s helping fuel the rural entrepreneurship movement in small town Oregon. In the past year Trevor’s started or been a critical part of founding theLoft entrepreneur workspace (currently houses 9 companies), the Young Entrepreneur Society (grown to 113+ members), and the Roseburg Angel Investment Network (RAIN) to invest in Oregon business.

    About Empact

    Empact aims to facilitate a culture of entrepreneurship in communities around the world by exposing young people to entrepreneurship, convening entrepreneurs in peer support networks, and celebrating the vital role young entrepreneurs play in our economy. Empact has worked with over 500 colleges & universities, workforce development organizations, Chambers of Commerce, and Small Business Development Centers in the US and abroad to help promote entrepreneurship among aspiring entrepreneurs.

    Learn more at http://www.iempact.com.

  • How Affiliate Marketers Can Use the Storytelling Secrets of Pixar to Make Money

    How Affiliate Marketers Can Use the Storytelling Secrets of Pixar to Make Money

    Quick Note – Our Affiliate Contest is Taking Off! There’s a few people leading the pack, but there’s plenty of room for you to jump in. Go check out the contest now – and if you’re not already an InvestorCarrot Affiliate, sign up here – it’s fast and free!

    You know Pixar is the ONLY movie company never to take a loss, right?

    All of their movies have been successes at the box office (although Cars 2 was kind of a dud, it still earned big $$$$).

    Their secret storytelling formula was leaked and tweeted out, and when we saw it… whoa! It’s pure gold for anyone who is engaged in affiliate marketing – really, content marketing in general. You know why?

    Storytelling is the key to successful sales.

    No matter how good of a storyteller you are, you can always be better.

    We’ve got a powerful video for you here… even tho the audio is pretty lame, the content is great.

    In the time it takes to watch an episode of the Office, you could be lining up the strategy that will make you thousands of dollars – and help you win some cool stuff in our affiliate contest.

    In this video you’ll learn:

    • The exact formula Pixar has used to write every single movie they’ve made – (none of their movies have ever taken a loss – that’s a first in Hollywood)
    • How to use Pixar’s character development tricks to create sales content that builds trust, credibility, and engages your audience more than ever before
    • Fast, easy ways to get “unstuck” when you’ve got writers block and are struggling to put out that next content piece
    • Why you should never ever try to make “perfect” content… and why you should always begin at the end to get the best results.

    You’re not already signed up???

    Join our Affiliate Program now!

     

  • Don’t read this if you’re already earning over $50,000 per month.

    Don’t read this if you’re already earning over $50,000 per month.

    We’re looking for a few good partners…

    Wanna grow your passive income with Carrot and help other investors succeed at the same time?

    So, interesting story…

    Over the last 6 months or so we’ve had lots of Carrot customers ask us this question…

    “I love InvestorCarrot! Can I refer other people to Carrot and earn a commission on the referral?”

    We were so darn focused on creating a great product for real estate investors looking for the best possible system for generating inbound traffic and leads… we neglected to let our members spread the word about our system.

    So we did create an affiliate program (we call it our Partner Program) last year… and as you’ll see today and in the coming week… we’re really rolling out our efforts to support our Partners in an even bigger way now. More on that in a bit.

    But back to our customers.

    We now have a bunch of Carrot customers who joined our Partner Program and are making solid passive income helping other investors leverage our system.

    We even have a few customers who are selling consulting locally… then setting their clients up on InvestorCarrot and making money helping them leverage our system (while the client pays THEM money each month).

    Our biggest referral Partners currently get checks in the thousands each month as passive income (and we haven’t even made it easy for them to promote us up until this point!)

    Crazy, right?

    So the other day, I was at a party talking to a powerful executive for a huge company. I told him that another business owner was using our system to make 5X more than we were charging by leveraging our platform and helping his clients get great results for their real estate investment businesses. 

    He told me to immediately fire that guy, because we were “leaving money on the table”.

    But I laughed at him. I don’t think he gets it.

    He was telling me all about how I needed to hire a bunch more folks and “capture the market”.

    That’s what made me crack up: I started picturing the Monopoly guy trapped in a cage. “We captured the market!”

    Ha!

    Ok, maybe it’s not so funny…

    But that’s how the old Titans of Industry used to think! And clearly, some of them still do.

    This guy is part of that old set, and frankly I think he’s struggling.

    That part isn’t funny at all… it’s sad.

    His first thought is how he can crush the market and take every cent of profit out of it for himself…

    … our mindset is “How can we work with our Carrot customers to help THEM make even more money by leveraging our system even more… to help OTHER people in the process?”.

    We realize (and so do our most successful Carrot members) that there’s more than enough wealth and income to go around… if we just provide a ton of value to those we’re out there to help.  Heck, even if you and 10 other investors are in the exact same city and you all use Carrot… it’s not a bad thing. It can actually be a good thing.

    Other investors aren’t your competitors… they’re your potential collaborators… and the more you can help THEM be successful… the more successful you’ll be.

     

    That guy above is not thinking like a successful investor.

    He’s thinking like someone who is just now realizing exactly how much retirement is going to cost him, since that Golden Parachute didn’t inflate the way he’d hoped.

    He’s thinking like someone who is insecure. He doesn’t have the confidence of a seasoned real estate investor and he thinks that by someone else doing well that it detracts from him (which is the opposite of the truth).

    I’ve been really lucky in my life – I’ve gotten to meet a lot of ultra-rich people. Most of them radiate confidence. Some haven’t been able to shake the insecurity of poverty. But the really wealthy ones – not necessarily the ones with the most money… but the people who are truly secure in life… those people shine.

    This guy was not shining.

    But listen, I told him.

    “We don’t want them to stop making money off of our platform. Our company’s goal is to help people make money and improve their lives and the lives of others off of what we’ve built. It’s pretty great for all of us actually.”

    That’s called a platform business, I told him – and I pulled out my iPhone to explain.

    The iPhone is a great example of a platform business. It brought together people who never knew they needed each other.

     

    16-must-have-iphone-apps-for-broadcastingI mean, come on – 10 years ago, who knew that 100 million people needed Angry Birds?

    But seriously – we’re building InvestorCarrot because we want to plant something powerful and watch it grow. We want a huge harvest so everyone can feast together.

    InvestorCarrot is a platform business because it brings people together on a common platform and lifts up everyone who chooses to leverage it well.

     

    Being a platform business means that other people will get rich off our system… not just one “owner” – but a whole community of people building wealth together.

    And that’s fine by us. We love helping people to build wealth.

    Wealth beyond just money… Personal wealth, emotional wealth, spiritual wealth – there are so many layers to the emotional intangibles of fulfillment, what makes us deeply satisfied with life, and stable for a strong future.

    See, wealth never happens without relationships – not just who you know, but how you interact with other people… In business, relationships are worth a ton.

    We’re big believers in the power of collaboration.

     

    InvestorCarrot helps people to grow.

    Wealth building is about boosting up other people – it’s about community development. We’re developing our local community – and the InvestorCarrot community.

     

    We’re Looking For A Few Good Partners

    We don’t want just anyone. We want strong minded people who think like business owners, investors, and entrepreneurs.

    Entrepreneurs who want to build wealth for themselves, their families, and their communities by helping others succeed.

    There’s a few ways that InvestorCarrot can help those kind of people to earn great money – even big bucks.

    I’m going to get into specifics, but first – indulge me as I tell you a story about the heart, soul and meaning of our company:

    We know we’ve built a pretty awesome system, and it’s working really well.

    In just the past week I’ve talked to two different users of our system that are new investors.

    Separate mentors referred each of them to InvestorCarrot just a couple of months ago to build their very first sites and start generating leads.

    They paid for the training, they worked really hard in their local markets, and they are each closing multiple deals this month.

    There were a couple of stumbles.

    It wasn’t easy. They were scared. They took risks that might not have paid off… but they did.

    They’ve each already made over $15,000 in the past 45 days from leads they got on the system. They’re on the way to more deals. Leads are coming in every day because they built a solid marketing engine for their business. (NOTE: Does this mean it’ll happen to you too? Nope. These members decided to make it work, put in the focus, and did what we instructed. No excuses. Just action.)

    Dude, I can’t tell you how happy that makes us.

    It’s not just about the money.

    It’s allowed at least one single mom (that I know about) to quit her job and focus on building her investment business full-time.

    She’s able to live the dream of being her own boss – and making a lot more money than she was getting in a paycheck.

    That matters so much. My mom was a single mom… I watched her struggle to pay the bills, crying when she couldn’t afford enough groceries… So it’s deeply personal for me and very satisfying to be a part of a team that’s helping single moms to become financially independent.

    Now, that won’t work like that for everyone. There are a lot of factors that create the success of a real estate investor. Luck plays a huge role.

    Hey, we all wanna get lucky, right? ;)

    But back to our story:

    We started with websites for real estate investors – and that will always be our main focus and niche.

    Real estate is very special, and we love it. It’s the best single way to build wealth that we know of when you do it right.

    We’re Real Estate Entrepreneurs.

    Just Like You.

    We want what you want – lifestyles of freedom and autonomy. Our goal is not to work insane amounts of hours shackled to a cubicle – like you, we love to get out there and enjoy life. Our investments work for us – we don’t want to get stuck working for our investments.

    We prefer to grow our business just like real estate – with leverage.

    By leveraging our system as one of our referral Partners, you can add a big check from us to your bank account each month.

    We’re already paying a few dozen affiliates some decent sized checks simply for telling others about InvestorCarrot and how it can help them grow their own real estate business.

    Remember that guy I mentioned in the beginning?

    The one who is making thousands of dollars each month by providing a great consulting service and leveraging our system for their websites?

    I want to tell you a little bit more about what he’s doing, but I can’t tell you the details yet… so forgive me if I seem a little vague.

    But he’s doing something that we do too… it’s a behavior we really seek in partners… remember? Leverage… exerting minimal effort for maximum result.

    He’s leveraging his real estate investment knowledge by helping out other entrepreneurs. He’s charging a lot for his services, of course.

    He’s acting as a mentor in so many ways… he’s providing expertise on marketing, strategy and more.

    There’s a ton that this guy is doing to add value for his clients, and it makes them money each month while the leads pour in through their InvestorCarrot sites.

    He provides the service… then has his clients get websites setup on InvestorCarrot because it’s fast, easy, and effective.

    Who Is The Perfect Person For Our Partner Program?

    We absolutely LOVE our bigger partners… the people who can send a ton of customers our way each month (50+).  But they’re few and far between.

    However, our favorite people to have in our Partner Program are our InvestorCarrot users who are using the system themselves… getting results… see the benefits… and become evangelists for us and spread the word far and wide.

    Like Adrian N. out of West Virginia who has been a Carrot member for quite a while… and has already referred over 7 or 8 other new members… who are also now getting great results.

    Like David B. out of New York who is an active investor himself… but also an expert online marketer. He’s now consistently referring members over simply because he uses Carrot himself… loves it… and its quick and easy to get rolling (even if you’re an advanced online marketer like him).

    Like Scott C. and now a new Partner Sharon V. who are active investors… but also well respected bloggers. They are paying InvestorCarrot members themselves and spread the word about their experience with InvestorCarrot to other investors through our Partner Program… and earn commission each and every month in the process.

    We want Partners who are hungry to grow, hungry to help others, and hungry to add another stream of income to their bank account each month.

    If you’re earning less than $50k a month right now in your business… helping us spread the Carrot word and platform to other investors can help you add an extra $100, $500, $1k, $3k/mo+ to your bottom line.

    All I know is that I want hungry people who are on their way to huge wealth to team up with InvestorCarrot. We’re planting a big garden together, and we want to share the harvest.

    If that sounds like you…

    Head over to the affiliate center and register as an affiliate – it only takes a minute.

    Join Our Partner Program >>

    Once you do, you’ll have access to a lot of materials, banner ads and way more cool stuff… plus the inside scoop on some great new ways to earn major cash that will be released soon.

    Let’s build wealth for you… it starts by clicking here now.

  • 13 Thoughts On Being An Entrepreneur – From Carrot CEO Trevor

    13 Thoughts On Being An Entrepreneur – From Carrot CEO Trevor

    My (Trevor's) office at our Carrot headquarters in beautiful Roseburg, Oregon.

    [post was originally posted on Trevor’s personal blog, check out this and more over there. Oh, and by the way, my personal blog is also on our Carrot platform!]

    This past year I’ve been engulfed in entrepreneurship. Yes, I’ve been an entrepreneur since the day I graduated college… but this past year has felt more entrepreneurial for me than any other year in my life.

    I’ve learned a lot this past year. Here are 13 thoughts on being an entrepreneur

    What not to do (still learning). What to do (still learning massively). How to actually start a real company that can scale and be valuable some day (not just a little “income stream”). How to spot the “fake entrepreneurs” and like Mark Cuban says… the “wantrepreneurs” (they’re everywhere). How to build massive mission and purpose into a business like I’ve never known before.

    So, I’m sitting down in Chicago in my hotel before I fly back home and want to throw out 9 thoughts on being an entrepreneur. Not “what you should do” stuff… because what I should do has nothing to do with what YOU should do.

    Don’t copy me, it won’t work. One thing I’ve found is you have to find your own way (yes, mentors help you hopefully find that way faster, but you’ll still make your mistakes along the way… trust me… even ones you swore you’d never make.

    Here we go…

    1. Entrepreneurs Aren’t Made

    As Gary V. says… “it’s in your DNA”.  I used to have this idyllic dream that “there’s an entrepreneur in everyone”. I’ve found thats a load of (you know what).

    You may not be cut out to be an entrepreneur. A day job may be what you’re cut out for. And there’s nothing wrong with that. What EVERYONE is born for I believe is doing something they love… but most people stick themselves with jobs and day to day existences that they hate.

    If you’re not cut out to be an entrepreneur… get a job at a great place… do your job better than anyone… be passionate about it… and things will work out.

    2. It’s Always Harder Than You Think… Even When It “Feels” Easier

     You see the big stories on TV or in the news of the huge successes in business. Facebook… Instagram selling for a billion… on and on.  Those are stories that the media picks and chooses the “sexy” parts of the story… because that’s what people want to hear.

    Then the world goes out, has an idea, creates a “startup”, maybe raises some money, and realizes this “entrepreneur thing” is way harder than they thought when they actually have to make money to pay the bills. No one ever sees the behind the scenes of the success stories.

    The 19 hour workdays the first 6 months trying to get a killer product out before the market passes you by, the scraping by eating canned chili and grilled cheese 3 nights a week because your bills outweigh your income (ask me how I know that one), the marketing campaign that doesn’t go as you planned the first time, organizing your day (and life) when you have full freedom and flexibility (way harder than I thought).

    Take what you think it’ll take to start a company, times that by 10, and you’re closer to reality.

    3. Legacy Trumps Profits

     My first few years as an “entrepreneur” was about profits. That sucks. No fun. It’s a drain on your soul and a waste of your potential. Now legacy comes first over profits for me.

    I want what I create and the impact I make to last… to affect hundreds of thousands or even millions of people in a positive way… for people 50 years from now to look back and say… “Man, that guy made shit happen”.

    4. Competition is a Copout

    Buck up and work harder and smarter… that’ll trump competition 9 days out of 10.

    5. Entrepreneurs are Attracted to a Mission

    It’s built into us at our core. Give us a problem to solve… and we wanna solve it, make it make money, and improve the damn thing before know it.

    If you want to make a truly HUGE impact as an entrepreneur… attract other entrepreneurs to YOUR mission and have a community of entrepreneurs work their asses off to make that mission a reality. We’re doing it right now in my small town.

    If you’re in Oregon and are reading this… give us 5 years and see what Roseburg is like then. It ain’t by accident or happenstance guys… I created a vision… our community turned it onto a mission… and shit is happening like people never thought it would here.

    6. I Don’t Care What People Think I Can or Can’t Do

    I heard a quote once that went something like…“when people say you can’t do something… it’s actually their subconscious saying THEY can’t do it”. I used to care what other people thought. I used to not like to ruffle feathers. You’ve gotta ruffle some feathers and bear some scrutiny… and do what most people think you can’t do or you’re wasting your time.

    7. Multiple Intertwined Businesses are Far Easier to Manage

    Multiple intertwined businesses is far easier to manageOne of the biggest challenges is staying focussed. I’ve learned in previous years how important it is to focus on “one big thing” and get that business to a point where it’s sustainable and has great systems and a team before you add another major thing on.

    Even then it can get difficult and you run the risk of being mediocre at everything vs. great at one thing. In 2009-2012 I owned 4 businesses and invested in 2 others… thinking it was the cool “badge of honor” of a serial entrepreneur.

    “Look at all of the things I’m doing! I’m awesome!” But at the end of the day all of the businesses were unrelated (all cool, but unrelated) and I grew resentment for my role in almost every one of those companies because I couldn’t put my all into any one of them.

    So each of them was mediocre and each needed a piece of me. No fun. So in 2012 I read the book The Pumpkin Plan which changed my outlook on things. I started “trimming” off everything except my “one big pumpkin” and put all of my resources and energy into that company for that year.

    Promising myself I wouldn’t start anything else until a year passed and at that point I’d decide if I was either going to bag that business or focus on it for another year.

    That business is still my “big pumpkin” today and is one of the fastest growing companies in America. It’s 100% bootstrapped, profitable well into the millions, and a fun as heck business.

    I gave it the focus it needed to dive deep on it and make it amazing. Amazing is fulfilling. Half-ass is no fun. But, along the way I had the temptation start new ventures and mostly resisted.

    One bit of advice I will give is that the three companies I spend my time on now are all related. They’re all synergistic. When one does well, they all do well. And growing one is a direct result of growing the others. Two are offshoot businesses that serve the bigger company — Carrot. They all grow together.

    Stop thinking more equals cool. Less is better. Just focus and make sure any new businesses you add to your repertoire are all aligned with your core values and they all feed off of each other as they grow.

    8. Passion Isn’t Something You Find

    I tried to look for years. Never found it. Like the cliche goes… sometimes important stuff like passion, love, and purpose just finds you. And it may find you when you’ve given up on it or when you already think “you’ve got it”.  When I forced the issue to think about what my passions and purpose are… I made up a fake one because I “knew I had to have a purpose in life… right?”.

    The fake purpose is draining and sucks. If you aren’t thinking about whatever it is 24/7 and sacrificing things that may make you a profit today in exchange for living that purpose… it’s probably not your purpose. Go out there and do stuff. And lots of it… take on different projects, meet lots of interesting people, visit places you’d never think of visiting, find a big problem that few are tackling that you know you can help make a dent in… that passion and purpose will hit you and say… “here, THIS is what you’re here for”.

    Slogging away at your desk or job trying to think of your passion ain’t gonna cut the mustard (as my college baseball coach would say).

    9. I’m Not Entitled to Anything

    Neither are you. Stop thinking you are… it’s killing your happiness, success, and putting people off around you. Feeling entitled is just shortchanging yourself for your true potential.

    10. People Buy the Result of Your Product, Not the Product Itself

     People don’t buy a product. They don’t buy a car or a website or a new home. They buy a status, a dream of financial independence, or a vision of what they want their life to be like in the future. One of the big mistakes I made in the past and I see lots of companies make is they focus too much of their marketing on the product — on the features, the things that it does. But they don’t focus on what their client’s life will be like after using the product.

    11. If You Don’t Want to Put in the Work to Be a GREAT Marketer…

    Either don’t be an entrepreneur or stop whining about the economy

    Or I guess another option is to hire a great marketer… but you’ve got to make enough money first in order to hire one… and to make money you have to learn to market. Weird the way that works eh?

    12. It’s on YOU

    What you ask? Everything. Using your time well. Making the right decisions (or even having the balls to make a decision at all). Whether your company does well or fails. It’s on you to make things happen.

    13.I Collect Smart Minds, Not Fancy Things

    The most valuable thing in life (behind our health) is the relationships we hold. I like to connect and collect smart people. Stuff is cool for a second… then it gets in the way and clutters up your life.

    Smart, passionate, driven people can stick with you forever. I like to fill my life with great people, not fancy stuff.