Jason Dion

The biggest issue isn't the implementation of security controls but getting the end users to utilize them or not circumvent them. Study after study has shown the best ROI for a company is providing good cybersecurity awareness training to your users. If your users don't understand WHY we have a control in place, they will simply bypass the control to get the "results" they need to perform their job functions. Controls must be user-friendly and not hinder work, while providing adequate security, to be effective long-term.

Anything that you want to do in a high-level is going to require a team. By building your network, you can increase the size of your team and amplify your voice. To be a thought leader, you must be leading other people. You can’t be a leader, if nobody is following. Therefore, take the time to nurture your network of peers, followers, and mentors to amplify your reach and increase your credibility.

Building a brand around yourself and becoming a true thought leader takes a lot of time and energy. To be successful, you should be consistently posting, at least once a day, something of value. That something does not need to be a full podcast, full video, or full blog post, but it does need to provide value. Make sure you’re sincere and show people that you want to help. Most people can see through a fake personality, so be genuine, and be honest with your audience. To make an impact fast, give yourself a 30-day challenge to create one new piece of content every day on a single platform. Focus on what that platform wants to spread and remain genuine to yourself and your audience when you do it.

It is important that you find a niche that you are knowledgeable about and can add value to. There are many people who try to act as thought leaders across areas that they know nothing about, and this becomes clearly evident every time they post new content. For this reason, you should identify the top 3 to 5 areas that you can contribute to as a thought leader and pick one of those as your primary and the rest as your back ups. If there's anything that goes outside of these five areas, you probably shouldn't be speaking on it. By speaking on everything instead of niching down, you dilute your brand and your ability to be a true thought leader.

In the old days, domain names were more important than they are today to be honest. These days, especially if you are setting up a facebook ad-style funnel to your site, the domain name is really not that important. On the other hand, if you want to become the next Amazon, you need to come up with a creative AND SHORT name that you can get the .com domain for. When I started my latest company, I searched to find a domain name with a unique spelling that was between 5-8 characters long. I then took my long list of potential names, surveyed potential customers on how they would say or spell the name, and if I had a large enough match, I chose that name. My latest company, AKYLADE, came about through this process and has worked well for me.

Customer services and essential key to your success when creating an online store. Overtime, issues will come up and things will go wrong. Customers understand this, but they don't accept is non-responses to their issues. In business things inevitably go wrong, but how you respond to them can take an unhappy customer and turn them into a fan for life. The strongest fans and supporters of my business have always been the customers who had an issue early on, but the way we handled it and supported them through the issue turned them into our biggest advocates and loudest supporters! Be kind, be caring, be thoughtful, and be supportive!