Facts of Becoming an Entrepreneur

Ideas Worth Millions

2013-11-19T16:33:00.001-08:00

Tough times don’t last–but tough companies do. Even with venture funding falling off a cliff, a handful of companies with great ideas, money-saving products or ideas just too great (or cheap) not to fund can attract enough loot to keep their doors open and their servers warm.
In 2008, venture capitalists poured $28.3 billion into more than 3,800 companies. That was lower than in years past–about 8% less in dollars and 4% fewer deals, according to the National Venture Capital Association, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Thomson Reuters. Money got much tighter at the end of the year too, with investments down to a mere $5.4 billion, a 26% decline from the third quarter.

In Pictures: 10 Ideas Worth Millions

When money is scarce, what a smart venture capitalist will pay for says plenty–the pressure is on for products and services that can get to market quick with either a relatively solid revenue stream or something a big acquirer just can’t live without.
Venture capitalists are in the business of placing money, so they have to bet on something, even in scary times. With a mandate like that, the occasional cheap enough speculation has its place too.
So what grabbed people’s attention? Some deals, of course, are big number investments that are continuations of efforts started several years earlier. For instance, Nanosolar, which is developing novel techniques for making thin-film photovoltaic cells, announced in August it had swept up $300 million in additional funding, bringing its six-year start-up kitty to more than $500 million.
Smaller solar companies, such as Xunlight, which has a rollable film of solar cells, also won additional funding. (Last year Xunlight added about $15 million to its funding, bringing its resources to $40 million).
Other energy-saving ideas also gained momentum. Project Frog, based in San Francisco, has designed modular, snap-together structures for classrooms or offices, a nice improvement over trailers or “portables.” Better than just cheap, however, the structures aim for energy efficiency and use non-toxic building materials–two features that make this a good “green tech” fit. Project Frog won $8 million in funding from investors, including Rockport Capital Partners.
Saving money is on everyone’s minds–including venture investors. YouLicense created a Web-based marketplace for contract music that gets used in ads, movies, Web backgrounds and any place where a tune will help. The company gets a 9% commission on deals, which typically run $20 to $150 apiece. YouLicense won $1 million in support.
Others are trying to mix the popularity of social networking with the desire to save a few bucks. Start-up iList lets people post and search classified ads on the Web for free–and add them to whatever communications stream you like best–such as Twitter, Gmail, Facebook and so on. Investors, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, figured this was worth a $1.5 million bet.
This year probably will not start out much better for funding, but take heart: This is still the 21st century, with more opportunity for great ideas in more places than any other time. Tough times do not last forever. While they are here, think cheap, think convenient, and keep your chin up.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/29/innovations-venture-capital-technology_0129_innovations.html

By: Quentin Hardy, Forbes Staff

Estée Lauder | Famous Entrepreneur

2012-03-11T08:00:00.004-07:00

Estée Lauder was born on July 1, 1906 and died on April 24, 2004. He was an American famous entrepreneur who was the co-founder, along with her husband, Joseph Lauder, of Estée Lauder Companies, her eponymous cosmetics company. Lauder was the only female on TIME magazine’s 1998 listing of the 20 most important business prodigies of the 20th century. She was the receiver of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was inducted on the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1988.

She was born Josephine Esther Mentzer in Corona, Queens in 1906, one among nine children born to a Hungarian Jewish mother, Rose Schotz Rosenthal, along with a Czechoslovak Jewish father, Max Mentzer. When she was a child, her parents want to name her Esty, following her mother’s most loved Hungarian aunt. When it was time for the clerk to write down at the certificate of a birth, her mother decided to go with Esther rather than Esty. She did so for the reason that Esty was too uncommon and no one learned how to spell it. Esty was her parents’ play name. When her father pronounced Esty, it was like Estée, resulting from his accent. Most of her child years were spent working to make ends meet with most of the 9 children assisting out at the family’s home improvement store.

It was whilst working in this retail store that Lauder got her first preference of business. Her father’s shop presented her a better knowledge of entrepreneurship and what it takes to become a successful shop. Her childhood aspiration was to grow to be an actress, her name in lights, flowers as well as handsome men.

In 1953, Lauder presented her 1st scent, Youth Dew, a bath oil that doubled as a perfume. Instead of making use of their French perfumes by the drop behind each ear, women were using Youth Dew by the bottle within their bath water. Within the 1st year Youth Dew marketed fifty thousand, by 1984, the figure had improved to one hundred and fifty million. Lauder was a topic of a 1985 TV documentary, Estee Lauder: The Sweet Smell of Success. Describing her achievements, she said, “I have never spent a day in my life without selling. If I have confidence in something, I market it, and I sell it hard.”

The Hardest Working People on the Planet

2012-03-04T15:12:00.001-08:00

As entrepreneurs working hard is a given (if you want to be successful that is). Of course, there’s always a question of just what truly is working hard. I’ve found that most entrepreneurs, if compared to the average office worker at a big company, work extremely hard. However, just because you’re working harder than your buddy at some Dundler Mifflin clone doesn’t mean that you’re actually working hard. Instead, you need to be comparing yourself to some of the hardest working people on the planet
To help with that, I’ve assembled some inspirational stories of hard-working entrepreneurs with some non-business folks mixed in for good measure. Two caveats. First, hard work is completely irrelevant is you’re not working smart and being productive. Second, hard work is also counter-productive if you’re sacrificing your health to an extreme degree and if the increase in quantity of hours worked is leading to a decrease in your creativity (often the case!). With that being said, here’s some stories of people who’ve worked about as hard as a human being can.
Jeff Immelt – A few years back I read a story about Jeff entitled The Bionic Manager which reset my thinking about what hard work is. Here are a couple of passages from it:

Immelt, 49, says he’s been working 100 hours a week for 24 years. That does not take him back to his 1978 graduation from Dartmouth, where he was football team captain (as offensive tackle) and a fraternity president who liked to party….Most hard-charging types have put in a 100-hour week or two. But month after month, year after year—is that even possible? Let’s do the math. If you worked from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week, you’d still be two hours short of 100 hours. If Immelt has been working that hard for 24 years, then he has already done 60 years’ worth of 40-hour weeks.

Here he is on a recent swing through San Francisco: The first meeting is with institutional investors at 7 a.m. Then he addresses some 200 retail investors at 8:30, standing comfortably for 25 minutes with his left hand in his pocket and his right hand holding his PowerPoint remote; after his talk, he answers questions for an hour. Then it’s more institutional investors, followed by GE salespeople in Burlingame, a presentation to customers, and finally a big reception for customers and top salespeople. He seems as energetic at the end of the day as at the beginning. He had run virtually the same routine in Los Angeles the day before.

Mark Cuban – Cuban has written some posts on his most excellent blog on the subject of hard work and loving what you do. Here is one of my favorite excerpts:

The edge is getting so jazzed about what you do, you just spent 24 hours straight working on a project and you thought it was a couple hours. The edge is knowing that you have to be the smartest guy in the room when you have your meeting and you are going to put in the effort to learn whatever you need to learn to get there. The edge is knowing is knowing that when the 4 girlfriends you have had in the last couple years asked you which was more important, them or your business, you gave the right answer…The edge is knowing how to blow off steam a couple times a week, just so you can refocus on business…The edge is recognizing when you are wrong, and working harder to make sure it doesn’t happen again. (from The Sport of Business)

Steve Pavlina and Seth Godin – These guys have written millions of words in their relatively young careers, authored books, spoken at conferences and started companies largely as one-man shows. They do more in a year than most people do in a lifetime and are well worth learning from!
Steve sums up his philosophy towards hard work pretty well in the aptly titled post “Hard Work“:

Hard work pays off. When someone tells you otherwise, beware the sales pitch for something “fast and easy” that’s about to come next. The greater your capacity for hard work, the more rewards fall within your grasp. The deeper you can dig, the more treasure you can potentially find…Your life will reach a whole new level when you stop avoiding and fearing hard work and simply surrender to it. Make it your ally instead of your enemy. It’s a potent tool to have on your side.

Seth has a similar post entitled “Labor Day“:

Your great-grandfather knew what it meant to work hard. He hauled hay all day long, making sure that the cows got fed. In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser writes about a worker who ruptured his vertebrae, wrecked his hands, burned his lungs, and was eventually hit by a train as part of his 15-year career at a slaughterhouse. Now that’s hard work…Hard work is about risk. It begins when you deal with the things that you’d rather not deal with: fear of failure, fear of standing out, fear of rejection. Hard work is about training yourself to leap over this barrier, tunnel under that barrier, drive through the other barrier. And, after you’ve done that, to do it again the next day.

Eminem and Kanye West – These guys have legendary work ethics. Witness:

It is a little-known fact that the only book Eminem read as a child was the dictionary. He pored over it, searching for words that rhymed with each other that could later be pulled out of the bag during the freestyle rap “battles” that provided his education in hip-hop. The years spent studying the English language lie at the core of his technical brilliance. They turned him into the greatest rapper of his time. But they did so at a personal cost: for Eminem could be uncharitably described as an anorak. His life starts and ends with music. He writes constantly, scrawling lines on sheets of notepaper in a crabby handwriting. When he’s not composing new verse, or messing around in a studio, he’ll be listening to hip-hop. “The guy’s a studio rat,” says producer Terry Simaan, the owner of Oh Trey 9, one of the Detroit’s most influential hip-hop labels. “If he feels like it, he’ll spend 12, 15 hours a day in a studio.” (From Eminem: The fall and rise of a superstar)

But West initially had trouble convincing Roc-A-Fella execs to let him make his own album as a rapper. He was able to change their minds only after the accident that inspired his breakthrough single, Through the Wire. Exhausted from working around the clock, West fell asleep behind the wheel of his Lexus and got into a crash that nearly killed him. He was back in the studio three weeks later, recording that hit song with his broken jaw wired shut. (From Genius Is As Genius Does)

(Note to self…take a cab or have someone else drive you if you’re working your tail off!!)
Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods – While these guys haven’t exactly been choir boys the last few years they’ve definitely worked their tail off to get to where they are. Here are some of my favorite articles about them:
Commuting to Staples Center with Kobe Bryant
Kobe’s well-honed killer instinct

It’s 1995, and Bryant is the senior leader of the Lower Merion team, obsessed with winning a state championship. He comes to the gym at 5 a.m. to work out before school, stays until 7 p.m. afterward. It’s all part of the plan. When the Aces lost in the playoffs the previous spring, Bryant stood in the locker room, interrupting the seniors as they hugged each other, and all but guaranteed a title, adding, “The work starts now.”

(Don’t miss Spike Lee’s documentary about Kobe either!)
Tiger vs Phil Part Two: Work ethic.

I refuse to let anyone outwork me. That’s the reason I log so much time on the practice range. Besides, hard work is the only way to maintain a competitive edge, and I enjoy the process. The key, though, is to practice with a purpose.

Tiger’s Daily Routine and Workout Regimen
The Beatles – Gladwell made their Hamburg-era work ethic famous in Outliers. Here’s the passage in case you missed it:

“All told, they performed for 270 nights in just over a year and a half. By the time they had their first burst of success in 1964, in fact, they had performed live an estimated twelve hundred times. … Most bands today don’t perform twelve hundred times in their entire careers. The Hamburg crucible is one of the things that set the Beatles apart.” (From this blog post about the band)

Yolanda and Rogelio Garcia Sr. – You’ve never heard of these two and I hadn’t either until I stumbled across this article talking about how they put their kids through college:

For 21 years, the Garcias have supported their family by picking through garbage, often cutting their fingers on broken glass while searching for cans and bottles. Late at night they make their living on the darkened streets and back alleys of Los Angeles, recycling other people’s trash for cash. They’ve collected more than 8 million cans and bottles to help put two children through college. Their youngest is still hitting the books, so Yolanda and Rogelio still hit the streets every night.

OK, perhaps this doesn’t fit the definition of working as smart as possible but nevertheless, reading stories like this reminds us that our “hard work” probably isn’t as hard as we think.

http://jonbischke.com/2009/12/30/hardest-working-people-on-the-planet/

10 Most Successful Businessmen

2012-02-29T09:39:00.002-08:00

A list of the ten most successful businessmen of all time includes some of history's most industrious workers and innovative entrepreneurs. In most cases, these men invented entire industries and changed the course of history.

    John D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller is the richest man of all time when adjusted for inflation and is certainly one of the ten most successful businessmen. He created Standard Oil and completely monopolized the oil industry, controlling every level of production from start to finish.
    Henry Ford. Ford created the Ford Motor Company and essentially, the automobile industry. His developments changed the way factories ran, the way society operated and the face of the country. His company remains a major world force today.
    Bill Gates. Gates became one of the ten most successful businessmen of all time in the 1980’s when the software he developed—Microsoft—took over the computing world. Nearly all computers run Microsoft, and Gates is a major player in world economics.
    Thomas Edison. Edison not only invented an item nearly every person in the world uses everyday, the light bulb, he also was the holder of over 1,000 patents at the time of his death. A symbol of innovation, persistence and entrepreneurship, he is definitely one of the ten most successful businessmen in history.
    Soichiro Honda. Honda is certainly one of the ten most successful businessmen in world history. He began making small motorcycles in Japan in the mid 20th century and then moved into the auto industry. His eponymous car company grew and gained a significant foothold in the United States, opening the way for Japanese exports and establishing a reputation for quality and reliability.
    Steven Jobs. Jobs was co-founder of Apple, the company that introduced a practical personal computer to the world, and is one of the ten most successful businessmen in the country. He has stayed at the helm of Apple, a company that continues to release incredibly popular products.
    Carlos Slim. Slim moved into the spot of “world’s richest man” and obviously, one of the ten most successful businessmen in the world. He has made his money in the telecom industry and is the CEO of three companies.
    Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie was an immigrant bobbin boy in a factory as a child, and decades later, he became the biggest steel magnate the world had ever seen. In his later years, he gave away a large part of his vast fortune.
    JP Morgan. Morgan, one of the ten most successful businessmen ever, was one of a handful of corporate titans on the American scene at the turn of the 20th century. He was a banker and oversaw industrial consolidations in major industries, such as steel and electronics. He stepped in during a financial crisis and saved many New York banks in 1907.
    Michael Dell. Dell was an engineering whiz as a youngster and started a computer building business while in college. His company, today, is one of the biggest tech firms in the world, and most Americans spend their time online using a Dell computer.
Source: http://www.mademan.com/mm/10-most-successful-businessmen.html

Michael Dell’s Success Story

2012-02-27T14:39:00.003-08:00

Here is a very inspiring success story about a billionaire who became a very successful entrepreneur at a very young age. Just like every other success people, he started with almost nothing but the ideas in his head.
Michael Dell is a very committed guy, when he created a plan, he’ll pursue it with full strength. And this explains that how he made his $1,000 by just selling stamps at the age of 12! Can you imagine that? Selling stamps at such a young age and make $1,000 from that. Many of us can’t even save $1,000 from our salary. But he made his first $1,000 by just selling stamps.
He later sold the newspaper subscription for Houston Post, which developed his confidence making him even more money. It is told that he made enough money to buy a BMW by the age of 16. Most people can’t earn enough money to buy a BMW even with their entire life saving. But this guy, Michael Dell, made enough money to purchase a BMW at the age of 16.
Michael then planned his life well at the age of 19. He knew exactly what he wanted to achieve in his life and eventually, he achieved it. Knowing what you want in your life is one of the most important success strategies that you must adopt. If you don’t know what you want to achieve in your life, you’ll never achieve it. First set your target, then keep on pursuing it. Just like what Michael Dell did at the age of 19, he planned his life and set his goals to achieve higher success.
Michael later went to college to study biology as his parents want him to be a doctor. However, a year later, he quit his studies and continue to pursue his dreams. He wanted to be a successful entrepreneur. This is what you have to do as well if you know exactly what you want. You need to have the courage to pursue your dreams.
Michael developed his intense passion in computers when he was 15. When his parents got him an Apple computer when he was 15, instead of using it, he dissembled the computer into parts to find out how it worked. After that, he bought an IBM computer and studied more about assembling computers. Which he finally mastered the technique that made him a billionaire at a very young age (Millionaire Habit #7 – Be 100% committed).
In 1984, Michael started his dream venture with $1,000. He followed through his business plan and keep on working on it. In his room in the university, he assembled computers for customers according to their requirements and sell them directly to his customers.
His business idea was new because he assembled all the computers according to his customer’s preferences and sell directly at a low price. He was the first to introduce the direct sales method in the IT industry. The direct sales clicked and there was huge demand for computers. Dell knew that he could beat computer dealers by selling a lower price with good technical service (Millionaire Habit #1 – Always Exceed Expectations).
Just like every other successful people, Dell started small. Most of his orders were placed through friends and acquaintances who spread the word around. And by steadily developing his business, he moved to a small office and hired a few people to take orders and upgrade machines. Avoiding a third party to sell computers turned out to be profitable and the company grew at a seriously fast clip.
Later in May 1983, Dell incorporated the company as Dell Computer Corporation. In 1985, Dell started to design and make computers with components sourced from outside. His focus, right from the beginning, was on customers and good service. He kept his vision and move toward his dreams step-by-step.
All his hard work paid off handsomely. By 1992, Dell Computer Corporation entered the Fortune 500 list of the largest companies in the world. At the age of 27, he became the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company. And the rest is history.
Another one of the success strategies that Dell used is that the company was one of the very first to sell computers on the Internet. This too became a huge hit. In 1999, Dell launched Gigabuys.com, an online store featuring computer-related products.
Not only that, his business kept on growing and become the No. 1 player in the American market. Can you see it now? How Michael Dell started from $1,000 and built his giant IT business worth more than $100 billion. It has been a very successful journey for Dell.
In 1999, with his wife, he formed the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, which has an endowment of more than $1 billion and focuses on children’s issues. This shows that Dell knows the miracle of tithing. If you want to be a successful i your life, you must first make other people successful. If you want to be a millionaire, donate and help more people to become richer. This is the law of the universe.
Source: http://www.themillionairesecrets.net/michael-dells-success-story/

Starting a business from scratch

2012-02-25T07:01:00.003-08:00

Ntuthuko Shezi's journey as an entrepreneur started when, as a schoolboy in rural Ndwedwe in KwaZulu-Natal, he sold vetkoek and fried fish. After that he mowed lawns in Bedfordview. He now runs a multimillion-rand vehicle repair business out of two of the country's busiest airports.

It is not any old vehicle repair business -- Scratch Mobile is one of a kind in Africa, if not the world. Shezi's company will fix the dents, scratches and chipped windscreens on your vehicle while you fly. On your return to the airport parking bay, your vehicle looks as good as new.

"Fix a scratch, collect the cash," Shezi said with a broad smile. It sounds simple, but his journey shows that great entrepreneurial ideas often take considerable time in the business school of hard knocks.

But behind Shezi (30) stands a global entrepreneurship incubator, Endeavor, which has two mentorship programmes to help emerging entrepreneurs to develop their innovations and to build them up regionally -- or even globally.

Endeavor was founded in South America in 1999 -- its roots are firmly embedded in the developing world -- and has offices in 11 countries in South America, the Middle East and Africa.

It opened an office in South Africa in 2004 and since then has incubated 43 start-up businesses that between them have generated more than R1-billion in turnover, created more than 12 000 jobs and grown at a combined average of 30% a year. In the 2009-2010 financial year alone, amid a global economic recession, these companies generated R300-million in turnover, up 67% on the previous year, and created 588 new jobs.

Difficulties
Entrepreneurs in developing economies face unique difficulties, according to Malik Fal, Endeavor South Africa's managing director and a former head of Microsoft's operations division in Africa.

A relaxed Fal, shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows, said that entrepreneurs like Shezi were "the missing middle" of the economic pyramid in developing countries who had "traditionally been given the short end of the stick".

Sandwiched between the large, self-sufficient corporations operating worldwide and the "poorest of the poor", who were the focus of most government attention, entrepreneurs were often left to muddle along on their own.
Endeavor's South Africa office has a network of more than 120 business leaders who mentor entrepreneurs on a voluntary basis. Partnerships with local and international business schools allow entrepreneurs to study locally and abroad.

Their businesses provide case studies for MBA students who in turn provide feedback. Other partner organisations such as Deloitte and Ernst & Young donate free accounting and consultancy services to entrepreneurs that they could not otherwise afford.

"We do almost everything a private equity fund would do, but without providing capital," Fal said.

He said that, although access to funding was a hurdle for entrepreneurs in developing economies, that was easier to overcome than a lack of access to networks and knowledge. "The natural networks of friends and relatives in business, which exist everywhere in developed economies, do not exist in economies where business in its current form has been conducted only between people for two or three generations," Fal said.

'Accentuating the positive'
An entrepreneur has to raise his or her own capital, which eliminates many chancers, even before the arduous 12-month Endeavor selection process begins. Endeavor's philosophy is to replace the idea of poverty reduction with that of wealth creation.

"We aim to accentuate the positive, not the negative, and to undo the deep psychological impact implicit in such negativity," Fal said.

What support does Endeavor get from government? Fal's relaxed demeanour slips: "None, man! Don't get me started! In Brazil, the government contributes 30% of Endeavor's budget and has created its own agency to incubate entrepreneurs on a massive scale. In South Africa? Nothing!"

That was despite South Africa being awash with entrepreneurs whose skills could be developed, with a huge impact on job and wealth creation.

Shezi spoke fondly of his mother, a teacher, and his maternal grandparents in Ndwedwe, whose business acumen had seen them prosper beyond the limitations of their paltry government salaries and grants. Shezi said he learned how to "grow money" from their example.

When he bought a new car, which acquired scratches and dents over several months, it cost him thousands of rands in repairs. He sensed his opportunity. He bought a van and the registration number 083 SCRATCH, which he daubed on the side, and set out to undercut the competition.

Although working full-time at Accenture, Shezi would receive phone calls requesting his services during the week. He would rustle the pages of a magazine near the phone speaker and say, "We're fully booked this week, ma'am … let me see … oh, wait, someone's cancelled on Saturday morning".

Shezi, with no panel beating or painting experience, would collect another company's off-duty panel beater, give him a pair of Scratch Mobile overalls and get the job done.

In the first month -- November 2006 -- he turned over R30 000. Shezi quit his job, sold his flat and was soon living the life of an entrepreneur -- quarter the salary, four times the excitement.

"If I could make 30 gees sitting in the office working for the boss, I knew I could triple my revenue working full-time," he said.

"When you work at a company, you get a performance assessment once a year. Here, I do one every morning in the shower … what's the bank balance? … when are wages due? … oh no!" he said, rubbing the back of his head in mock anguish.

The airport idea came to Shezi while he was using the valet parking service during an Accenture business trip. "I noticed that customers spent a few minutes filling out paperwork to park there and, in that time, a Scratch Mobile agent on site could assess a vehicle's condition and provide that customer with a quotation for repairs on the vehicle that was being left behind."

But Scratch Mobile only grew into the medium-size business it is today -- with a turnover of R6-million, a staff of 26 and branches at OR Tambo International Airport in Jo'burg and King Shaka International Airport in Durban -- thanks to the input provided by Endeavor.

Shezi has received free financial audits by Ernst & Young, which have enabled him to approach other companies for loans, and a marketing strategy created by Draftfcb, which has helped put Scratch Mobile on the map.

His advice to other entrepreneurs is to "find the one thing that's unique about your business -- a selling point -- and exploit it as much as you can". He calls it "the magnet pulling customers your way", which, in the case of Scratch Mobile, is that "anyone can panel beat, but we can do it while you fly".

Shezi's location -- at airports -- is symbolic. It is unlikely that anything short of the sky will stop his rise as an entrepreneur.

Source: http://mg.co.za/article/2011-01-07-starting-a-business-from-scratch

How to Get Lazy People to Work

2012-02-24T10:07:00.004-08:00

"How can I get lazy people to work?"

As a coach and consultant, I've also been asked, so I know it isn't an isolated or fleeting question.

Will all due respect to those who have asked me and to those of you reading and nodding your head in agreement, you are asking the wrong question.
What is wrong with the question you ask? At least three things:

You can't "get" or "make" people do anything (at least not for very long or without unintended consequences).

"Lazy" is a relative term - one person's lazy might be another person's normal (or even motivated).

"Lazy" also is a word full of judgment and baggage. Including it in your question reduces the likelihood that you will have success anyway.

So let's see if we can explore what you can do, and in the process see if we can help answer this all-too-prevalent question. OK?

The real question
I'm pretty confident the real question, regardless of how I'm asked, is:
"How can I get people to do more, or do what I think is important?"
Or, stated in a more accurate way, based on what is actually within your control and influence:
"How can I influence others to do more or to do the things that are most important to me (or the team or the organization)?"
Hopefully this accurately re-describes what you or anyone really means when asking the question.
Consider the other person
This question is about two things - someone else's behavior and your perspective on it. Let's start with the other person - I'll get to you in a minute.
Over time, people tend to do what is in alignment with their goals and their view of the world. In other words, people do (or don't do) what makes sense to them. If you want to understand better why other people are doing something, you must first understand their perspective. This isn't a novel concept, and while you probably aren't (and this article won't make you) a psychologist, most people forget this basic premise.
If you would like someone to exhibit different behaviors and make different choices (i.e. work harder, you lazy bum!), consider why they are doing what they are doing. Ask yourself questions like:

What is important to them?

What do they see that I don't?

What does success look like to them?

Consider your perspective
Your perspective is likely different than that of those you are leading, or you might not be asking this question or reading this article. You see the world differently; you understand the purpose and needs of their work differently. Your perspective makes complete sense to you - as much as theirs doesn't!
However, your values and ethics also impact your perspective. What you define as lazy, how you define a work ethic, what you believe is the right work/life balance for you - all of these and more play into your perspective - and judgment - about whether someone is "lazy" or not.
Not having ‘your' work ethic doesn't in and of itself make the other person ‘lazy.'

Influence strategies
Consider this a starter set of influence strategies for the situation we're discussing. While these alone may not "solve the problem," they likely will make a big difference, and help you determine what the next steps might be.

Let go of your preconceived notions and labels
Understanding your values and beliefs about work is a good starting point. Recognize that however firmly you believe in these values they are not absolute truths. Recognize too that everyone is willing to work hard for things that truly matter to them. Lose the judgment and focus on influencing based on the other person's perspective.

Talk to the other person - and understand his or her perspective
This step is more about asking non-judgmental questions. Questions like the ones asked above are a good starting point. Ask for understanding, not proof or as the starting point of a debate or argument. Remember you can't change the behavior; only help the person make a new choice. Ask the questions to help both of you understand his/her motivations.

Connect to their 'why'
When people have a big enough why they make choices to accomplish just about anything. In order to influence others, you must understand and tap into their deepest motivations. When you can help them connect their work to their why, everyone wins.

Set clearer expectations
Often the gap in behavior, and therefore your frustration and judgment, stems from a difference in expectations. Most people feel like they are doing a good job and accomplishing what is expected of them. Sometimes that is a deluded or distorted view. More often, in my experience, there is a gap between what you expect and what others think is expected of them.

Focus on results, not activity
Often I have found (and I work on it myself) that we look at how many hours people work or how diligent they appear to be as a sign of their "laziness factor." I mean, if people are busy that's good, right? Likely, the better measure is results, not time spent. Perhaps one of the reasons we don't use that measure for others is that we don't want to hold ourselves to it.

Source: http://hodu.com/lazy.shtml

Are Funny People More Successful In Business?

2012-02-22T17:40:00.000-08:00

Steve Cody, 57, is co-founder and managing partner of Peppercom, a mid-size communications agency based in New York. He’s also an amateur stand-up comedian, performing frequently at the New York Comedy Club.
“About five years ago I was suffering through an endless business dinner, when the guy next to me said he performed stand-up when not doing IT,” recalls Cody. Intrigued, he decided to take a course and start performing himself. Soon he noticed a happy crossover to his professional life, where he was employing humor more often, listening more intently to clients and becoming better at holding audiences’ attention during presentations.

Cody wanted his employees to reap the business benefits of comedy too, so he launched a 90-minute comedy workshop for his new recruits and staffers to attend every two months. He says it infuses them with confidence, bonds them with coworkers, teaches the nuances of reading an audience and environment, and livens up their presentations. The new refreshed and fun culture is also helping him secure business. “It’s a point of differentiation,” he says. “When all things are equal, clients will pick the firm they want to work with.”
Are funny people more successful in business? Old-school HR people are quick to say that humor is dangerous in the office: It too easily offends or falls flat. However, researchers and companies alike are beginning to tout the individual and company-wide benefits of a well-placed punch line. Those looking for an edge may want to think more critically about their funny bones.
“Humor has three primary impacts: cognitive, emotional and physiological,” says psychologist Steven Sultanoff, Ph.D., former president of the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. He explains that workplace humor may offer some perspective on a situation, which helps people process it. After a company leader sent a memo saying they needed to “shrink” a difficult problem, Sultanoff recalls, one employee posted a tiny copy of the memo on a community bulletin board. Also, because we can only feel one emotion at a time, humor creates an emotional lift by displacing frustration with the joy of the joke and a physiological reduction of stress hormones.
Sultanoff says that people who are funny likely will be perceived as more enjoyable and as better employees because they are in fact more successful. “If someone is using humor then they are connecting with people and building relationships, which creates opportunities that other people may not have.”
Research shows that successful humor boosts both personal productivity and group effectiveness. According to Michelle Gielan, an expert in positive psychology and cofounder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research, when something makes us smile or laugh, the feel-good chemical dopamine is dropped into our systems, which turns on all the learning centers in the brain and heightens creativity, productivity and engagement. In a meta-analysis of 225 academic studies, happy employees were found to have 31% higher productivity and 37% higher sales. Doctors who were primed to be positive came to the correct diagnosis 19% faster and more accurately, while business teams solved problems more quickly, were deemed better by bosses and got higher customer satisfaction ratings.
“Humor can serve to facilitate trust, ease tension and establish a sense of group cohesion,” says Anthony Pescosolido, a management and organizational behavior professor at the University of New Hampshire. In his research, he found that effective humor provides a sense of “psychological safety” that helps manage emotions and makes group members more willing to accept challenging goals. Using humor also increases attentiveness and persuasiveness. For a leader, it helps you relate by breaking down power structures and equalizing people in the organization.
Of course, all of this is true for humor that works. Sultanoff says it’s the “empathic humor,” which has a positive intent and arises out of your compassion for a person or situation, that serves people well. Conversely, “hostile humor” undermines productivity and wellbeing. It negatively targets an individual for a misdeed or character flaw. Someone may use it to show their superiority, as a form of passive aggressiveness or as punishment. It’s when you’re late to a meeting, and the boss says, “He’d be late to his own birth,” notes Sultanoff. It causes people to withdraw, feel more irritated and less motivated, and actively avoid others.

Moreover, Sultanoff says potentially offensive humor—anything that may be construed as racist, sexist, ageist or hits upon another cultural sensitivity—could damage your reputation and professional relationships. “Even if someone isn’t offended by it themselves, they might be offended that it’s against the rules,” he says.
At Cody’s Peppercom, employees are quick to police attempts at humor that cross the line. Not long ago, a new male receptionist sent a company-wide email responding to their rained-out softball game. “I was looking forward to seeing the ladies in wet T-shirts,” he wrote. Immediately, both male and female coworkers told him that such comments were inappropriate and unwelcome, says Cody.
But even those skilled at “low-risk” humor should be wary of overkill. “Over-reliance on humor often leads to a sense that this individual is not a ‘serious’ worker, particularly if one tends to use self-deprecating humor,” says Pescosolido. The proverbial “class clown” may be considered a distraction and a barrier to group performance.
Despite the avenues for failure, some companies are betting on humor’s benefits. “Humor and play are in the corporate mission statements of Southwest Airlines, Google and Ben & Jerry’s,” Sultanoff says. “At most places, you won’t read it in the manual, but I think companies should be thinking about it.” He notes that only 15% of people are fired for incompetence—the other 85% are fired for not getting along with others. Used effectively, humor helps people get along, decreases turnover and increases productivity. And that’s no joke.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/02/21/funny-people-more-successful-in-business-humor-workplace/2/

How To Motivate Yourself To Be A Successful Entrepreneur

2012-02-22T06:19:00.002-08:00

Do you wake up each day excited to work on your business?
Do you spend time thinking about your business even when you’re not at work?
For many, motivation is difficult to sustain. Some days are better than other. However, when you’re truly excited about your business, and it becomes an active and positive part of your life, everything changes.
When you wake up each day and you feel motivated and excited about your business, it opens the door for the other aspects of an entrepreneurial mindset.
You look for opportunities, you seize challenges, find creative solutions for problems and you effectively share your vision with others.
When you’re not motivated it becomes difficult to do anything other than manage your business. And you’re not a manager – you’re an entrepreneur!
Let’s take a look at a few key steps you can take to find motivation for your business.
Note: If you can’t summon any motivation for your present business, consider finding an idea that does inspire and motivate you.

#1 Gratitude
Gratitude is the ability to recognize and appreciate what you have. It’s also a practice. How often do you feel gratitude? Do you feel appreciative of:

The things you have?
The people in your life?
Your daily experiences?

Gratitude accomplishes amazing things. It helps you stay positive and it has a dramatic affect on your motivation. Why? Because gratitude is something you want to feel more of and you want others to feel. It permeates your spirit and becomes part of who you are.
In order to benefit from gratitude it’s important to make it a part of your life.
Consider creating a habit of gratitude.
Start saying, and feeling, “Thank you” when you experience something wonderful or receive something in your life.
Start acknowledging the things you are grateful for. You can journal or simply create a daily practice of mentally listing the things you’re grateful for.
#2 Focus On Your Strengths and Joyous and Fulfilling Activities
What do you love to do? What are you good at?
Don’t know? Make a list. Start with the activities you love to do and the topics you’re passionate about.
Then create a plan to integrate these joyous and fulfilling activities into your day. Make sure you do something you love each and every day. It is sure to get you out of bed in the morning and excited and motivated for your day.
#3 Celebrate
Celebrate your successes. Each day, whatever you accomplish it doesn’t matter if it is big or small, celebrate your successes. It’ll add a smile to your face, a bounce to your step, and it will help you stay motivated to achieve more success.

#4 Get Inspired
One great way to stay inspired and motivated is to surround yourself with inspiration. So what inspires you? Music? Art? Books?
Create a home office that you enjoy spending time in. Surround yourself with the things you love. And of course, take the time to surround yourself with inspiring people.
It’s hard to feel unmotivated with such greatness all around you.
#5 Take Breaks
An annual vacation isn’t enough. It’s very important to your mental health and wellbeing to take breaks.
Schedule daily breaks. Make sure to take time off weekly and monthly. And of course don’t forget those annual vacations if that’s part of your tradition.
How many scheduled breaks do you take?
Even a few hours or a day or two can really make a difference. It gives you time to recharge and find that original source of inspiration and motivation.
Motivation can wane from day to day and even from task to task. However, being able to sustain motivation for your business is important. You want to feel excited about you business.
It’s the only way to really make it grow. Speaking of growth, the next step is all about tapping into your creative side and generating great, not to mention profitable, business ideas.

How to Start a Business with NO Money

2012-02-21T02:50:00.000-08:00

Are you wondering how to start a business or take advantage of a great business idea when you have very little capital to get it off the ground? You may be struggling to determine which business to start because you don't have the resources. The experts will tell you when you are starting a business to try to get money from the three F's -- friends, family, and fools -- but there's a much smarter (and less insulting) strategy to get money for your venture.

The truth is you don't need money. You need what money can purchase. If you had your own small business fairy godmother, money would be unnecessary because everything you'd need to buy you could get for free. Turns out you don't need investors or a fairy godmother. You can start a business with no money and get people to work for you for free. Impossible? It's not. I've received "free" help from world-class graphic designers, web programmers, PR pros, marketing gurus, consultants, and other service providers many times and you can too.

Free is such a wonderful word. Unfortunately, nobody in their right mind is going to do anything for free. They'll want something in return. But that's where there is an opportunity for you. I've found that most people are looking for that something that will take their finances to the next level. They may not have the ideas, time, or even the drive to start their own venture, but if they can get a piece of a promising company with very little risk, many jump at the chance.

Sounds simple, but there are a lot of steps and hurdles you have to overcome in order to make a partnership like this a success. Follow these five tips to make sure you attract and retain the best service providers for your start-up:

Think partnership. You have to think in terms of a partnership. It can't be, "Let's see how much free stuff I can take from others." That will never work. You want your partners to feel like they are true partners in the venture. If you pay someone by the hour, you'll get an hour of their time. If you pay someone based on a venture's potential future success, you'll get their time, ideas, life, sweat, blood, and tears. Go into it looking for a partner, instead of someone to give you free stuff.
Great idea. Nobody worth working with will partner on a half-baked idea. Don't even think about recruiting service partners unless you have a really good idea. How do you know it's a good idea? Talk to your friends, family, and business associates. If most people think it's a winner, then you can feel good about finding partners.
Build buzz. Ever been skinny dipping? The first person to jump in risks the chance that nobody will follow. But by the time four or five people jump in, all the risk is gone. Your mission? When talking to potential partners, sell them on the fact that you've got several other interested partners. Nobody wants to be first and nobody wants to be last.
Establish credibility and trust. The biggest hurdle you must overcome is trust. You are asking someone who may have never met you to give away their service and their time. You must establish trust and credibility immediately. If you've had prior business success, talk about it. If you haven't yet, discuss your professional achievements so they can see you as someone who's had other successes.
Make a compelling offer. Let's break this down. You are asking someone you may have just met over email to give you something with the hope that you've got the skills and connections to make it a success. Make them an offer they simply cannot refuse. When they read your offer, you want them to be as giddy as a school girl. Remember, these are your partners. If you do well, you want them to do well too. Don't be stingy.

Whether you are starting a business or running an existing business, you don't need to get money from investors to make it a success. You can find potential partners everywhere. They're online and they're down the street. The same person who would laugh you out of their office if you asked them for a $2,500 investment may gladly trade $2,500 of their services to be part of a promising new venture. Why? Like you, most people are looking for an opportunity to get ahead without risking too much. If someone can invest a little of their time with the hopes of making a huge return, they may jump at the chance. Plus, it's much less painful than trying to get money from Uncle Richard.

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-37441656/how-to-start-a-business-with-no-money/

Microsoft- Story of Success

2012-02-19T07:42:00.003-08:00

According to reports from Washington, Microsoft Software Company is a multi-international American company. The company manufactures a large number of (software) and technical equipment. The company is composed of a group of companies for designing, developing, and manufacturing (software) systems for computers.

Its headquarter is located in (Redmond) city, Washington, far north-west of the United States, where its products and services are sold all over the world and its annual profit exceeds 44 billion dollars. According to a report by Forbes magazine "Bill Gates", the co-founder of Microsoft and its Chairman, is the richest man in the world, with a net worth estimated at 56 billion dollars. As for systems, Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office are the most sold products of the Company, where both systems are used in most computers all over the world.

Microsoft Company was established by "Bill Gates" and "Paul Allen" in 1975. In the eighties, the Company dominated the market of home operating systems by launch MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System).

In the nineties, the Company has expanded its production to include computer networks and tools for navigating the internet. It created an MSN system as a new way to join the Online Services until it became a direct competitor of the AOL Company.

As for Microsoft operating systems that are based on servers, especially Windows (95, 98, XP), it is the main source of profit for the Company, giving it the ability for further expansion. The Company's expansion has been embodied in the system of "Internet Explorer" which has become a means for navigating and browsing the Internet, excelled (Netscape), and became the primarily explorer on the World Wide Web.

However, the dominance of Microsoft on the market has been accompanied by many argumentations. The American federal government and the European Union accused the Company of monopoly and exploitation, which resulted in shedding light on monopoly powers in the area of operating systems and web browsers sales, but the Company has defended itself saying: Both Windows operating system and Internet Explorer are intricately linked to each other, hence they are considered one single product. The Company also confirmed the benefits gained by consumers, but critics considered the explorer as separate product, and it is not necessary to be connected with the operating system.

Microsoft has tried to engage in many other markets, particularly the entertainment market, where it manufactures computer games. It has recently succeeded in entering into the games industry, estimated at billions of dollars, which was previously a solely for Sony and Nintendo. Although launching "Xbox" game in the market caused a great loss to Microsoft, the company overcame that problem after the success of the new version of the game.

On the other hand, Microsoft has one of the dominating projects regarding components. The task of this project is establishing and marketing Windows operating system for mobiles, such as personal digital assistants (PDAS), and cell phones. As for (Windows embedded), it is a set of operating systems, technology, and machines made for the market of internally developed installed machines. The most important of these products includes Windows (software) for mobiles, and (Windows embedded) operating system, and (Windows Automotive). Moreover, Microsoft owns a huge number of actions designed to help small, medium, and large businesses with financial management, customer relationship management, supply series management, and analytical systems.

In fact, the general trend in Microsoft focuses on products of personal usage or on the scope of actions and services. As a result of this strategy, (software) systems like Windows control about 93% of the operating system sales market all over the world.

With regard to server systems, the products of Windows Server represent 55% of the market. Hence, the fame and popularity of Microsoft is incomparable in the world of technology. As a result of that success that has been achieved over decades, Microsoft has become one of the most popular names in the world.

The strategy of Microsoft was described as a central developer. Every year new fresh graduates who have studied the development of (software), which made diverse media look to the company as it has a financial record, vision, excellent leadership, and good work environment.

How to Become Your Own Boss

2012-02-18T07:08:00.006-08:00

Vincent Porpiglia is no stranger to sleepless nights. After graduating from college during a recession with few job prospects, he was tossing and turning one night when he came up with the idea for Dream Water, a natural liquid remedy for insomnia that he eventually developed and perfected. With partner David Lekach, a former investment banker and fellow insomniac, Porpiglia launched Dream Products in 2009 and began selling Dream Water in Duane Reade drugstores across New York City. Today, Dream Water is sold in 15,000 stores nationwide, including Walmart and Walgreens. While the private company doesn't release its revenue figures, Dream Products is on track for 350 percent growth over 2010 revenue, which was in the low seven figures.

Dream Water

Getting there wasn't easy. "We had to leave the security of existing jobs and throw ourselves 100 percent into Dream Water," Lekach says. "We started with a vision that we wanted to accomplish, then we set goals that would make that vision successful. Then we worked toward meeting those goals. We had to eat, live, breathe and dream about Dream Water every single day."
Like Porpiglia and Lekach, scores of people dream of leaving behind the limitations of the corporate world to become entrepreneurs. But starting a business can be daunting, and many never get beyond the dreaming stage. Want to start making actual progress on the path to entrepreneurship? Here are six steps to get you moving in the right direction.
1. Check your passion.
It's not enough to simply want success. Entrepreneurs who make it are also passionate about their businesses. "Make sure you are not chasing money, but you are chasing a passion," says Michael Hall, managing partner of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based marketing agency MediumFour. "The passion has to be something instilled in you, because you will experience many ups and downs with business. If it comes to just being about money, you have a better chance of giving up when things get rocky."

"If you're just in it for the money or the glory, it's too much work and you'll give up much sooner."
--David Lekach, Dream Products

Hall says the best way to determine whether you're passionate about your potential business is "if you get that tingly feeling, or that 'I could do this every day' feeling, when you are working on a project or an idea."
Porpiglia and Lekach are both passionate about Dream Water because they have dealt firsthand with sleep problems, and their research shows that 70 million Americans share the inability to rest well at night. That experience and knowledge energizes them to get their product out where it can help others. The first time he tried Dream Water, Lekach says he fell asleep by 9:30 or 10 p.m., something he hadn't done since he was 15. "I knew this was a fit for me because I was excited every morning to get up and work on it," he says. "To be successful, you have to have an unwavering commitment to what you're doing. If you're just in it for the money or the glory, it's too much work and you'll give up much sooner."
2. Make a financial plan.
One of the most important ways to prepare for leaving your job and launching your own business is to make a detailed plan for your finances during the startup phase. Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit, which helps startups secure financing, recommends having enough savings to get you through at least nine to 12 months before getting your business started.
"The first year is very important, when all the money earned in the business should be reinvested without the owner needing to draw out any money as salary," Arora says. He recommends waiting about 18 months after launching before expecting a regular salary check. During the first 18 months, you can reimburse yourself for operating expenses, but don't expect to draw a salary consistently. Otherwise, less money will be reinvested in the business, lowering your long-term prospects for growth.
In addition to planning and saving for your own livelihood during the startup phase, plan ahead for how you will fund the business. Arora recommends seeking loans for a retail business in which product development does not take very long, and seeking investors for a business that requires a large upfront investment or a new technology for which you expect to have a patent. "In either option, bootstrapping for the first year is key to have a better chance of raising investment or loans," he says. "This also makes the business more sustainable over a longer period." For help finding potential funding options, check out websites like TakeCommand.org, which offers a funding database with more than 5,000 resources for entrepreneurs.
However you plan to fund the business, keep costs under control and be careful not to underestimate how much money you'll need to get started. "You don't want to have to apply for a second round of funding until after you have proven that your company is viable and has a prospect of growth," Arora says. "If you go back for money before having results, it makes it look like you have either not planned well enough or have squandered the money. In either case, lenders will be unlikely to give you more money."
3. Get a partner.
While Porpiglia developed Dream Water in 2007, the company never really got off the ground until Lekach joined the effort two years later, bringing an additional set of skills to the table. And once partners Adam Platzner, chief brand officer, and Joseph Lekach, vice president of business development, came aboard, things really got cooking.
Working alone can paralyze many would-be entrepreneurs, so consider getting a partner or two to share the workload and the risk. "No one is good at everything," says Matt Spradley, who has launched three successful technology startups and is currently CEO of image-based electronic signature provider Vignature. "Even if you are a jack of all trades, there isn't enough time for one person to do everything that is required in a startup. It can also be really lonely when you're starting out. It's you against the world. You don't have the protection of the corporation. Having someone in it with you really helps with that burden."
Rather than partnering with someone who's just like you, look for someone who complements your skills. For instance, "if you are a techie, find a business partner," Spradley says. But because situations (and people) can change, sign a partnership agreement upfront that spells out a vesting schedule and how a potential separation would be handled.

"Share your enthusiasm. It's infectious."
--Kristi Blicharski, life coach

4. Gather market support.
Give yourself peace of mind by lining up customers for your new business before leaving the security of your job. Life and success coach Kristi Blicharski recommends creating a list of all the people who have been supportive of you and contacting each of them personally--not via mass e-mail--to share the news of your new venture. "Include anyone who has ever said they liked working with you or would like to hire you if you were out on your own," she says. "Mention that you've enjoyed working with them and ask if they or someone they know would be interested in what you have to offer."
If there are people on your list who may be in a position to do business with you right away, "contact them with a customized offer and let them know you would like to work with them, even on a very small scale to start," Blicharski says. "Don't be afraid to be direct and ask straight up for their business. Share your enthusiasm. It's infectious."
Small-business growth consultant Gary Evans of DemGen, a team of specialized virtual entrepreneurs, recommends going beyond those in your network. "Develop a list of the top five [prospects] in five different verticals you are looking to pursue, create an introductory document and work out a script of the main talking points you want to get across," he says. "Call first and follow up with e-mail." He recommends setting specific goals such as reaching out to 25 people, getting five warm prospects, presenting two proposals and closing at least one sale.
There are other ways to get sales in the pipeline, such as aligning yourself with an individual or a group that performs similar services and joining them as an associate to "test-drive on a contract or two," Evans says. "Then you may simply join them, working independently, but not alone."
5. Devise a marketing strategy.
"The most important thing people need to know when they leave a job to start their own business is that their success will not depend on how good they are at what they do," says Dov Gordon, a small-business marketing strategist. "It will depend on how good they are at marketing and sales."
Unfortunately, when it comes to marketing and sales, entrepreneurs receive "boatloads" of bad advice from "experts" in social media, telemarketing, networking and public relations, Gordon says.
"The innocent entrepreneur invests thousands of dollars and several months with this or that method-specific expert, and usually the results are far below expectations," he says. "Marketing tactics are like plumbing, electricity or flooring. Before you hire a plumber or electrician you need an architect who designs the blueprint. Fact is, it's hard to find a good marketing architect, but the marketing plumbers are everywhere. They mean well, but they're taking entrepreneurs for a ride."

"When you focus your marketing message on the customer's problem and desired result, they notice and come over and ask for more."
--Dov Gordon, marketing strategist

Rather than getting stuck on one particular marketing tactic, take time to develop a strategic marketing plan, including regular marketing outreach, to ensure your marketing time and money is targeted toward your goals. "Good marketing enables the entrepreneur to focus her time, energy and resources on just the people who are most likely to become customers," Gordon says. "Marketing is really not about telling [people] how great your products are. Good marketing is based on a deep understanding of the problem your customer has and doesn't want, or the result they want and don't have. When you focus your marketing message on the customer's problem and desired result, they notice and come over and ask for more."
6. Listen to sound advice--and ignore poor counsel.
While you must avoid bad advice that ignores the big picture of your marketing strategy, a successful entrepreneur will heed the good advice of those who have been there before. "Just like the things your parents told you when you were a kid, lots of people, me included, don't listen to the expert advice and take the position that it doesn't apply to them. Wrong," says Benjamin Sayers, three-time entrepreneur and current CEO of VoIP solutions provider VoIP Supply. "Mistakes made in creating, building and growing a business and the challenges faced by entrepreneurs are all fairly universal. Listening to experiences from others and plucking from that what is relevant to them can be helpful to entrepreneurs."
To determine whether the advice you're hearing is worth retaining, consider the source and their experience. Whether you're talking with a SCORE counselor, board member, advisory board member, attorney or your best buddy, "qualify their expertise on the subject matter and their recent experience in the subject matter," says Susan Schreter, venture finance expert and founder of TakeCommand.org. "For example, it's common for entrepreneurs to talk to business brokers and other people who might offer to help them raise equity capital for their business. Here, the entrepreneurs who want to raise money from angel investors must ask, 'What companies have you raised angel money for during the last two years?' If the so-called advisor hasn't 'been there, done that,' move on to find someone who has."
In addition to seeking out others in your network who have been in your shoes, Sayers recommends reading top business publications and websites to learn from case studies and examples.

4 Tips For The Successful Businessman

2012-02-17T03:10:00.000-08:00

I have a passion for the bald eagle or Haliaeetus Leucocephalus according to his scientific name. I have this passion as long as I can remember. But it is not a logical passion. I am Dutch and
a passion for a bird of prey that is common in The Netherlands would be more obvious. But life is full of inexplicable surprises and left me with this passion for the bald eagle, the national
symbol of the United States of America. I have seen the eagles only once in my life in their natural habitat and that was during a holiday in British Columbia in Canada.

When I read about bald eagles and about the way they live, I always start thinking about what a businessman can learn from them in order to become successful and that is what this article
is about.

1. Vision

Bald eagles are birds that can often be found on very high altitudes. There they soar and with their very sharp eyesight they have a clear view on the world below them and especially
on the prey they want to catch; fish, that is what they like most.They can see the milky white spot in the water from a distance of many miles. In high places they build their nests.
On a rock, on the top of a tree but always on a spot where they have a good view on the world that surrounds them. And from their castle they see what is happening around them and that
gives security.

The businessman should also have a clear view on what is happening in the market. From very far he should recognize his potential customers and "attack" them at the right moment. At
the same time he should be aware of the dangers that surround him, anticipate, absorb the environment and be prepared to act immediately.

2. Knowledge

Bald eagles are confined to their territories. With the seasons some migrate but you find bald eagles only in a specific habitat namely forests, mountains and near sea and rivers. You won't
find them in the desert. In their habitat they know what to do, where they can find prey and which dangers surround them. By instinct and by learning they have knowledge about the way they have to conduct their lives and about how they have to behave in this habitat. They will never go beyond the limitations of this frame work. If they do, they die.

This holds a lesson for the businessman. He should know everything about his business and when I say everything, I mean everything. He should know all about the products he sells from
beginning to end, every detail should be an open book to him. He can never be surprised with questions on which he has no answers. He should know about marketing techniques, the
position and plans of competitors etc., etc. And if he doesn't possess this knowledge by nature, he has to learn it.

3. Enough is enough

When Bald Eagles catch prey, they will catch only one fish at a time. It is not possible for them to catch more. But they know precisely how to catch this one fish. Their flying skills, their
strong talons and their eyesight are extremely well developed and fit for the job. Almost every attempt to catch a prey is successful.

This phenomenom also holds a wise lesson for the businessman. He has to restrict himself to a number of products he can handle and products that matches his skills and abilities. To stay in
the animal world: if you are a cow don't try to jump fences like a horse. People will only laugh at you. It is better to sell one product very well than ten without a satisfying result.

4. Courage

Bald eagles mate for life and they are absolutely loyal to each other. From high altitudes the two birds tumble down in a dangerous free fall. Mocking the laws of gravity they unite.
Only just above the tree tops they separate and fly wing by wing to the nest. This spectacular show requires great courage. A businessman also needs courage to be successful. He has to make decisions about difficult and uncertain subjects. And he also needs to know when to stop his free fall. Having courage to make difficult decisions is not synonymous for being reckless. A
decision that leads to disaster is not a decision, but a wild guess.

You see....the businessman can learn a great deal from this majestic bird that embodies not only beauty, strength and freedom but that possesses also the essential conditions and abilities to survive.

The beginning businessman as well, who is maybe starting his business in great uncertainty about the future, can learn from the bald eagle:

Flying high starts with spreading your wings!

10 Tips for the First-Time Business Owner

2012-02-15T17:49:00.000-08:00

I write Entrepreneur.com 's Young Entrepreneur column because I believe there are far too few resources directly addressing the nonacademic trials and tribulations young entrepreneurs face along their journey. Whenever possible, I encourage up-and-comers and established entrepreneurs to mentor the next generation of dream-seekers; for it is this insight and insider education that will provide the foundation for the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. With that, here are 10 pieces of advice that I wish someone had given to me before I launched my first venture.

Focus. Focus. Focus.
Many first-time entrepreneurs feel the need to jump at every "opportunity" they come across. Opportunities are often wolves in sheep's clothing. Avoid getting side-tracked. Juggling multiple ventures will spread you thin and limit both your effectiveness and productivity. Do one thing perfectly, not 10 things poorly. If you feel the need to jump onto another project, that might mean something about your original concept.
Know what you do. Do what you know.
Don't start a business simply because it seems sexy or boasts large hypothetical profit margins and returns. Do what you love. Businesses built around your strengths and talents will have a greater chance of success. It's not only important to create a profitable business, it's also important that you're happy managing and growing it day in and day out. If your heart isn't in it, you will not be successful.
Say it in 30 seconds or don't say it at all.
From a chance encounter with an investor to a curious customer, always be ready to pitch your business. State your mission, service and goals in a clear and concise manner. Fit the pitch to the person. Less is always more.
Know what you know, what you don't know and who knows what you don't.
No one knows everything, so don't come off as a know-it-all. Surround yourself with advisors and mentors who will nurture you to become a better leader and businessman. Find successful, knowledgeable individuals with whom you share common interests and mutual business goals that see value in working with you for the long-term.
Act like a startup.
Forget about fancy offices, fast cars and fat expense accounts. Your wallet is your company's life-blood. Practice and perfect the art of being frugal. Watch every dollar and triple-check every expense. Maintain a low overhead and manage your cash flow effectively.
Learn under fire.
No business book or business plan can predict the future or fully prepare you to become a successful entrepreneur. There is no such thing as the perfect plan. There is no perfect road or one less traveled. Never jump right into a new business without any thought or planning, but don't spend months or years waiting to execute. You will become a well-rounded entrepreneur when tested under fire. The most important thing you can do is learn from your mistakes--and never make the same mistake twice.
No one will give you money.
There, I said it. No one will invest in you. If you need large sums of capital to launch your venture, go back to the drawing board. Find a starting point instead of an end point. Scale down pricey plans and grandiose expenditures. Simplify the idea until it's manageable as an early stage venture. Find ways to prove your business model on a shoestring budget. Demonstrate your worth before seeking investment. If your concept is successful, your chances of raising capital from investors will dramatically improve.
Be healthy.
No, I'm not your mother. However, I promise that you will be much more productive when you take better care of yourself. Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle, not a 9-to-5 profession. Working to the point of exhaustion will burn you out and make you less productive. Don't make excuses. Eat right, exercise and find time for yourself.
Don't fall victim to your own B.S.
Don't talk the talk unless you can walk the walk. Impress with action not conversation. Endorse your business enthusiastically, yet tastefully. Avoid exaggerating truths and touting far reaching goals as certainties. In short, put up or shut up.
Know when to call it quits.
Contrary to popular belief, a smart captain does not go down with the ship. Don't go on a fool's errand for the sake of ego. Know when it's time to walk away. If your idea doesn't pan out, reflect on what went wrong and the mistakes that were made. Assess what you would have done differently. Determine how you will utilize these hard-learned lessons to better yourself and your future entrepreneurial endeavors. Failure is inevitable, but a true entrepreneur will prevail over adversity.

SOURCE: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/203254

The Secret of McDonald's Recent Success

2012-02-13T15:43:00.000-08:00

It's all about how the CEO connects directly with customers.

Six years ago, McDonald's looked obsolete. The company announced the first quarterly loss in its history, and its stock fell to a woeful $13 from an all-time high of $48.

Today, McDonald's stock is trading at nearly $60, same-store sales have grown for the 56th straight month and the company can boast of having achieved double-digit operating-income growth during the onset of last year's financial crisis.

Some observers credit the focus on better execution, beginning in 2004 when Jim Skinner was hired as chief executive officer. Others point to the recent redesign of the company's restaurants and the introduction of espresso drinks, or to consumer trends in a tough economy (although McDonald's had equally impressive gains in the happier time of 2007). But the real story behind the resurgence of the chain has to do with something simpler: empathy, the ability to see how the world looks through the eyes of others.After a better-than-expected quarterly earnings announcement on Jan. 26, Jim Cramer, the famously outspoken market analyst, went so far as to callMcDonald's "the best-run major international company in the world."

Skinner (like other leaders we profiled in our book, Wired to Care) has been willing to step into the real world in ways that enable him to quickly identify new opportunities and spur his employees into action.

Skinner is doing more than just being a good manager. He's building a widespread sense of empathy, inside McDonald's, for the company's customers. Companies with a shared intuitive sense of the people outside their walls waste less time and money pursuing ideas that never pay off. They focus on actions that will create value for the people they serve, and they can do so because they understand what real people truly value.

Empathetic companies don't get paralyzed by a sea of contradictory information. They have the acuity to cut through the noise and focus on what really matters. Most important, they find ways to lay the foundations for new growth regardless of what their competitors are up to. And a dedicated leader can inspire any company to emphasize empathy as Skinner has done.

Skinner inherited McDonald's during its darkest days--it was underperforming, franchisees were leaving and it looked like the documentary Super Size Me might win an Oscar. Right away he eliminated menu items that weren't adding value, added new dishes like tastier salads and chicken sandwiches and committed to improving the quality of existing stores in addition to opening new ones.

His quick actions and decisiveness stand in stark contrast to the years before him, when market research led McDonald's to reformulate its recipe for special sauce no less than 14 times and launch unfortunate failures like pizzas and deli sandwiches. At its nadir, the company was distracted from what really mattered to ordinary people, which was, as Skinner told The New York Times recently, "hot, high-quality food at a great value at the speed and convenience of McDonald's."

How did he know what to do? He had experienced it all himself. After all, he began his career on the grill line at a McDonald's before working his way to the very top of the organization. In all that time, he had made sure to eat at a McDonald's every day. Not only because he genuinely likes Quarter Pounders, but also because it has allowed him to make two kinds of observations critical to the success of his company.

First, he knows as well as anyone whether the food and service are good or need improvement. Second, he gets to engage directly with McDonald's diners. He doesn't need to commission a big research report. He can just talk to the guy at the next table. It's an easy, everyday way to stay connected and see the business the way the rest of the world does.

Not every company is poised for growth this year. But every company needs to move quickly, make good decisions and launch new initiatives that add value so they can be ready to move ahead once the economy gets back on track. Amid the chaos, a rededication to empathy can provide the spark needed to boost morale and create new value at a time when it's all too elusive.

Skinner's success reminds us that in a crisis, the best way to get ahead is the best way businesses have done it for centuries: Have a gut sense for what people need and give it to them.

SOURCE: http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/04/mcdonalds-skinner-empathy-leadership-innovation_0204_patnaik.html

How to Write a Great Business Plan

2012-02-13T09:26:00.000-08:00

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A great business plan is a living, breathing blueprint for your business that can help you navigate and manage your company while also helping potential investors, partners, lenders, and others understand your business strategy and your chances at success. A business plan is never quite finished because you're always revising it, reviewing it, and building upon it. In fact, more important to your business's future than having a 30-page, coil-bound plan to distribute is the business planning process that you undertake on a regular basis to hopefully keep your ship headed in the right direction without losing sight of your long-term destination.

"In my company, we've been working on the same plan for more than 20 years—we review it every month and revise it every year. We've printed it out a dozen times and shined and polished it. We share it with the team constantly, but it is never done," says Tim Berry, president and founder of Palo Alto Software, maker of Business Plan Pro software, who blogs at bplans.com. "When your business plan is finished, your company is finished."

The following pages will help you understand why you should write a business plan, components to include in a business plan, and how to use the plan internally to meet your business goals.

Dig Deeper: Setting Company Goals

How to Write a Business Plan: Reasons to Write a Business Plan

For those of you just starting a business, writing a business plan is a crucial first step. It can help you describe your product or service, detail your marketing strategy, and lay out your sales and operational forecasts—including the ever important cash-flow projection so as to keep your business on track for profits. Putting these plans in writing can hopefully start a healthy business planning process that your business revisits on a regular basis, updates, and revises.

If outside investment or loans are sought, whether from venture capitalists or bankers or others, a business plan is essential. It's one of the first documents that a loan officer will want to see. In addition, an angel or venture capital investor will want to not only see and read the plan before providing funding, but they'll try to poke holes in your business plan and quiz you about things you should have addressed. For the purpose of financing, you may add certain sections to your business plan, including background and historical information about the business and a description of the management team leading the organization.

"Show investors how they are going to make money," Berry says. "Don't confuse the health of your company with money for the investors, because they don't make a dime if your company is healthy and growing. To get money back to the investors they have to be able to sell their shares in your company, either because you've sold shares on the public stock markets (called going public, or initial public offering) or because you've been acquired by another company. This is the exit strategy."

If you're developing a plan involving a business loan, then your lenders are going to want something slightly different. They will want to see a section detailing collateral, or assets to pledge against the loan. Collateral includes funds to support loan payments, interest expenses, and debt repayment, Berry says. Banks aren't allowed to make speculative loans, so you need to include information in your plan to make the banker feel safe.

A business plan may also be required if you plan to do business overseas. "If you do business internationally, a business plan provides a standard means of evaluating your products' business potential in a foreign marketplace," says Linda Pinson, author ofAutomate Your Business Plan for Windows® and Anatomy of a Business Plan, who runs a publishing and software business, Out of Your Mind and Into the Marketplace. Pinson also was selected by the U.S. Small Business Administration to write its government business plan publication.

But a business plan is not only for start-ups or businesses seeking investment or loans. A business plan can also be used by any business—no matter what industry, location, or size—to formalize a set of business goals and outline the operational and financial strategy for meeting those goals. A formal business plan can be a vital tool for running a business, setting out sales forecasts, marketing plans, and cash flow statements that can be revisited and updated every month.

"It helps provide coordination. It's a way that different people can work together on a team," Berry says. "There is a magic to metrics. Humans like to have a way to measure themselves and track their own progress toward goals rather than being completely subject to someone's guess later as to how they've done."

Dig Deeper: Setting Realistic Sales Projections

How to Write a Business Plan: Components of a Business Plan

There are scores of websites these days on the Internet that offer to sell business plans for $20 or more, designed to let you enter your company name and specifics and generate a plan. These are about as valuable as the paper they're printed on, says Berry. The reason is that each business is unique and, therefore, each business plan should be a unique document to be truly worthwhile to the business. A business owner should also be fully invested and fully aware of every aspect of the plan. That said, there are some general guidelines and structures that most business plans should follow.

Lay out the text simply using an easy-to-read font, in an obvious outline, with a table of contents and topic headers. Include charts where appropriate, and appendices for monthly projections at the end of the business plan document in a 'landscape' layout.

"Your business plan should look professional, but the potential lender or investor needs to know that it was done by you," Pinson says. "A business plan will be the best indicator that can be used to judge your potential for success. It should be no more than 30 to 40 pages in length, excluding supporting documents."

SOURCE:http://www.inc.com/guides/write-a-great-business-plan.html

Will Selling Your Business Make You Happy?

2012-02-12T06:15:00.000-08:00

By selling your business, you'll have the money and time to do things that you've always dreamed of doing. However, the loss of purpose and social connections could leave you feeling empty. So before making such a huge decision, you need to take the time to determine what's right for you.
For some guidance on the matter, I turned to Gretchen Rubin, the author of The New York Times bestselling book The Happiness Project; Marshall Goldsmith, the author of 30 books, including his latest about getting and keeping your “mojo"; and Chris Guillebeau, the bestselling author of The Art of Non-Conformity. Based on my conversations with Rubin, Goldsmith, and Guillebeau and my own personal experience of having recently sold a business, here are seven ways to evaluate whether selling your business will make you happy:

1. Decide what type of business owner you are
According to Goldsmith, there are two types of entrepreneurs: “Serial entrepreneurs go in with the plan to start and sell their business. They get squirrelly if they don't sell it,' he says. “The other type is the founder who builds something fantastic over a very long time. He or she will find it very hard to let go. The second group need to ask themselves if they want to manage a mature business. In many cases, the answer is no. What they really find exciting is the innovation and creativity of a start-up. Some can make the transition, and some cannot. The reality is it is a different job. The question is, will they find the same happiness and meaning in the new job as they found in the previous job of starting up a small business? The answer is sometimes yes, often no.'
2. Think back to when you were 10 years old
“One of the biggest reasons we become unhappy is that we fall out of sync with our deepest personal values,' says Rubin. “A great way to get in touch with what really makes you happy is to recall what you enjoyed doing as a kid.' Rubin explains, “Recalling your pastimes before all of the pressures of adulthood took over gives you clues as to what will make you happy now.' Rubin points to a friend who used to love playing with dollhouses as a child, and now she is incredibly happy with her career as an interior designer. Another friend of Rubin's spent his childhood rambling through the woods every chance he could and is now very happy with his life as a park ranger.
“Sticking with a business for many years can become a life-avoidance strategy,' says Guillebeau. “Running your business becomes something you do because you don't know what else you would do. It's convenient to get up in the morning and know what you're going to do instead of thinking about what you really want to do.'
3. Read your alumni magazine
One of Rubin's suggestions for evaluating whether or not you're doing what you should be doing is to flip through your alumni magazine. “Read the updates from your classmates and ask yourself if you feel envious of anyone else? If so, it may be a sign you would enjoy doing something else. Jealousy can be a helpful emotion if you use it to give you a new direction,' she says.
4. Imagine your post-sale life in detail
If you still want to sell your business after reflecting on what excites you, Rubin recommends you get very specific with how you will spend your time after the sale. Do you have another business you want to start? Or would you prefer to volunteer or dedicate yourself to a hobby?
Instead of saying something vague like “I'll do more traveling,' Rubin recommends you dig deeper: Where will you travel? Who will you go with? What will you do? How long will you stay? Do you know anyone in the place you're going? Will you learn the language? This level of detail helps you get clarity on whether or not you would enjoy post-sale life.
5. Confront your demons
Many of us use the “if I had more time' excuse to avoid doing things we don't want to do. If you sell your business, you won't be able to use time or money as an excuse for not losing that extra weight, finishing that renovation or volunteering. Make sure you're comfortable ditching the comfortable excuses.
6. Develop a sense of purpose
“For many business owners, their business gives them a deep sense of purpose,' says Rubin. “If you sell your company, you need to replace that with something else that makes you feel like you are contributing to the world.'
Guillebeau encourages business owners to “think about what bothers you about the world. The answer can help you identify your deepest passions and a new direction.'
7. Think about your social network
Social ties make us happy, according to Rubin's research. If you sell your business and all of your friends are still at work during the week, you will feel lost. Cultivate a group of friends and contacts who have flexible schedules to make sure you have people to spend time with after you sell.

I can say from personal experience that Guillebeau's, Goldsmith's and Rubin's advice is sage. One of my deepest personal values is the need for challenge, so when my last business was becoming too predictable, I knew it was time for me to sell it, which I did in 2008. I stayed on for a while, but left in 2009. The first few weeks as a “civilian' were unnerving. I didn't know what to do, and all of my friends were at work during the day.
Since then, I have started to write and get a sense of purpose from the readers I hear from. I joined a triathlon and a cycling club, so I get a lot of social interaction through sports. It took some adjustments, but I have no regrets—other than wishing I had discovered Rubin, Goldsmith and Guillebeau a year ago.
So, will selling your business make you happy?

7 Things Highly Productive People Do

2012-02-12T04:18:00.000-08:00

You probably don’t want to admit it but you love distractions. In fact, just like monkeys, you get a shot of dopamine every time something pulls you in another direction. Why do you think you check your email so much?
Want to be more productive and get your focus back? There are no secret tricks here… do one thing at a time. Stop multitasking—it’s just another form of distraction.
Easier said than done, I know.
Recently I sat down with Tony Wong, a project management blackbelt whose client list includes Toyota, Honda, and Disney, to name a few. He’s an expert in keeping people on task, so I thought he’d be a good person to ask.
Here are his tips for staying productive:

Work backwards from goals to milestones to tasks. Writing “launch company website” at the top of your to-do list is a sure way to make sure you never get it done. Break down the work into smaller and smaller chunks until you have specific tasks that can be accomplished in a few hours or less: Sketch a wireframe, outline an introduction for the homepage video, etc. That’s how you set goals and actually succeed in crossing them off your list.
Stop multi-tasking. No, seriously—stop. Switching from task to task quickly does not work. In fact, changing tasks more than 10 times in a day makes you dumber than being stoned. When you’re stoned, your IQ drops by five points. When you multitask, it drops by an average of 10 points, 15 for men, five for women (yes, men are three times as bad at multitasking than women).
Be militant about eliminating distractions. Lock your door, put a sign up, turn off your phone, texts, email, and instant messaging. In fact, if you know you may sneak a peek at your email, set it to offline mode, or even turn off your Internet connection. Go to a quiet area and focus on completing one task.
Schedule your email. Pick two or three times during the day when you’re going to use your email. Checking your email constantly throughout the day creates a ton of noise and kills your productivity.
Use the phone. Email isn’t meant for conversations. Don’t reply more than twice to an email. Pick up the phone instead.
Work on your own agenda. Don’t let something else set your day. Most people go right to their emails and start freaking out. You will end up at inbox-zero, but accomplish nothing. After you wake up, drink water so you rehydrate, eat a good breakfast to replenish your glucose, then set prioritized goals for the rest of your day.
Work in 60 to 90 minute intervals. Your brain uses up more glucose than any other bodily activity. Typically you will have spent most of it after 60-90 minutes. (That’s why you feel so burned out after super long meetings.) So take a break: Get up, go for a walk, have a snack, do something completely different to recharge. And yes, that means you need an extra hour for breaks, not including lunch, so if you’re required to get eight hours of work done each day, plan to be there for 9.5-10 hours.

SOURCE: http://www.inc.com/ilya-pozin/7-things-highly-productive-people-do.html?nav=pop

The hardest step is the first one

2012-02-11T03:58:00.000-08:00

The most difficult export challenge for U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises is not what they want to take to foreign markets but how to go about the seemingly complex process.

That is the view of Todd McCracken, chief executive officer of the Washington-based National Small Business Association (NSBA).
“The question for smaller businesses is how we ramp up exports,” he told Business without Borders.
With domestic consumption at a stubborn standstill, the administration of President Barack Obama, through its National Export Initiative, aims to double exports to more than US$2 trillion a year by 2014.
But with major companies such as Boeing Co. dominating the export landscape, the current administration has been tapping into organizations such as the NSBA and its affiliate, the Small Business Exporters Association (SBEA), to encourage smaller companies to increase their exports.
“Lots of companies do export but that only represents about 10% to 15% [of total small businesses],” said McCracken. “Most of those exports are to NAFTA countries [Canada and Mexico].”
The NSBA and SBEA are certainly not new players on the scene. Staunchly non-partisan, the NSBA has been advocating on behalf of small businesses and entrepreneurs since 1937. It has a membership of about 150,000 small businesses in all 50 states.
Often an unheard voice of American business, the impact of small and medium-sized enterprises on the U.S. economic landscape is significant. According to a recent survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. has 27 million businesses with fewer than 100 employees. Small businesses account for 98% of all businesses with payrolls, 27% of business receipts, and 36% of jobs. In the aggregate, the small business sector is responsible for more than 40 million jobs and US$6 trillion in revenues (annual U.S. GDP is about US$14.5 trillion).
But the U.S. still ranks far below other developed countries in streamlining export procedures. In the latest World Bank report “Ease of Doing Business,” the U.S. ranked 20^th in ease of exporting requirements among 183 economies the bank surveyed. That is largely because of bureaucracy. It takes an average of two days to prepare export documents in the U.S., another day for customs clearances, two more days for port handling and another day for inland transportation. In dollar terms, the bank said that worked out to be about US$1,050 per container of exports.
Despite efforts to promote exports through the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Trade Representative Office and the Commerce Department, the prospect of exporting remains overwhelming to small American exporters, McCracken said. “Taking that initial step is the hardest thing to do.”
In a detailed survey last year of American small and medium-sized business, the NSBA and SBEA found that of those respondents not currently exporting, the largest barrier is a perceived lack of exportable products and services (49%).
Thirty-eight percent of non-exporters said they don’t know enough about exporting and aren’t sure where to start. Twenty-eight percent cited concerns over getting paid from a foreign customer.
Among current SME exporters, chief concerns include getting paid and the complexity associated with exporting. The majority of small exporters rely on business earnings and savings to finance exporting —not bank loans or government-backed programs such as those from the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
To that end, NSBA and SBEA have been promoting through no-cost teleconferences ways for inexperienced exporters to link up with those who have cracked foreign markets.
“It is a whole different thing to talk to people who have done it,” McCracken said, noting that “the issues you face in Korea are different than those you face in Turkey.” The next teleconference will be held in late January or early February and will focus on export financing.
The ultimate goal, said McCracken, is to set the stage for rookie American exporters to develop their own markets.

SOURCE: http://www.businesswithoutborders.com/topics/opportunities/the-hardest-step-is-the-first-one/

How to Test Your Business Idea

2012-02-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

The main reason businesses fail is not for lack of capital -- it's for lack of knowledge.
Knowledge in your business -- most important, how to run your business -- is the most potent weapon you can have. It often means the difference between a good and a great business, as well as success and failure.
That said, one of biggest mistakes most would-be entrepreneurs make is going into business based on what they think people should buy, rather than what people really want or actually do buy.
Here's another way to look at it.

People buy shoes every day, and I can easily put a number on the size of the shoe marketplace. Additionally, because our global population grows every day, I can be pretty sure the market for potential shoe owners will continue to grow -- and people will buy multiple pairs of shoes -- in the years ahead.
Maybe this is an extremely simple example, but most inexperienced business people would opt for the whiz-bang widget business. Enamored with a potential market they can't quite measure or identify, secure in the knowledge everyone needs it and will want to buy it, they'd later be bewildered when their warehouse is full of stock they can't even give away.
How can you avoid this trap in your own startup?
Here are four simple and inexpensive things you can do before you get into business to make sure there is viable, sustainable and growing market for your business.

Identify your market. How big -- in terms of dollars -- is the current market for your product or service? Is it a new or mature market? Are you in a new or mature category? A lot of these questions can be answered with a few hours of online research -- or offline research in your library. Or go to an industry association and get your hands and mind around the numbers of your market and your category.

Another good tactic is to go to a trade show or exhibition and look at your prospects as well as your competition. What does your potential customer really want? Who are they? What is your competition selling and at what price point? Can you deliver the same at a lower price, or can you add value and charge a premium? Is the sales cycle long or short? Is the exhibitors' list growing or declining from year to year?

Answers to these types of questions will give you a big advantage in getting a handle on the opportunities within a marketplace, and if your initial assumptions about your product or service really hold true.
Identify your customer. One of my CEOs used to work in advertising, and she and her teams would develop lists to help profile the "perfect customer" for the product or service they were trying to sell. Her original list consisted of 53 questions and included questions such as “Is the target male or female?” “How old are they?” “Are they married?” -- as well as deeper questions such as “What was their main motivation purchasing a particular product or service?”

Why is this so important?

Because this knowledge will give you additional insight into how your own sales process should be structured. It will also help you operationally tailor your product or service offering to better fit your audience.

For example, if you are looking at a dry cleaning business, you may discover there is a want or need for a higher-end delivery service to professionals in your area. Given that, you might be able to reorient your distribution and delivery systems to meet an unmet demand.
Test and measure demand. Big companies spend lots of resources testing ad campaigns and hiring focus groups, but you can do a lot more effective research on your own by simply starting small -- then testing and measuring everything you do.

We've talked about consignment arrangements, farmers markets and local markets before, but don't forget trade shows, expos and industry meet-and-greets as opportunities to meet industry players, network, make contacts and get feedback on your product or service. All of these are relatively inexpensive ways (in many cases less than $1,000 for some type of sponsorship) to test the waters.

And if you think that is expensive for little or no return, just imagine spending 10 to 100 times that amount without generating any sales or revenue, simply because you are selling something no one -- or very few people -- wants to buy.
Start your list of contacts. At this point in your startup and planning phase, you may have a list of vendors, suppliers or even potential customers. If so, great. Keep building that list and start to develop a communication strategy to keep in contact with that list on a consistent basis. Today's contacts may be tomorrow's customers. More importantly, they have access to entire networks of people who may want or need your product or service.

The real goal of networking is not making a sale to your direct contact. It's about creating a relationship with that contact that leads to referrals and word-of-mouth leads down the road. Whatever you do -- and however you keep track of your list -- make sure you protect it and treat it like gold. For most businesses, your contacts database often becomes the most valuable asset you own.

In the end, there is no fail-safe formula for business success, although people are always trying to find one. The best indicator is a proven market with room for growth, populated by people willing and able to pay for something unique or different that helps them make their lives better, easier or happier in some way. It's the business that does the usual in an unusual, unique or different way that wins customers and keeps them coming back for more.

SOURCE:http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217563

8 Tips on Preparing Your Family for Entrepreneurship

2012-02-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

Before venturing out on your own, you must take account of your family's participation and expectations about the new business.

When you start a new business the entire family is affected and not always in a positive way. Becoming an entrepreneur can be emotionally draining and time consuming. It can turn into a very stressful situation for you and your family. This problem is exacerbated when family members are unsupportive or resentful of the new business. This is why it's important that you are very professional in handling business matters from the on-start. Your family must give you the respect, support, and trust you need to succeed.

While it might sound counter intuitive, start out with an exit strategy, says Don Schwerzler, a family business expert and founder of the Family Business Institute, headquartered in Atlanta. Meaning is this going to be a family business that is passed down from generation to generation. Or do you plan to retire in 25 years and sell the business. Will your children share in the assets of the business if it's sold or when you die, even though they may never work in the business or claim any ownership stake, he asks. What if you get divorced, how will this impact the business. If your children start out working in the business, what steps will be taken so that they can leave the company without interfering with the family dynamic. You need to draw up a shareholder agreement and a buy-sell agreement, suggests Schwerzler.

This may sound a like a paperwork brain drain. "I would err on the side of having too much documentation than not enough," Schwerzler says. There are going to be issues regardless of whether or not you have family members working in the business. But troubleshooting in a family business becomes more trying because it is like being in a room full of mirrors, he adds. "Each reflection or memory is slightly altered for every member of the family." For instance, what if your spouse gives you $10,000 to start the business; is this a loan? Or what if your spouse works for you free of charge or contributes to refining the business idea. Once the business starts making money, will you payback your spouse? It's smarter to have all of that laid out in writing, says Schwerzler.

Here are some things you can do to better prepare your family for entrepreneurship.

Dig Deeper: Why So Many Entrepreneurs Get Divorced

1. Secure your family's support.

Small business experts say that significant tensions arise in the household when the family doesn't share the same expectations as the entrepreneur with regard to the direction of the business. Even more so if the family believes you are indulging a pipe dream and that the business will not succeed. They may tolerate your business in the beginning but grow resentful down the road. If your spouse doesn't believe your business is a serious venture, there will be conflict in the relationship. Say that you buy equipment for the business; your spouse has to understand this is a necessity and not view it as you wasting money.

2. Be strategic with your finances.

Unless you have come into a cash windfall, you are moving from a two-income family into a situation where you may not be making any money, says Augustus McMillan, a business consultant in Baltimore. If your spouse earns enough money to cover the household expenses, he or she might be agreeable to a reduced income from you temporarily. If not, you will need to build up enough savings to cover the loss of income for the first several months. How quickly do you see revenues coming in? "Most families are just living up to their means rather than below their means. You want to make sure that the bills can get paid as you are building the business," says McMillan.

Dig Deeper: 7 Rules for Avoiding Conflicts of Interest in a Family Business

3. Understand what family sacrifices will be made.

It is important to have a family understanding and agreement on what each member has to give up like entertainment, vacations, eating out, and luxury items. McMillan says to examine what extent are you putting the family resources and assets at risk for the business, such as using the family home as collateral for a business loan or tapping into the funds of your 401k plan? If the business fails, the family's savings could be wiped out; the home foreclosed; and even the college education funds for the kids or your retirement money depleted.

4. Talk openly with family members.

If you are a home-based business talk to the people you live with. This can be your spouse or your parents, for instance. "They may have no idea what is going on or how hard you are working once they leave the house," McMillan says. "You don't want them making up stories in their heads about what you do." So, keep them abreast of what is happening with the business. "If you get a new client, a new development, or a new prospect tell them about it." Even if your spouse or children are not directly involved with the business, they need to be in the loop. What happens if you suddenly die, your family needs to be able to make well-formed decisions about what next to do with the business.

Dig Deeper: How to Hire Family Members

5. Hold regular family meetings.

Just like you need a professional management system for the business, "I recommend that you formalize a communication system for the family," says Schwerzler. You shouldn't be having conversations in the hallway or the bathroom. There should be scheduled, structured family meetings with a written agenda. Also, you want to have rational problems and rational decisions rather than irrational problems and emotional decisions. For instance, "you may have a situation where dad is more rigid in thinking but mom is focused more on what's best for the children. So, she may dismiss why the children are showing up late at work." You want to avoid a breakdown in communication or a situation where parents are pitted against each other, he adds.

6. Teach your children about the business.

Be candid with your children about the business. Explain to them concepts like cash flow—money coming in and money flowing out of the business. But don't force them to work for the business, says McMillan It is a great idea to expose children, especially young kids, to the principals of entrepreneurship such as hard work and dedication. If your children aren't interested in your line of work and find it boring, find something that they like to do. If they like design, then you may have them work on your web page, he explains.

Dig Deeper: My Husband's Next Business

7. Create a family business plan.

Ideally, you will want to establish three sets of plans: a family plan whereby members determine the overall goals of the family and the resources needed to achieve those objectives; an individual one that helps each family member determine his or her own personal goals and how to balance those needs with the family's and business's needs; and a business plan, which addresses such issues as ownership and management control, family involvement in the business, and overall strategic direction of the business. Schwerzler says use the family plan to drive the business and manage expectations, especially if you plan to have your children who are married and their spouses involved with the business.

8. Balance family life with entrepreneurial life.

It is very tough running the business and running a household. Everyone will have a different level of commitment to both tasks. But it is important that you spend enough time with your spouse, your children, and yourself, Schwerzler recommends. "When you are starting a business there are such limited resources. Money is scarce. Time is precious. You have to put in long hours. Stress levels run high when you are expecting a check to come in and it doesn't show."

McMillan says most new entrepreneurs fail to realize how many hours (which could be as much as 70 to 80 hours a week) they have to put in to make the business successful. "You can't have an employee mentality. The work isn't going to come to you, but you have to pursue the work." If you used to work only 40 hours a week as an employee, that means the time spent on other things, including family, is sacrificed and now eaten up by the business. You need to schedule in bonding time with family and other relationships.

Why Startups Fail

2012-02-08T13:03:00.001-08:00

Reason 1: Market Problems

A major reason why companies fail, is that they run into the problem of their being little or no market for the product that they have built. Here are some common symptoms:

There is not a compelling enough value proposition, or compelling event, to cause the buyer to actually commit to purchasing. Good sales reps will tell you that to get an order in today’s tough conditions, you have to find buyers that have their “hair on fire”, or are “in extreme pain”. You also hear people talking about whether a product is a Vitamin (nice to have), or an Aspirin (must have).
The market timing is wrong. You could be ahead of your market by a few years, and they are not ready for your particular solution at this stage. For example when EqualLogic first launched their product, iSCSI was still very early, and it needed the arrival of VMWare which required a storage area network to do VMotion to really kick their market into gear. Fortunately they had the funding to last through the early years.
The market size of people that have pain, and have funds is simply not large enough

Reason 2: Business Model Failure

As outlined in the introduction to Business Models section, after spending time with hundreds of startups, I realized that one of the most common causes of failure in the startup world is that entrepreneurs are too optimistic about how easy it will be to acquire customers. They assume that because they will build an interesting web site, product, or service, that customers will beat a path to their door. That may happen with the first few customers, but after that, it rapidly becomes an expensive task to attract and win customers, and in many cases the cost of acquiring the customer (CAC) is actually higher than the lifetime value of that customer (LTV).
The observation that you have to be able to acquire your customers for less money than they will generate in value of the lifetime of your relationship with them is stunningly obvious. Yet despite that, I see the vast majority of entrepreneurs failing to pay adequate attention to figuring out a realistic cost of customer acquisition. A very large number of the business plans that I see as a venture capitalist have no thought given to this critical number, and as I work through the topic with the entrepreneur, they often begin to realize that their business model may not work because CAC will be greater than LTV.

The Essence of a Business Model

As outlined in the Business Models introduction, a simple way to focus on what matters in your business model is look at these two questions:

Can you find a scalable way to acquire customers
Can you then monetize those customers at a significantly higher level than your cost of acquisition

Thinking about things in such simple terms can be very helpful. I have also developed two “rules” around the business model, which are less hard and fast “rules, but more guidelines. These are outlined below:

The CAC / LTV “Rule”

The rule is extremely simple:

CAC must be less than LTV

CAC = Cost of Acquiring a Customer
LTV = Lifetime Value of a Customer

To compute CAC, you should take the entire cost of your sales and marketing functions, (including salaries, marketing programs, lead generation, travel, etc.) and divide it by the number of customers that you closed during that period of time. So for example, if your total sales and marketing spend in Q1 was $1m, and you closed 1000 customers, then your average cost to acquire a customer (CAC) is $1,000.
To compute LTV, you will want to look at the gross margin associated with the customer (net of all installation, support, and operational expenses) over their lifetime. For businesses with one time fees, this is pretty simple. For businesses that have recurring subscription revenue, this is computed by taking the monthly recurring revenue, and dividing that by the monthly churn rate.
Because most businesses have a series of other functions such as G&A, and Product Development that are additional expenses beyond sales and marketing, and delivering the product, for a profitable business, you will want CAC to be less than LTV by some significant multiple. For SaaS businesses, it seems that to break even, that multiple is around three, and that to be really profitable and generate the cash needed to grow, the number may need to be closer to five. But here I am interested in getting feedback from the community on their experiences to test these numbers.

The Capital Efficiency “Rule”

If you would like to have a capital efficient business, I believe it is also important to recover the cost of acquiring your customers in under 12 months. Wireless carriers and banks break this rule, but they have the luxury of access to cheap capital. So stated simply, the “rule” is:

Recover CAC in less than 12 months

Reason 3: Poor Management Team

An incredibly common problem that causes startups to fail is a weak management team. A good management team will be smart enough to avoid Reasons 2, 4, and 5. Weak management teams make mistakes in multiple areas:

They are often weak on strategy, building a product that no-one wants to buy as they failed to do enough work to validate the ideas before and during development. This can carry through to poorly thought through go-to-market strategies.
They are usually poor at execution, which leads to issues with the product not getting built correctly or on time, and the go-to market execution will be poorly implemented.
They will build weak teams below them. There is the well proven saying: A players hire A players, and B players only get to hire C players (because B players don’t want to work for other B players). So the rest of the company will end up as weak, and poor execution will be rampant.
etc.

Reason 4: Running out of Cash

A second major reason that startups fail is because they ran out of cash. A key job of the CEO is to understand how much cash is left and whether that will carry the company to a milestone that can lead to a successful financing, or to cash flow positive.

Milestones for Raising Cash

The valuations of a startup don’t change in a linear fashion over time. Simply because it was twelve months since you raised your Series A round, does not mean that you are now worth more money. To reach an increase in valuation, a company must achieve certain key milestones. For a software company, these might look something like the following (these are not hard and fast rules):

Progress from Seed round valuation: goal is to remove some major element of risk. That could be hiring a key team member, proving that some technical obstacle can be overcome, or building a prototype and getting some customer reaction.
Product in Beta test, and have customer validation. Note that if the product is finished, but there is not yet any customer validation, valuation will not likely increase much. The customer validation part is far more important.
Product is shipping, and some early customers have paid for it, and are using it in production, and reporting positive feedback.
Product/Market fit issues that are normal with a first release (some features are missing that prove to be required in most sales situations, etc.) have been mostly eliminated. There are early indications of the business starting to ramp.
Business model is proven. It is now known how to acquire customers, and it has been proven that this process can be scaled. The cost of acquiring customers is acceptably low, and it is clear that the business can be profitable, as monetization from each customer exceeds this cost.
Business has scaled well, but needs additional funding to further accelerate expansion. This capital might be to expand internationally, or to accelerate expansion in a land grab market situation, or could be to fund working capital needs as the business grows.

What goes wrong

What frequently goes wrong, and leads to a company running out of cash, and unable to raise more, is that management failed to achieve the next milestone before cash ran out. Many times it is still possible to raise cash, but the valuation will be significantly lower.

When to hit Accelerator Pedal

One of a CEO’s most important jobs is knowing how to regulate the accelerator pedal. In the early stages of a business, while the product is being developed, and the business model refined, the pedal needs to be set very lightly to conserve cash. There is no point hiring lots of sales and marketing people if the company is still in the process of finishing the product to the point where it really meets the market need. This is a really common mistake, and will just result in a fast burn, and lots of frustration.
However, on the flip side of this coin, there comes a time when it finally becomes apparent that the business model has been proven, and that is the time when the accelerator pedal should be pressed down hard. As hard as the capital resources available to the company permit. By “business model has been proven”, I mean that the data is available that conclusively shows the cost to acquire a customer, (and that this cost can be maintained as you scale), and that you are able to monetize those customers at a rate which is significantly higher than CAC (as a rough starting point, three times higher). And that CAC can be recovered in under 12 months.
For first time CEOs, knowing how to react when they reach this point can be tough. Up until now they have maniacally guarded every penny of the company’s cash, and held back spending. Suddenly they need to throw a switch, and start investing aggressively ahead of revenue. This may involve hiring multiple sales people per month, or spending considerable sums on SEM. That switch can be very counterintuitive.

Reason 5: Product Problems

Another reason that companies fail is becuase they fail to develop a product that meets the market need. This can either be due to simple execution. Or it can be a far more strategic problem, which is a failure to achieve Product/Market fit.
Most of the time the first product that a startup brings to market won’t meet the market need. In the best cases, it will take a few revisions to get the product/market fit right. In the worst cases, the product will be way off base, and a complete re-think is required. If this happens it is a clear indication of a team that didn’t do the work to get out and validate their ideas with customers before, and during, development.

How to Prepare to Launch Your Start-up

2012-02-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

Preparing to launch your start-up means more than simply making sure you have a viable product and potential customers. Here are five tips on how to prepare yourself to be a founder.
John Bradberry was fascinated by the idea of how someone may prepare to start a company. Bradberry, himself an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, has worked for two decades as a consultant to small business owners, and he found himself attracted to the story of one of his clients, Decision One Mortgage founder JC Faulkner. “I wanted to understand why it worked so well, how did he bring the pieces of the puzzle together, and how does that apply to start-ups of other types,” Bradberry says.
For answers, he went first to academic research on the subject, and then thought back on his own experience as an entrepreneur. “One of the concepts that crystallized for me was readiness,” Bradberry says.
In his book 6 Secrets of Startup Success, Bradberry puts forward five steps that he says will help a person prepare to start a company. While laying the foundation for a successful company means making sure that one has a marketable product or service that will reach paying customers, founders who have already achieved some measure of success say that a dose of personal preparation may help a founder weather the early stages.
Here are Bradberry’s five steps, along with words of advice from entrepreneurs who have learned the value of personal preparation.
Step 1: Clarify your reasons and your goals.
Property management company Renter’s Warehouse has been the most successful of Brenton Hayden’s start-ups, but his failed companies have come with their lessons, too. Hayden, who calls himself “a great salesman,” was working at Kellogg’s until he was laid off eight years ago. After someone tipped him off to the money to be made in real estate, Hayden found a job working for someone else in the industry. He lasted about six months. “I realized I could do most of this on my own,” Hayden says.
He launched Renter’s Warehouse in 2006. Since then, he has launched a number of other companies, none of which has met the same degree of success. After his tax accountant suggested that starting another company may help him qualify for deductions, Hayden started a limousine company in 2008. “In short order I became the number one most booked limousine company in Minnesota,” Hayden says. And though Hayden says his limousines were the nicest in the Minnesota area, his company stalled. Hayden wasn’t losing money, but he wasn’t supporting the company, either; his attention was elsewhere. He broke even every year, running his limousine services at below-market rates. Other limo companies in the area tried to keep up, but since they were in business to make money, they couldn’t beat his rates. “I am pretty much sure that I am responsible for the total collapse of the limousine business in Minnesota,” he says. Hayden sold the company on New Year’s Eve of 2010.
“Really do your research,” Hayden advises any entrepreneur, whether they are starting their first company or their fifth. Don’t rely on a great idea, he says. “I call great ideas the death of your company and your personal finances. Often if you’re starting up they’re both going down the drain.”
Step 2: Understand your entrepreneurial personality.
Southwestern Missouri isn’t the first place most people would think to start a company selling spices. Yet that is exactly what Jeff Brinkhoff chose to do, building the company out of his father’s milk barn with $25,000 in cash. “It was a one man operation until I found somebody to help me package the first few orders,” Brinkhoff says. Nine years later and with $6.3 million in revenue, his company—Red Monkey Foods—is No. 465 on Inc.’s list of the fastest growing privately-held companies.
As for how he managed to build his company from its beginnings in a town of 800, Brinkhoff says that it was “a matter of tenacity.”
The most important quality any entrepreneur can have, Brinkhoff says, is the determination not to fail. “The first thing when you look at the bottom line when you go into this is you have to think one thing and one thing only, and that’s ‘I will not fail,’” Brinkhoff says. “And you have to be careful that it is not ‘I will not fail’ while you’re going down the wrong path.”
Step 3: Map your skills and experience.
Bryan Janeczko worked at Morgan Stanley before founding NuKitchen, a start-up he sold to Nutrisystem two years ago. Now Janeczko has a new venture, an online start-up incubator called Wicked Start. Understanding one’s own experience is critical in the early stages of starting up, he says.
“Many entrepreneurs I speak with have great ideas and even a great plan, but 99 percent of them have no practical industry-related experience,” he says. Like many entrepreneurs, figuring out what he did not know almost cost him his business. Janeczko said he was health conscious before founding NuKitchen, an online diet service, but he didn’t have any experience in food service. “That nearly put us out of business after losing $500,000 over the course of one year,” he says. “The solution is to either moonlight part-time, volunteer, or—better yet—take a paid role in as senior a position as possible in a business that most resembles your business model. At minimum, bring on a co-founder with the experience to help you.”

Step 4: Leverage your relationships and resources.
When Bradberry advises entrepreneurs to leverage their relationships and resources, he means that they should contact all sorts of qualified people in business who can help them make connections and network and make all sorts of other judicious business moves that will nudge them toward profitability. And then there's A.W. Pickel III, who chose to leverage the relationships of his young children and the resources provided by a professional skeptic who was expert at downing a six-pack.
Pickel was 36 years old, an employee at a savings and loan bank, and married with four children when, after working a late night preparing files that he says probably netted the bank about $15,000, his boss chastised him for leaving the light on in the executive washroom. Pickel decided he had endured enough.
When starting a company, “get counsel from different sources,” Pickel says.
For Pickel, that meant sitting his four children around the kitchen table and asking them for suggestions for his new company’s name. “Their name was Pickel’s Mortgage,” Pickel says. “That didn’t fly.” And if wisdom can come from the mouth of babies, why shouldn’t everyone have an ounce of truth to dispense? Pickel felt he needed to get some advice from someone who would tell him the truth, who would not be uncomfortable telling him his idea was a disaster. “I don’t wear my religion on my sleeve, but I do go to Church,” Pickel says. “One of the guys I had gotten to know was a guy named Joe Gray. He’s one of the least religious guys I know.” Because of that, Pickel says, he felt that he could trust Gray to be skeptical. “I knew he would shoot straight,” Pickel says.
Step 5: Position yourself for high performance.
Founders have to be ready to deal with whatever challenge may arise, Bradberry says, because—no matter how well-prepared the founder is—his or her company will almost certainly take an unexpected turn. “I find that often the biggest and most healthy businesses look very different from what the founders first envisioned,” Bradberry says. “They responded to what the market was telling them and it was something they could execute on.”
To be ready for whatever challenge or opportunity may arise, founders should try to keep their personal lives in order. If one is like Pickel, that may mean finding time to retreat from the world. “My wife says I am wildly entrepreneurial on the outside, but that I’ve cautiously thought through all the options on the inside,” Pickel says. He sets aside time in the early mornings to contemplate the day ahead. “What I do is in my mind I go out a year or two years, and then I examine those consequences. You can’t think when everybody else is yelling at you. You have to do it when no one else is around.”

SOURCE: www.inc.com/guides/201108/how-to-prepare-to-launch-your-start-up.html

Why Is Apple Successful?

2012-02-07T09:10:00.001-08:00

In 1976 Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak created their first computer, the Apple I.They invested a mere $1,300 and set up business in Jobs’s garage. Three decades later, their business—Apple Inc.—has become one of the world’s most influential and successful companies. Did you ever wonder why Apple flourished while so many other young companies failed? How did it grow from a garage start-up to a company generating $24 billion in sales? How was it able to transform itself from a nearly bankrupt firm to a multinational corporation with locations all around the world? You might conclude that it was the company’s products, such as the Apple I and II, the Macintosh, or more recently its wildly popular iPod and iPhone. Or you might decide that it was its people: its dedicated employees and loyal customers. Perhaps you will decide it was luck—Apple simply was in the right place at the right time. Or maybe you will attribute the company’s success to management’s willingness to take calculated risks. Perhaps you will attribute Apple’s initial accomplishments and reemergence to its cofounder, Steve Jobs. After all, Jobs was instrumental in the original design of the Apple I and, after being ousted from his position with the company, returned to save the firm from destruction and lead it onto its current path.

Before we decide what made Apple what it is today and what will propel it into a successful future, let’s see if you have all the facts about the possible choices: its products, its customers, luck, willingness to take risks, or Steve Jobs. We’re confident that you’re aware of Apple’s products and understand that “Apple customers are a loyal bunch. Though they’re only a small percentage of all computer users, they make up for it with their passion and outspokenness.” We believe you can understand the role that luck or risk taking could play in Apple’s success. But you might like to learn more about Steve Jobs, the company’s cofounder and CEO, before arriving at your final decision.

Growing up, Jobs had an interest in computers. He attended lectures at Hewlett-Packard after school and worked for the company during the summer months. He took a job at Atari after graduating from high school and saved his money to make a pilgrimage to India to search for spiritual enlightenment. Following his India trip, he attended Steve Wozniak’s “Homebrew Computer Club” meetings, where the idea for building a personal computer surfaced. “Many colleagues describe Jobs as a brilliant man who can be a great motivator and positively charming. At the same time his drive for perfection is so strong that employees who do not meet his demands are faced with blistering verbal attacks.”Not everyone at Apple appreciated Jobs’s brilliance and ability to motivate. Nor did they all go along with his willingness to spend whatever it took to produce an innovative, attractive, high-quality product. So at age thirty, Jobs found himself ousted from Apple by John Sculley, whom Jobs himself had hired as president of the company several years earlier. It seems that Sculley wanted to cut costs and thought it would be easier to do so without Jobs around. Jobs sold $20 million of his stock and went on a two-month vacation to figure out what he would do for the rest of his life. His solution: start a new personal computer company called NextStep. In 1993, he was invited back to Apple (a good thing, because neither his new company nor Apple was doing well).Steve Jobs is definitely not humble, but he is a visionary and has a right to be proud of his accomplishments. Some have commented that “Apple’s most successful days have occurred with Steve Jobs at the helm, both in the early days with the original Macintosh and more recently with the first iMac and the iPod."Jobs did what many successful CEOs and managers do: he learned, adjusted, and improvised.Perhaps the most important statement that can be made about him is this: he never gave up on the company that once turned its back on him. So now you have the facts. Here’s a multiple-choice question that you can’t get wrong: Apple’s success is due to (a) its products, (b) its customers, (c) luck, (d) willingness to take risks, (e) Steve Jobs, or (f) some combination of these options.

SOURCE: catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/

Mentors: A Young Entrepreneur's Secret Weapon

2012-02-06T15:52:00.000-08:00

You need a good idea. Startup cash can make a real difference. Business experience and savvy also help, of course. But to take advantage of the most powerful weapon an entrepreneur can have, find a mentor.
A good mentor helps you think through a business idea, suggests ways to generate that startup capital and provides the experience and savvy you’re missing. You’ll get praise when you deserve it and a heads-up when trouble comes -- probably long before you would have noticed it yourself.
My grandfather who owned a memorabilia and antique shop in Vancouver, British Columbia, was a natural entrepreneur. He helped my brother Matthew and me launch our first successful venture: selling toy airplanes at a local festival when we were just seven and eight years old. With his help, we developed just the right marketing strategy -- putting on a show with the planes that created excitement and a "wow" impact. We sold out of planes in just two hours.
Our first mentor was someone whom we trusted and who cared about our success. He had the knowledge and skills to keep us focused, and he knew a small early success would spur us on to more entrepreneurial attempts. Looking back, I realize he really engineered our first foray into business to build our confidence and help us understand what it’s like to work for ourselves. Even now, nearly 30 years later, Matthew and I find ourselves remembering his advice when we’re planning or making decisions.

Although few entrepreneurs are fortunate enough to have a keen mentor in the family, it is possible to find one or two. Here are eight tips to getting the right mentor -- or group of mentors -- for you:

Determine your needs. Keeping in mind that your mentoring needs will shift as you start and build your business, take the time to determine exactly what kind of mentor you want now. Are you having trouble with the numbers, understanding your market or operations? Are you ready to ramp up production or still playing with concepts? Build a wish list for your mentor -- laying out what skills and support you need to get to the next step.
Take time to network. Networking isn't just important for finding customers. It’s also vital for finding a mentor. Who do you want helping you? Someone who sits in an office and thinks connecting with the business community means reading a couple of magazines a month? No, you want someone who’s out there, knows the market and can point you in the right direction.
Listen more, talk less. Given your youthful enthusiasm for entrepreneurship, it may be hard to stay silent. But to find a mentor, you need to listen -- a lot. Pay attention and you‘ll be able to separate the smart potential mentors from those who just use all the right words.
Be "mentorable." If you come off as someone who knows everything -- or thinks you do -- many people will back away. If you want to learn, be willing to consider ideas that may not match your expectations or opinions. Above all, don’t fall victim to your own hype. Your business may or may not have serious problems, but another viewpoint will help you sort things out.
Remain flexible. You may have mentors who stay with you over the long haul, but you will also benefit from people who provide just an afternoon of insightful ideas. If you are fortunate enough to get time with someone who is rarely available, absorb all you can and take notes. Your mentor may be skilled only in one specific area, but that’s okay. All help is good help.
Don't overlook nontraditional mentors. Some mentors may help you without their knowledge through books, seminars, speeches, videos on Ted, TV programs and the internet. My brother and I always looked to Richard Branson as one of our mentors. We don’t have to meet him in person to appreciate all he provides to entrepreneurs and others all over the world.
Thank your mentors. When people help you, intentionally or unintentionally, let them know. Mentors are not in it for the money; they just want to help others grow. Think about what you can do to let them know how much you appreciate them and their help.
Pay it forward. You may never be able to pay your mentors back, but you can recognize what they’ve done for you by becoming a mentor to others. That's one reason we started YoungEntrepreneur.com: to support those who share our dreams and goals.