In many of the industries that I attended conferences for, specifically a singer/songwriter conference and a technology event, I found networking quite difficult. Everyone held their ideas and plans to themselves so that they don’t have to worry about anyone stealing them. Everyone thought they had the next best song or a connection that will make them millions. The attitude that they shared was that there is only room for one person in their market.

Entrepreneurs are a very different breed. If you have ever been to a networking event or conference with entrepreneurs, you will be amazed by how many pitches you will hear about ideas and new companies.

Everyone is looking to share their thoughts and ideas with the hope that the next person will help connect them to someone who can help move their idea forward. Obviously you don’t want to give away your idea, but to understand this more, please read Should an Entrepreneur Share Their Idea?

To really highlight this, the comment I hear most from attendees of New York Entrepreneur Week (NYEW) was that people could not believe the willingness of everyone to listen to their idea and try and connect them with other people in the room and panelists that may be able to guide them and help them to get their company off the ground.

For many people it was their first experience at an entrepreneurial event and the willingness of some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world to help them with their “little idea” was an incredible experience.

Entrepreneurs are not just individuals with ideas but rather part of a large, growing community of people who want to make a difference and change the status quo. By embracing this community and assisting other entrepreneurs, we are able to help this change grow exponentially and create a bigger and better tomorrow for other entrepreneurs and the business community.

———

About the Blogger:

Aron Schoenfeld is the founder of Do It In Person, a unique company focusing on teaching in person communication skills and creating unique and effective networking events for people to use these skills.

Everyone tells you that you need to be determined, to follow your heart in spite of the odds, and if you encompass passion for the idea, success will follow. Yet, then those same folks will turn around and advise you to pay attention to your inner critic.

The truth is, this is just one of many challenges faced by entrepreneurs in their quest to find the right balance that ultimately brings success. Below details why you, the looney entrepreneur, must pay attention to the little voice of reason in your head (yes, the one that really does talk to you) – sometimes.

What Your Inner Critic is Telling You

No matter how determined you are as an entrepreneur, and how ‘gung ho’ you are about making it against the odds, there will be times when a little voice in the very back of your mind (the lizard brain) will try to tell you that something is wrong. It is well known that many successful entrepreneurs and executives suffer from what’s known as the inner critic- our inner voice that has our best interest at heart.

Usually, it’s either when something does not feel quite right – a new business deal, a partnership or an expansion that you aren’t quite ready for. It is your mind trying to override blind enthusiasm, and remind you that great entrepreneurs take calculated risks – they don’t rush blindly into disaster.

Another time most entrepreneurs start noticing their inner critic acting up is when they have done something that is not quite up to the standard they expect from themselves. This is particularly important when it is something you have done for a client – after all, you want your clients to be happy, right?

The point – if your inner critic is telling you that something is not right, listen!

Tapping Into Your Inner Critic – An Exercise in Objectivity

No one likes being told they are wrong – least of all, the entrepreneur. Of course, you left the safe world of employment to be your own boss, so that you never needed to be criticized again, didn’t you? However, as an entrepreneur, you will need to exercise objectivity, and weigh your own desires and feelings against the good of the company. Here’s how:

• Pay attention to what your inner critic is telling you. You can only act on problems if you admit they exist.
• Sit down when you have a quiet moment, and write the problem down on a piece of paper.
• List the pros and cons of not acting on the issue. Consider the cost of not rectifying the problem and what it will do to your reputation. List everything that can go wrong if you don’t take action. Usually, you will find that the only pros will be saving time and money, in the short-term. If you want to be a success as an entrepreneur, you need to think long-term.
• List possible solutions to the problem. Write down as many as come to mind within 5 minutes.
• Decide on a solution and execute.

Being an entrepreneur is a freeing experience – it frees us from having to answer to anyone for our actions – or the lack thereof. However, it also means that you need to learn self discipline, and to make tough decisions on your own. That is where listening to that inner critic comes in. All great entrepreneurs do, and if you want to be one of them, it’s an imperative skill to learn.

You Don’t Have to Do it Alone

The good news is that while becoming an entrepreneur, building a company is sometimes a lonely and friendless endeavor, but finding ways to deal with issues that your inner critic raises does not have to be.

When you start to notice something weighing on your mind, speak to someone. It could be your spouse, your parents or your mentor. You do not have to ask for advice, or even comment, but sometimes, just saying the challenge out loud can help you to decide what to do.

Make no mistake however, in business, as with life, doing nothing is almost always worse than doing the wrong thing. As long as you take action and do something, you start the momentum needed to keep going, and will eventually fix the problem. When you ignore it, or hope it will go away, it will almost always does not go away and will only have a compounding (and disastrous) effect.

The Bottom Line

Just as you have that burning feeling in your gut that your big idea WILL be a huge success, and that if you just follow your dreams, they will all be attainable, you need to realize that the same is true of the negative.

When something does not feel right, it is usually not, and you need to be prepared to tackle the bad, as well as the good. The sooner you do, the sooner you can put it behind you and move on toward what you are passionate about, and ultimately drives you – building the very best business you can.

Further insight from a few additional trusted sources:

Seth Godin
Wall Street Journal

Recommended book (which I have read many times over):

“Embracing Your Inner Critic” by Hal Stone

—–

NOTE: Original post from Gary Whitehill can be found here.

In this post, I hope to share some of the key things to look at when finding a mentor for you and your business. A good mentor can go a long way for the entrepreneur both personally and professionally. If you don’t have one or have had trouble finding a good one, then keep reading.

Why one mentor might not be enough

Mentors come in all different shapes, sizes and forms. There isn’t one universal mentor who is going to have the answers for everything. And that’s why it’s important to always keep looking. In the same way that I form an advisory board or a board of directors, I’m looking for mentors who bring different things to the table. Why put all of your eggs in one basket? It limits your scope and often times will only feed you what you want to hear.

One of my earliest mentors is the founder of a large charity organization. We get together once a month so that he’s able to dissect my business and leadership challenges. It’s fresh to get mentorship from someone who spends their time in a very different world from you. What you will find is that the solutions are similar but the problems are just packaged differently.

I have another mentor who runs a fast growing startup. Both of us come from a similar background and are similar in age, family and education. Since we’re able to relate to each other so well, it’s incredibly useful to bounce business ideas and challenges off each other. You need to have someone who you can easily relate to in the short term. Having your sights on a lofty long-term goal is great, but focusing on the baby steps along the way is going to pay off far more in the end.

Another mentor of mine is an executive at one of the country’s largest banks. He’s what I consider to be a “personal mentor”. He is the person that keeps my personal life in check. When we get together, we talk about family and about our personal lives. I know I’m not alone when it comes to the challenges of juggling a busy professional life with an important personal life. You need to be asked difficult questions that cannot be ignored. When was the last time that you had a vacation with the family? How is your significant other dealing with your hectic schedule as of late? Are you sleeping well? Are you missing workout sessions? We can never ignore our personal lives because it has such a great impact on our professional lives.

Long-term relationship versus a one-night stand

Finding a good mentor and building a strong relationship takes time. Don’t count on things happening overnight. It takes a strong time investment on both sides in order to make it a meaningful and valuable relationship. Remember, finding a good mentor should never feel like a one night stand. It’s easy for the first encounter to have a lot of sizzle but you don’t want that to fade. You want to dig deeper and really understand if the person is right for you and vice versa.

One rule of thumb that I always use when finding a mentor is to treat it as though I’m looking for the right employee. You need to keep searching until you find one that fits both your skills and your personality. Would you ever settle with an employee who doesn’t really care about your company or the work they do? Probably not. So why would you settle with a mentor who doesn’t really care about making you the best that you can be? A good mentor is in it for the long run.

Take the time to find yourself the right mentors. You’ll be surprised by just how rewarding it can be to find the right people. Don’t ever settle.

—–

About the Blogger:

Ray Cao is the co-founder and CEO of the EightyTwenty Group – a provider of mobile and web-based applications for large professional service firms. Ray is also the CEO of LooseButton, a new online retail business that provides established brands of curated clothing from around the world to consumers in North America. Ray currently sits on the board of the Impact Entrepreneurship Group and is a member of the DiverseCity Steering Committee. You can follow him on Twitter here.

Here are 10 reasons why some entrepreneurs under-perform:

1.     Passion: If you don’t have it for what you are doing, find something else to do. Being an entrepreneur is just too hard if you do not feel very strongly about what you are doing.

2.     Physical and mental strength: If you think working hard is a 50-hour work week, please stay safe and sound under the covers of “a real job.”

3.     Self-doubt: If you do not think you are entitled to big success, and if you do not think that you have what it takes, do not become an entrepreneur. At times, you will be the only one who believes in you.

4.     Belief: Speaking of belief, if you do not believe your endeavor has a 1,000 percent chance of taking you to the moon, stay back on earth. Those who are tentative have no shot at reaching the moon.

5.     Foresight: Can you see around corners? Look for opportunities at the edges. Pick up a good business book, like “Blue Ocean Strategy” by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, which argues for staying out of the red water—that place where everyone competes and mauls themselves—and diving into open, blue (uncharted) water.

6.     Guts: Do you have the stomach to persevere when you feel like a punching bag? Oftentimes, the difference between the successful person and the also-ran is that the success story got up off the ground one more time than the other.

7.     Failure: Are you prepared to fail? A big public, gut-wrenching failure? If not, you may be playing it too safe. Failure is almost a rite of passage to success. You need to see the difference between an event of failure and a conclusion to the story.

8.     Self-discipline: Do you have the willpower to make decisions for the right reasons? There are no guarantees of success, but one sure-fire way not to succeed is by making choices out of fatigue or frustration. You must be strong.

9.     Fairness: Are you hung up on the belief that life is fair? If so, forget about being an entrepreneur. The strong survive. That’s it. If you are expecting anything else, stick to something safer.

10.  Integrity: Yes, some jerks are big successes; however, in general, those who keep their commitments regardless of the people around them are more likely to succeed.

—-

About the Author:

Jim Randel is the founder of “The Skinny On” book series— concise, illustrated books that cover important topics in an entertaining fashion. For more information, click here.

You see, we only had about 13 registered people for our Summit last month and we were concerned we would not fill the event, the first of its type in NYC. What message would THAT send to the world that there were not enough Green Entrepreneurs interested in scaling up.

Some of the members of our team wanted a Plan B in case our goal of 40 attendees did not happen. And I could certainly understand why. We’d invested a lot of time and energy and what if things did not turn out? How do we manage the project?

But more importantly, how do we manage our breakdown? After all we had our venue, co-sponsors and speakers all lined up for the event. It would be a real bummer, to say the least, if we only have 13 attendees.

“And I don’t WANT a Plan B,” I continued with my partners. “Because if we have one, that is the plan that will most likely end up happening.”

And that is how we began managing our breakdown. No Plan B.

The Summit ended up being a success. Even after getting a new venue double the size, we had about 30 people showing up the day of the Summit trying to get in because we sold out online the day before. Security stopped letting people upstairs as our standing-room-only event was breaking fire code laws for the building.

And that doesn’t include the 58 people watching the event live via our internet streaming video channel.

How people manage breakdowns can be quite telling in how successful they end up being in business.

Here is the cool thing about breakdowns: they can often times lead to breakthroughs in how you are doing something. But it takes something from you to make that happen.

Here are some ways people manage breakdowns:

• Roll over and play dead – usually giving up and saying that is the best you can do.
• Panic – everything is going to be ruined and you’re all doomed.
• Collapse the situation – when one or two things are not working as planned or expected, and you say nothing is working.
• Roll with it – as things happen and expectations are not met, you quickly address and reassess where you are before moving forward. This takes focus and commitment to the outcome you most desire.

Depending on which method you tend to use, there may be a better way. The best people I’ve seen that manage breakdowns are those that use the following steps in managing breakdowns:

1. Declare a Breakdown – this is quite powerful and gets you focused on what is really happening. The admission of a breakdown allows you to hit the “reset” button. More on this in a moment.

2. Ask the Right Questions -  most people do NOT ask powerful or appropriate questions when dealing with breakdowns. For example, if you only have 13 registrations for your event, instead of asking, “What is Plan B?”, ask, “What is the quickest and fastest way to get at least another 40 registrations in 14 days?”

3. Narrow Possible Solutions to Three – come up with as many answers to your “right question(s)” and then narrow the choices down in order to pick your strategy.

4. Define “Go”/”No-Go” Point – while not having a Plan B works for some people, it is important to be UnReasonable and responsible.  Make sure you have metrics set up to monitor progress on your project.

5. Don’t Look Back – once you decided to go forward with your adjusted strategy, don’t question yourself along the way. Keep moving forward. Use your metrics you defined in Step 4 to guide you. Doubting your decision will derail you faster than you know.

6. Play Full Out – Once you decide to go, make sure you put everything you have into your choice. Otherwise, more-than-likely you’ll end up back in the same place you started.

When we started by declaring our breakdown by only having 13 signups and we may not make it, we acknowledged our situation. Kind of like the words, “Houston, we have a problem!”

And once acknowledged, it creates a clean slate from which to operate. That your current plan is not working and that you need to recreate a new one ASAP.

Try it with your next breakdown. Perhaps you’ll have standing room only results as well.

Action Steps for the Week

To get a clear understanding on how you tend to manage breakdowns, take a look at the last two or three you’ve had:

• How did you manage them? Which of the above-mentioned ways did you use?
• What did you do well in the breakdown?
• What can you do better next time?

To drill down into this a bit deeper, take a look at one breakdown in your life that you handled really, really well. What did you do differently than you normally do?

Next, take a look at something in your business that is heading towards breakdown (or already there). What is the “what’s so” about the breakdown? The facts, not emotions of what is going on. Remove the emotions.

Does it make sense to declare a breakdown? If not, why not? Make sure you are clear on this. Otherwise hit the “reset” button and declare a breakdown. Then ask yourself a powerful question on what is the fastest, easiest, most inexpensive, etc. way to get what you want as your desired goal.

Lastly, monitor the results with your go/no-go metrics defined and in place.

—–

About the Blogger:

Since 1987, Stefan has been pioneering new approaches to environmental business and sustainability.

After starting one of the first green retail businesses in the country and growing it to one of the largest, Doering has worked with hundreds of green businesses as well as teaches green entrepreneurism for various NYC programs and at Columbia University’s Center for Environmental Research and Conservation.

Stefan has been featured on the CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg TV, and dozens more.

And if you’re in doubt whether there is some serious potential in business in this area, just spend 3 minutes at any magazine store and look at the front covers of some of the major publications. That should placate your doubts!

Why is the “green” industry is so darn hot and very unlikely to be just a fad:

* Red China is now turning green and will lead the way in a very short time
* European countries are returning to coal known as “the dirtiest fuel on earth”
* The planet’s population is expected to increase 50%… to 9 billion! within 40 years
* The number of cars and trucks is expected to double by 2040 to two billion
* The number of commercial jetliners is expected to double to 36,000 by 2030

And those issues are related to just the “energy” part of environmental issues. Add to the mix: climate change, water, biodiversity / land use, chemicals / toxins / heavy metals, air pollution, waste management, ozone layer depletion, forest / fisheries, and deforestation and you will get my point.

So, if you’re still straddling the fence on this one, it is time to get into action. The market will not allow you to do so otherwise.

Top 10 ways to AUTHENTICALLY stay ahead of the competition:

1. Create a powerful Sustainability Blueprint – define what sustainability means to your business and your map towards achieving it. Make sure to incorporate the triple bottom line: people, planet and profits.

2. Audit your practices for the resources you save (energy, paper, water, materials, chemicals, etc.) as well as any community-based projects you impact

3. Redesign your model: your products/services around your Sustainability Blueprint

4. Use the wheel, don’t reinvent it: look to see what other companies are doing well and emulate or copy parts for your business

5. Join green communities: networking groups (i.e. Green Drinks the largest environmental business networking group in the world), conferences, and various lectures.

6. Become an “expert”: build your credentials through certifications and writing or teaching for well-regarded institutions

7. Create your team: JV’s (joint ventures), partners, vendors, marketing people – all like-minded and synergistic with your vision

8. Hang around really smart people to help you “sharpen the saw” for continually improving your Sustainability Blueprint

9. Be UnReasonable: always think outside the box and step up powerfully towards solutions towards our environmental / social challenges

10. Market your Sustainability Blueprint: use your newly defined model to position your company at the cutting edge and ahead of the competition.

Action Steps for the Week:

* Determine what “Sustainability” means to you and your business
* Assess where your competition is in regards to sustainability
* Commit to overhauling your business practices, incorporating people, planet, and profits
* Review how you can position your company competitively in the marketplace using your Sustainability Blueprint
* Define the team you must bring in to complete the “picture” for your Blueprint
* Use your definition of Sustainability to attract your team

—-

About the Blogger: Stefan Doering is the creator of BEST Coaches’ groundbreaking 90-day “UnReasonable” program which brings to the table his almost 30 years of hard-earned business savvy and 4-plus decades of pure heart.

Stefan started his first company at the age of 17. His later companies included the leaders of major companies and institutions as well as multi-millionaires and billionaires as investors, board members and mentors, and had household names among their clients.

The companies behind these products know we are suckers for teasers, specs, promos, anything at all that can give our thirst just a momentary reprieve. At the same time, this last year especially, we’ve noticed tactics shifting substantially through the age of the Internet.

What used to be a controlled environment has now become a free-for-all frenzy of information being traded and “leaked” online. I can’t tell you how many Crunchgear blog posts I’ve read that dealt with “leaked” specs of various Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, or Sony products. I even remember knowing about the PS3 Slim almost five months in advance of its release. The companies allegedly go to an intense length to hide these rumors with cease and desist letters, threats of legal action, or even just plain denial. We all know though, that at the same time they LET a lot of it happen.

Think about it, it’s almost a way to allow them to control the market without actually violating FTC or SEC rules. I remember recently reading a few reports that Apple was being investigated by the SEC on several counts of insider trading (thanks to Macrumors) which noted that the stocks that were being traded almost seemed like the people had direct knowledge of the inner workings of the company- as if employed there themselves. This is laughable because in all honesty, with all the leaked specs from Chinese manufacturers and distributors and “insider” sources, anyone with a good sense of the calendar-shopping year could have done the same thing. Everyone knows if the next keynote address actually delivers then the stock will skyrocket.

What I think is so fascinating is that while this almost seems like a dirty trick to play on the minds of consumers, I can’t help applaud these companies. It’s Entrepreneurship 101; find an opportunity and exploit the heck out of it to the point that people will be clamoring for your new and innovative product/service.

The hype is 90% of the battle because if done successfully, the product will deliver as expected (and hopefully surpass expectations). If I have to choose my next mp3 player, computer, or touch screen device, I couldn’t care less about who makes it, it’s all about what they can offer and how excited I get for it. I used to be an advent user of Windows software until Vista came out, but after Windows 7 and the announcement of the Courier tablet/journal, I’ve actually considered purchasing one of these new products.

Point being- the leaked specs of the Courier blew my mind away. Seriously- check it out, it’s almost scary what this thing might do and how it will change the way classes and the workplace function. The fact of the matter is that in this new age, every year is a milestone in achievement from the one prior. No longer are we stuck on a plateau. It’s all up hill to the point that the now black and white E-reader market, for instance, will turn into a full on media device with a vibrant color interface and new and improved month long battery life by 2012. You never know, but the hype will keep us coming back.

—

About the Blogger: Landon David Chase is a Student at Syracuse University.

One of the questions posed was: When did you launch your first business?

Assumptions:

*Scale: 1 = 1; 2= 2-5; 3 = 6-10; 4 = 11-25; 5 = 26-50; 6 = 51-100; 7 = 101-250 8 = 251-500; 9 = >500.

Scale: 1 = < $200K; 2 = $200K-$500K; 3 = $500K-$1M; 4 = $1M-$5M; 5 =$5M-$10M; 6 = $10M-$25M;

7 = $25M-50M; 8 = $50M-100M; 9 = > $100M.

¡Scale: 1 = Not particularly successful; 2 = Somewhat successful; 3 = Moderately  successful; 4 = Very successful.

——

Our survey results show first businesses started two to five years after business school perform the best in terms of number of employees, annual revenues and financial returns. They also seem to do even better than businesses founded more than five years after business school. It seems that two to five years after graduation is the “sweet spot,” combining the best of experience and youthful energy. First businesses started after business school clearly did better than those started before or during business school.

On average, 90%of the entrepreneurs felt it was a good professional decision to start their business when they did; only 10% regretted their decision.

In most cases, feeling that starting a business was a good professional decision is highly correlated with success. This is not true, however, for first businesses started before or during business school. In these cases, it appears that people value the learning in a first venture independent of financial success.

——

About the Blogger:

Professor Low is the director of the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center at Columbia Business School.

He is an experienced entrepreneur and a leading authority on entrepreneurship in independent, corporate and not-for-profit settings. Starting businesses in several industries led him to study how the entrepreneurial process differs by context.

His current research examines the dynamics of entrepreneurial careers. As the founder of the Columbia Entrepreneurship Program, he has worked to make entrepreneurship a viable career option for MBA graduates. Low consults to both small and large companies, family businesses and not-for-profits. He teaches executive seminars in the areas of entrepreneurship and strategic management and makes frequent presentations to academic and industry groups.

Here are the reasons why, as well as a few tips on how to make it a little easier.

Opportunity Knocks When You Least Expect It

Most of the conventional wisdom about entrepreneurship would have you believe that entrepreneurs should plan, plot their progress, and plan some more. Planning is great, but sometimes, things will come at you out of left field, and you have to be ready to recognize the opportunity, and make the most of it, almost immediately.

For all the careful planning entrepreneurs do, ask anyone who has enjoyed success (from small business owner to VC-backed company), and they’re likely to tell you that there was a definite turning point. A suggestion, request, or contract that came along, that presented an opportunity that they just couldn’t refuse. It was probably unexpected, and might even have been something entirely new. Learning to seize those opportunities is what makes all the difference.

Good Sales People Are Fast on Their Feet

Maybe no one told you this yet, but when you get started in entrepreneurship, you also begin a career in sales. Except when you are an entrepreneur, you’re not hoping to make your sales target so that you can make a good commission; you’re selling so that your business will succeed.

Good salespeople think on their feet. If they notice a client pulling away from the product or service they’re pushing, they mentally change gears, and offer a different option. They keep that up until they find the item that the client is most interested in buying, and then they close the deal.

As a business owner and entrepreneur, you will need to be able to do exactly the same thing. With clients, suppliers, financiers and everyone else you meet. You’ll have to adjust your pitch almost instantaneously until you find the one that they want to hear. That takes some mighty fancy mental footwork.

What You Do Now Affects Your Entrepreneurial Future

There are many people out there who would like to make entrepreneurship their livelihood, but don’t have any big ideas. Some are stuck in jobs they can’t leave, and they think that being an entrepreneur is something other people do. Not so.

Even if you don’t have any ideas of your own, or you can’t afford to leave your job and dive right into entrepreneurship, there are business ideas you can use.

Take franchises for example. When new franchises become available, they’re often a lot cheaper than they will be five or ten years down the line. If you want to become an entrepreneur, then learning to choose a great franchise opportunity can be as important as coming up with a fantastic new idea of your own. Then again, you could take an old idea, and put your own spin on it.

The light bulb moment for most people comes when they realize that there’s plenty of money out there in the world. All entrepreneurship really is, is finding a way to get it from out there, into your pocket. Making split second decisions, and following your gut, is one way to make sure that happens.

How to Take Advantage of Opportunity

It’s all very well saying that you need to learn to pivot on a dime, and take advantage of opportunity, but it’s a lot harder to put into practice. Here are a few tips you can use to learn to recognize opportunity, and capitalize on it:

• Good entrepreneurs are tuned into opportunities. They listen to everything people say, even in passing. That way, they’re always ready to take advantage.
• If they have an idea, but they lack the business resources to pull it off, they figure out how to go about it. Great entrepreneurs never waste an idea – they work on it until they can take action.
• Just because you’re sure that your business idea is the answer to a specific problem; don’t discount other uses for it. Many great inventions were intended for something completely different to the use they eventually became famous for.
• Never pass up an opportunity. Whether its new franchises, or a business partnership offer, consider everything carefully. You never know when your big break will arrive.

So, if you’re dreaming of entrepreneurial success, start by learning to change course as new opportunities arise. Remember, business is fluid. Nothing is written in stone. Don’t be afraid of change. Embrace it!

—-

About the blogger:

As a successful, under-30 serial entrepreneur, Gary’s game-changing endeavors have been featured on television and in magazines and newspapers across the nation. Gary is a member of the AOL Small Business Board of Directors and the founder of New York Entrepreneur Week (NYEW). Visit his website and follow him on twitter.

There are plenty of people advising that now is the perfect time to start a business. But if debating between business school or starting your own business, how should one think about this decision?

We sat down with business school graduate Kofi Kankam graduate (Wharton MBA, Harvard BA) and founder of a successful startup, to get some perspectives on these questions. Most notably, Kofi runs, Admit Advantage, an MBA consulting company which helps professionals with admission into top-tier MBA programs.

Even though he is in the business of helping people get into business school, Kofi warns, “What is clear to us after a few years of formally engaging in this process is that going to business school is not as much of a slam-dunk choice as many are led to believe. It has to be analyzed carefully because going can be a mistake even if you can get in.”

Below are excerpts from our detailed conversation with Kofi. For those of you considering business school or starting your own business, here are some tips. Kofi offers insights and questions to consider as you think about these very important decisions.

First, it may be useful to understand what Admit does.

Admit works with prospective candidates internationally to help them gain acceptance to top MBA programs. It took a few years, but we have developed a fairly robust process to help these candidates mitigate their weaknesses, craft engaging narratives, develop a rigorous brand, and position themselves to compete.

In terms of actual services, we offer items like overall strategy, essay structure/editing/review, mock interviews, resume development, school selection advice, recommendation management, and a few others including “Ding” analysis which involves working with students to determine why they were not accepted and plot their strategy for their reapplication. It’s an intense process.

Interestingly, for many of our prospects we encounter some of the very issues of this ChubbyBrain dialogue: Does it make sense for them to go school? What if they have a great idea/company? How can they take most advantage of it if they do go? What are the risks?

Before we get into the questions specifically around business school or startup, give us some sense for business school applicants and admission trends and any quick tips for those who are considering applying.

Ok. We have observed two dominant trends in the past nine months. First, we are seeing a lot of younger applicants who have had a job for only few years and have had limited ability to demonstrate leadership in the workplace. For these candidates, we are strongly suggesting they seek leadership in their company through peripheral initiatives such as recruiting or community service.

The second interesting, yet unsurprising trend, is a large set of people with more significant gaps in their work experience due to the economic layoffs. A few years ago people filled those resume gaps with nebulous independent consulting assignments, today this strategy is a lot more risky as admissions committees are very aware that “independent consulting” is usually an employment gap. Also, there is a risk that this employment will be scrutinized in the background check process. We advise people to be honest about employment gaps, and if they lose their job, to immediately identify a leadership role in a community service organization or to write a business plan. Community service can demonstrate that candidates are well-rounded and have leadership opportunity while a business plan underscores initiative and innovation. Both of these tactics can turn an employment gap into a positive asset as opposed to a sheepish effort to cover it up.

Since your business is about helping people get into business school, can you give us some context for the picture applicants are facing? How competitive is the market?

The market already was really competitive for some of the top schools, but in the last year it has become even more intense. For the top programs, candidates often feel discouraged. We had a candidate who is at Harvard who told us that a recruiting event she attended for prospective female candidates which had 240 persons in 2007 had over 400 women at the same event! Applications at the top ten to fifteen programs were up over 13% in a single year. Of course, the number of spots is not increasing so the competition is fierce. Obviously, the economy is a huge factor in this increase: Last year (most applicants applied by January of 2009 for entry this fall), people were beginning to expect to get fired. This year, the layoffs actually happened. We’re finding candidates who are seeking an MBA as much for the refuge from the corporate tsunami as for the typical training, contacts, credibility, and industry-transfer reasons. Also, more individuals want to raise their safety net a bit thinking it is harder to get fired from a firm if you have an MBA – I don’t think that is totally correct, but many candidates believe this notion. The time when a candidate with a strong GPA, reputable firm, and strong recommendations could feel comfortable gaining admittance into a top-tier program without compelling essays and expressed contribution to a school’s MBA community is over.

A recent article by a Harvard MBA posited that an MBA from Harvard Business School which was “once regarded as a golden ticket to riches” is “more like scarlet letters of shame” today. Do you give any credence to the idea that the value of an MBA has diminished given our current woes and the feeling amongst some segment that MBAs drove these issues?

No, I really do not. Of course there are many articles lambasting the ill-formed and greedy actions of those with MBAs. Frankly, some of those stories are appropriate and may have persuaded the general public to look with derision on this degree. So, while you may not be able to impress a potential date with the fact you have an MBA degree (not recommended, by the way) – does it really matter in terms of your career progression? Hardly, in my opinion. Beyond the general populace not being as enthralled with an MBA, I’ll concede even more points on the diminished value of the MBA:

First, beyond the top 20 to 25 MBA programs, the value has diminished because companies are shortening their list of feeder schools (dropping some altogether and lowering the amount of students they take from others). Much as a coach shortens his or her bench in the NCAA tourney, many firms are not hiring as aggressively outside of the name-brand programs.

In a related manner, an MBA holder from a program outside of this elite class may not enhance his or her status in the same manner as previously.

Additionally, the timeline for paying back the MBA loans has lengthened. Financial companies, the destination of several MBA alums (including those who eventually start their own companies) are restructuring their salary/bonus configurations (or just slashing bonus pools). If this effect stays in place, which it likely will for the companies who are now bank holding companies as opposed to investment banks, the loan payback will take years longer. Also, premier consulting companies will not hire as many people, compelling students to seek employment in other companies (consulting and non-consulting) whose pay packages are not as rich.

So, why is an MBA still of great value for Chubbybrain readers and others even within this current dismal economic climate and environment of disdain for some with MBAs?

• The training is still really relevant for starting your own business or working within the popular fields of consulting, marketing, and finance. In fact, amidst this economic mess, who are some of the folks called in to help fix the problem? MBAs. The head of the office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight is a Harvard MBA which is untangling the mess of Fannie and Freddie Mae. The current person in charge of overseeing the distribution of the head of the $700 billion TARP fund distributions is a Wharton MBA. The value of the training is needed more than ever.
• The opportunities in several fields of entrepreneurship which are arising due to the disintermediation/disruption in the entire global economy are ripe for those with strong financial training, ability to devise strategy, a wide base of contacts/relationships, and the credibility to be heard. Those characteristics are endemic to MBAs.
• Though there are new entrepreneurs to become household names like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, or Richard Branson in emerging fields like solar, clean/green tech, nanotechnology and others, their cadre of first-tier employees will likely consist of MBAs. And, those employees will be well-compensated, may be counted as founders, and will likely be well-positioned to start their own companies in other fields. This very evening, I’m going to meet with a friend with a top-tier MBA degree who was an early employee (#3) of a technology company and who recently received funding to start his own related venture. Often the best entrepreneurs who get their shot to run their own venture are ones with contacts to angel investors and VCs – a built-in advantage for well-connected MBAs.
• When people get laid off, some of the best networks for potential employment opportunities are derived from their MBA contacts/MBA alumni networks.
• The MBA is a long-term play. Even three years ago, few economists beyond Nassim Taleb, predicted the economic markets would be roiled by widespread malaise. Who knows where we will be in five years or ten years? So to focus on the snapshot of now is not really sensible. In fact, a member of Chubbybrain who applies to school this fall/winter will not finish school until 2012 in three years! The assets of training, contacts, credibility and others will likely be constant. It’s questionable that the economic environment will be.

With financial services and consulting industries being a major source of jobs for MBAs in the past, do you think the ROI on an MBA holds?

I do. As previously mentioned, I think that the long-term stature of the degree has to be factored into any analysis of the return on investment (including time and lost wages). The return is present if an MBA candidate is attending for a specific and actionable purpose. It may be there if the person is going to school to figure out what they want to do, but that is a very risky proposition and a steppingstone for buyer’s remorse. For me, that’s not good enough to risk that time, money, and lack of immersion within my career path. Most MBA programs feel the same way and spend a copious amount of time reviewing the essays to test the focus and reason for seeking admittance of all their candidates.

With that context, let;s discuss the question of business school vs entrepreneurship.

Ok.

There are some people considering business school who may be contemplating studying entrepreneurship while at business school. There are many successful entrepreneurs who say that you learn by doing and so that business school is not required and that the $100k+ investment you’re making could be used to fund and grow your business and that $100k+ can buy you real-world lessons. As someone who went to business school and who has started their own successful business, what are your thoughts on this for yourself and more generally?

Well, $100K is actually closer to $300K. Most top-tier programs cost about $70K in terms of tuition and budget (books, meals, travel, entertainment, etc. . .) Let’s assume that most candidates to business school have worked for three to four years and are making $65K per year (high in some areas/fields and dramatically low in others, even today). That’s $140K for school and $130K in lost wages. So, a price-tag of $270K is more realistic. But, business school is still a great choice for many people for the following reasons:

In my estimation, the $140K they spent is likely not going to be enough money for them to build the product, harness a team, market the product/service, and distribute it. For most people, even with $270K, the lack of additional funding, limited skills, and restricted time (assuming the individuals work part-time to maintain their salary) will prove very difficult to overcome.

Additionally, so many people have creative ideas or entrepreneurial energy, but not necessarily an actual potential business. Business school is a great place to get your ideas vetted, and gain the skill/training to launch your company or join a young company, get well-compensated with time and be situated to start your own later.

On-the-job training is always necessary a bit, but too much can paralyze a company if the entrepreneur cannot move quickly enough. With an MBA, you give yourself a chance to ask the right questions (if you can’t provide the answers) and have resources amongst those who can help.

Even with an idea, most entrepreneurs need serious funding. For people who are not independently wealthy or from prominent business undergrad schools like UVA, Wharton or Sloan, the MBA is a great chance to build a rolodex of influential angel investors and potential VCs amongst classmates and, potentially, professors.

An entrepreneur has a strong platform on which to contact and interact with successful entrepreneurs. As an MBA student, the entrepreneur can leverage the program related clubs (i.e. Entrepreneurship Club) to establish access to anyone in a way that he/she would not be able to do on their own. As an example, in my second year of school, I had the chance to meet and interact with Bob Johnson, the billionaire media mogul, because I invited him to speak at a conference I led. I never would have made it past his secretary if I had called without the banner of Wharton.

Investor credibility – While investors would be most impressed with someone who built a successful company and is seeking funding for a second company, having a strong MBA degree with a well-constructed business plan, financial model and executive summary are a boon also. Suddenly, the entrepreneur is no longer a random figure with no track record. She is an alumnus of school X with an interesting idea and a great chance to gain a meeting. When investors, customers, and potential employees have nothing to go on with a new entrepreneur, having a strong school on which to hang your hat is really significant.

In business school, you develop a base of contacts to get pulled into ideas by other people. It is typical for one classmate to have an idea and build it with another friend who may not be the creative type.

The entrepreneur builds a “Plan B” while working on his idea. With an MBA, there is an opportunity to make serious money to either moonlight (like writing business plans for others) while working on his concept/new company or get a strong job (even now) to fund his moonlighting entrepreneurial activities.

Many people start companies related to the field in which they work: i.e. New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg worked at Salomon Brothers before developing his financial terminals that gained him acclaim and eventual billionaire status. Business school can help an entrepreneurial aspirant break into a field in which there is entrepreneurial opportunity.

Most of the top business schools have strong implementation components: a) Classes that one takes to implement a plan related to product development, pricing, marketing and distribution, copyright protection, venture capital, and angel networks; b) Business plan competitions for funding, feedback, and support; c) business incubators where one’s company can be nurtured and grown; and d) Alumni networks and angel investment groups after graduation.

Can business schools create better entrepreneurs?

No, they cannot. I resist the word “create” because I just don’t believe in that conception. The business schools can nurture entrepreneurial spirits, but I don’t think they are going to create entrepreneurs. An MBA candidate who becomes a successful entrepreneur is going to have to enter with stock of some of these assets: a) Idea; b) Prodigious skill/talent; c) Ability to deal with ambiguity; d) Relentless ability to execute; e) Strong communication skills; f) Ability to bring varied people/interests together. If a person has those assets, for the reasons mentioned above, a school can nurture them. But, paradoxically, because of the debt that many students find themselves in and impending adulthood (i.e. marriage, buying a dwelling, kids, etc.. .) it gets difficult to have flexibility to pursue that idea. Now, one is $270K poorer and needs to address some human needs on Maslow’s level before embarking on a strenuous and financially arduous journey. He or she may be more risk-averse due to this increased financial burden. That is the paradox. A person can be better trained, but more restricted from acting on that premise. So, to pursue entrepreneurship at business school, one has to have a real operating plan for how to leverage the program. They have to think about the financial horizon and plan accordingly.

In contrast to the above group, there are also many wondering which thing should they pursue, e.g. business school or starting their own business. As someone who is an entrepreneur, who has attended business school and whose business is advising people on getting into business school, how do you think someone thinking about business school vs. founding a startup should think about this question? What framework or questions should they ask themselves to help make their decision?

The questions/frameworks that should be considered rely on the previous discussion points. A little bit of advice I would offer your readers include several key items to consider.

One, you must distinguish if you: A) Have entrepreneurial spirit and plan to attend business school, but are considering not attending because you worry about thinking of an idea and being hamstrung in pursuing it versus B) Are an entrepreneur now with a idea/concept who is considering whether you should go to school to further develop it.

It takes a bit of honesty to classify yourself in group “A”, but I think this position is where most people lie. The romance of starting a company is powerful, but most MBA applicants don’t actually have anything to build and may be satisfied being close to the action with a bit of equity upside if the service is a hit. In that case, business school is a bit more tenable provided the other issues raised (the candidate’s plan) are addressed.

The latter classification, “B”, is not just someone “who wants to start something”. If you have a viable idea, there are a myriad of other questions that you have to consider before you opt to venture to business school or stay out and build. These questions include:

• Do you have the skill set to implement the idea or do you not have the skills to build the product/service into a company? If you need those skills, then you may need to go to business school to have a viable shot. If you actually have the tools, business school may be more of a desire than a necessity.

• Even if you have the capacity to build your product/service, do you have the contacts and credibility to obtain funding from angels and venture capitalists? Determine the approximate capital outlay that you need to build your company. If you can build a company with capital from your reserves, this issue may not be relevant (i.e. building a web design firm). If you need outside capital because you are of limited means and/or need a lot of money, business school can be a fantastic entry point to obtain capital.

• How will you obtain employees? Do you have a reservoir of management or technologists to help you or are you “outside the matrix” for finding those people? Who is going to help you build? Who will you partner with and who will you hire? If you are not clear on your personnel assets at the beginning, you are likely not going to make it work. If you are seeking a unit of other managers, business/strategists to hire, and even technologists, business school may prove very fruitful.

• Is there time-sensitivity to building your company due to either the marketplace or even your own timeframe? Business school is not an option if you see other competitors in your marketplace who are months ahead of you and/or signing up limited customers. Of course, if that corporate nemesis exists, you may not even want to enter the industry for any reason. If you are thinking of buying a house/apartment in three years, it is hard to see how you can attend business school and start a new company at the same time.

The critical step is to analyze both your intended industry’s lifecycle and your own personal life schedule to determine if you can afford to push your effective start-date back by two years (three if you accept that you won’t be starting business school until Fall 2010 at the earliest)

• Do you have the financial capacity to absorb the $150K debt (and $270K in economic impact including lost wages) and build your company after school? Determine what your monthly loan payment will be and how you will pay for it. Will you take a job immediately after business school? Do you have savings to lessen how much money you borrow? How does this analysis mesh with the previous exploration of time-sensitivity? Even if you gain the fullest training, contacts, and credibility, is the weight of the huge debt going to compel you to work within a firm for multiple years so that you won’t pursue your entrepreneurial idea anyway?

Again, the critical thing is to determine if you are willing to sacrifice working on your product/service full-time while you work within a job to help pay off the debt after school? Determine if your partner is willing to accept the sacrifice in time for your relationship

• Is there a way to creatively be in school and still move your company forward so that solid progress is achieved before you graduate? Determine if you can start your company now with a partner who can run it while you go to school to leverage the aforementioned assets (contacts, training, credibility) while your partner runs operations during the day? Also, determine if you can take the company concept and work on it through your classes through developing the business plan, finding team members, obtaining legal representation, and possible funding sources.

• What tools are you going to actively obtain and leverage on campus? Think about the courses that you will seek to take. What the types of classmates that will be important for making your company successful (skill sets, industry positioning, international placement)? What clubs or organizations will your join and lead? Who do you need/want to meet for your company and how can you leverage the assets of school X to obtain this access? How will you harness the alumni or other school affiliates for your company?

For us, it’s a challenge to determine for most applicants who are looking to traverse the well-traveled path of working in specific industries. For individuals like the readers of ChubbyBrain and those of us seeking entrepreneurial success, it is even more difficult. Ultimately, we’re pretty bullish on business school, but only after a sober assessment for each applicant.