Prep for Your Tech Career with This $35 Online Bundle
A college degree makes absolutely no difference whatsoever to small-business revenue, according to data from popular accounting software company FreshBooks. That's good news for those who would prefer to develop new skills online in the comfort of their own home. If you'd like to start a new tech career, The Ultimate Cybersecurity & IT Career Certification Pathway Training Bundle is an excellent way to start.
This bundle offers preparation courses for certification exams that will add impressive weight to your bio if you plan to offer freelance services or provide you with skills you can use in your own business, even if you don't need the certifications. There are courses for beginners, as well as advanced modules you can add as you become more experienced.
Basic users of computers, the Internet, mobile devices and networks can start with CompTIA IT Fundamentals ITF+ FC0-U61. Or go from beginner to advanced with the Core 1 and 2 CompTIA A+ Certification modules, both of which have impressive ratings of 4.7 out of 5 stars from former students.
Once you've mastered those lessons, or if you already have that experience, you can take the CompTIA Network+ Certification N10-007 course, which helps you develop the skills of a mid-level network technician. These give you the foundation to move up to the cybersecurity courses: CompTIA Security+ Certification SY0-501, CompTIA CySA+ Cybersecurity Analyst CS0-001 and CompTIA PenTest+ PT0-001.
There is one more specific module, the Cisco CCNA 200-301 Exam: Complete Course with Practical Labs. If you are particularly interested in working for Cisco, these lessons focus on the Internet, including the Internet of Things (IoT), which will continue to grow into the future.
These courses are provided by Total Seminars. The company provides certification training materials and services to thousands of corporations, schools and government agencies, including the FBI, United Nations, and Department of Defense.
Get the Ultimate Cybersecurity & IT Career Certification Pathway Training Bundle today while its price has dropped to just $34.99 (reg. $184).
StackSocial prices subject to change.
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Entrepreneur
26 minutes ago
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My Top 3 Secrets for Generating Better Advertising Results
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I've been in marketing since 1995 and have built my $119 million business on reliably turning neutral and unaware prospects into leads — nearly 4,000 a week — and then into buyers. Take a look at these road-tested marketing strategies I've used over the years that have worked for my clients thousands of times over. Related: The 3 Greatest Lessons I've Learned After 25 Years in Business and $100 Million in Revenue Always include an offer, since 92% of U.S. consumers actively search for them There is one way to ensure people take a good look at your ad, and it's by including an offer. You love free stuff or a good discount, right? Your audience does, too. Case in point: Our most successful offers are all freebies. Free samples or free add-ons when you purchase something. We mail over 232,000 postcards a week for our own marketing, and over four million a week on behalf of our clients. Response is always higher on the mailers with a great offer. Physical advertisements are easier to store and keep in sight around the home. A person may click on a digital ad in the moment, but if they don't save the link for later, it's going to get lost in the World Wide Web void. Consider this: The average person doesn't quickly throw away mail when there's a coupon or free gift included. In fact, they probably stick it on the fridge for later. Overall, studies show that coupons in mailings can increase response rates up to 13%. The offer you place on your mailer doesn't have to be massive, but ideally, it will stop prospects in their tracks. Buy-one-get-one (BOGO) or offering something for free is a great way to grab attention. If you're in ecommerce or retail, consider mailing special promo codes to people who abandoned their shopping cart. You can do this automatically by connecting your online shop to a direct mail automation platform. It's something you can program in a short period of time that will continuously follow up in order to bring people back to finish their purchase. Related: 3 Marketing Trends You Need to Capitalize on Now Before Your Competition Beats You to It Focus on the marketing channels that grab attention for the longest periods of time I spend over $100,000 every week on marketing across every channel, but there's still one that feels like a cheat code or hack for generating high-quality leads reliably every week, and sometimes its performance still surprises even me — and that's postcards. Direct mail has a higher return on investment than digital ads. We analyzed 115,393 leads that converted to sales last year and found that direct mail leads generated 6x more revenue than digital leads. Here's my theory on why: When that moment comes and people are going through their mail, you have an opportunity to make a deep, long-lasting impression that you can't replicate through online ads or an email inbox. Studies have confirmed this — people are 70% better at recalling a brand when they've seen a direct mail piece compared to an online ad. Research also shows that nearly two out of three people (63%) give mail their undivided attention. This all means that you aren't competing with a big screen or a little one. So, if you want to try your hand at direct mail, make sure you use these precious few seconds of undiluted attention to be direct with your message — ensure your headline plainly states the benefits of your product or service, and choose an image that immediately communicates what you're selling. In my decades of experience, too many marketers try to get clever and use messaging that has nothing to do with their products or services. 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It builds trust and evokes a positive emotional response. When it comes to direct mail, you can customize each design to feature the recipient's first name in the headline, and even some of their previous actions, like filling up a shopping cart and not checking out. An automated direct mail marketing campaign makes this easy. Just connect your CRM (customer relationship manager) to your direct mail automation platform and program these mailings based on triggers. For example, if your prospect goes two weeks without answering a call — boom, that triggers a postcard saying, "We've been trying to reach you about a special discount, give me a call." There are so many ways to utilize this technology to personalize the customer journey. Your CRM already has this information, so make the best use of it. Whether you are creating an online ad or postcard, personalize it! You'll get more responses and more opportunities for fast revenue. 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Entrepreneur
an hour ago
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We're not in control. It is. We're so "connected" that we've become fragmented. We're so efficient we've forgotten how to think critically. We rely so much on technology that our cognitive skills are in decline. We are so focused on tools that we've stopped building culture. And that's the dilemma leaders across all industries need to wake up to. Related: Technology Might Be Killing Us, But It Doesn't Have to Be That Way The productivity illusion Ask most leaders if technology makes their people more productive, and you'll get a quick "absolutely." That's the promise, right? Automate more. Communicate faster. Get more done. But dig a little deeper, and it's not that simple. A study by Bain & Company found that the average mid-level leader now processes over 30,000 communications a year. That's up from just 1,000 in the early '90s. Email, chat, Slack, Zoom, Asana, Teams, the list goes on. All of it is designed to "make work better." 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Related: Why Employee Productivity in the Tech Industry Is Down Using technology with intention Every organization has its own operational pace, but across industries — manufacturing, healthcare, banking, retail, construction, etc., the story is the same: busy people, lots of activity, not enough output. The real question isn't "how can we do more?" It's "how can we be smarter with our time and technology?" If you're blocking out time for high-impact work, protect it. Close your email. Silence your phone. Turn off Teams notifications. Let your team know you're in focus mode. And encourage them to do the same. This isn't about rejecting communication. It's about owning it. Creating structure. Setting boundaries. And making tech serve you, not the other way around. This isn't revolutionary advice. But it's something that's rarely practiced. And it's costing companies millions in wasted effort, delayed decisions and half-baked results. The distraction spiral We all know this one. You're working on something important. You're exhausted. You hit a snag. Your brain wants a break. What do you do? You grab your phone. "Just checking the weather." "Just one scroll through Instagram." "Just a quick look at the stock market." Except it's never just one scroll. Five minutes becomes fifteen. And when you finally return to your task, you're mentally foggy. The flow is gone. That break didn't help you; it hurt you. If you really want to clear your head and reset, step outside. Walk. Stretch. Talk to someone. Give your brain oxygen and space, not more stimulation. Phones are great tools, but terrible distractions. Know the difference. Related: The Most Successful Founders Take Retreats — Here's Why You Should, Too Communication isn't just volume This is very important to remember. More communication doesn't equal better communication. In fact, the quality of communication is dropping fast. We're hiding behind emails and texts. Avoiding real conversations. Cutting out nuance. And then wondering why teams are misaligned, messages are misinterpreted, tensions are up, and collaboration feels like a chore. Technology-based communication has its place. But if a conversation is important, complex or emotional, don't text it. Don't email it. Talk it. Pick up the phone. Walk to someone's desk. Get on a quick video call. Real-time, real-tone, real presence. And leaders? Don't hide behind system messages or company-wide memos. Talk to your people. Listen to your people. Culture doesn't live in your technology arsenal, it lives in your connections and interactions. Remote work isn't the culprit. Disconnection is. To be clear, remote work isn't killing productivity. In fact, for many companies, output is up. People are focused, efficient, and getting more done without the distractions of a traditional office. But there's a flip side. While productivity has gone up, collaboration and innovation have taken a hit. 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Here's the quick hit list: If you're on a team: Protect your deep work time like it's gold, because it is. Schedule response windows instead of reacting to every ping. When you feel distracted, take a real break, not a digital one. Know when a conversation needs to be live, not typed. If you're leading: Model the behavior. Don't say "focus matters" while flooding your team with noise. Be clear on what tools are for and what they're not for. Use tech to enhance relationships, not replace them. Keep communication personal, especially in critical moments. We can automate tasks. We can digitize processes. But we can't digitize relationships, and we can't digitize trust. And we shouldn't try. Technology should enhance your culture, not compete with it. It should accelerate your results, not dilute your focus. And it should support your people, not sideline them. The smartest companies in the world aren't the ones with the most software. 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Entrepreneur
an hour ago
- Entrepreneur
There's a New Trend in Real Estate — and It's Worth $438 Billion
A rapidly emerging new trend is sweeping the global real estate sector, powered by humanity's collective desire for longer lives and healthier lifestyles. Here's what entrepreneurs should pay attention to to capture the new market. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. "It's all about location, location, location" is the old but humorous business adage about the importance of where property is located and how that affects its valuation. This is a phrase that is ubiquitous among real estate vendors and agents worldwide. But location aside, there is another consideration for entrepreneurs in this market that could also change the game. A new trend sheds light on a brand new factor that is driving rapid market growth: Does your property have a wellness concept? And by this, we are not only talking about whether enough natural light comes in through your French doors. Today, there are wellness-oriented buildings that boast everything from hydroponic herb gardens on private terraces to vitamin drips, vibrational healing and acupuncture and yoga classes being offered in situ. These are projected to sell extremely well, too. The concept of wellness is not at all new to the real estate world, since we have seen hotels and spas emerge since time immemorial. In fact, according to the Financial Times, the wellness trend used to be regarded as "woo woo" in the past. Today, it is no laughing matter, as more and more high end private residences are built with hotel-style concierge services and amenities in major cities and even countryside spots across the world. Since my entry into entrepreneurship in 2003, I have been following this trend closely, when it was just at its infancy. This is why I want to share the top five things real estate entrepreneurs need to know about this trend to stay well ahead of the curve. Related: The Wellness Industry Is Now Richer Than Big Pharma and Sports 1. A growth trajectory with "uninterrupted momentum" The numbers speak for themselves. The Global Wellness Institute recently released a report that projected that wellness real estate as a global sector could be worth $913 billion by the end of 2028, and that's close enough to a trillion-dollar valuation. This projection was extrapolated from its most recent growth spurt, doubling from $225 billion in 2019 to $438 billion in 2024. According to the Global Wellness Institute, the wellness real estate sector has seen "uninterrupted momentum before, during and after the pandemic," boasting an 18% annual growth rate since 2019. 2. Wellness real estate parallels longevity trends What's more interesting is when we see that the wellness real estate boom seems to run in parallel with the wider human longevity revolution, a phenomenon where an ageing global consumer population is more focused on living a longer, healthier life, where wellness becomes a priority in making major life decisions and purchases, instead of it being an afterthought. This longevity trend is opening up market opportunities valued at roughly $8 trillion by 2030, according to a report by UBS. I encourage entrepreneurs to monitor both wellness real estate trends and longevity trends and see how they correlate with one another. 3. The U.S. dominates the market, with Asia Pacific and Europe performing as strong competitors According to the Global Wellness Institute, the market is heavily concentrated in North America, which holds 44% of the total market share. Together with Asia-Pacific and Europe, these three regions represent 99% of the global wellness real estate sector. Asia-Pacific in particular is really interesting for entrepreneurs, since wellness real estate growth has overtaken growth in their respective construction sectors in countries such as Australia, China, Japan and India. This trend has been continuing since 2019 across all these regions, by "a factor of 3-4 times or more" according to the report. 4. Wellness is offered for a healthy premium The wellness real estate sector is lucrative, with some wellness-focused developers in the U.S. charging properties from 25% to 40% higher prices compared to other homes within a locality, according to a representative of Tavistock Development Company, who recently talked to the Financial Times about this rising trend. The Global Wellness Institute stated in its report that in the middle and upper ends of the market, the premium earned is between 10-25% compared to properties without a substantive wellness offering. 5. The AI and tech accompaniment Since wellness real estate is connected to the $2 trillion global wellness market which is led by Gen Z and millennial consumers' insights and preferences, it will come as no surprise that a higher demand for wellness-focused buildings will be accompanied by an array of technological innovations. This can include anything from AI-powered wearables, Oura Rings to WHOOP health monitors which consumers rely on since they have readily become "lifestyle staples" for many, according to a partner at Knight Frank's buying arm. For entrepreneurs, paying attention to this detail could make a huge difference between success and failure in the wellness real estate market. Buildings that accommodate and collaborate with the range of wearables buyers already possess will prove to be more desirable. This also brings with it another question around trust and security, since property will now be increasingly privy to data exchange. Related: Everyone's Burned Out, So 'Burnout' Means Nothing — Here's How Leaders Can Support Wellness Outside the Office Conclusion This trend illustrates that there are a host of opportunities and challenges that await the real estate entrepreneur hungry for exploring a rapidly emerging market. As it is also my personal motto, I would advise entrepreneurs to make sure they do their due diligence and research before they embark on a brave, more wellness-focused new world. Ready to break through your revenue ceiling? Join us at Level Up, a conference for ambitious business leaders to unlock new growth opportunities.
