Jeff Shuford

Stories By Jeff Shuford

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  Bunker Labs Jacksonville: Helping Veterans Launch Successful Tech Businesses

  John Fails served with the US Army 82nd Airborne Division in the Initial invasion of Iraq. Being a serial entrepreneur, John's mission is to help veterans start and maintain their own businesses. The Small Business Administration reports that nearly 25% of active duty servicemembers would like to start a business. Surprisingly, military veterans make up less than 6% of new entrepreneurs. John and his team at Bunker Labs Jacksonville provide veterans access to vital entrepreneur educational resources and get veterans foot in the door with angel investors, venture capital, and alternative investment opportunities. Founded in 2014, Bunker Labs is a national not-for-profit program that aims to inspire, educate, and connect transitioning service members and veterans as they seek to launch their own ventures. "Sometimes the slightest piece of information can be the difference between a successful startup and failure. Bunker Labs Jacksonville seeks out small business mentors and finds them for our veteran led startups," said John. Bunker Labs Jacksonville was recently named number 1 on the Engadget list of "The Best 5 Resources For Veterans Starting A Tech Business" and is making a major push to help veterans in 2017. The statistics show that over 5.7 million people are employed by veterans, which equates to over $210 billion in annual payroll and $1.2 trillion in sales. Veterans are twice as likely to own a business as the general population and run 3 million businesses in the United States. "After I served 20 years in the Navy, I soon discovered there were not many civilian organizations helping veterans start businesses. Having a resource like Bunker Labs Jacksonville will help veterans succeed in the marketplace without question," said Lonnell McCall Vice President of Tech From Vets. With 14 chapters in cities around the country, Bunker Labs is solving a problem plaguing may veterans exiting the service. The CEO of Bunker Labs served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy for four years and has held roles in the public and private sectors. Bunker Labs Jacksonville plans to launch their latest cohort of the Entrepreneurial Program for Innovation and Collaboration (EPIC), the Bunker's cornerstone 14-week program for military veterans to pressure test their business ideas and launch their startups. "We are excited and fortunate to move forward with Bunker labs Jacksonville to accelerate the transformation of veterans to entrepreneurs in our Northeast Florida community," said Drayton Florence a retired NFL superstar who serves as Director of Strategic Partnerships with Tech Form Vets. The upcoming class that begins January 25th, includes entrepreneurs from backgrounds including the service industry and green technology. Veterans are encouraged to contact Bunker Labs Jacksonville Program Director Nathan Crocker at Nathaniel.crocker@bunkerlabs.org or 618-696-3697 to get registered for the upcoming EPIC Program.

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  Buying Guides

  Buying Guides By Jeff Shuford

  The Best 5 Resources For Veterans Starting A Tech Business

  Veterans are faced with challenges in the military and when starting their businesses after service. Imagine not having the support, knowledge, and mentors to successfully start your own business. Statistics show that veterans are 45% more likely to be self-employed than non-veterans. According to the Small Business Administration, there's about one veteran-owned firm for every ten veterans, and veteran-owned firms employ 5.8 million individuals. Here's a list of companies that are helping our nation's most respected population start and successfully operate their own businesses. 1.Bunker Labs Navigating the entrepreneurship journey can be a daunting task for our nation's heroes. In my quest to find an organization to help my tech startup network with more like-minded professionals I found Bunker Labs Jacksonville. Not only was my team and I welcomed with open arms, they understood my organizations' triumphs and obstacles. Bunker Labs is located in numerous cities across the country and provides veterans access to vital entrepreneur educational resources. Bunker Labs also helps military veteran entrepreneurs find angel investors, venture capital, and alternative investment opportunities. "Bunker Labs Jacksonville is a valuable resource to our veteran owned company. My goal is to bring our network of active and retired NFL superstars to Bunker Labs Jacksonville to engage, invest, and help accelerate the growth of veteran-owned businesses in the Northeast Florida marketplace," said Retired NFL Superstar and Technologist Drayton Florence. The fact that Bunker Labs is an alternative to government help places them high up on the list of valuable resources for our heroes. My company Tech From Vets has found Bunker Labs Jacksonville to be a much-needed resource to help veterans on their entrepreneurship journey. 2.Entrepreneurship Training for Veterans Program Entrepreneurship Training for Veterans is facilitated by The University of North Florida and provides instruction on the essentials of successful business operations to veterans who wish to start a business or grow an existing one. The program covers writing a business plan, how to identify funding sources, and how to avoid business pitfalls among others. In addition to the conference, the program provides follow-up feedback through a combination of surveys and follow-up workshops utilizing resources such as: UNF's Small Business Development Center, faculty expertise in the Coggin College of Business entrepreneurship program, and local business experts who exclusively target federal, state and local contracts such as: 8(a) designated companies and a mentoring partnership with local veteran-owned businesses. My Vice President (Lonnell McCall) and I attended a session at UNF and found the information to be extremely helpful and beneficial to our business. The skills gained at the Entrepreneurship Training for Veterans Program has directly led to our businesses success. 3.SBA Loan Programs The U.S Small Business Administration (SBA) has implemented a new measure to help get small business loans into the hands of veterans. This new measure sets the borrower upfront fee to zero for all veteran loans authorized under the SBA Express program up to $350,000. This initiative started on January 1st and will continue through the end of the fiscal year. Of all SBA loans that go to veterans, 73 percent are $350,000 and below. The SBA Express Loan Program, which supports loans under $350,000, is SBA's most popular loan delivery method, with nearly 60 percent of all 7(a) loans over the past decade being authorized through the program. Since the program's inception, it has also been one of the most popular delivery methods for getting capital into the hands of veteran borrowers. This program is great for veterans needing capital to get their business off the ground. 4.SCORE Veteran Fast Launch Initiative SCORE is a nonprofit association dedicated to helping veteran small businesses get off the ground, grow, and achieve their goals through education and mentorship. They have been in business for over fifty years. Because their work is supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and thanks to their network of 11,000+ volunteers, they are able to deliver their services at no charge or at very low cost. The business tool and templates provided by SCORE are priceless, veterans should highly consider utilizing the tools SCORE provides via their website. 5.Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities The EBV National Program is a novel, one-of-a-kind initiative designed to leverage the skills, resources and infrastructure of higher education. The EBV National Program offers cutting-edge, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans with service-connected disabilities. The program is also offered to military family members who serve in a caregiver role to a veteran with a service-connected disability. The aim of the program is to open the door to economic opportunity for veterans and their families by developing their competencies in creating and sustaining an entrepreneurial venture.

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  Promo Will Wow Your Target Market With High Quality Videos

  Looking for software to help my web development clients' present a professional innovation website to their clients has led me to a host of over promising under delivering video production software. My need for unique videos for video banners, short promotions, and multimedia advertisements had me shelling out major dollars on filming equipment and video editing software. Enter, Promo, Promo gives you quality video clips, licensed music, and an easy to use the built-in text editor so you can easily create stunning video content. The built-in text editor is also very fun, you can change the size, font and other details about the test in three different portions of the video. The fun part about using this software is that you don't have to read or view a time-consuming tutorial, its drag and drop (my favorite). Promo is the only service online that gives you access to millions of high-quality video clips and hand-picked studio quality music complete with lifetime licensing. Promo will wow your audience with cinema-quality videos at a price that supports the projects you need to succeed. "Promo has the capabilities to be a major player in the multi-media content sector. For our client's websites, professional videos are key. We strive to impress our client's customers with high-quality video banners, Promo allows us to accomplish this affordably," said Drayton Florence, Retired NFL Superstar and Director of Strategic Partnerships at Tech From Vets. In our content hungry era, high-quality videos are key to engage your target market, you should definitely give Promo a try if you are seeking to wow and engage your client base. Promo is truly groundbreaking and offers fully licensed premium footage from professional videographers that I have not seen on other video clip websites. The software is web-based, fast, easy, instant, and produces awesome results and is pretty fun to use. The ease of use is unquestionably great, Promo allows you to post, publish, upload, and share your video on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, websites, blogs, and anywhere else on the web as much as you want. The quality is top notch (mp4 format, 1280x720) and the time that the finished product downloaded was amazing. If you want to "try before you buy" Promo is 100% free, and requires no credit card. You can create unlimited drafts, invite team members to view videos you create and get a sense of what Promo has to offer (with watermark in the downloaded video of course). I will definitely be using Promo in the future, at no cost to sign up and start developing engaging content it's a win-win in my opinion.

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  TV & Movies

  TV & Movies By Jeff Shuford

  Meet The DVR And Welcome The Death Of TV Advertising

  Television advertisement spending is at an all-time low, consumers are utilizing digital technology to watch their favorite programs and stay connected online. The greatest invention for consumers, in my opinion, was the ability to fast-forward through annoying commercials and jump straight to the content they are seeking. My 4-year-old daughter gets frustrated sitting through Youtube commercials while waiting for her educational videos to load. Not to mention the advertisement she is forced to watch is not geared towards her age demographic in the first place. I am certain that if there was an advertisement about a new toy or a new game for kids she would not mind sitting through the advertisement. We are in a society that values time more than ever, who truly has the time to sit through 10 to 13 minutes of commercials for every 30 minutes of Television broadcast programs? The only time we get really get excited to watch TV advertisements is during the Super Bowl. TV Advertisement Spending Interactive Advertising Bureau CEO Randall Rothenberg acknowledged the shift away from traditional advertising. "What's going on is the growing pains of any new medium," he said. "Television and digital are very complementary to each other, and it's likely that you can optimize your reach by running a schedule [of ads] on TV and digital together." The issue with traditional TV advertisements is that there is no true way to know if your target market will be watching your advertisement. It's like throwing darts at a bullseye while wearing a blindfold. Social media advertising is much more focused on reaching your target market. With Facebook Ads, you can show up where people are the most, their smartphones and digital devices. FACEBOOK.COM As a Bing Ads accredited professional I understand the importance of digital adverting. Your goal is to drive more customers to your business or website and if a person skips past your TV advertisement you will lose a potential customer and a ton of money. You'll pay anywhere from $200 to $1,500 per 30-second commercial and there is no guarantee people will be actively watching or listening to your advertisement. Also, consider the cost of hiring a company to produce your TV advertisement, you have the headache of hiring voice over artists, script writers, and videographers. MYNACC.ORG "Local commercials I direct and we produce typically fall within the $5K to $15K range. Something from $9K-$12K is common for us" says Todd Terry of Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc. As the popularity of the DVR's rise, look for fewer viewers to be watching TV advertisements. We are moving away from traditional forms of entertainment and connectivity, just ask the typewriter, the rotary phone, dial-up internet, and the pager, all victims to the growth of technological advancements.

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  Robotics

  Robotics By Jeff Shuford

  A Sneak Peek Into: Humans and Robots The Future Is Now

  How has this new market benefitted the consumers? Get Local Based Information Faster: "The whole world may be at your fingertips when you find yourself holding a smartphone, but local information is abundant as well. Mobile applications have brought an entirely new meaning to the phrases "locally owned and operated" and "locally grown". You see, before the mobile devices were here to guide us around the parts of the city that we're unfamiliar with or suggest stores for us to visit, we could only shop at the businesses that we knew. These businesses were normally larger corporations. Mobile device searching makes it much easier for small little Mom and Pop shops to get recognized in the community. Instead of supermarket produce, consumers now have the option to choose locally grown produce. Consumers also have the power to check the weather forecast, so they know whether their outfit is appropriate for the day before they even step out of their front doors." Staying Connected 24/7: "No longer must you find a computer to access your Facebook account. Chat rooms are a thing of the past. Email is so outdated that it has become the new snail mail. You and I are connected to the outside world more than EVER before. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing...you can post about it, you can tweet about it, or you can snap about it. Check in so people know where you are (this feature has helped law enforcement quite a bit as well in more recent times), or just post a picture of the lovely dinner you fixed for your family, so at least you'll get praise from someone. Use Instagram to post pictures from vacation that you don't want to spam everyone on Facebook with, use Twitter to make quick updates and keep up with trending topics, use Facebook to check on your closest friends and family and connect with your favorite businesses, and use Snapchat to send a message to your friends that will disappear in 24 hours." Business Benefіts of App Development "Besides being able to send information to targeted audiences, mobile application development has many other perks! Some of these include (but are not limited to): GPS tracking, coupons, analysis of applications, and push notifications. Restaurants, Law Firms, Medical Clinics, Public Schools, Churches, Community Centers, Bakeries, and Antique Shops are some of the many types of businesses and organizations that could benefit from these extra perks. This is because mobile apps fill the gap between customers and businesses. Every customer is able to keep track of their own home, their own history, and their own interests, while the business is able to keep track of everyone's homes, everyone's history, and everyone's current interests. Mobile applications give an outside-of-the-box point of view to both the business owner and consumer." How to Choose Mobіle App Developers Avoid One-Size-Fits-All Applications. "Choose a developer that is willing to take the extra time to ensure that the application will work for different types of devices. One size never fits all. There are too many variables. So, if your developer returns just one version of your new app, be very weary. Make sure to inform them beforehand that you'd like the application to serve multiple devices, and preferably list those devices out so the developer knows which versions to deliver to you, and which version they won't have to waste precious time on." Why a Busіness Needs Mobіle App Development "This is why a well-designed application is essential. By designing an app that is intuitive, visually appealing, and easy to use, the developer is providing a portal into a business that can make all of the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity. Of course, there are a number of other examples of why a good app іs a must for many busіness today. These іnclude: a superb opportunіty to іncrease customer loyalty, as well as brand recognіtіon. Іndeed, the very fact that the app exіsts helps іmprove a busіness' standіng (as long as іt іs a well-desіgned app). On top of all of the other benefits, mobile apps also encourage users to share their experiences and track their consumer habits. Both of those bits of information are like gold to a business owner." If you want the full version kindly click the following link; "Humans and Robots The Future Is Now" it's a great short read!

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  3 Lessons I Learned From Writing My First Technology Book

  Although it has only been a couple of days since the release of my new book, I have discovered some very interesting facts about publishing. My book is titled; "Humans and Robots The Future Is Now." I cover the smartphone industry and the benefits businesses gain by having a smartphone application developed for their business. My objective is to use very simple terms and examples to outline my technological perspectives highlighted in my book. My expertise comes from my experience developing award-winning mobile applications for Andriod and Apple devices. I also cover technological topics as a Certified Market Expert with Business.com, The Huffington Post and other major publications. It seemed like a no-brainer to write a short book providing business owners a plain-English guide they can refer to when questioning the need to take their businesses mobile. Here are 3 lessons I learned after writing my first technology book. 1. The public is not interested in tech books. "Successful people tend to choose educational books and publications over novels, tabloids, and magazines." Andrew Merle of Observer.com My target market is business owners who are considering utilizing mobile technology to extend their businesses reach. My book has a very affordable price point ($9.99) and is not intended to make myself wealthy but intended to place a reasonable value on the information I have compiled through research. If James, the local grocery store clerk does not buy or care for my book I don't lose any sleep or get discouraged, I understand that the topic I am covering is not a "popular" or "trending" issue. I am focused on a particular demographic of professionals, their opinion is the only one that truly matters. 2. People expect books to have hundreds of pages I love reading short books. I have very limited time, I am a business owner, philanthropist, journalist, and technologist, not to mention a husband and a father. I don't have the time to read hundreds of pages and I sure don't have the time to write hundreds of pages. Many business owners face a similar situation, so why would I write to impress people with word count when I can count on the right words to engage my target market? 3. Your book will extend your reach even if no one purchases it "Why should I write to impress people with word count when I can count on the right words to engage my target market?" -Dr. Jeff Shuford Your book serves as a testament to your dedication and aspiration to reach more people. I use my book as a way to separate myself from the noise of my competition, I am not concerned with how many people purchase my book. When I die my book lives on through iTunes, Barnes and Noble, and many more digital publications. My next book will be around 50 pages and will include extra exclusive content for my readers, my first book serves as a market tester and a virtual footprint. You too should consider writing a book, and if you want to read mine kindly check out; "Humans and Robots The Future Is Now" it's a great short read!

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  8 Fool-Proof Ways To Maximize Your Credibility Online

  No matter what you do, your number one priority is having solid credibility online. Possessing credibility as a person or business means people can trust you. Here are 8 proven fool-proof ways to maximize the amount of credibility you have online. Losing credibility will add time and this lack of trust from the prospect will cost you sales. Grant Cardone 1. Show that you have current and former clients Let's take shopping as an analogy. Most people love the conventional concept of physical shopping rather than shopping online. A new report from Forrester, titled "U.S. Cross-Channel Retail Forecast, 2015 To 2020," predicts online sales will grow by an average annual rate of 9.32% over the next five years. Most people love to touch and hold what they intend to buy before buying, and have a sense of security that they can feel the quality of what they want to purchase. Online, it is nearly impossible to test the quality of the item you are interested in purchasing. So how do you overcome this? Prior customer reviews and testimonials about your business and products show clients that you are real and credible. 2. Be authentic Another way of maximizing your online credibility is being authentic. Don't fake it. Be just the way you are rather than pretend to be what you are not and you will be amazed at how you will be trusted. We are humans and we all make mistakes, perfection equals paralysis. 3. Offer a physical address Online is the new office, so it is imperative that you have a way people can actually get to see the real thing, a place where you operate. People feel more comfortable dealing with businesses that have brick and mortar locations. Some people might just look you up on google maps to just have a vague idea about who they are dealing with. 4. Show where you are If you want to raise your level of credibility several notches, make available a picture of what your office looks like. Sometimes all it takes is a picture. A picture might be just the proof that you need to show that you really do exist and thereby making more people willing to put their trust in you and your business. 5. Introduce your team as real people If you have a team you work with, show their photos. Don't just talk about them, give the impression that they are real. The old saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words." 6. Show what you are good at Online is the best place to let people know what you are good at without having to prove too much. Provide as much information as you can about the things you specialize in on your website. Also, consider showing a portfolio of your previous work. 7. Show who is behind your support If you have a support team that people can reach out to in cases of inquiries or complaints, let people know they are talking to humans and not robots. This will go a long way in making people trust you. Also, have social proof on your website and let people know that big brand's trust and have used your service in the past. When my clients visit my Tech From Vets website you will notice a "featured on" section at the bottom of my website. The objective is to use social proof to show potential clients that we are credible and can be trusted. Browsing the internet I found a website (BrandonSugar.com) that incorporated social proof, the website stated, "Since our inception we have created great art and our innovation has led to us being featured on BuzzFeed and The Huffington Post." Customers see social proof as a way to separate legitimate brands from fly by night startups. 8. Be active on social media How do I trust your brand when you are not active on social media? You updated your page six weeks ago. Why should I deal with you if you don't care about engaging with the public? Most social media-savvy people will think your business is either closed or inferior to the brands that update their social media frequently. Maintain your social media pages.

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