Hey Instagram, I'd Like to Have a Chat with You

Alright. I've had enough. I. Cannot. Take. It. Anymore. What am I ranting about, you wonder? Let’s see. Well, it's 2014. We can tell our coffee pot to make us our morning cup of joe when we get out of our beds. We can 3D print our self-designed jewelry and wear it out that night. 

But if I want to switch Instagram accounts, I have to go to my profile, click my settings and scroll down to the bottom of my screen to "Log Out." Then, I log into another account to use that profile. When I want to switch accounts, I have to do it all over again. You see, it's frustrating. And frankly, I'm tired of it.

This is for the social media marketers of the world. This is for everyone who deals with the real struggle of signing in and out of Instagram accounts five times a day to post one damn photo. I can shuffle through my different Twitter accounts with just a tap and a scroll on my phone. Instagram, take a lesson from Twitter. 

I just began working with MotorMood on social media and don't get me wrong, I love being in charge of different social platforms. But every time I go to post something, it's a struggle. Every time I search for a business, it's a struggle. Really, Instagram is a struggle. 

Instagram is not solely for teenagers who use the platform to discover what their best friends ate for lunch or to post another #selfiesunday. Instagram is a tool to share moments and to create content for personal and business use! Modernize yourself, already! 

So, what can we take from this? I'm putting in a call to action for you, Instagram. Please optimize your platform for business and personal use. If you want more users creating content, don't make them climb over obstacles left and right.  

Let's not have a #throwbackthursday for functionality. Instead, it's time to move forward to an interface that is up with the time. I along with all the all the Instagram-ers are rooting for you! 

What are your thoughts? Do you ever get frustrated with Instagram? Comment below! 

6 Proven Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs

The journey of an entrepreneur is not an easy one, and that's putting it in kind words. I mean, name one entrepreneur who said starting a company was easy.  But wait.  Let's have a second of honesty. We like the challenge, we like having to figure out a solution to all the problems that come with starting your own company.  We like to create something, analyze it, fix the problems and then grow that experiment as big as we can make it. We are certainly not afraid of challenges, in fact, we welcome them. 

Thankfully, this month, TechInMotion hosted Jon Kraft, CoFounder of Pandora and current CEO of Thrively, who gave us what he calls the 6 necessary traits needed for the journey of an entrepreneur. 

1. Relentless optimism
When Jon and his cofounder first decided to start Pandora, they made a call to a possible investor. Within the first four minutes of deciding to start Pandora, someone had already offered to invest in them and their company. Four. Minutes. After this, they were turned down by investors after investors. He said that raising the rest of their round was "near impossible." Optimism drives you to continue on until success.  

2. Creativity
Believe it or not, originally, a B2C model didn't work for Pandora. Kraft notes that you "have to be creative with projects, deals, ideas and directions, too." Because a ton of other people are doing what you're doing, it's about your product being better than theirs. 

3. Perseverance
Pandora started in 1999. It didn't take off until 2007. Before their hockey stick growth, they had to keep raising money.  Kraft mentioned that "maybe 1 in 20 people gave [them] money. Just enough to survive." 

4. Intuition
Intuition isn't exactly something you can develop overnight. "You just have to have a vision, but trying to process those data points is very difficult. (…), it's not enough. You have to use your intuition."

5. Passion
Every entrepreneur knows that passion is a must. No passion. No product. Jon noted that "entrepreneurship is so hard that if it's not your passion, you're hitting your head against the wall." 

6. Create value
What it all comes down to is creating value and your product. Jon deems it "an enormous driving force to people who start their own business." Even the VCs who didn't invest in Pandora originally, still used the product. Jon recalled that after he would shut off a VC's access to the demo, they would email or call him back and ask "what happened?" An astounding 70% of people asked why he turned off the Pandora demo. Although they did not invest, they created value for their users, value that was important to users. 

Do you encompass these traits? What would you add? Comment below!