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Removing all trade tariffs and barriers would help generate an annual £135bn uplift to the UK economy, according to a group of pro-Brexit economists.

A hard Brexit is “economically much superior to soft” argues Prof Patrick Minford, lead author of a report from Economists for Free Trade.

He says eliminating tariffs, either within free trade deals or unilaterally, would deliver huge gains.

Campaigners against a hard Brexit said the plan amounts to “economic suicide”.

What is the customs union?

The UK is part of the EU customs union, and so imposes tariffs – taxes on imports – on some goods coming into the country.

Countries in the customs union don’t impose tariffs on each other’s goods, and every country inside the union levies the same tariffs on imports from abroad.

So, for example, a 10% tariff is imposed on some cars imported from outside the customs union, while 7.5% is imposed on roasted coffee.

Other goods have no tariffs.

The UK has said it is leaving the EU’s customs union because as a member it is unable to strike trade deals with other countries.

• A quick guide to the Brexit negotiations
• Farmers back temporary customs union

Prof Minford’s full report, From Project Fear to Project Prosperity, is due to be published in the autumn.

He argues that the UK could unilaterally – before a reciprocal deal is in place – eliminate trade barriers for both the EU and the rest of the world and reap trade gains worth £80bn a year.

The report foresees a further £40bn a year boost from deregulating the economy, as well as other benefits resulting from Brexit-related policies.

Prof Minford says that when it comes to trade the “ideal solution” would still be free trade deals with major economic blocks including the EU.

But the threat that the UK could abolish all trade barriers unilaterally would act as “the club in the closet”.

The EU would then be under pressure to offer Britain a free trade deal, otherwise its producers would be competing in a UK market “flooded with less expensive goods from elsewhere”, his introduction says.

He argues UK businesses and consumers would benefit from lower priced imported goods and the effects of increased competition, which would force firms to raise their productivity.

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However, Open Britain, a campaign group arguing for the UK to remain within the single market and the customs union, said the proposed strategy would be damaging to the UK economy.

“Unilaterally scrapping our tariffs without achieving similar reductions in the tariff rates of other countries would see Britain swamped with imports, leaving our manufacturers and farmers unable to compete,” said Labour MP Alison McGovern, a supporter of the cross-party group Open Britain, which is campaigning against a hard Brexit.

“The levels of bankruptcy and unemployment, especially in industry and agriculture, would sky-rocket.

“This is a project of economic suicide, not prosperity. No responsible government would touch this report with a barge pole as a source of ideas for our future trade policy.”

Economists for Free Trade is a group of 16 economists, including former government advisers and academics.

The group plans to release further chapters of the report in the run up to its full publication.

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Andrew Walker, Economics Correspondent, BBC World Service

It is a counterintuitive idea, but actually the economics textbooks do provide some support for the idea of unilateral trade liberalisation.

This analysis suggests that removing trade barriers produces benefits for consumers and businesses buying components or raw materials that exceed the losses suffered in industries that face stiffer competition.

The downside is that it may take time, perhaps years, for the workers who lose their jobs to find new ones.

Professor Minford has expressed the view that the British economy is flexible enough to cope.

There is also the question of how the new jobs would compare with the old ones.

The mainstream view among economists is that while countries overall may gain from trade liberalisation, there are usually some specific groups that lose.

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Prof Minford also directs criticism at Chancellor Philip Hammond’s current approach to Brexit, which he says amounts to “throwing away our hard-won freedom from EU rules”.

The chancellor is viewed as favouring a softer approach to Brexit, but recently co-authored an article in the Telegraph in which he proposed that the UK would leave both the single market and the customs union in March 2019, but that there would be a “time-limited” transition period to help businesses adjust.

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A government spokesman said the UK would maintain a “deep and special” relationship with the bloc after departing the EU.

“The economy has grown continuously for four years and there are more people in work than ever before.

“As we leave the European Union, we will build on this success by maintaining a deep and special partnership with the EU while embracing the wider world as an independent, open, trading nation.’”

During the referendum campaign last year Prof Minford stoked controversy by suggesting that the effect of leaving the EU would be to “eliminate manufacturing, leaving mainly industries such as design, marketing and hi-tech”.

However in a recent article in the Financial Times he suggested manufacturing would become more profitable post-Brexit.

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A forthcoming ban on cold-callers who try to scam people out of their pension savings will include emails and texts, the government has announced.

Nearly 3,000 savers have been conned out of an average of £15,000 each since 2014, after fraudsters persuaded them to cash in their pensions.

Certain types of cold calls, including those involving mortgages, are already banned.

Now the law will be changed to include callers trying to sell pensions.

Companies that do not have prior permission to contact consumers, or do not have an existing client relationship with them, will face fines of up to £500,000.

But whereas the government originally proposed excluding texts and emails, it has now decided to include them within the new law.

“The fact emails and text messages will also be covered by the ban means savers can be absolutely certain that if someone they don’t know contacts them out of the blue about their pension, they simply should not engage with them,” said Tom Selby, an analyst with AJ Bell.

“That means don’t email, don’t text back and hang up the phone.”

• Savers told to invest pensions in fine wine
• SFO to investigate pension scams

A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) said the legislation would be tabled “when parliamentary time allows”, raising the possibility that it could be many months before the rules come in.

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The consumer organisation Which? said that the regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), would need to be strict about enforcement.

“Pension scams are costing retirees millions, so this action must lead to a crackdown on criminals stealing people’s hard-earned savings,” said Gareth Shaw, Which? money expert.

Some fraudsters have taken advantage of the new pension freedoms, which were introduced in April 2015.

Since then, anyone over the age of 55 has been allowed to withdraw money from their pension, with the ability to spend it, or invest it elsewhere.

In one case investigated by the BBC, thousands of people were persuaded to buy so-called storage pods with their pension savings.

However, most never received the returns they were promised.

Fraudsters ‘exploit loopholes’

The government will also tighten the rules to make it harder for consumers to transfer money to unregulated pension schemes, such as those investing in forest schemes or parking spaces.

Under proposals to be added to the Finance Bill later this year, trustees will have to ensure that any receiving scheme is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, is an authorised master trust, or has an active employment link with the individual.

The new measures have been welcomed by the Pensions Regulator, and by the former pensions minister, Ros Altmann.

“The sooner the government acts, the sooner we can improve protection for people’s pensions.

“We will never stop such fraudsters completely, but these measures will certainly protect the public better – about time too,” she said.

However, experts warned that fraudsters would try to find new ways of working.

“It’s important to note that this will not stop cold-calling or pension scams,” said Tom Selby.

“Fraudsters will seek to exploit any loopholes in the rules, and many of the outfits involved will simply move their call centres abroad to avoid the ban.”

Dion Drew was reluctantly but seriously considering returning to the drug trade — a life that had landed him in prison for four years in New York. Nine months had passed since his release, and despite his best efforts, he couldn’t find honest work. At every turn, employers, leery of his felony record and criminal past, had turned him down for job opportunities.

Then the phone rang. It was Greyston Bakery.

A few days earlier, Drew had put his name on a list at the small, Yonkers, N.Y.-based company, which embraces a unique “open hiring” model. Anyone of legal working age can get a job at the bakery, regardless of his or her experience or background. No questions asked. No resume needed. Applicants simply have to put their name on a list and wait for a job to become available.

“After I applied, it took about three to four days for them to give me a call back, which was tremendous,” Drew says. “I was riding around with a friend and I was ready to start selling drugs again, to be honest with you. I got that beautiful call, and it’s been glorious ever since.”

One promotion after another, Drew has worked his way up into a management role at Greyston. He’s able to provide for his family without ever again flirting with the wrong side of the law.

“Now I’m able to take care and provide for myself on my own,” said Drew, who has since become a father, as well. “I have a beautiful daughter, I have started a family since I’ve been at Greyston, and I’m able to take care of them — legally,” he says.

Located just outside New York City, Greyston is best known for its delicious brownies, 35,000 fragrant pounds of which its workers bake, cool, cut and package every day. The sweet, fudgy treats are sold online and at Whole Foods Market grocery stores throughout the country.

You may have even tried them without knowing it, as Greyston’s delicious brownies can also be found crushed up and folded into Ben & Jerry’s popular Half-Baked and Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream flavors.

Related: From Prison to Silicon Valley: How One Entrepreneur Spun a Jail Sentence Into a Y-Combinator Backed Startup

Beyond Greyston’s superb baked goods, the for-profit B Corporation heralds a larger mission through its groundbreaking open hiring model. Core to its social stewardship values, the community-focused company affords eager, would-be workers from all walks of life — including ex-cons like Drew, the homeless, the long-term unemployed and veterans — jobs, paychecks and hope for a better future.

“You don’t need no resumes. You don’t get asked questions. You don’t need to know anything about working,” Drew says. “You just need to come here and show that you want to work.”

Like the chocolaty confections that abound at Greyston (4 million pounds of them are baked there annually), Drew’s story has a sweet ending. With gratitude and tears in his eyes, he’s unafraid to express his emotion as he shares his story, something he often does at conferences and other events, including during a recent TED Talk.

Imbued with the independence his position at the bakery has provided, Drew speaks with joy about his young daughter and the ability to properly care for her after leaving behind a life of crime in favor of honest work and a reliable income at Greyston. He beams with pride at having the opportunity to support himself and his loved ones legally.

Related: 5 Harsh Lessons Learned in Prison That Made Me a Better Entrepreneur

Inspiring stories like Drew’s — and Greyston’s unique approach to hiring that make them possible — show how business owners, community leaders and local officials can work together to everyone’s benefit, potentially reversing generations of unemployment and poverty.

That sweeping social impact shines through in the bakery’s mission.

As longtime Greyston spokesperson Jonathan Halperin notes, “We don’t hire people to bake brownies; we bake brownies to hire people.”

“We create job opportunities for everyone who’s willing to work, regardless of their background, regardless of their prior criminal record,” he says. “That model creates an opportunity for people who have often been excluded to become a part of the mainstream fabric of economic and cultural life in this country.”

Beyond giving anyone who’s willing to work a job, Greyston bakes in the right infrastructure to make its distinctive open hiring model work in practice.

“I wouldn’t have been able to come back to work without the option of having daycare through Greyston,” says bakery account manager Sunitha Malieckal. “What is amazing about Greyston is that when they try to provide these add-on services, it becomes so much more than just a job.”

Related: How Prison Became My Launching Pad for Success

Drew echoes that same sentiment.

“I have a lot of friends still in jail, I have a lot of friends that are still selling drugs, I have a lot of friends who died at a young age, and I’m tired of that,” he says, adding: “You’re changing a person’s life by helping them get a job.”

Watch the video above to get a glimpse inside the bustling Greyston Bakery facility in New York and to hear from the folks who’ve benefited from open hiring.

What happens in an internet minute? One year ago. The answer would have been 2.4 million searches on Google performed per minute. Yes. Per minute. This year, 3.5 million per minute. Considering that there are 1,440 minutes in any given day, the sheer vastness of that number, along with the endless petabytes of data it represents, should shock and awe even the most scarcity-minded individual. 

There is real abundance in the bits and bytes that are floating about in cyberspace. It’s an obfuscated layer that can’t been seen with the naked eye, but only conveyed by the powerful machines that are humming across the planet. However, this is only a sliver of what’s to come. The internet’s exponential rise and its digital tentacles have reached even the most remote destinations. 

Yes. The internet is a behemoth. And most of us do understand how to search for the information we’re after. From desktops to tablets, smartphones and beyond. We are all experts at searching. But how many of us know how to dominate Google’s search engine to appear relevantly in an online search? Not many. But if you search for an SEO tutorial online, you get an endless array of tips from so-called “experts.”

Yes, online search is a murky world for those looking to be found at the top of Google’s Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). But as a decades-long student of organic search, I’ve come to understand the ins-and-outs of what make search engines tick. The truth? It truly can be boiled down to a few fundamental components. At the end of the day, if any tutorial you read on SEO fails to mention the importance of trust, then it falls short of painting the proverbial bigger picture. 

Related: Why Trust Is the New Marketing Currency

The importance of trust.

In the real world, we know that trust is central to life. It’s the basis for relationships and the bedrock for success. As Warren Buffet once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and only five minutes to ruin it.” So what does this have to do with learning SEO? In short, everything. Without trust, you have nothing. If you bother to learn SEO at all, and you’re relying on underhanded methods that include things like shady PBNs and link schemes, you’re wasting your time. 

Instead, focus on building trust as opposed to trying to bend and break the rules. That way, you rise above Google’s often-changing rules which are getting better and better at finding people who are looking for shortcuts. If you’re not doing the most work for the least initial return, you’re wasting your time. You might experience some short-term bursts in rank, but you won’t be future proof. And that’s the goal — to become future proof. 

So in this tutorial, not only am I going to lay the groundwork for the fundamental components of SEO and its underlying factors, but I’m going to give you 12 immutable laws for ranking your content at the top of Google’s SERPs. If you’re anything like me, then you’re looking to understand why certain things work the way they do. If I were to just tell you what methods to use to dominate search, you wouldn’t come away with a greater understanding. What’s the sense in that? 

Instead, when you truly understand the nature of trust, and how to build trust over time, you’ll understand why certain things work and why other strategies are likely to backfire and get you into hot water over time. Trust is at the core of search. Without it, you have nothing. With it, you can dominate a field that’s oftentimes total confusion. 

Related: The Importance of Building Trust Online

Three core components of trust.

In total, there are there core components to Google’s trust. When it comes to learning and understanding SEO, the better you can apply everything you do to this fundamental understanding, the more likely you are to succeed:

1. Indexed age.

Think about this for a moment. in any relationship, the longer you know the other person, the more trust can develop. As long as that person is fair with you and doesn’t do anything underhanded or downright wrong, your trust will naturally increase. Google works the same way. When we talk about trust through age, we’re talking about the indexed age (i.e. the time since Google originally found you). But, more importantly, what happened over the time since Google discovered your site or page. 

2. Content

The content is crucial. How well written that content is and how much it brings value to the searcher is paramount to its success on Google’s SERPs. Many of the 12 immutable laws of online search that you’ll see are founded on this trust component. Go out of your way to consistently create detailed content that brings enormous value to the end user, and you’ll be on your way to dominating search. 

3. Authority

Authority relates to the link profile of any site. But not just the number of links. That bears little importance. It’s about the quality of those links and how many of them were discovered over time. Was it unnatural or organic? Are the links coming from trusted sources with good IP diversity (i.e. from around the world) or do they continually come from one source? Authority is created over time. It can’t be rushed.

Related: 7 Ways to Build Consumer Trust Naturally

12 Immutable Laws of Search

In total, there are 12 immutable laws of search. These are central to your success in SEO, and any tutorial that fails to mention them falls short. If you’re serious about ranking, go out of your way to ensure that each of these 12 immutable laws are met. Simple sounding. Sure. But not quite so easy when wielding this under the veil of well-written content online. It takes practice. But in time, you’ll get there.

1. Site Speed

There are defining factors that are going to allow you to rank on Google’s SERPs and the underlying site speed is one of those factors. This is derived from a number of factors, with each one weighing differently in Google’s algorithms. Your job? Ensure that your site loads quickly, not just where you’re located, but from around the world. Here are some insights that can help you to do that: 

• Use Google’s Page Speed tool to analyze the speed of your pages. Follow the recommendations provided in the report generated. You could also tools like GTMetrix, Pingdom and Varry.
• Implement a Content-Delivery Network (CDN) so that your pages are served quickly to visitors around the world (and not just in the geographical location your hosting account is located in). Amazon’s AWS CloudFront is great for this. 
• Use a page and browser caching tool such as W3 Total Cache to improve load times.
• Install Google’s AMP to increase mobile page load times, along with AMP analytics. 

Related: Vrooom! Why Website Speed Matters.

2. User Experience

Google is acutely concerned about the user’s experience. It has been for a long time and this is nothing new. Many of those algorithm adjustments in recent years were very much focused on ensuring a high-quality experience for its users. Here are some recommendations to ensure that the user’s experience is a good one: 

• Limit the usage of ads above website’s fold (i.e. where it gets cut off before having to scroll). 
• Make the navigation of your site easy to move through and jump around to important sections and topics.
• Don’t use any shady tactics that will get you into hot water like sneaky redirects, content cloaking, and so on. 

Related: 10 Metrics Your Chatbot Should Track to Optimize User Experience

3. Domain Authority

The authority of the domain is important and it needs to be addressed in any walkthrough of SEO. But the domain’s authority (aka the importance of the domain) isn’t quite that simple. For example, my blog at Wanderlust Worker doesn’t have much authority when you run it through traditional tools to check that authority (i.e. Moz’s Explorer) but it consistently dominates Google’s SERPs. 

So this isn’t just about the number of links that are going to a domain, but about the quality of those links. Unfortunately, this isn’t something you can do quickly overnight. The domain’s authority is built up over time. Focus on the quality of inbound links rather than the quantity of those links. Think long term rather than short term here. Short term will get you nowhere with SEO. Put in the work consistently and your domain’s authority will rise over time.

4. Content Quality

The quality of the content is vastly important to SEO. How well-written is it? Is it riddled with spelling and grammatical errors or is it error-free? Does the content add an enormous amount of value or is it thin and veiled in an attempt to merely rank for a keyword? Is the content unique? You can’t skimp on quality. Not today. Maybe a few years back. Sure. But right now, if you aren’t focusing on quality, you’re wasting your time. 

Related: Why Authoritative Content Is More Important Than SEO

5. Content Length

The length of the content is important. But this isn’t about being superfluous. This is about creating content that visitors are going  consume. We’re talking 2,000 words and up. Not less. Less than that is largely a waste of time. Now, if your domain authority is very high, you can get away with shorter content. But, when you combine lengthy content with a high domain authority, you essentially just gave yourself a golden ticket to rank. 

Numerous studies have documented that page one rankings are often in the 2,000+ word length and higher. Based on SEMRush data, a company founded and bootstrapped by computer engineering genius, Oleg Shchegolev, Backlinko discovered that there average first-page search article was 1,890 words.

However, I seldom write fewer than 2,000 words and some of my content has stretched as far as 14,000 words. Yes, for blog posts. Outlandish? Maybe. Does it rank? Heck, yes. Not only does the longer content better able to deliver more value, it’s more likely to get shared, which increases its importance over time. It will also get referenced in other posts, organically, without you having to go out there and fight an infuriating battle to garner more links. 

6. Keyword Focus

Clearly, keywords are important. They always have been and they always will be. Search engines like Google want to know that a piece of content is obviously about a specific keyword. But you can’t overdo it. You can’t stuff the keyword and use it excessively or use it inorganically. You have to make it sound natural. It needs to be written for humans while also targeting search engines.

What’s the best way to do this? Well, Google has been focused on semantic search and now uses something called Latent-Semantic Indexing (LSI) in its core Hummingbird engine. LSI is just a fancy way of saying that Google understands when other phrases match the central keyword. So, if we were talking something like “make money fast” we could also use phrases like “generate cash quickly,” which is the same thing effectively.

Integrate keywords, not only into the content itself, but also into the title, the meta description and even the canonical URL. You should definitely be using canonical URLs with keywords and a relevant directory structure that also includes keywords. You should also avoid using too many page variables after the URL (i.e. id=some_number&page=some_factor&something=else). Avoid doing that. 

Related: 3 Tools to Uncover Your Competitor’s Keywords

7. Multimedia Presence

Today, podcasts and videos are taking central stage. While the written word will always be important, due to the increase in internet speeds around the globe, these faster mediums are becoming easier to implement. Plus, Google is now looking for ways to improve its understanding of non-written words such as through videos and audios, and of course, images.

One central thing to take away from this is that, first of all, you need one high quality image that goes along with your content. Give it a relevant name and alternative description. Audio and video, when combined and done in the right way, delivers value to the end user, and that’s what’s important. Don’t just skimp on written word. Add multimedia the right way to give your content a very polished and thorough presence.

Related: Video Might Be Your Best Bet With Facebook’s Algorithm Update

8. Engagement

How engaging is your content? Does it keep people reading, or do people read a few paragraphs then leave? Google knows the difference. You need to focus on keeping that content engaging. There are a number of ways to do that, but keep in mind that you need users to stick around for several minutes consuming your content. The longer the better. 

• Keep the content focused and on-topic without veering off on tangents.
• Utilize numbered lists and bullet points whenever possible (makes the content easier to consume).
• Section off the content with headings. 
• Make the content flow easily to keep people intrigued and reading. 

Related: 7 Ways to Improve Online Engagement With Visual Content

9. Mobile Responsiveness 

Clearly, mobile is huge. If your site doesn’t load properly on mobile platforms, then you’re wasting your time with SEO. You need a site that’s responsive. It needs to work properly on desktop and mobile, and it needs to load quickly. You can use a framework like Bootstrap for this or if you’re on WordPress, select a theme that’s mobile responsive. There are a number of great WordPress themes that you can use for this.

Related: Google’s New Mobile-First Index and the Death of Desktop SEO

10. Page Reading Level

You don’t need to write at a doctorate level to rank at the top of Google. You simply need to write at a higher reading level than normal. Sure, content that’s more personal (maybe even at a lower reading level) can rank. But when we’re talking about competitive keywords, you need to write a higher level. This means that you need to have diverse word usage. Think like college level here rather than high school level.

11. Source Citing

Cite your sources. If you refer to a study that supports an argument on your page, cite your source. Remember, the internet is founded on links. Links make the web go round. Cite every source and use those studies to support your arguments. This is very important when it comes to ranking with SEO.

12. Unique Insights Reached

Your content should reach unique insights. Don’t just rehash other content out there and reach similar insights. Do your own piece with your own insights. That’s important. It shows that you’ve thought about the topic in-depth and you’ve really worked hard to convey something useful to people. 

As instances of obesity, diabetes, cancer and other chronic illnesses are on the rise, a subculture where eating less is prized can seem farfetched and against the grain. Silicon Valley is the home of farfetched ideas, and executives are finding greater mental clarity, concentration and resistance to disease through an age old practice — fasting.

Related: 3 Concepts for Developing Inner Peace In a Hectic Life

There are benefits for weight loss, but almost all of the Silicon Valley executives and high performing entrepreneurs fast for the ease, simplicity and opportunity to optimize their mental performance.

Why entrepreneurs are putting down their forks.

There are many forms of fasting, though the most popular is called “intermittent fasting.” A person eats normally for eight hours during the day and then does not eat during a 16-hour period. Although the scientific literature on healthy adults isn’t robust, evidence on animals and the elderly show great benefits for this simple fasting technique.

Fasting is known to decrease the rates of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease. Other studies suggest improved memory retention in fasting individuals through a brain chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

Restricting the time we eat daily allows our body and brain to self-repair and “take out the garbage.” This is one of the reasons our mental performance is enhanced by fasting. But fasting can also improve our long-term health. Numerous studies count reduced cardiovascular risk, improved resilience against cancer and reduced signs of aging as benefits of fasting.

Of course, many of the benefits of fasting come from ease and simplicity. Eating one or two fewer meals a day means spending less time doing the dishes, less time visiting restaurants and spending less money. This often translates to increased freedom when one isn’t tethered to the ball and chain of food and restaurants.

Some might suggest a lifestyle that revolves around skipping meals is short-term and shortsighted, but as the evidence shows, it is not only more convenient, but healthier and more effective as well.

Related: 10 Top Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Health Regimen Secrets

Which fasting option is best?

There are many fasting options, depending on an individual’s needs and wants. The standard “intermittent fasting” is one of the more popular, but there are a host of others. Some people follow these:

• One meal per day — essentially fasting 22-23 hours and eating 1-2 hours

• Fasting one full day — waking up one morning but not eating until the next morning

• Eating fewer calories — eating below 500-600 calories for a few days in a row

• Extended day fasts — three, five and even seven days of fasting

All of these have their own unique sensations and benefits. Even eating a super low-calorie diet a few days a week (rather than no food at all) can have anti-cancer benefits, and this lifestyle supports anti-aging according to researchers Valter Longo and Satchidananda Panda.

Many in Silicon Valley are even doing extended fasts where they go without food, caffeine or supplements of any kind for three full days! Although these extended day fasts might seem outside the realm of your capabilities, most people anecdotally recount feeling clearer mentally, more focused and more alert. After all, for most of human history we were hunter-gatherers with scarce access to food. Fasting is in our DNA.

For people with heart conditions or other illnesses, it is a good idea to consult a doctor and have some type of supervision before doing anything too drastic — especially extended day fasts. Fasting is a form of stress and shouldn’t be done recklessly.

For eager beginners, a good place to start is to skip breakfast, and eat no food until noon. See how you feel after skipping a meal, but don’t be too quick to judge. It took about two weeks for my body and brain to adapt to the timing of food.

The tech-friendly Silicon Valley execs are even taking kindly to various apps that aid in fasting. According to Cam Secore, owner of tech review site All Power Moves, “as odd as it sounds, numerous tech enthusiasts utilize Kevin Rose’s app called ‘Zero’ to track their fasting. It’s free, it works, but it’s most useful because it creates accountability.”

Related: 5 Mind Hacks Silicon Valley Founders Use to Stay Focused

The simplest mental performance trick for entrepreneurs.

Being involved in the supplement business (specifically nootropics), it’s hard to parse what is snake oil and what actually works. With fasting, there is no beneficiary except you. Those who decide to eat less food and do so during a smaller timeframe can see a tremendous upside in the form of greater mental clarity, increased concentration and long-term health benefits.

As many of the entrepreneurs and executives in Silicon Valley have found out, a simple fasting practice can optimize mental performance without costing a dime. It increases ease in their lives and improves their long-term health.

For Marie Tillman, success means transcending the limits of finite resources and empowering people to use their skills in new ways.

She is the founder and CEO of Mac & Mia, a children’s clothing subscription service that was inspired by her experience as a working mother of five children ages 3 to 16.

She is also the co-founder and president of the Pat Tillman Foundation. Named for her first husband, a former NFL player who was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 while he was serving in the U.S. Army, the nonprofit provides academic scholarships to military veterans and their spouses.

Related: This Entrepreneur Who Sold Her Company for $1 Billion Wants You to Throw Out the Unwritten Rules That Hold You Back

The two organizations could not seem more different — one is about helping veterans create new opportunities for themselves in civilian life and the other is about simplifying life for busy parents. But for Tillman, her approach to leadership is the same for both.

“In both situations, it’s really about the team,” Tillman told Entrepreneur. “How do you get everyone really focused on a mission and feeling like what they’re doing every day is bigger than their individual job and contributing to something larger?”

Tillman bootstrapped Mac & Mia and launched it out of her garage in 2014. Nearly three years later, the company has a staff of 40 in its Chicago headquarters as well as 40 remote stylists.

Related: Stitch Fix Founder Explains Why the Worst Piece of Advice She Ever Got Was to Raise A Lot of Money

That emphasis on flexibility is what led to the development of her remote workforce as she went about scaling the company — especially since she didn’t have the office space at first.

“I’ve heard so much from my friends, from other moms about just this challenge of having kids and having a career. We really have come up with this role that allows women to do both,” Tillman says. “I’ve had so many friends who say ‘I can’t do it all, I have no flexibility with my job and so I’m going to have to put pause on a career because I want to be home with the kids.’ This I think really allows people to have the best of both worlds if that’s what they choose.”

Tillman shared more insights with us about overcoming grief, finding inner resilience to rebuild and not being afraid to take on new career challenges.

Related: After a Decade in Business, This Founder Became CEO. Here is How She Tackles New Challenges With Conviction.

Over the course of your career, how have you grown and changed as a leader?

It was quite an interesting experience for me after Pat was killed. I was 27. We had this nonprofit. I was relatively young in my career and was all of a sudden sort of supposed to lead this organization. It’s been an interesting journey for me to understand what that means. How do you get a group of people to rally around a mission and a vision? Which I think is so important when you’re talking about leadership.

It’s been a huge learning experience for me and I’ve been really fortunate to have some really great people that I’ve been able to turn to and learn from. I also think that’s a huge part of leadership is being able to ask for help. None of us have all the answers to everything. Being humble enough to say I don’t know the answer to that, but let me see who I can turn to.

I look for people that are way smarter than me. I think of that when I think about the board that I developed at the foundation. But then also just my team at Mac & Mia. For a while it was just me out of the garage and one part-time person that was helping me. But once we were able to hire on a team I really wanted people that were much more experienced and knowledgeable in particular areas. I think it’s a huge part of being a leader and growing a business as well is just just how do you put together a team that can really drive things forward.

Related: The First African-American Woman to Travel to Space Shares How She Finds Solutions to the World’s Biggest Problems

You were very young when you experienced a significant and public loss  — as you navigated and felt that grief, what did it teach you about your own ability to be resilient and rebuild?

I think it has made me who I am today. I think it puts things in perspective. It’s sort of let me know that I could get through anything. It was hard that it was such a public thing but it also allowed me to sort of say none of that really matters. What does matter is who is the person that I want to be and how do I want live this life? When there are difficult times in the business — which there always are — it allows me to sort of focus and say this is one more bump in the road and I know that there is something on the other side of it.

There are tough moments in business but it is just business. What we do is sell children’s clothing, which is really fun. I love the business and I love the people that I work with every day. But I think having been through something that is much more life and death just puts things in perspective in a way that maybe I wouldn’t if I hadn’t had that experience.

Related: You Must Ask Yourself This Question Before You Pitch Your Idea

What have you learned about creating opportunity through the work that the foundation does with the Tillman Scholars?

I feel like a lot of ways that my purpose is to create opportunity for others and to empower others. At the foundation, we do educational scholarships for veterans and spouses. It really is about how can we empower these young men and women who are coming home and who have just amazing life experience from their military service and are looking to continue to contribute to the country and to the world. They want to give back, in just a different way. So how can we couple that experience with education to allow them to sort of be set free to accomplish their goals.

You didn’t have a retail background when you started Mac & Mia. What advice would give something who is about to jump into something new?

I think passion goes a long way. Especially when you’re starting something, because that’s what carries you. First and foremost I think you have to be passionate about what you’re doing. And I think it’s about bringing in people who have expertise in certain areas that you don’t. Understanding where your strengths and weaknesses are and bringing in people to help you in the areas that you’re not a strong. But passion, particularly in the early days, goes a long way.

People are willing to try just about everything from fad diets to hypnosis to help them get on track to achieve their fitness goals.

One area that’s starting to gain traction in fitness circles is the use of augmented reality (AR) technology during workouts. No matter what their levels of fitness are, more and more people are seeing results with the help of devices that make exercising a little more straightforward and engaging.

Related: 7 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Keep (or Get) Fit, Happy and Productive

By incorporating AR into your fitness regimen, you can add fun and utility to your workout without sacrificing your gains. Here’s how the latest and the greatest in AR can help you reach your fitness goals — no matter where you start.

Real-time data

One of the most useful aspects of AR technology in the fitness world is the fact that it can provide you with real-time information about what’s going on in your body while you’re working out.

For instance, many augmented reality devices involve wearable technology that records your heart rate. This helps you make sure you’re working hard enough to shed those pounds or build that muscle, as well as helping you ensure that you don’t over-strain yourself. The ideal heart rate range for a 30-year-old to maintain during moderately intense exercise (the ideal range for fat burning) is 95 to 162 beats per minute, so you’ll want to keep an eye on your wearable tech to track your heart rate for maximum progress.

This isn’t limited to what’s going on inside your body, either — augmented reality devices also just help you track how far you’ve come. By helping you track the distance you’ve run or the steps you’ve taken, you can have a standard measure for your workout. Even better, many versions of AR technology reward you based on this. For example, you can unlock prizes based on the number of steps you’ve taken.

This is an important aspect of working out that people often forget, as seeing your progress can be a huge motivator to keep going and achieve your goals.

Related: Why You Need More Exercise as an Entrepreneur (and 7 Creative Strategies for Getting It)

Learning as you go

A staggering 47 percent of generation Z is predicted to be obese by the time they reach adulthood. A major factor in this unfortunate statistic is the fact that for a lot of people, the sheer amount of information to learn about fitness can be intimidating — and, ultimately, a turn-off.

From putting together effective workouts to just figuring out how those tricky machines at the gym work, there’s a lot of information to absorb at any given time in your fitness journey. Luckily, AR technology can make this a lot less overwhelming.

For one, you can receive personalized workout videos through an AR device such as smart glasses to jumpstart your fitness regimen. Just imagine: with this technology, you can have your own, personal fitness instructor show you the latest workouts, like high-intensity interval training (HIIT), yoga and Pilates. This reduces the nervousness associated with going to a fitness class for the first time, helping you on that first step of just understanding how everything is done.

Further, you can receive real-time instructions through AR smart glasses or just your headphones on your form, helping you maximize the ROI of your exercise and minimizing the chance of injury.

Fun

Finally, augmented reality technology just makes working out more fun. Adding gaming elements to exercising helps workouts become more accessible and rewarding to help you reach your fitness goals.

When it comes to people who are not used to exercising regularly, adding some sort of fun element goes a long way towards keeping them motivated through those notoriously tough first weeks and beyond. Not everyone loves working out for working out’s sake right off the bat — it can take an extra level of engagement up front to help them power through the tough first stages of a new fitness regimen before exercising feels rewarding on its own.

Related: Why This Weird Wearable Let Me Down — and What It Taught Me About Tech’s Limitations

Developers have created mysteries, puzzles and other games to get users up and moving. For instance, a popular AR app called Zombies, Run! is growing increasingly popular in the fitness set. Through your headphones, you listen and follow along as a helicopter pilot helps you escape a zombie apocalypse. Before you know it, you’ve run a 5K.

With the fact that one-third of American kids are currently overweight, a little fun in the name of fitness is only going to help.

What are some other ways you’ve been able to get on top of your fitness?

Like it or not, there’s both an art and science to writing cold emails that convert into new clients for your freelance business.

You want to land a high-value client.

Sure, having the right email templates and knowing who your target decision-maker is, are both a must. But beyond just the basics, there are a few counter-intuitive tactics and value-driven outreach strategies I’ve used to repeatedly land high-value clients for my freelance business over the years.

Related: Who is the Real Decision-Maker?

A truly effective cold outreach campaign takes some upfront work, but pays dividends in return.

Five essentials. 

Here are my five essential components of writing cold emails that generate new business, time and time again.

1. Identify the right clients.

If the majority of your freelance experience is in doing work for a particular industry, choose to approach only clients that’ll identify with your niche expertise—which will help you brand yourself as an expert in the long run.

Just as important as picking the right client, is making sure you’re also a fit for them. Ask yourself these questions to determine if your prospect is the right client for your business:

  •  Why are you the best freelancer to help this particular client?

  •  Have you ever taken on similar projects? If so, how did they turn out?

  •  Are you considering this prospect solely for the money, or because they actually excite you?

For my freelance content marketing business, I brand myself so that I’m attractive only to a certain type of client.

I’m not a general marketing consultant to just anyone that’ll hire me. I’ve leaned into my experience, developed my own tactics and showcase a very specific set of clients I want to work ith more, a niche where my expertise gets supercharged. Picking a niche is the best decision you can possibly make as a freelancer.

Related: 5 Steps You Can Use to Find Your Niche

2. Find your decision-maker.

When researching a new prospect, you can’t afford to spend time jumping through hoops trying to land a contract. You need to go straight to the decision-maker who’s empowered to make the call on hiring freelancers with your skill set.

Related: Everything You Need to Know About Hiring a Freelancer

You’ll want to target people who are at manager and director-level positions. The type of person who will have a say in hiring contractors for your discipline. If you’re a designer, that means creative directors. If you’re a writer, look for a director of content marketing. If you’re a developer, your decision-maker is likely a director of engineering. Regardless, what’s important is that you connect directly with the right person.

Use LinkedIn to search for the job title you think your decision-maker will have. Then, filter the results by company—typing in the name of your prospect company and selecting it from the drop down menu. That’ll give you a clear, sorted list of the most relevant people you should reach out to at this target company.

3. Get their email address.

Once you have the name of your decision-maker from your LinkedIn search, it’s time to get their email address—and reach them where they spend much of their day, in their inbox.

Pick up the free Chrome extension for Gmail, Rapportive. This free tool from LinkedIn, populates information about the person behind any email address you enter into a new draft email, helping you guess an email address and verify whether or not it’s correct.

Here are the most popular email naming conventions that the majority of companies use:

  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  •  

Once you have your decision-maker’s email address, it’s time to formulate your outreach strategy and write your cold email.

4. Formulate your outreach strategy & send your email.

With every cold email I send to a prospective freelance client, I invest a little time to deliver value first, before asking for anything in return. Typically, that’s in the form of a brief feature and mention within a post on my personal blog that gets around 200,000 monthly readers.

Here’s the exact cold email template I use during this outreach process:

Subject Line: Your feature on my blog

Body: Hey [First Name],

I’ve been a huge fan of what you’re doing with [Company Name] over the past couple of years.

I wanted to give you a heads up that I featured you in this recent post on my blog [Link].

Would you mind proofing it real quick and making sure I got the right link & details for you?

[Your Name]

That’s it. Very simple and without any promotional links, a pitch to hire me, or anything else that distracts from the fact that I’m giving them free value at this stage. My goal is to show my worth, and get them to my blog where they’ll be able to see the quality of my work.

Related: 10 Ways to Promote Yourself to Entrepreneurial Success

It seems simple, but hardly anybody has the patience to execute on this strategy that isn’t centered around making a quick buck.

5. Follow-up without being annoying.

As a freelancer, it’s a reality that you’ll need to fight to get noticed, because everyone you’re pitching your services to is busy.

Related: 3 Things to Include in Any Pitch — And 3 Things to Leave Out

That being said, there’s a fine line between being a nuisance with your follow ups and being just brief enough (while providing more value) to grab their attention amongst the sea of emails in their inbox.

If you don’t hear back after a few days from when you sent your cold email, check back in with a brief one-liner asking if it makes sense to have a quick chat about collaborating together. Offer up a specific day you can be flexible enough to make yourself available at their convenience.

How often should I follow-up?

From there, I recommend following up every 3-4 business days with a varied approach that includes new updates on content of theirs that I’ve shared with my audience, asking if someone else might be a better point of contact within their company and checking in to see how I can better provide value to them.

At the end of the day, no cold outreach campaign is going to be perfect. You’ll have to grow, adapt and respond to each unique situation.

However, the more you can learn to provide meaningful upfront value to your prospects, the more attractive you’ll be as a freelancer.

 

Serial entrepreneur, angel investor, philanthropist, author and CEO of Bizzultz May McCarthy explains how intuition will help you achieve financial freedom. Plus, we bust five common myths surrounding entrepreneurship and get the inside scoop on McCarthy’s new book, The Path to Wealth: Seven Spiritual Steps for Financial Abundance.

• [00:00:00] Busting Common Entrepreneurship Myths
• [00:05:45] If You Build It, They May Not Come
• [00:11:30] Creating Connections and Time Management
• [00:18:21] Visualizing Success With Positive Projections
• [00:27:17] “Chief Spiritual Officer” Illuminates Possibilities
• [00:33:18] May McCarthy’s Daily Guide to Achieving Goals

Related: How Two Entrepreneurs Are Shaking up Traditional Industries and Tapping Into New Customers

Discover more about segments and guests below . . .

[00:00:00] Busting Common Entrepreneurship Myths

Most budding business owners forget that growing a new venture can be extremely expensive. Entrepreneurs should not expect overnight financial success. To curb unnecessary costs, Bizzultz CEO May McCarthy recommends creating a comprehensive business plan. Prepare for success by proving your business model is sustainable on paper before investing your hard earned cash. 

[00:05:45] If You Build It, They May Not Come

It’s not enough to offer an exceptional product or service; sales won’t materialize if consumers don’t know you exist. From raising startup capital to differentiating yourself from the competition, McCarthy teaches us how to craft a winning marketing strategy and weather unexpected financial hardships.

[00:11:30] Creating Connections and Time Management

Moving full steam ahead, we bust three myths regarding business ownership. We learn how to build a professional network comprised of mentors and contract workers, become a master of time management and create a corporate value system.

[00:18:21] Visualizing Success With Positive Projections

Our society places emphasis on the rational mind, always looking for data-driven answers and neglecting intuition. McCarthy explains that while it’s important to keep a level head, entrepreneurs must also learn to trust their gut. Tap into your innate knowledge and make instinctual business projections. 

[00:27:17] “Chief Spiritual Officer” Illuminates Possibilities

“If you stay focused on a completed outcome that you desire (not how you’re going to get there), then you’ll start to notice more possibilities to take steps to achieve that goal,” says McCarthy. She shares how to illuminate potential solutions by releasing your internal “chief spiritual officer” and focusing on an advantageous end result. This insight will change the way you do business!

[00:33:18] May McCarthy‘s Daily Guide to Achieving Goals

Do you take time to contemplate your life goals? Whether you are trying to improve your finances, deepen relationships or lose a few extra pounds, McCarthy has written a roadmap to help you achieve your ambitions. McCarthy gives us a detailed preview of her latest book, The Path to Wealth.

Entrepreneur Radio, hosted by award-winning broadcast professional, Alan Taylor, equips fans with the critical information necessary to grow their business through practical advice and thought-provoking interviews. Tune in live on Saturdays 2 p.m. EST/11 a.m. PST and Sundays 10 a.m. EST/7 a.m. PST and listen to weekly episodes on demand on Entrepreneur.com.

Janice Omadeke founded the organization The Mentor Method, which creates inclusive workplace cultures through mentoring diverse tech talent. While searching for guidance through peers and networking events, she was faced with “advice” that was rude and offensive. See how this entrepreneur bounced back and what she learned from her experiences.

Watch the full episode on Alley’s YouTube channel.

Related: How to Scale Your Company When Your Client Bails

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