EntreRev Young Entrepreneur Network

10 Tips to Boost Your Social Media Presence

Mon, 20 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

The following answers are provided by members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

1. Answer Others' Questions

Establish a search query using a tool like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite around an area you have expertise. Watch the stream and answer other people's questions or retweet articles that you think provide valuable insight to others. The number one rule about social media is "be helpful".

- Eric Holtzclaw, Laddering Works

2. Create Great Content

Create great content including infographics, photos, and videos and share the content across social media platforms. If your content is not insightful, people will not want to read it or engage as much with your company. Also consume and respond to others' content you might get new ideas for future content and everyone will benefit.

- Jesse Pujji, Ampush

3. Be Reponsive

Many entrepreneurs use social media as a one-way platform to spread a message to those that follow them; however, the best will engage in conversations with their followers, responding to comments and being truly accessible.

- Bhavin Parikh, Magoosh Test Prep

4. Make All Their Profiles Consistent

Worth updating all your social media profiles and making sure each is consistent and similar. When people are looking you up, they're seeing all of them at the

The Key to Growing Your Brand: Skate Where the Puck is Going to Be

Wed, 15 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Although the Phoenix Coyotes struggled a bit financially (to put it lightly) during Wayne Gretzky’s time as head coach, the man has a quote that has put plenty of dollars into my business: “Skate where the puck is going to be.”

When you’re starting a business, you have to think, you must be creative, and you need to look beyond what others are doing to mine your own fresh ideas. Essentially, you have to determine where the “puck” is going to be one day from now, one week from now, and one year from now. Then, you have to beat it there.

Innovate to Meet the Puck

Take Netflix, for example. Although Blockbuster was already “there” in terms of movie rentals, Netflix wasn’t discouraged. The company entered the market with a new idea — online renting and streaming services — and improved upon the foundation Blockbuster had already built. Now, a few years down the road, it’s no secret that Blockbuster is hurting and Netflix is rolling in piles of cash.

If the wheel isn’t broke, you don’t necessarily have to fix it — but you still can. Proven ideas are definitely great places to start a business: You know the model works and you have an example to follow. What will propel your business to new levels, however, is considering a new angle or improvement on an existing product and applying it.

Even if it’s simply a new way to market an existing product, novelty is often the driving force behind a new business.

3 Things the Crowd Wants to See Before Investing

Mon, 06 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

There are many equity and revenue share crowdfunding platforms that are already funding small businesses around the country, but what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg. According to a recent Forbes.com article there are nearly 500,000 new businesses started in the United States each month. It is entirely possible that various forms of crowdfunding become the primary funding source for most young businesses. As you consider raising capital via crowdfunding, you must keep in mind that the crowd is going to want to see certain things before they consider investing. Here are 3 specific areas of focus related to your financial projections.

1. Enough Margin for Revenue Share

Many crowdfunding platforms offer a revenue share option. So for example, each time you sell a product you would take some percentage off the top to return to your investors. Here is the problem, if your financial projections show that your margins are too thin to be able to take 5% or 7% off the top of each sale and still have the cash to operate the business, your company probably is not a good fit for a revenue share or royalty type agreement. If you can demonstrate through your financial projections that you can grow the business, provide a royalty to investors, and reach profitability, then you are in business!

2. Relatively Short Term Return

Generally accredited angel investors or venture capital firms have the luxury of being able to wait 5 or even 10 years before they

13 Signs You Were Born to Be an Entrepreneur

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

1. Curiosity

Entrepreneurship starts by asking questions. Why is there not a product that helps me do X? How could we build a product that better solves the target audience's needs? Could technology make this easier, more efficient, more sustainable or more affordable? If you continually ask questions, you'll find a problem to solve.

- Emily Eldridge Holdman, The Remarkables

2. Holistic Thinking

Entrepreneurs are quick to see the whole picture, not just pieces of the puzzle. This complete view helps them move the pieces into place that will form the results they are after. The majority of people are at the mercy of details and calculations, which, while important, limit them. Entrepreneurs have the ability to view situations with a wide lens.

- Kim Kaupe, 'ZinePak

3. Disobedience

People who follow all the rules are generally not entrepreneurs. A self-starter must be able to see beyond the often short-sighted objectives and identify long-term goals that may or may not be aligned with what other people tell them to do.

- Michael Costigan, Michael Costigan, LLC

4. Adaptability

Entrepreneurs must be able to adapt on the fly to new situations and work with others to help them adapt. Entrepreneurship, at its core, is figuring out a new solution to an old problem or creating opportunities that address problems we didn't know existed. Adaptability viewing the world as fluid and malleable is required to succeed.

- Eric Holtzclaw, Laddering Works

5. Riskiness

All entrepreneurs are born with a high propensity

Starting a Business Blog: How to Find Your Voice

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Pick a theme. You want your readers to come to your blog and immediately get a sense for what the content will generally be geared toward. Use imagery; a good, quick description about what they’ll find; and then be consistent with those things.

Determine who your target audience is. Are you speaking to entrepreneurial moms? CFOs? Figure out with whom you are trying to connect, and be sure that your content is written with your audience in mind.

One of the first steps in finding your blog voice is determining who your audience is.

Write from your heart. A blog post resonates most with people when it feels more like a conversation. Think about how you would normally talk in person to those in your target audience, and write like that.

Ask for feedback. Ask your readers what they want to read about. Ask them for feedback on your posts, if they are helpful, and what you could do to improve their experience. Always have a mechanism for feedback for your readers. This will help you to hone your voice and your content over time so that it really meets the needs and desires of your audience.

Remember that it’s okay to write about topics that aren’t 100% related to your business. In fact, it’s a good idea to mix up your content a little bit and share what might be going on in other industries that relate to your business somehow. Maybe the post is about the economy. Just keep that content fresh, interesting,

How to Increase Conversions on an E-Commerce Site

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

1. Plan Ahead

When choosing the right platform for your business, take into consideration your potential growth, your budget, and the current size of your operation. Larger businesses should consider hiring a developer to design and implement their e-commerce sites. Hiring a developer can be expensive, but is the best choice. Small businesses without the budget or expertise should look at one of the many available hosted platforms. While less customizable, they are often streamlined and easy to use.

2. Backup

When building an e-commerce site, plan for the unthinkable (yet inevitable) possibility of a system crash and data loss. Backing up your site's files in a secure online backup cloud is a practical solution to this crippling possibility. Sites like www.OnlineBackupGeeks.com allow you to compare cloud backup hosts, and can help find which company to entrust with your backup needs.

3. Go Mobile

More shoppers are making purchases from tablet devices like iPads. A savvy e-commerce site is not only easily navigable in standard format, but also features a tablet-friendly experience. Tablet devices accounted for somewhere between 8 and 19 percent of all traffic on e-commerce sites between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday in 2012, according to Website Magazine.

4. Easier Better

Ease of use is a major factor to consider when trying to increase conversions on your site. If it is aesthetically pleasing but difficult to use, customers simply won't make as many purchases. Drive sales by directing customers to enter their credit card information at every turn. In addition, your site should be hosted with

5 Often Overlooked Business Website Principles

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

1. Keep it simple

It may seem the more complex your website, the more professional your website will be. In reality, simple and clear is the way to go. An overload on animations, gifs, blinking banners, can overwhelm and confuse visitors. It will also make your site look amateur.

2. Contact

Communication is important for a number of reasons. Visitors may have questions or may want to reach out to do business. It should be easy for them to find contact information on your website. They should not be searching through the pages of your website looking for any sign of an email or a telephone number. The best way to do this is to designate a page for all contact information.

3. Web Host Reliability

When choosing a website host, you should check their website during different times of the day and night. This way, you will see if your website host goes down frequently. Visitors that are directed to your site will assume that you are no longer in business, if they are unable to see your website because it is down. If they found your website through a search engine, chances are they will move on to the next best website and never come back. It is essential that you choose a reliable website host with good technical support.

4. Update Content

The work doesn’t end with creating your business website. Updating the content on your website will give visitors a reason to come back. It will also show that your business is open

5 Places Every Entrepreneur Should Visit

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

As someone who has ventured off the beaten path, here are my top five recommendations for entrepreneurs who want to explore new places, see new things, and meet new people:
1. Indonesia

Everyone knows Bali has gorgeous beaches in one of the most serene settings in the world, but if you really want to get away, visit the Gili Islands. A two-hour ferry ride from Bali into the Indian Ocean, you’ll be on a Muslim island with no cars or motorbikes. For $10, you can have your own snorkel guide and swim with sea turtles for half a day.
While you’re in Indonesia, don’t forget to try to wrap your head around the huge opportunity present in the fourth most populous country in the world. Indonesia is such a geographically dispersed country that it’s home to a wide variety of cultures and groups. Spending some time learning how these different groups coincide can lend some considerable insight into how you can better interact with people back home.
2. Iceland

Iceland’s amazing volcanoes and glaciers make up some of the most stunning scenery in the world, perfect for the person working 100-hour weeks who needs a little space to recharge. Explore the backcountry. Go ice climbing, snowmobiling, and snowkiting; replace spreadsheets with adrenaline.
On the entrepreneurial side, Iceland’s legislature is constantly working toward freedom of information, so the Internet will always be protected against PIPA and SOPA. Super jeeping down a volcano and surfing an

Lessons Learned From Working From Home

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

I still work from my home office and love the freedom it gives me to focus on my work in comfort and without distraction. Well, most of the time that is. At first, my home office was my haven where I could focus, but I quickly learned that working from home took some work. Here are a few of the biggest lessons I have learned from working where I live.

1. Organization is Crucial

I have always been a compulsive organizer so the importance of keeping things orderly was not lost on me. Still, one of the first things I did was create a solid system to organize my thoughts, work, invoices and schedule.

When you work by yourself, there is no one else there to hold you accountable. You are your own boss. While that is a dream for many entrepreneurs and budding small business owners, it requires more than some people realize at first. With technology today, planners, whiteboards and other office tools, you can easily get your home office pulled together in no time.

2. You Must Set Business Hours

Once I announced to my family that I would be working from home, things changed. They took my presence in the house as freedom to work whenever I felt like it instead of on a regular basis.

Although there is some flexibility being an entrepreneur and working out of your home, there is also a certain level of responsibility that must be upheld. If you do not work and set hours for yourself,

How to Build a Business You're Passionate About

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

This approach to business doesn’t leave most people happy or fulfilled in the long run. They only end up feeling the physical brunt of the work, rather than connecting emotionally with their companies’ goals and mission. For this reason, it is vital to not just have passion, but an all-out, uncontrollable, raging, ridiculous obsession with the business and industry.

Finding Your Future

Many professionals understand the need to work in a job or field they are passionate about; however, they have never had the chance to truly explore where their dedication and interest lie. For those who want to make the leap into a passion-fueled business, here are some tips on determining what type of job or industry would provide for a fulfilling future.

1. What annoys you?

Irritating, or even infuriating, product or service issues can sometimes point to what you inherently value and have an eye for. The chance to create something better may be your best motivating factor for building your own.

2. How do you spend your free time?

The way you voluntarily spend your time is a good place to begin. It may not be immediately obvious how this interest could become a business, but the Internet is full of opportunities to turn passion into commerce. One option is becoming an “information publisher.” For instance, if you love gardening or are a model train enthusiast, you can use social media networks to connect with like-minded people, then write about your subject and publish content through online platforms. Over time,

Don’t Be a One-Hit Wonder: Diversify Your Focus

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Amazon is the perfect example of thinking beyond a single business model and industry. Do you remember when Amazon used to only sell books, and hardcover books at that? Today, Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer and sells nearly everything from staples to treadmills.

Amazon discovered that people enjoyed buying books online and concluded that customers might also enjoy the convenience of buying other items online. Amazon diversified its product line in ways that its original competition wasn’t prepared for — or able to match.

Don’t Be a One-Hit Wonder

Toyota doesn’t manufacture all of its cars in a single model, Apple didn’t stop innovating after the MacBook, and Johnson & Johnson could never have become one of the world’s largest businesses without expanding its product line to include everything from hand soap to breakfast cereal. Successful companies that only sell one product are extremely rare, as doing so requires high profit margins and an extraordinary amount of customer loyalty and retention. Also, even with products that were initially a huge success, many generally fall by the wayside as competitors improve upon the original product or customers lose interest.

“Add to Shopping Cart”

Amazon’s extensive product line means customers continuously turn to the site for their shopping needs and push the “Add to Shopping Cart” button. Multiple products give a business more opportunities to find new consumer markets, upsell, cross-sell, and ultimately raise the lifetime value of a customer.

On the other hand, a single-product company only has one chance. Once the customer has completed

A Guide for an Entrepreneur’s First Office Search

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Consider alternative options to the traditional lease

Renting an office in the traditional manner from a landlord remains the most popular workspace option. However long-term contracts, combined with having to manage the space yourself, can make the traditional lease less than ideal for a small business. There is a huge amount of alternative office space out there. Shared offices (where you rent an empty desk in another business’ office) in particular, can be a superb option.

In a shared office you can enjoy all the buzz of office life, will the added bonus of flexible rolling month to month contracts, which mean you are not tied down to a property as you would be with a traditional lease. Furthermore, utilities and internet costs will be included in your monthly bill. You can generally get in and get working immediately, with none of the upfront costs and possible delays you may face when leasing your own space. Shared offices are often a little more expensive, but because of these benefits they may be worth a little extra outlay.

Consider alternative locations

Often the cheapest offices are a little further out of town, making them a really viable alternative to more expensive city centre locations. This is a particularly good option for a forward-thinking entrepreneur, as moving into a commercial property can be a bonus in itself; simply having a professional address can really boost the impression your business gives out to potential clients and customers.

Conversely it is also important to consider

The Pros and Cons of Taking a Startup Public

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Is this a dream come true or what?

Going public is an exciting event for a young company and can be the launch pad for vigorous growth and subsequent success. As with all good things, there is a downside to consider. Let’s go through the “bad news, good news” considerations, starting with the bad news so we can end on a positive note.

First, definitions. “Going public” is the term used to define a sale of stock or debt in an initial public offering or IPO registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A “public company” is a company that has undertaken an IPO or is otherwise required to be a reporting company under the Securities and Exchange Act. A “private company” typically has a limited number of owners or investors and is not required to file reports with the SEC.

IPO – the down side

We’ve all seen what happens when companies under the watchful eye of shareholders and analysts begin to manage by quarter rather than for long term strategic growth. This is quite damaging and was painfully evident during the dot-com boom and bust. Becoming a “slave to the stock price” does not always foster good business strategy and can significantly damage a company, its operations, and its reputation—not to mention the security of your job as CEO when the stock price tanks. Here are some things to consider before you put going public on the table:

Costs – dollars and time.

Obviously there is a monetary cost to going public. The

Should You Develop a Mobile App for Your Small Business?

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 05:00:00 GMT

How will a mobile app improve your customer’s experience?

There’s no point in going to all the trouble creating an app if take-up is non-existent or it doesn’t heighten the value of the experience for your customer. Mobile apps are far more limited than their desktop PC counterparts, so your ‘lite’ version of your brand, your sales catalogue or your website may actually end up detracting, rather than attracting.

Everyone else has one, why shouldn’t I?

Apps may be the flavour of the moment, but that also means there’s a swamped marketplace full of half-hearted attempts to ‘go mobile’. Peer pressure may be mounting for you to follow suit, but don’t have a mobile app just because everyone else has one. Make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.

Do your customers really want your app?

The average user only has around 10 apps installed on their smartphone (and that includes Angry Birds!). Is there a compelling enough reason for your customers to download your app, and is it something they’ll want on their phone all the time?

Could your app end up damaging your brand?

Mobile is, without doubt, one of the fastest growing aspects of digital business, and there’s nothing more tempting than being able to put your brand identity right into the very pockets of the customers you’re targetting. But once there, what’s it doing for them? Unless your brand adds value to their experience, they won’t keep it for long (even if it’s a

Finding the Right Shipping Fulfillment Company

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 05:00:00 GMT

1.The Benefits of a Fulfillment Company

Starting a new business takes not only dedication but also knowing how your time and focus can best be utilized. Time management is vital to launching and expanding your venture. Most entrepreneurs start a business based on what they know — you have a true passion and formidable experience with your product or service. You rush out of the starting blocks with this passion and energy but soon find your energy and focus is diluted by fundraising, updating technology, sourcing, and writing endless purchase orders. On top of that, you have your legal and accounting needs and your investors’ desire for instant results. Things get complicated quickly.

In this whirlwind of activity, running to the post office or office supply store to ship your orders can become a very time consuming chore that doesn’t allow you to focus on your vision. No doubt it is the factor that drives your business, but it can consume you. Online retailers need a way to deliver the passion they feel in their products to their customers through competitive and professional means. Fulfillment companies take on those daily responsibilities and efficiently meet those needs

2. Finding the Perfect Partner

Just as you would seek quality vendors to make your product or deliver your service, you should also look closely at the outbound side your business. Your fulfillment company should also be your logistics expert. It deals with inbound and outbound freight and should be able to help with

4 Innovative Tools for Conducting Business On-The-Go

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 05:00:00 GMT

It’s vital to my business’ success to be able to conduct business regardless of wether I’m in my office starring at my computer or on the road with my smart phone. That’s why I’ve come to depend on the following four tools that make it possible for me to conduct my mobile securely.

Evernote

As far as the secure storage of all kinds of business files—from text documents, contracts, excel spreadsheets, emails, meeting notes, financial information, images, and project essentials— the Evernote app offers secure cloud computing that can be accessed from anywhere and from any device. In fact; I’m able to write a document and store it using Evernote from my computer at the office, use my tablet to edit the same document on the subway home, use my smart phone to share it at a client meeting, and print it off using my laptop at home. This means that even if you lose say your smart phone at the coffee shop, Evernote stores all of your files securely in the cloud and no one can access your cloud without the secure password.

Go Payment

Gopayment mobile payments is a fully-secure credit card processing tool that you can connect right to your smart phone. I use Go Payment at conferences and client lunches to take secure payments from my clients, and I do so in 3 easy steps—first I launch the app, second I swipe the client’s credit card, and third I let the customer enter their personal info

The 3 Best Little-Known Startup Funding Sources

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 05:00:00 GMT

1. SBA Microlenders

There are just under 200 SBA Microlenders in the U.S. These lenders are able to lend between $500 and $50,000 to for-profit small businesses. While a small business loan cannot directly be written off when you file taxes online or through your accountant, some of the items bought with a SBA loan can be. The purpose of SBA microlenders is to fill a financing gap for small businesses and startups. Most traditional banks will not make loans below $50,000, but in this day and age of the Lean Startup, you may not need more than $50,000 to start and grow your business. Most banks require great personal credit and at least a couple years of operating history for your business. Microlenders tend to be a bit more lenient. Here is a listing of all of the SBA microlenders around the country.

2. CDFI's

CDFI stands for Certified Development Financial Institution. CDFIs are non profit lenders and credit unions around the country. There are approximately 1,000 CDFIs around the country that lend to a population that historically has a difficult time securing financing. CDFIs might focus on lending to minorities or low income individuals, but one thing that startup founders should keep in mind is that they often qualify as low income. You may have left your day job at Google where you made $100,000 a year to start a new company where you haven’t paid yourself in 6 months. Guess what, you probably qualify as “low income” and

6 Great Mobile Apps for Entrepreneurs

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Starting a Business with Venture Capital

No matter if you are new to the game and need some tips on how to get your own business off the ground, or if you are already about to get your first term sheet but still have questions about how to close your VC round, Starting a Business with Venture Capital can be a great resource for you. It provides information and guidance that comes from entrepreneurs who have successfully grown their business. After downloading this free app, you will have access to more than 40 videos on topics that range from pitching your idea, networking, deal negotiation, and relationship building with investors.

Cardcloud

If you want to save some money and be as eco-friendly as possible, consider using Cardcloud, a free app that allows you to create and share your online business card. By using Cardcloud, you will be able to connect with anyone within three taps, and you will never have to worry about running out of cards. The app also autosaves the location of where a business card is shared or sent so you can add notes to your received cards later. The best part? Your contacts don’t need the app to receive your business card –– you can simply enter their email address to share your card.

Pipedrive

This app is a great tool for sales pipeline management. No matter where you are, you’ll always be able to view your sales pipeline and to access your to-do list as well as your customer contacts.

PR on a Startup Budget

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Help a Reporter Out

HARO stands for Help A Reporter Out, and while it is extremely helpful to reporters, it can also be extremely helpful to startups! It’s a completely free service where you can sign up to receive the requests from reporters. You’ll get three emails a day with dozens of reporters looking for expert sources for their stories. I signed up to keep an eye on opportunities for DTA to showcase its expertise and we’ve been picked up by over 20 publications in the last few months. It’s an easy and free way to know what reporters are looking for and pitch why you are the expert they should speak to!

Guest Post the Most

The best way to get your name and your company name recognized is to showcase your expertise by being a guest contributor to a publication that reaches your target market. It can be time-consuming and difficult at first, but if you take the time to form relationships with the editors and write thoughtful pieces that will be valuable to their readers you can become a trustworthy expert in your field by sharing your message with your audience.

Hire a Trustworthy and Economical PR Firm

If you’re looking to really make a splash for your new startup hiring a professional PR company may be the best bet. Lucky for your there are PR firms that specialize in working with startups, and they understand that you are working on a budget. Make sure you’re

Using Instagram as an Online Marketing Tool

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 05:00:00 GMT

According to a recent blog post by Instagram, the community has grown to more than 80 million active users who have shared 4 billion photos since the app was launched two years ago. From established companies Ben & Jerry’s and Burberry, to small startups, all types of businesses have started using Instagram to try to gain attention and reach out to a broader market.

Not only can you use Instagram on your Apple iOS and Android mobile phones and devices, now you can also find its new online tool called Instagram Profiles available on the Web, which allows you to display and share photos on your mobile phones as well as traditional web pages.

As an entrepreneur, you may find yourself short on time and money. So, how can you get the most out of this free photo-sharing app and grow your business? Here are simple steps to get started:

Sign up for an Instagram account, choose an account name that will be easily recognizable and easy to find, preferably the same as your Twitter handle.
Create a profile for your business, and make your profile photo stand out.
Connect your account everywhere you can to promote your Instagram web profile. Mention it on your business page on Facebook and your company’s Twitter profile. Add the Instagram badge to your company website.
Promote your content. Upload your photos to Instagram –– photos of your office, photos of

Crucial Conversations to Have Before Starting a Business

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Those Who Have Been There

Before beginning your own entrepreneurial journey, you have to speak with people who have been there and done that. They know the hazards and have experienced the rewards. Surround yourself with mentors and colleagues so you can continue to learn from them.

Someone once claimed that a person’s body weight was the average of his five closest friends’ weights. I believe the same is true in regard to your income level. If you surround yourself with people who work dead-end jobs and haven’t set objectives for themselves, you’ll find yourself sinking to that level. However, if you surround yourself with people who are passionate and motivated to create a better life for themselves, you’ll find yourself being lifted up by them.

Mentors love to help people who are receptive. When you approach them for advice, remember that honesty really is the best policy. If you aren’t afraid to ask questions and admit when you don’t know something, you’ll find people won’t think less of you. Instead, they’ll respect your willingness to ask questions!

Your Family

When I was starting out as an entrepreneur, my wife had a line in our budget called “Joe’s Miscellaneous Business Ventures.” Thankfully, she allowed me to try new things until I found what worked.

You can’t give up. After one year of working late every night, I was able to quit my job and go on my own. Since then, I haven’t looked back, and my company has grown a hundredfold. I was blessed to have

Entrepreneur Interview: Tom Copeman, Founder and CEO of Nara

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Nara is available on the web at Nara.me and for free in the App Store and on Google Play. Both the web platform and the app provide personalized restaurant recommendations in 25 U.S. and Canadian cities from New York City to San Francisco to Toronto. Much like how Pandora's app learns your music tastes as you use it, Nara actively learns your restaurant preferences and creates a unique Digital DNA^TM for you with which it intelligently recommends other restaurants you are pretty sure to like as well. Nara raised $4 million in series A funding, backed by Peter de Roetth and other angel investers. After living in stealth mode since its inception in 2010, Nara finally launched today, November 13th.

We spoke with Tom about the launch, how he balances his personal life and work life, and why he chose to move to Cambridge to start-up Nara.

What made you want to become an entrepreneur and how did you fund your first business?

I decided I wanted to become an entrepreneur after I realized that working in a conventional and corporate environment really was not me. Ever since my childhood, I have always been challenging the status quo with creative possibilities. I always try to imagine how we could take something ordinary and make it extraordinary.

For BodyGlide, I was begging and borrowing from anyone I could and wasn’t afraid to quit my conventional job and take the big plunge –

7 Useful Tips for Success as an Entrepreneur

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Some of the highlights from her book are:

1. Accept imperfection.

Don't wait until all the pieces are in perfectly in place before taking action on your dreams. Everyone has to start somewhere, and that somewhere is right here, right now. What is your perfectionism keeping from you? My guess is it's the opportunity to live the life you really want to live, start your dream business and realize your dreams. As Kieves says, the longer you avoid the possibility of failure, the longer you avoid success.

2. Hold on to Excitement.

Don’t discount the feelings you get from the moments that get you completely immersed, exhilarated and excited – the total “yes” moments. Don’t discount the feeling, even when nothing completely concrete has come from it. Kieves says, “It’s more about how an encounter makes you feel, the truth it ignites within you, the possibility that becomes real through you, and how you use and express that energy.” Even though the excitement you feel doesn’t result in anything immediately – the deal may fall through, the client might go elsewhere, or the big client doesn’t bite – it’s important to relish the opportunity. “Possibilities keep us alive,” says Kieves, “Even if they don’t turn out the way we hope, their energy gets us somewhere.”

3. Pave your own road.

Often, the best road to success is your own. Discovering, innovating, creating and forging your own path allows you to learn more

6 Reasons why Colocation Can Help Small Businesses

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 05:00:00 GMT

1. Small Businesses Gain Access to Unparalleled Support Services

The first benefit colocation provides small businesses are unparalleled support services. Colocation facilities feature expertly trained IT support staff which is made available to small businesses around the clock. On their own, small businesses rarely have the financial flexibility to support and IT staff 24-7. Plus, the IT staff at an in-house data center is often not as well trained. This is because they spend all their time dealing with day-to-day activities, rather than enhancing their IT knowledge and skills.

2. Colocation Facilities Provide Improved Infrastructure

Another benefit small businesses gain from colocation is access to elite infrastructure. Purpose built colocation data centers have been built from the ground up which allows them to utilize IT friendly designs. This includes multiple layers of redundancy to ensure continuous uptime. Additionally, they are designed to provide a clean working environment to insure servers are always operating as efficiently as possible.

3. Colocation Allows Small Businesses to Grow at Their Own Pace

One of the biggest problems small businesses face when choosing how to manage their physical IT assets is space. In-house data centers quickly become too small as the business grows while retrofitting a building or creating a new data center from the ground up is financially impossible. Not only do they require an enormous initial capital investment, but they also create a significant amount of unused space. Colocation allows small businesses to rent only

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Shaun Walker, Co Founder of HERO|farm

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 05:00:00 GMT

He has worked for a national top 20 ad agency where he honed his skills on projects for McDonald’s, Sony Pictures and Columbia Pictures. After that he worked for two years at a New Orleans agency as a content developer creating award-winning material for the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets, the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Louisiana Superdome and others. As a copywriter, Shaun was influential in the creation of the New Orleans Hornets critically important "Fan Up" campaign in 2007, their first season back in the city post-Katrina.

Shaun founded HERO|farm in 2009 with partner Reid Stone. Some notable achievements of the duo: YFS Magazine's Top 20 Young Entrepreneurs of 2011, Business of the Year for 2011 (International Association of Business Communicators—New Orleans), Spotlight on Success 2012 Honorees (March of Dimes—New Orleans), 40-Under-40 (Gambit) and members of Tulane University's Public Board of Advisors (Journalism/Media Arts). They also are hosts of Brand This, an internet radio show where they consult with entrepreneurs and small business owners on how to best brand their services and products and give marketing advice.

How old were you when you started out on your first entrepreneurial venture?

My business partner, Reid Stone, and I founded our company when he was 26 and I was 24. Really, it was out of necessity. We had been laid off together at the beginning of the recession, as we worked in an industry that is anything but recession proof and

Should You Get a Business Loan?

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 05:00:00 GMT

1. Global Personal Financial Statement

Most business loan and account receivable lenders like to understand your global financial situation. This means they want to look at your business and personal financial statements added together to determine your ability to pay back the loan. For example, you might start a business while you keep your day job, and the business alone does not generate enough cash flow to make the loan payment each month, but you may have $1,500 left over each month after you pay your personal bills. The lender may be willing to provide a loan to the business based on the global financial position of the owner.

2. Debt Service Coverage Ratio

The debt service coverage ratio is calculated by dividing net operating income by your total debt service. Debt service is simply the dollar amount of all loan payments. Lenders are looking for borrowers that have a debt service coverage ratio of at least 1.25. If your business generates a net income of $100,000 annually, but the new loan you are applying for has a debt service of $100,000 annually, you can’t afford to take out that large of a loan. Your DSCR would be 1, and that leaves absolutely no room for error. Lenders want to see that you have some cushion to make your loan payment even if the business goes through a slow period.

3. Debt to Equity Ratio

This is a simple ratio that the bank is going to look at. Do you have more debt than

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Alexis Morgan, Founder of the Dream Agency

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 05:00:00 GMT

How did you decide to take the leap of faith into entrepreneurship?

I actually ‘fell’ into it. I never thought I would be an entrepreneur, I never thought about owning my own company, it’s just something that never interested me. One day I was looking for a job in college and thought why don’t I just start getting paid for what I do best which is pr. So that’s where the dream began and that’s how I ended up creating Dream Public Relations. I am thinking about creating another company involving international business development. Dream was the seed and, in a sense, now it’s budding into something much bigger.

What part of your background or education has helped you the most as a young entrepreneur?

I think my background in overall communication translated into communicating everyday with people and clients. COmmunication is key when you’re starting a business because there’s so much interaction with people involved.

What was the inspiration behind starting this venture?

My inspiration was the quote, ‘If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.’ Doing public relations comes naturally to me, I don’t even feel like I’m ever working even during 100 hour weeks. I like working for myself without anyone watching over my shoulder. I think my love for PR and the efficiency I have when working for myself are the inspirations behind Dream PR.

What were you afraid of when starting your company and how have you overcome it?

As with any unknown, there is always

Mentoring Myths Debunked

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 05:00:00 GMT

To help you get the most out of mentoring and being mentored, we have compiled some of the most common mentoring myths here, as well as the reasons they don’t hold water.

1. There is a minimum age requirement for mentors

Admit it--when you think of a mentor you think of a wise old sage wrapped in a toga and sitting cross legged on a cushion. This is probably the most persistent myth about mentoring, and likely stems from the fact that many of us assume that we can only learn from someone who is older than us.

In reality however, a mentor can be any age and come from any walk of life. The main requirement for a mentor is that he or she has more experience and knowledge than the mentee in a particular particular area. If your degree is in human resources, seek out a knowledgeable professional in your field. If you have a bachelors degree in management, seek out someone with experience in management to further your education, don't worry about the age. Of course, it often does happen that the mentor is older than the mentee, because older people generally do have more life experience than a younger person.

But getting stuck on the idea that a mentor must always be older than a mentee can be detrimental to the learning process, especially in the business world where younger people are often more up to date with the latest technology compared to their older counterparts who have 10 0r 15 years of

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Kelsey Meyer, Co-Founder of Digital Talent Agents

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Q. What is Digital Talent Agents?

Digital Talent Agents is a company that specializes in creating opportunities for its clients by highlighting their expertise. The specific niche that DTA focuses on is getting high quality articles from the entrepreneur into reputable publications that meet their target market. DTA works with clients ranging from entrepreneurs of small companies, to executives of Fortune 500 companies, to large state Universities and other agencies.

Q. What was the deciding factor to start your life as an entrepreneur? How did your friends and family react?

A. My decision to be an entrepreneur came early. I started a small marketing company in college really as an experiment and it actually made money. I then was fortunate to meet a local serial entrepreneur who allowed me to get involved with a few ideas he had and DTA sprung from that. I come from a family of entrepreneurs who have seen the upside and downside of entrepreneurship so they definitely cautioned me, but encouraged me to work hard and create something wonderful.

Q. How did you get the inspiration for your company?

A. We saw a need that was not being met. I had spoken with dozens of entrepreneurs who were discouraged with their PR companies. They felt that they weren’t being provided real value by being on a retainer, and they didn’t like how they had no control over the message. We actually tested out the model for 10 clients for free for two months to validate that it was possible and

5 Ways to Make a Great First Impression

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 05:00:00 GMT

What sets apart the winners from the losers in these situations?

Through my work with thousands of clients, I’ve found that there are 25 specific auditory and visual cues that affect how you’re perceived. Even more importantly, all 25 of these cues are under your control through practice, and can be the difference between closing the deal or walking away empty handed.

1. Listen Actively

Your credibility can be won or lost when you’re simply listening. Do you look bored or disconnected—or respectfully engaged? Attentive listening means you’re an active partner. It’s not enough to pay attention; you have to look like you’re paying attention. Keep your posture open, your head up, and your navel pointing toward the speaker.

Practice Tip: Next time someone is speaking to you, imagine someone else is grading you on your behavior and your body language. Are you engaged, energized and active, or are you passive, closed and distant? Would you pass the test, or would you be sent out to grab some coffee?

2. Maintain Eye Contact

Writer Takayuki Ikkaku says “Eye contact is the best accessory.” In order to build rapport and trust with another person, it’s important to make eye contact with the person speaking to you. Otherwise it looks like you may have something to hide. However, it’s not enough to just sporadically look the other person in the eye. For best results, hold it for three to five seconds.

Practice Tip: If you truly feel uncomfortable or uneasy looking the other person in the eye, practice looking

3 Keys To Entrepreneurial Success

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Below are my three keys to finding entrepreneurial success:

1. Goal Clarity & Plan Flexibility

You must first have a well thought out dream if you’d like your dream to come true. Without specific goals and predetermined plans for how you intend to accomplish those goals, your business venture is likely to fail. Take the time to form goals and make a business plan so you can map out what needs to be done to bring your idea to life—but stay flexible. The business world is not rigid and you will need to be able, and equally important, willing to modify plans to achieve your goals as you go along.

While having a clear vision and goal for your business is important, don’t get too stuck on your original game plan—a balance of thought, action, and ability to adapt is what will get your good idea to the next level.

2. Energy Focus Success

There is something to be said for concentrating all of your energy, resources and focus where it will matter most. You can take 10 units of energy and put it in 10 places -OR- you can take 10 units of energy and put them all into one place. If you spread your energy too thinly over too many projects, there is a higher likelihood that most, if not all, of those projects will fail. However, by putting your energy and focus into one main idea or project, your chances of success are much greater.

Time, energy, effort, attention, emotion, investment capital—when you give it all to a singular focused entrepreneurial idea, you will find

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Dylan Bathurst, CEO & Co-Founder of Rumgr iPhone App

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Q. What is Rumgr and what do you hope to achieve with it?

A. Rumgr can most easily be described as a garage sale for your phone. With this company, we hope to start allowing people to safely and easily buy and sell used goods to their neighbors.

Q. What part of your background or education has helped you most in your experience as an entrepreneur?

A. Definitely the part that helped me the most was my time working at Zappos. That experience taught me so much about technology, more than any school could. It also taught me the importance of great customer service, that you really have to connect with your users.

Q. Was it difficult leaving Zappos to start your own company?

A. We all left Zappos so the passion that we have for Rumgr and what we think we can do with it far outweighs the negatives of leaving a solid job.

Q. What challenges did you face in the early stages of the project?

A. Some of the biggest challenges we face even now is just how to acquire users. That’s biggest on our minds right now; where’s that thing that really helps us to acquire new users and get them to tell their friends about it? That’s one of the big things. Some of the other challenges are how to run a company.

Being a developer at a large corporation, I definitely have a lot of experience working on teams and managing teams a little bit but it becomes a whole other

How To Get Free Publicity

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 05:00:00 GMT

1. Give People What They Need

One of the key mistakes business owners make is failing to ask customers for feedback. The single most important question you can ask your target audience is, “What products or services do you need to build your business?” Too often companies create what they think the market will want. Seldom do they take the time to ask what is actually needed.

2. There can be a huge difference between what you think customers want and what they really need

To spare yourself from significant pain, create what the market is telling you it needs. If you create products and services with built-in demand, you’ll chuckle as you head to the bank with checks in hand, wondering why other companies don’t use this straightforward yet highly effective strategy.

3. Know Yourself

When executed well, publicity is not only free, it delivers phenomenal exposure over and over again. While people have become skeptical of advertising, an invited guest is typically welcomed. To succeed with publicity, understand the medium you’re pitching, be clear about what producers are looking for in their guests, and have significant value to provide to audiences. If you keep these criteria in mind while pursuing opportunities, then in due time, as the Counting Crows famously sang, “When I look at the television, (I’ll) see me staring right back at me.”

4. Create The Hook

Robert Kiyosaki, now renowned in both the financial and publishing worlds, originally self-published Rich Dad, Poor Dad. To generate exposure for the book, he

Did I Just Create a Contract?

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 05:00:00 GMT

5 Words Cost $1 Million

It was an expensive lesson for one company. During email negotiations about purchasing an item from the seller, five words ended up costing them more than a million dollars. After agreeing on a price only and thinking other contract terms would be hammered out later, a company representative wrote a 5-word email back to the seller: “We have a deal then.” No doubt, the company representative meant to say, “We have a deal then on price.” The buyer and seller went on to discuss other terms for a few months but a formal contract was never signed and communications ended.

Three years later, after the value of the item fell drastically, the seller/email recipient focused on those five words—claiming for the first time that a binding contract was formed through the earlier email exchange. The seller demanded the previously agreed purchase price and, when not paid, sued the company for breach of contract. The case settled before trial but ended up costing the company more than $1 million in legal and other fees.

Make Your Intentions Clear

To avoid a similar legal hassle, you should clearly specify in emails what you are negotiating, and that if agreement is reached on one or more issues, you will then move on to negotiating other issues. Additionally, if you intend to use a formal contract but do not want to be bound until the formal contract is signed, expressly state this.

Because emails are often informal and can be sent without much thought

Young Entrepreneur Interview: James Brown, Co-Founder of Goalee.com

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 05:00:00 GMT

You tell Goalee your networking goals (perhaps "Find people working in Finance in NYC"), and Goalee identifies contacts for you that fit that criteria. Goalee goes a step further, however, by ranking those contacts based on how much they share in common with you, making for a richer networking experience and a higher likelihood of a successful connection. Pulling data from your existing Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, Goalee compares the backgrounds, goals, and interests of all users to identify shared characteristics, and uses those shared characteristics to point out networking opportunities. You can then add your matches to your LinkedIn network directly through Goalee, using communication templates provided by Goalee to make the outreach effective.

Q. What do Goalee users hope to get out of using your service?
A. We want to provide users with a platform to grow their professional networks quickly and more effectively than ever before. Building a network can be a tough experience, and most social media outlets are focused more on maintaining a network than discovering brand new connections. Our goal is to provide users with a dynamic recommendation system that helps them find new connections that are highly-relevant to the user's networking goals and highly compatible with the user.
Q. At what point did you begin developing Goalee?
A. Goalee originated as Aught9, a solution my partner Chris Sturgill and I developed at the University of Rochester (UR) while at the

4 Ways to Create SMART Goals

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Be More Specific

I think most people fail at setting concrete goals because they are not specific enough.

"I want to make more money" is not a specific goal.

Even "I want to make $1,000 per month" is not a specific goal. How are you going to make that money? By what date will you make that money?

Make sure you include a date and a specific amount in your goal. These two things also satisfy the measurable and timely attributes of SMART goals.

Include All Relevant Information

After you write the SMART goal, you should include three other sections after it.

First, the Challenges and Threats section. This section should highlight where you will have problems achieving your goal. You should list your challenges and threats so you can start thinking of ways to overcome them. This leads to the next two sections.

The second section you should include is a People section. In this section, you should list anyone you think you should associate with or get help from in order to achieve your goal. Use the challenges and threats section as a guide for who to put on this list.

Finally, you should include a Next Actions section. Next actions are the next steps you must take to move the goal forward. Next actions are very small steps. They should only take 20 minutes or less to accomplish. Use the challenges and threats section and the people section to come up with next actions.

Do Not Be Afraid to Fail

The point of any goal is not to

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Moses Lee, Founder of Seelio.com

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 05:00:00 GMT

In this role, he directs TechArb, the student startup accelerator (pictured below), and teaches the Entrepreneurship Practicum course.

Q. How did you get the idea/inspiration for your startup? What were you afraid of when starting out?

A. David Jsa, Jerry Wang, and I founded Seelio after I visited Scarlett Middle School in Ann Arbor for Portfolio Day in the spring of 2011. Portfolio Day gives a chance for students to showcase themselves through a paper binder of class work, tests, essays, and awards to professionals in the Ann Arbor community. I met with five students and was deeply moved by their stories and passions; I encouraged them all to continue exploring their interests in high school and to think about applying to the University of Michigan (Go Blue!).

After the event, I lamented to the program administrators: “Too bad that the paper portfolios will probably wind up on a shelf in their homes, never to be seen again.” And even more unfortunate, those who hold the keys to educational and career opportunities would probably never be able to review their rich portfolios of work to make better admissions or hiring decisions.

Q. What is Seelio and what are you trying to acheive with the company?

A. Seelio is a student portfolio platform that allows companies to discover and connect with high-achieving college students by looking beyond black-and-white resumes and seeing students' vivid accomplishments and personality.

We are revolutionizing the way college students showcase themselves for jobs and internships. We believe

Intrinsic Motivation: an Entrepreneur's Best Friend

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 05:00:00 GMT

The answer is yes. Daniel Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us has allowed us to break down motivation to 3 factors:

Autonomy- The freedom to do what we want to do.

A job where you are not only told what to do, but also how to do it without any room for personal input no doubt has a high employee turnover rate.
If we have the freedom to do what aligns with our interest or skills or at least how we accomplish a task, and maybe even the order or time we get to do it, then motivation will increase significantly. This is why I chose to be an entrepreneur, and why you made the right decision as well.

Mastery- The potential to make progress and get better at something.

If you do the same thing for days, weeks, or even worse, years, and there are neither takeaways nor improvements, then my friend it is pretty impressive that you lasted that long at all.
On the contrary, the more you progress and see yourself progressing in the future, the more motivated you will become, leading to better and fulfilling work.

Purpose- The yearning to do something for a greater cause

One of the most common mistakes is for a manager to tell his employees to put A and B together without an explanation of why these things are necessary for the company.
In marketing, we say “sell dreams, not products,” and in management it should be no different. Relating every task to how it

Joint Ventures vs. Nurturing Alliances

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 05:00:00 GMT

By 1988, Jordan had established himself as the game’s most dominant player. Yet, the Detroit Pistons knocked the team out of the playoffs in three consecutive years. In 1991, under the guidance of third-year coach Phil Jackson, Jordan and his teammates led the Bulls to their first of three straight NBA titles. Moral of the story: No matter how talented someone might be, it is impossible for any single person to outperform a finely tuned, highly focused group of individuals committed to achieving a unified goal.

Janet Bray Attwood, co-author of The Passion Test, understands the power of assembling like-minded people for the attainment of a singular purpose. Over the years, she’s developed powerful, close relationships with many of the world’s most influential people. However, there is a significant difference between establishing joint ventures and nurturing alliances. Let’s take a closer look at each:

Joint Ventures

Far too frequently, Internet marketers view business relationships as limited-scope joint ventures. Often, product A is promoted by company B and a joint venture is formed for immediate, mutual benefit. After the promotion, each moves in a different direction and, likely, the two do not work together again. This approach is shortsighted at best and results in tremendous effort for a one-time gain.

As an analogy, consider residential real estate developers. There are typically two types: apartment investors and condominium developers. Tremendous work goes into the creation of both for rent, and for sale, units. The condominium developer looks for an immediate return. The apartment investor looks

10 Indispensible Tax Tips For Startups

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 05:00:00 GMT

To help make your transition easier and calm some of your stress, here are 10 tax tips to help your startup:

1. Understand the implications of each tax entity and choose one that is right for you – This is an important consideration and one that should be made with the help of a trained professional who can guide you through the implications of each entity prior to making the decision for your business. Whether you choose to be a C-Corp, enter into a partnership or act as a sole proprietor, you must know what to expect under each of these entities prior to beginning on your business journey.

2. Know your tax liability and how to plan for it – Understanding the taxes in your state and at a federal level is vital to knowing how to plan for tax season. Talk to a professional to get clear guidelines on what you should be setting aside as far as tax money and what you can plan to pay. This way, there are no surprises when it comes time to pay the government.

3. Start a new business bank account – Even for the bootstrapped entrepreneur, it is important to open a new business bank account to manage your monthly expenses. This account should be the only account where business transactions take place. From spending on home office supplies, to setting aside income generated from the business, you must be able to track all of your spending and revenues in one account.

4. Have

3 Ways Entrepreneurship Builds Character

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 05:00:00 GMT

As an entrepreneur myself, I've encountered heavy resistance against my projects and ideas. Most people around me don't understand the risk I'm taking, so they question my decisions and give me a hard time. Families, friends, and mentors all feel a bit doubtful because they want what's best for me. That just means I have a bigger team supporting me, if only I can convince them that the entrepreneurial path is the right one for me.

So, you know what I tell those people about my decision to jump into the wild wild world of entrepreneurship? I say: independent of either succeeding or failing, I am learning more than I signed up for and building character in a way that affects every angle of my life.

As an entrepreneur, building character happens with each new learning, success, and misstep. It's something that can be applied to your business to help it grow and to your life to make it more enjoyable. Here are some ways your entrepreneurial venture is building your character:

1. Awesome ideas need nurturing

Scott Belsky wrote an entire book, called Making Ideas Happen, about managing the "idea plateau" that inevitably happens after the project's luster and excitement wears off. In his theory, Scott describes the plateau that most projects enter after the team loses energy in execution. What happens is, teams lose energy, the project plateaus, and then an exciting new idea pops up, and the entire process happens all over again.

While not all teams abandon projects when they

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Jeet Banerjee of JB Media Force

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 05:00:00 GMT

However, I really think I stepped into the world of entrepreneurship around the age of 17 when I decided to form my own web design & development company. I consider this my first entrepreneurial venture because I had a clear plan of monetization and was able to execute it.

2. How did you get the idea/inspiration for your startup(s)?

For my web design & development company (JB Media Force), my father actually also had a internet company and I used to spend a lot of time at his office watching what he did. I realized that instead of working as the secretary answering phone calls at his office, I could use what I learn and start my own internet company.

For the company www.StatFuse.com, my partner & I were recent high school students who had an extremely stressful time dealing with which colleges to apply. Worst of all, after applying we had to wait almost 5 months before hearing back from these colleges. We knew we had to find a solution for high school students and thus we came up with the idea of StatFuse. StatFuse helps make the transition to college easy for students by providing them with free tools such as the “Chanculator”, which allows students to calculate their chances to any college instantly.

3. What is the goal of your startup and why? What are you trying to acheive with your initiative, especially with your charity events (profit, charity, both)?

My goal with the startup is to help solve a problem in

Task Management Tips for Entrepreneurs

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 05:00:00 GMT

A to-do list system that can't be altered on a whim won't help you. Neither will a system that you find too cumbersome. I'm going to outline a few points from my own to-do system, which I've used both for my own endeavors (such as my website Apron Addicts) and for self-guided employment positions.

Tip 1: Find a To-do System That's Flexible

At the foundation of any task management system are the tools you use. I highly recommend you adopt a cloud-based task management app that works on your smartphone and computer. Make sure you can move tasks back-and-forth between categories or lists. Or, if you work better with analog tools, I recommend you create a system that incorporates index cards, with each task written on a separate card. I’ll still understand if you want to put a few high-priority tasks on your dry erase boards made of glass, but the point is to be able to organize and rearrange your tasks at moment’s notice.

Tip 2: Capture Everything You Need to-do

Now, here's the hard part for many of us. As you think of things to-do, write them down. That includes "big" tasks like "Fix bug #1023" and little things like "Buy milk on the way home."

Tip 3: Divide Your Tasks into at Least 2 Lists

To write everything down and put it on a single list may seem overwhelming, and that's because it is. That's why you need to create at least two lists (or categories, depending on the

“There’s An App For That”: Join the App Boom

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 05:00:00 GMT

In the past several years, apps have continued to rise in popularity among consumers. In July of 2008, there were only 31,450 apps available for download. Today, that number has grown by a factor of twenty with over six hundred thousand currently active apps in May 2012.
Not only are more and more apps being created, but consumers are continuing to use and rely on them, more than they have in the past. The average amount of time smartphone-owners spend using apps increased by 13% in the past year alone, up to 77 minutes per day. Additionally in Q1 2012, a total of 110 billion application sessions were tracked worldwide, while this number was at only 30 billion in Q1 of the previous year.
The reason this rise in popularity can be so lucrative for startups is the relatively low capital required to create an app. The cost of creating an app, once you have the proper training and resources is purely the time and effort required. Especially with so many online tutorials and handbooks, many app developers have taught themselves the principles of what they need to create a great app. There really isn’t a high expense to develop the initial idea, the first step of the app-making process.
What’s important to those looking to create their own apps is to look at the current App Store. Other, already successful apps, with a consistently high rank, can be the source of

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Second Chance Toys Founder Sasha Lipton

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Q: Where did your vision for Second Chance Toys come from?

The idea initially came about at my home in New Jersey, where towns collect garbage once a week. Bigger items are left on the curb to be taken away, and while I was driving around with my Mom, I noticed how many toys were being disposed of. Many of these toys were good as new, and I began thinking about how they would just be going straight into a landfill. Not only did I realize how bad this was for the environment, but also how many kids in need would love to have these toys.

Q: How did you get Second Chance Toys up and running?

I literally began by power-washing toys in my backyard, and then researching places that would accept them. Little by little, the donations were accepted, and I was able to send the toys to several different areas. In terms of receiving capital for funding the startup,my parents were definitely the primary source; they paid for everything, including legal fees.

Q: As a college student running an organization, it must have been difficult to keep everything in check. How did you balance your workload and other obligations?

Overall, my role has changed as the organization has grown. When Second Chance Toys first started, I was physically cleaning the toys and making each donation to the organizations. Now, because of the partnerships that we have, and the way that Second Chance Toys is situated, I don’t have to physically be

Money Management for Small Businesses

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Today, the costs of running a large firm makes them less competitive during these recessionary times, while small firms can change, develop and respond more quickly. One recent development on the technology front has offered another huge advantage to small firms in terms of offering what customers want.

Payment to go

Modern consumers like choice, especially when it comes to payments. In the past, payment meant cash but today most people prefer a simple card payment option. One leading payroll software provider, Intuit, have long catered to the small business field with online accounting and desktop software. Their latest product is Gopayment mobile credit card processing, a very simple card payment solution, designed with the small firm in mind. Gopayment turns your mobile phone into a card payment system. The company provide a free attachment allowing you to swipe client’s card and take payment wherever you are. A receipt can be emailed to the client and the system operates on a pay-as-you-go basis for the business. In the past, the complexity of setting up a merchant account and the equipment needed to take payments has meant that small, particularly mobile, firms were not able to offer this kind of facility.

Big Accounting Solutions

Accounting and payroll can often be a real headache for small businesses. With the exception of small accountancy firms or self-employed accountants, it’s one area of business management that is not usually the expertise of the business owner. Self-employed individuals, in

Go Green with Your Office Space

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 05:00:00 GMT

“More than 60 percent of U.S. adults are either equally as likely or more likely to visit a business that focuses on being green—regardless of distance or effort required, according to a 2010 Harris Interactive study.” – OfUSA.com

Get a Green Building

The best way to start your journey to a green office is by choosing a building that built to be green. As the need for environmentally friendly commercial buildings increases, offices are being built according to standards that encourage sustainability. There are a number of factors to look for in a truly green office building.

• Near public transportation: Does the building encourage utilizing public transportation? You can answer this question by scouting out a bus stop nearby.

• Solar design: Part of a green office space is energy efficiency. Is the building taking advantage of solar energy?

• Materials: Was the building built with sustainably harvested materials? While you may not be able to tell just by looking at it, you can ask the building owner, who should know.

• Recycling: Is there a space for your recycling? This is the easiest way to go green, so don’t miss the opportunity.

Get the Right Furniture

Getting the best office furniture can not only be expensive but bad for the environment as well. Because the furniture will be used on a daily basis, you want to be sure you’re getting high quality items without compromising its green standards.

• Recycled: Purchasing furniture made from recycled materials will make a change for

How to Have a Successful Product Launch

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Christopher Van Buren understands the power of leveraging effective systems and, as the owner of LaunchMoxie, his company is dedicated to helping Internet marketers construct seamless, problem-free product launches that attract attention and maximize revenue.

A product launch is defined as a “focused campaign that revolves around an online event or series of events that are designed to draw in customers.” When executed correctly, a product launch can generate a massive number of leads, increase name-brand recognition, and create substantial income. There are six phases for a successful product launch. Let’s take a brief look at each.

1) Product Design.

Regardless of whether your product is physical or a service, it must be designed to meet the following criteria:
• Appeal to the target audience.
• Answer, and solve, burning questions and problems.
• Include free and low-cost entry points to attract potential customers.
• Look professional and function as described.
• Define why it improves upon, and truly outshines, existing products.
• Over-deliver on its promises.

2) Scripting

Scripting is far from easy and creating superlative copy is an acquired skill. It is imperative to build a compelling story that attracts attention, engages, and moves people to action. Scripting is needed for:

• Creating the overall theme
• The pre-launch narrative
• Site and email headlines
• Email subject lines
• Affiliate recruitment
• Text affiliates can use for their audiences
• Sales copy
• Video copy
• Email copy
• Site copy

While each phase of the launch process is crucial, nothing can extinguish

6 Tips for Successfully Negotiating Small Business Contracts

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Perhaps much of the problem stems from the mindset people have when they enter into contracts i.e., they want something, the contract is viewed as a prerequisite to getting that something, so in their haste they often gloss over the fine print, the hard issues, the difficult questions, and completely excuse themselves from any intensive “what if” analysis.

Many, many contract disputes are entirely avoidable with more work on the front end. Here are a few lessons I have gleaned as a lawyer:

1. Negotiate In Person

People who get together to prepare deal points, review drafts, talk through issues, etc., get their contracts done faster, cheaper and with a much greater mutual understanding than those who zip things back and forth on email, with the occasional phone call mixed in.

2. Use Intermediaries as Little as Possible

This can lead to problems later on, including disputes about what was really intended with respect to certain provisions of the contract. This advice is not at all that lawyers should be avoided, but no one should be surprised that problems later arise when it was lawyers who handled most of the pre-contract negotiations, who did all the drafting, and who were the ones communicating directly with each other rather than the parties whose understanding actually mattered.

3. Outline the Consequences of Breaking the Contract

That is not always possible, but it can go a long way towards discouraging breaches and simplifying any subsequent dispute. The “What Happens If You or I Breach” conversation may be uncomfortable,

A False Mantra: Breaking the Start-Up Funding Myth

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 05:00:00 GMT

It makes sense, of course. On the visionary road from idea inception to taking over the world, getting funded can seem like the golden ticket. As an entrepreneur, there is a huge emotional payoff in having an idea validated by someone else investing his/her own money in it.

It has always been my belief, however, that raising money should be the means to an end, and not the end itself. To me, being an entrepreneur means riding an idea to its logical extreme and then taking it beyond that point, to what others would have thought impossible or, at least, improbable. And, while investors may make it easier to get to the furthermost logical place, they tend to get squeamish when you start talking about taking it to the next level.

I started my business while still a college student; a friend and I were successful in creating a handful of entertainment websites and driving a respectable amount of traffic to them. It soon became clear that our growing audience was worth money to advertisers and so, filled with more self confidence then we may have deserved, we decided to build our own ad server to monetize our traffic (no small feat in 1999). It wasn’t long before friends and contemporaries saw what we were doing and began to ask if we could help them generate revenue from their website traffic as well. Over the course of a few years, we grew the number of clients we were working with in an

3 Signs Your Financial Projections are Unrealistic

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 05:00:00 GMT

1. Capturing a Percentage of the Market It is incredibly common to utilize a top down model when building a financial model for your startup. You might say, “if we can just capture 1% of this huge market we would be wildly successful.” Or you might say, “our product is 3 times better and cheaper than our competitor, we should be able to capture half the market immediately.” This is an unrealistic approach because you completely ignore the details. How are you going to capture that market? How many sales calls will you need to make? How long is the sales cycle? Will you be able to finance your growth? If you are starting from the top and assuming you will capture a certain percentage of the market you are setting yourself up for failure because you haven’t considered the details.

2. Everything Goes in a Straight Line Another tell-tale sign that your financials are unrealistic is if your projections go in a perfectly straight line. Many entrepreneurs will set an initial sales number and then just assume that it will increase at 5% per month every month. Nothing is that easy. Sales will undoubtedly drop during the holidays if you are in B2B sales, and will increase if you sell consumer electronics. If your sales projections show a steady increase over three years most investors or bankers will look at that and assume you just pulled some numbers out of thin air.

3. You will be a Millionaire

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Ilana Jacqueline on Starting Her Own PR Firm

Thu, 31 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Q. How old were you when you started out on your first entrepreneurial venture?

A. I was fourteen when I published my first article. I wanted to be a journalist so it felt like the start of my career. I was 18 when I started my first media company and I was 20 when I started working as a publicist.

Q. How did you get the idea/inspiration for your company? When did you decide this is what you want to do?

A. The company was always a transitory project. It started by housing my websites—including Today’s Teen Online (a national online magazine by and for teenagers) and Materniteens (A teen and crisis pregnancy resource). Then it transitioned into my current focus, About Time Public Relations. Working with Today’s Teen meant receiving upwards of 100 pitches a day from publicists all over the country. I was able to learn by example what makes a good pitch and what goes straight into the spam folder

Q· How did you turn your idea into a reality?. How did you get the capital neccessary to start up and how did you get your company up and running and how much did it cost?

A. The cost of my business was $7.99 for a domain name and 168 hours of my time per week. This was time spent watching web and graphic design tutorials, posting ads for volunteers and training them to pick up the slack. I started building media lists and creating editorial hours, knocking on doors and interviewing

Luke Kupersmith, CEO of Source Consulting on How to Lower Your Company's Shipping Costs

Tue, 29 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Shipping costs may seem set in stone, but in actuality, there are actually many different methods and audits you can conduct to create a guaranteed method for saving money on your company’s shipping. The two most effective ways I recommend to reduce your shipping costs are simply by conducting a parcel audit and through a carrier negotiation.

1. Check the Numbers

A parcel audit is one of the ways to reduce your company’s overall shipping bill. A “parcel audit” is the act of looking through your carrier invoices for carrier errors. Finding a carrier error often results in obtaining refunds from the carrier. The concept may sound a bit strange to some— do carriers really make mistakes?— but in actuality, due to the millions of packages that are shipped each and every day by individuals and businesses, even with great technological advances, much of the shipping process is still handled by actual human interaction. This type of handling means that the shipments are prone for mistakes simply due to the high volume of package traffic.

For example, a carrier may assess invalid residential charges when a carrier driver mistakenly choses the incorrect destination input— whether he delivers a package to a residential or commercial address— or simply a computing error from the drivers’ device. If you take notice of these errors on your invoice, a refund will come your way.

2. Make the Call

Another way to reduce your shipping bill is to negotiate discounts during a carrier negotiation. When you or someone from

Startup Tips for Young Entrepreneurs

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Although most people are afraid to start their own business, many young entrepreneurs are inspiring the world with their ingenuity in surpassing social expectations. However in just a few years, the world has witnessed an uprising among young people in developing compelling products and brands that are worth more than a million dollars.

If you don’t know of Mark Zuckerberg, then you probably live under a rock. This 26-year-old genius started a social media revolution called Facebook, which has become the social media baseline for individuals who are starting a social networking website of their own. Sharing the stage with Facebook is the mighty Foursquare, a social network co-founded by the 28-year-old Naveen Selvadurai.

While I'd love to mention more who have received international recognition for their startups, young entrepreneurs are barricaded with obstacles that prevent them from starting something life-changing or news-worthy. Zuckerberg and Selvadurai's success during a short time span is close to astronomical, and they’re not interested with their magical formula for attaining rapid celebrity status.

You might not have the savvy of Zuckerberg or the jaw-dropping resume of Selvadurai, but entrepreneurship is anyone's ballgame. The following pointers explore some of the basic steps for young entrepreneurs willing to stay or break away from corporate slavery and start their own enterprise with ideas and confidence as their primary equipped weapons.

1. Vastly improve your network of contacts

Networking has evolved into a different animal. Millions of business-minded people miss the chance to expand their list of “quality contacts” just because a

6 Ways to Find a Killer Startup Idea

Tue, 22 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

1. Solve a problem you've faced

As you go through your day, what is the most annoying thing you routinely have to do? Is there a better way to do that thing? There's a startup idea! Mili Mittal didn't know how to cook, so she built a website that teaches people how to cook and socially connects them. It's now called Mor.sl and is growing enormously fast. Solve a problem, and you've got an idea.

2. Make life easier

If you can make things a little more simple and straightforward for people, you'll be rewarded with success. Startup ideas don't always need to be radically life changing; if you succeed in creating a community around your simplification tool, your startup will grow. A great example of this is Jason Shen, founder of Ridejoy. He decided that in order to make carpooling a little more efficient, he would create a network of ridesharers. Ridejoy was born, and today it is a fast-growing and awesome startup.

3. Make communication easier

People need to talk to each other, that's just a fact of life. New and innovative ways of accomplishing this age-old pastime will do well. Take Pair for example. This startup gives couples a way to communicate privately and without the hindrance of other friends. The app is simple, and yet received $4 million in funding to help couples talk to each other.

4. Turn your hobby into a business

Sometimes your great startup idea is in the last place you'd look...right under your nose. Successfully

Interview with SEA Founders David Baron and Zeshan Muhammedi

Wed, 16 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Q: You were able to partner with Waka Flocka Flame to support anti-bullying. What other causes have you supported?

David: We’ve partnered with HOPE (Homeless Outreach Poverty Eradication) at UNC Chapel Hill and BroTips.com in a Teenage Suicide Prevention campaign. We’ve also designed a hat to support All About Developmental Disabilities, a national organization based in Atlanta (like each of our hats, 25% of the revenue the hat generates goes directly to the cause).

Zeshan: We don’t exclusively want to collaborate with non-profits, though. We also want to bring in for-profit brands, communities, and individuals and enable them to associate with something they care about, something that’s in line with their social life and their interests.

Q: What inspired you to start your own company?

Zeshan: We wanted to learn and understand what it took to start a business. Our goal was to eventually build a completely ethical business—a true social enterprise that doesn’t cause problems in the first place. So it wasn’t about gaining profits first, it was about treating every human, directly or indirectly, with respect. And the revenue generation enables that.

David: We’re truly interested in what we do and we use business as a tool to begin and guide our journey. We’re not in business just to be in business. Business is our form of advocacy. It’s our way to have control over the design of a system and products that we want to see in the world.

Q: How did you come up with the idea to sell baseball-style

5 Tips to Avoid Common Startup Mistakes

Mon, 14 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

1. Read, read and read some more.

Learn about website marketing, the different ways in which you can create a website, the mindset needed to succeed and common mistakes to avoid. Follow great, down-to-earth bloggers such as Neil Patel (Quick Sprout), Glen Allsopp (ViperChill) and Lisa Irby (2createawebsite).

You don't need to master everything (you can always outsource!), but get a good understanding of how the various elements that go into the world of online businesses work.

2. Don't buy into the hype

There are so many courses and products out there that will apparently make you rich quick, teach you search engine 'secrets' and do other magical things that will make all your dreams come true. Don't believe it. There are very few products and tools that I think you actually need (feel free to email me if you need specific advice) and there's masses of great content already available for free (see previously mentioned bloggers).

3. Don't be a victim of analysis paralysis

Once you've learnt about building an online business (step 1) go ahead and create something that you feel passionate about. If you fail, who cares!? Use it as a learning experience. I advise you to spend less than $200 on your first venture (you could get away with just spending $10 on a domain name!).

Don't aim to change the world with this project, use your first venture as a learning experience to see how things work in reality and have some fun. You'll also learn a lot about your own likes

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Matt Beckham, CEO of Quibids.com

Thu, 10 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Matt Beckham is a true native Oklahoman. He attended college at the University of Oklahoma with honors, where he majored in Finance, with a minor in Accounting, and received his Bachelors in Business Administration. Matt has years of experience in online marketing and media buying as well as a background in custom web software development.

Q. How did you get your start as an Entrepreneur and what drew you to Entrepreneurship?

A. It actually began a couple years before QuiBids when I started my own online marketing company. I’ve always enjoyed being my own boss and not having strict work hours to adhere to.

Q. How did you get the idea for Quibids.com? What motivated you to start this particular business?

A. Our CTO, Shaun Tilford, and I came across a competitor in 2009 and were instantly engaged with the business model. We knew we could develop the model further and make it into what it is today – a true “entertainment shopping” site!

Q. What challenges did you face putting your idea into action and how did you overcome them?

A. The initial challenge was “will this work and will people like it?” After we launched, we soon found out there was a huge demand for our service. However then it was “what’s next?” That’s why we continue to brainstorm and come up with ideas/features we think our customers will like. Not all ideas have made it through and probably for good reason! Other challenges and how to overcome them… you go

Give a Great Presentation:The Right Way

Tue, 08 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

For those who think they can make Steve Jobs sound like their elementary school substitute teacher, I hope that these concrete advices will serve as a tool to help teach others.

Preparation

The most common problem people have is nervousness. The cure is practice. Know the materials, but do not memorize it word for word. Nervousness often comes from error, and the task of memorizing a presentation word for word can be quite conducive to error. There are many ways to practice.

Practice in front of your friends

Practice in front of a mirror

Practice in front of a video camera (turned on)

When you’ve mastered all three, you should be able to perform significantly better. Do not underestimate the power of practice. Even great presenters spend hours practicing before a presentation.

Body Language

93% of the message in a communication comes from body language and tone of voice. Only the remaining 7% falls on content formulated by speech. Unless it falls naturally, allocating all your time only on what to say may not be the best idea.
So…what is good body language?

Every person has an invisible aura – the bigger the better. A person who is slouching and keeps his elbows by his ribs the entire time has a small aura. You want to expand that aura without being obnoxious. Stand up straight. Feet should be shoulder length apart.

Here are some other tips:

Keep your shoulders relaxed. Not only does that make you seem less tense, it is also proven to make you less nervous.

Keep your hands

Protect Your Startup with Trademarks

Fri, 04 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Select a Protectable Trademark

The first thing to keep in mind when selecting a trademark is that not all words and names are capable of being protected as trademarks. For example, “descriptive” terms are subject to trademark protection only under limited circumstances.

If a business has become affiliated with a descriptive term over a period of years, it may be able to protect that term as a trademark; however, trademark protection generally is not immediately available for new descriptive brands (though an initial filing to preserve “prior” rights can – and should – be made).

There is a scale for types of trademarks and the levels of protection they can obtain:

• Generic – not subject to trademark protection
• Descriptive (describes the goods/services as opposed to merely stating what they are) – protectable as a trademark only after acquiring “secondary meaning” (recognition) in the relevant marketplace
• Suggestive (slightly more cerebral than descriptive, but still identifies the goods/services on its face—think Facebook®) – protectable
• Arbitrary (think Apple® for computers) – protectable, and subject to a greater scope of protection than suggestive marks
• Fanciful (made up words—think Exxon®) – afforded the greatest scope of protection
Trademark Clearance Research

Another important aspect of selecting a protectable trademark is performing “clearance” research to make sure that no one else has already claimed rights in a confusingly similar name. Simply put, adopting a new trademark that has previously been adopted by someone else in a related industry exposes the business to potential liability for trademark infringement.

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Sandip Singh of GoGetFunding.com

Tue, 01 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Q: How old were you when you started out on your first entrepreneurial venture?

A: I was 20 when I started my first entrepreneurial venture. That played off my growing interest in Mixed Martial Arts as I noticed that it was hard for UK consumers to get their hands on UFC fighter t-shirts. As a result, I decided to bulk import t-shirts that I estimated would be in demand by UK fans. I then sold these to UK buyers via eBay at a markup that covered my costs and made it a worthwhile venture. However, I realized that demand could fluctuate significantly based on whether a fighter won or lost his most recent fight and the last thing I wanted was a bedroom full of unsold stock so I decided to scale this down.

Four years later and once I had completed my professional education, I decided to give online businesses a go, initially just as a hobby. That's when I discovered my real passion.

Q: How did you get the idea and inspiration for GoGetFunding.com?

A:The inspiration for all my start-ups has come from either my interests, or from the realization that I can make something that is better than what is already out there. I think most people that do it purely for the money don't get very far.

Q: What is the goal of your startup and why? What are you trying to acheive with your initiative, especially with your charity events (profit, charity, both)?

A: The goal of my start-up, Go Get

Johan Thomas of TROUBL on Bootstrapping to Success

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

EntreRev’s Hubert Bennett sat down with him to get the scoop on TROUBL:

Hubert: First off, what is TROUBL?

Johan: TROUBL is an education based media brand that focuses on highlighting communities that are underserved. We publish media via our website/magazine to shed light on education through the lens of underserved communities.

HB: When did you start out with your venture?

JT: Initially, in 2007, I began to build a prototype for our website. We then operated the website at a beta stage throughout 2008. We stepped back and reiterated over the next few years and are now ready to re-launch this year. Most of the company’s life has consisted of product development.

HB: How does product development help a company succeed?

JT: At the core of good business is good product. Working to create a product that’s useful, feels well when people interact with it, and that has a purpose. It has allowed us to make mistakes under the radar, work out the kinks. Once we deliver what we see as our final product, it will have all the kinks worked out.

HB: Did you receive any funding when you first started?

JT: No, when I first started I was doing things on my own, out of my pocket. During the first phase of development, I did receive an investment from a friend.

HB: Did you receive further support, outside of money, from family and friends?

JT: I received moral support, of course. I also worked with friends, writers, and colleagues who contributed their voices and time to the

Search Engine Optimization for Small Businesses Part 2

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

So as to not overwhelm you, this guide has been split into two separate but equally important parts. Part 1 of this series covers the first two steps, while Part 2 covers the final 2 steps.

Step 3: Link Building for Search Engines

Link building (the process of soliciting quality links from other sites that point to your site) is the most important part of SEO, and the most time consuming. A link is It is sometimes difficult to come up with compelling reasons for others to link to the content on your web pages. Here are some steps to make the process easier and to receive the best results.

Before starting the link building process, make a Yahoo email address that you can use only for link building. Use this email address to sign up for local (map) listings on all the major search engines including:

Yahoo Local

Google Local

Bing Local

Ask City

Mantra

CitySearch

Yelp

You can also look for relevant directories and add a link to the website in any that are free.   Keep track of all the directories you submit your site to in an excel sheet with the userid and password. Using the command “link:www.abc.com” you can search for links on Google that point to your competitor’s sites. You can try to get the same links, or similar links to these for your own site. Try to personalize any link request emails for better response. When you ask for a link, use your keywords in the link

Why You Shouldn't Apply for a Loan to Start a Business

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Loans are for Growth

Loans are not well-suited for entrepreneurs looking to start a business. Loans should be used to grow a business that already has a proven business model. Once you have demonstrated sales, and that your business can generate a profit, then and only then should you take on debt. I understand that you don’t have the cash you need to get started, but a loan is not your best option. If the business idea is truly great, you should be able to find a partner who would be willing to work with you or even invest some startup capital.

Debt Repayment Can Hurt Cash Flow

When you raise investment for a startup you don’t have monthly payments like you do with a loan. When you secure a loan you will likely need to start making payments the next month. This can be incredibly difficult on your cash flow. For example, let’s say you secure a $10,000 loan to purchase a piece of equipment that costs exactly 10 grand. In 30 days your first payment will be due. Will you have generated the extra cash to be able to make your first loan payment? What if it takes you 2 months to make your first sale? How will you make your loan payment for the first couple months? This is a major concern and a challenge for individuals who decide to use a loan to start a business.

Personal Risk

When you borrow money to start a business the lender is lending to

Search Engine Optimization for Small Businesses Part 1

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

This guide has been split into two separate but equally important parts. Part 1 of this series covers the first two steps, while part 2 covers the final 2 steps.

Step 1: Setting Goals and Researching Keywords

Before starting any digital marketing undertaking, it is always a good idea to define the specific goals you want to achieve. The more specific your goals, the easier achieving them will be. For instance, you could have the goal “bring in new leads to the website”, or you could be very specific and make the goal something like “bring 20 new “[insert your own adjective]– target audience” visitors to our “landing page for target audience”. After you successfully define specific goals, it is much easier to brainstorm search queries that people might use to look for your services or products. To research keyword phrases, you can use a free keyword tool provided by Google Adwords to see how many people are searching on these phrases.

Create a spreadsheet and add all your keyword phrases on it. Next search in Google using quotes around the phrase to see how much competition is already in Google for that phrase. Make a note of the web page ranking at both the top and bottom of the first page of results. These are your competitors. You can analyze each of them to see other keyword phrases they may be targeting using tools like semrush.com. You can also look at the source code of their web pages and use

How to Become an Overnight Success

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Before, overnight success was harder to achieve and surely to be recognized. Media and public exposure used to move at a snail’s pace compared to the lightning fast speed that the internet and social media allow today. As much as we may think we’d like to become an overnight success, I think there is a learning, nurturing and maturation curve that makes success so much better, more appreciated and more likely to be sustained if it takes just a bit longer.

In the early days of Hollywood, the fable of actress Lana Turner’s discovery is a legend that lives on, and it’s not just an urban myth. At the age of 16 (we’re talking 1937 here) she was discovered drinking a Coke at a drugstore on Hollywood Boulevard. She was still a student at Hollywood High, but she must have been a knock-out since a reporter saw her, referred her to one of the Marx Brothers (look it up) who in turn sent her to one of the most famous directors of the time. She had no skills or experience except for her beauty, but she quickly became famous, wealthy, married and promiscuous. She knew how to use her talents and sleeping your way to the top is nothing new.

Before the Internet and the fast paced speed of media there were many instances where someone did become successful overnight, but it was hard to get media coverage. Creating a spin on a local scale was easy, but getting national or international

How to be an Inventor: A Guide to Turning Your Idea Into a Product

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

So you’ve thought of the next big thing since sliced bread. You believe you have the next product that will make millions and change people’s lives.

But need a little help in getting started and heading in the right direction? This guide will help you navigate the process and point you in the direction of helpful resources for your endeavor.

Part 1: Check for Patents

Before you even do anything, it’s important to make sure your idea is original and not patented already by someone else. Remember, just because something hasn’t been invented and marketed yet doesn’t mean it’s already patented. Luckily, It’s simple to check. You can go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office or Free Patents Online and check for it yourself. Or if you’re able to, it’s best to hire a certified patent agent to search for you.

Hiring a patent agent is a better option for you if 1. You’re lazy to read and 2. If by chance there is already a patent similar to your idea, your patent agent will help make alterations to your product in order to let it be cleared as a separate patent. But make sure at the very least that you have some rough sketches and dimensions of your future product.

No need to hire a professional artist right away, just enough so that your patent agent will understand and be able to help you to the best of their ability. But don’t patent it

Entrepreneurs: Is a MBA Worth It? Part 2

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

While this major provides the necessary frameworks and skills for students to dive into entrepreneurial ventures, it also welcomes those with career experience to further their business knowledge, and re-enter the field. The degree is often coupled with other fields of study, such as Finance, Marketing, or Strategic Management, and can allow you to test the waters of the business world before starting your own operation.

MBAs also come in the form of specified managerial degrees. These allow you to narrow your business education to unique disciplines. Common MBAs in this area include Health Care Management, Environmental Risk and Management, Insurance and Risk Management, Strategic Management, and many more.

Specific MBA concentrations include:

Accounting: An accounting major will be educated to work in corporate finance, treasury, investment banking, or private equity. The degree can also be applied to careers in investment management, hedge funds, trading, consumer finance, and the government and military sectors, and it also fulfills the requirements for the CPA (Certified Public Accountant) or CMA (Certified Management Accountant).

Business and Public Policy: Because this major educates you on government regulations and influences on business, it would be ideal in obtaining a career in international development, social impact management, and corporate governance.

Finance: MBAs in Finance undoubtedly appeals to anyone with an interest in the financial sector, and if you are wishing to find careers in private equity, hedge funds, investment banking, or investment management, you would take this route. At the same time, finance majors can also fill jobs within management or corporate

EQ: The Entrepreneurs X-Factor

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

A term called emotional intelligence seems to be the missing “X” factor.

What is emotional intelligence?
EI, or often known as EQ, is an array of personal, emotional, and social abilities and skills that determine how well the individual functions in any given environment. EI refers to recognizing how you and others feel and sensing what to do about it.

Emotional Intelligence is still a relatively new subject. Although it’s a growing topic of discussion, the general public is still mostly left in the dark.

From the literature on emotional intelligence, it is evident that the lives of people who have higher emotional intelligence are safer, happier and more successful. Altogether, people who are emotionally intelligent and optimistic have an attribute that enables them to focus on solution rather than cause. The attributes include: emotional self-control, delaying gratification, and looking at things in a bigger picture. Let’s see how EI contributes in the workplace and as an entrepreneur.

Emotional Intelligence in Important Entrepreneurial Traits

Longitudinal studies of Harvard graduates and Foreign Service Officers found that test scores on entrance exams did not predict career success. On the other hand, Daniel Goleman, a forerunner on studies in EI, did an analysis of 181 jobs in 121 organizations and found that emotional competencies were the best differentiations between star performers and typical performers. He found that EI is twice more important than technical skills and

3 Keys to Starting any Small Business

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

As an origami artist, I had a tough time getting accepted as an artist in a community where mainly painting, fiber art and clay sculpture are considered ‘real’ art. Origami is often thought of as ‘just something that kids did’ or was ‘just an Eastern culture thing.’ Regarding factor #1 above, I had this nailed – origami is certainly a unique art form. My focus needed to be on factors #2 and #3 for other artists to really break through as a professional.

1) Find your Niche

Finding your niche is all about figuring out what sets you apart from everyone else in your industry. Even if you’re selling a commodity or your industry is well established, you can set yourself apart by focusing on customer service (think Zappos) or building a recognizable brand (think Apple). Otherwise, you’re doomed to blend in with everyone else and fade into darkness.

For my business, an initial motivation was to provide personal, handmade gifts for people in a world that is mostly full of cheap junk – pre-manufactured, plastic garbage that doesn’t last. I felt there was a huge niche for personalized gifts. Even though my product was already unique in my market, I was able to further develop my niche by listening closely.

2) Listen Closely

You may have a product or service that is readily available – but if you make the presentation or placement of it unique, chances are people will take notice. Being different will get you

How to Find Your Inner Voice and Build Your Brand

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Follow Your Own Formula
Many entrepreneurs want to copy someone else that came before them to gain success. We are all unique and can build our brands through being authentic and allowing our thoughts to flow freely. Make your own formula, which will set your brand apart from others. The world gravitates towards originality.

Get Rid of the Negative People
As your brand continues to grow there will be negative people in your life. Get rid of the “YES” people, those who ride on your success coat tail and those who don't want you to succeed. These people will only hinder your growth as a business owner and person.

Ask Your Support Team
A lot of my success as an entrepreneur has come from asking questions from friends, business owner, and mentors. It’s important to get various feed back from your trusted counsel. When developing different business ideas having constructive criticism will allow you tweak any issues at hand. This will allow you to see where your vision is going and if you’re on the right path.

Be Creative
Nowadays there is no set way to have a successful brand. Don’t be afraid to be creative because you allow your brand to expand itself to new audiences. Team up with a fellow colleagues or friends and brainstorm ways to build your business. As young entrepreneurs we’re able to travel outside of our comfort zone and test out uncharted territories without much to lose.

Know Your Principles
At some point in your career as your

5 Free Buiness Applications for Your Startup

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

But you can still save hundreds if not thousands of dollars by using free applications to take care of your day-to-day business needs. This includes free, downloadable software packages (freeware) and web-based applications that will allow you to create and share documents and protect your system from security threats.

Unfortunately, a lot of the free applications out there aren’t worth the time it takes to download them. As a rule of thumb, don't bother with applications that are not supported by documentation, an active user community, and regular updates.

Here's a list of five robust, and completely free, applications you can use to create documents, share files, keep your computer safe and more.

OpenOffice
Substitute for: Microsoft Office

OpenOffice.org is the best downloadable alternative to Microsoft Office. Millions of people use OpenOffice.org because it's reliable, easy to use, and supported by a professional community.

Use Writer (the word processor) to create letterheads, PDFs, and even books; use Calc (the spreadsheet application) to create project-status spreadsheets and to create and maintain client profiles; use Impress (the presentation application) to create memorable presentations for clients.

Best of all OpenOffice.org is compatible with Microsoft Office, which means you can open your Writer documents in Word and vice versa.

Paint.net
Substitute for: Adobe Photoshop

This powerful image editor is an excellent alternative to Adobe Photoshop and arguably much easier to use. Just like Photoshop, Paint.net lets you work with layers, adjust color intensity and modify the brightness and contrast of your images. Artists can create illustrations

Startup Spotlight: Sprouter.com

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Like any young entrepreneur with startup ambitions, Sarah Prevette, the founder of Sprouter.com, had many questions but had a difficult time finding qualified answers to the inevitable hurdles that arise. She based her company on the basic principle: “ If you were learning to play golf, would you want to learn from Tiger Woods or some guy who played in high school?". The website gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to ask their pressing questions to industry leaders. Tim Berry, founder of Palo Alto software, Aaron Patzer, founder of Mint.com and Eric Reis, author of The Lean Startup are among the site's list of experts.

While it’s a great forum to ask very specific questions to specific entrepreneurs in your field, many of the responses are very brief and direct. It’s understandable that these guys are extremely busy with their own startups, but it sure isn’t anything like a one on one session or a phone call would be. I came across one question about marketing tools that was answered two weeks after the original question was posted. So if you’re looking for an urgent answer today, don’t bother.

Overall, it’s a great way to get specific advice about strategy for your startup. Don’t look at it as the first place to go to for advice or to blast everyone with questions, because you’ll quickly be disappointed. If you’re looking for a one stop place to contact and (eventually) get answers from entrepreneurs you admire, then Sprouter.com is definitely worth checking out.

Also available is

Social Entrepreneurship: Change the World

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Social entrepreneurship is all about starting up a business or organization with the primary goal of making an impact on society. Recognizing the power of an entrepreneur to change lives, social entrepreneurs work proactively with the goal of yes, sustaining a profit, but focus on helping others. PBS & the Skoll Foundation defines the role of social entrepreneurs as “to recognize when a part of a society is stuck and to provide new ways to get it unstuck”.

You might recognize Kiva, the renowned microfinance organization that connects small-dollar loaners to needy borrowers across the globe, and celebrity chef Jaime Oliver’s Fifteen, which trains and employs disadvantaged youth. Although different in many respects, these two initiatives both used a big Idea to confront a core societal issue.

Here are some key ideas related to social entrepreneurship:

Corporate social responsibility (CSR): Corporate giants who participate in corporate social responsibility develop their own foundations, donate to worthy causes, or consider the public sector in daily operations. Google gave away $40M in charitable donations last year and tops most CSR lists. Stretch Island Fruit Co. partners with the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation to plant fruit tree orchards in school yards every spring.

Triple bottom line: Social entrepreneurs aim to widen their reach in three areas people, planet, profit. People has to do with giving back to the community, planet refers to acting in a manner that is sustainable for the environment, and profit refers

6 Great Email Marketing Tips

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Why was email so much more effective? It was a specific message delivered to a small, targeted audience. I did not send it to everyone in my database, only to business owners I knew who were engaged with social media. It was short and personal, with a clear call to action in the subject line.

Will every email campaign deliver this kind of results? I don’t think so. Most ongoing programs will result in 15 – 25% open rates depending on your industry and how well you know the people on your list. Regardless of those factors the following tips will improve your results.

Effective Email Marketing Starts With:

1.     Permission
Just because someone gives you their business card, this is not necessarily an invitation to add them to your email list. They will unsubscribe and possibly report you for spam. Only use email to stay connected with customers, prospects and referral partners.

2.     Segments
This is probably hard to hear, but not everyone is going to care about everything you have to say. If you want readers to stay with you, treat them as individuals. Create multiple lists for different groups. As you start your email program, you may find yourself sending the same campaign to each group. Over time as your master list grows you can send more specific messages to readers based on their interests. Encourage your readers to subscribe, based on their interests. Create sub-lists based on which emails they

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Matt Mullenweg, Co-Founder of WordPress

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Mullenweg, who blogs about Wordpress at Ma.tt has been named one of BusinessWeek’s 25 Most Influential People on the Web, PC World’s Top 50 People on the Web, Inc.com’s 30 Under 30, and Vanity Fair’s Next Establishment. Matt created the WordPress software when he was 19, quit his job at CNET at 24 to focus on developing the platform further, and the rest is history with WordPress by far the most popular blogging platform in the world today with estimated 500,000 new blog posts by its users every day.

We contacted Matt at his current startup, Automattic, which has generated a lot of buzz and raised $29.5 million in funding in 2008. Here is our exclusive interview with Matt, hot off the (word)press, and his answers straight from Matt himself:

Q.   How did you start out as an entrepreneur and how did you choose your current field?
A.   “I started developing software because I wanted to use it myself. Even though I thought I was going to go into music full-time, I was always passionate about technology since a young age.”

Q.   What kind of support did you receive from your family and friends as you were progressing with your startup?
A.   “Family and friends have always been very supportive, which is great because when you’re starting something new everything is uncertain and in the air, so having a strong foundation of people who support you really helps ground you.”

Q.   How did you

Quotes: Inspiration to Get Shit Done

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:57:37 GMT

Acting upon an idea can bring you closer to success as well as failure. You know failure is a possibility, yet you still act because you see the end goal and the satisfaction you'll get when you succeed. There's no sure fire way to succeed, but that's exactly what makes things interesting. The hardest part is actually getting started, but once you do and you're passionate enough about the end goal, everything else falls in place soon after. If you never act though, you may sit and wonder about what could have been for the rest of your life.

Here are some quotes to help you find your motivation to act, persist and succeed:

1.       "The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer."

2.       "The value of an idea lies in the using of it."
– Thomas A. Edison

3.       "Ideas not coupled with action never become bigger than the brain cells they occupied."
– Arnold H. Glasgow

4.       "Ideas must work through the brains and the arms of good and brave men, or they are no better than dreams."

5.       "A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be

Entrepreneurs: Is a MBA Worth It? Part 1

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Every year, business schools across the United States turn out more than 100,000 MBAs, and these programs require participants to make huge investments. Tuition costs for a full-time MBA program at a top-tier school can run between $80,000 and $100,000, and all the time lost studying can be equated to time spent building a career outside of the classroom.

What do You Stand to Benefit?

With time and money at risk, it is essential to understand what you can potentially gain by obtaining an MBA. The degree allows you to further your business knowledge, develop better networks, and provides you with instant credibility upon applying for jobs. It also demonstrates that you’ve mastered various business concepts, and at the very least, shows that you are capable of navigating through a complicated admissions process, while meeting exceptionally high standards. Most people with MBAs are proud of having obtained them, and as long as business executives hold these degrees, they will most likely look for the same accomplishment when employing others.

The Value of an MBA is Questionable for Entrepreneurs

While an MBA can definitely give you a leg up when looking for a job, the value that an MBA provides entrepreneurs is questionable. There are many examples of entrepreneurs who have received funding for their organizations without much formal education, including Mark Zuckerberg and Seth Preibatsch of SCVNGR, who both dropped out of college and went on to receive millions of dollars in venture capital funding.

An MBA incorporates scientific approaches to management through the study

20 Memorable Entrepreneurship Quotes

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:10:00 GMT

1.   "When you reach an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. You have the choice. You can overcome and be a winner, or you can allow it to overcome you and be a loser. The choice is yours and yours alone. Refuse to throw in the towel. Go that extra mile that failures refuse to travel. It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure."

2.   "Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming."

3.   "I had to make my own living and my own opportunity! But I made it! Don't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them!"

4. "The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity."
-Peter F. Drucker

5.   "You must think of failure and defeat as the springboards to new achievements or to the next level of accomplishment."
– Les Brown

6.   "What is defeat? Nothing but education, nothing but the first step to something better."

7.   "We are built to conquer environment, solve problems, achieve goals, and we find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve."
– Maxwell Maltz

Don't Waste Money on Social Media Marketing

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:15:00 GMT

As my company surveys small business owners annually about their social media programs, we have found less than 50% of the companies we studied had any type of formal social media strategy. This is unfortunate, because these entrepreneurs are missing out on a tremendous opportunity to boost their online marketing efforts with the right doses of social media mixed with email and traditional marketing.

What should your plan contain:

1. Clear definition of your audience

Make sure to know who they are and where they hang out. Your strategy doesn't need to address all social media platforms. Pick the one where your client is most likely to hang out.

2. Clear Goals:

What are you trying to accomplish: New clients? Repeat Purchase? Customers Service? Facebook is a great tool to grow relationships and stay in touch with existing clients, but twitter is typically a better way to reach a large audience of strangers.

3. Conversion Tactics

The purpose of social media is not just to be good at social media. The purpose is to be good at business. A complete social media strategy should include links back to your core website with specific calls to action to entice prospects to sign up for newsletters and updates.

4. Stay in Touch

Create a regular cycle of engaging emails, newsletters and blog content which brings visitors back to your site again and again. Using the users you've converted in step 3, communicate with your audience consistently to stay top of mind.

5. Measurable Results

Social media has

8 Rules for Entrepreneurs Inspired by Jeremy Lin

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Part of his appeal is that it’s truly a great story of an underdog defying the odds to become one of the best in his field. Jeremy Lin was not offered a single athletic scholarship by any top school, even after he was named first team All-State and Northern California Division II Player of the Year his senior year at Palo Alto High School.

Even after a promising college career at Harvard, Lin went undrafted in the NBA draft. He was later signed but cut soon after by the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets. Finally, the New York Knicks picked up Lin to be their third string point guard. Lin played only 55 minutes through the first 23 games of the season, only to make his start due to injuries. The rest is history.

Lin’s story is truly an inspirational and amazing one, and there are many things that entrepreneurs can learn from Lin’s rise to fame.

1. Don’t get hung up on what others think

Lin is accustomed to failure. But even through all these obstacles, Lin was determined to show the world what he already knew about himself: that he deserved to be taken seriously as a professional basketball player. We are programmed from a very young age to base our value on what others think of us. However, as an entrepreneur, it’s absolutely crucial to not take criticism and failure to heart, especially before

Optimism: An Entrepreneurs Greatest Asset

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT
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Setbacks

Setbacks are inevitable when starting any new enterprise. But, your optimism allows you to overcome them. When an investor rethinks his or her contribution, backing out at the last minute, you review your business plan. When an outsourced web developer turns in work that has your site not functioning the way you would like, you have a conversation and get the job done. When the team you assembled isn’t quite as motivated as you, returning to previous interests, you reorganize, even if that means taking on more of the workload. Optimism allows you to move forward and not get hung up.

Toil

The word has a negative connotation. But, toil is nothing more than hard work. And hard-work pays off. A farmer plants crops months in advance to see them grow, knowing there is a possibility that his or her crops can be swept away in a Dust Bowl. A mother works two jobs in order to prepare some kind of college fund that she herself did not have. A high school athlete runs extra sprints, lifting extra weights to be professional athlete. In all these cases, the farmer, mother, and high school athlete, believe their hard work is worth it. And it is. Constant and unrelenting hard work pays off. Your optimism tells you so. So, keep your head to the ground and work because when you look up success with stare back at you.

Regroup

You work hard and think your hard work is

Kairos Global Summit: Elitist Organization?

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

While the organization, founded by Ankur Jain, prides itself on bringing together a large group of top young entreprenurs, many people consider it to be an elitist and corrupted organization. I know many people who've attended this annual event and have heard mixed reviews. Punit Shah, who was previously the president of Northeastern University's entrepreneurship club, was previously asked by an executive from Kairos to change the name of the Northeastern entrepreneurship club to the Northeastern Chapter of Kairos. Even more, as terms of the agreement, he was told to forgo his mailing list to Kairos, and pay dues to the organization for the right (he promptly rejected the offer).

Ankur Jain was cited as supposedly the World's Most Connected 21 Year Old by Inc. magazine, but what has he done to deserve that title? Sure, he founded Kairos, but Kairos has never produced any notable startups since it's inception four years ago. Sure, it has brought together young entrepreneurs, but that's no real measure of it's success, which is why it should be considered a failure. Ankur hasn't created any notable startups himself either, and it can be argued that the only reason he has gotten any traction and publicity at all, is because of the dubious connections he has received from his father. Even his current startup, Panjia, is a shady organization that has his father's connections on the board of directors.

I'm not against using connections and help to get ahead. However, it's really hard to take Ankur

DIY Marketing for Startups

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

There are many free, online outlets that allow you to market your business in a much more efficient way.

Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+; the list goes on and on. Social Media has become a large part of human connection and interaction in the daily lives of millions globally. Becoming and remaining a visible and credible entity on several social media sites is a great way to market your business. Join communities and groups already created that focus on the ideas similar to what you offer. Share valuable information or add new, fresh views to discussions already in progress to show your value and expertise.

Email Newsletters

Forget the claims that e-mail marketing is outdated. The odds of finding someone under 40 without a valid email address is slim to none. How often they use it is their business, not yours. Sending sharp, witty and straight-to-the-point monthly or bi-monthly newsletters can keep your business on the top of your customer’s minds, even if just for a few minutes at a time. It may send them back to your website if only to figure out why they're receiving the newsletter. To ensures fewer unsubscribes, entice your readers with discount and promo codes, as well as useful, relevant information.

Freebies

Everyone knows the way to a consumers heart is by giving away something free. And most marketers and the smart consumer realize that it isn't also exactly free. Sign up for something and receive something

Startup Spotlight: Springwise.com

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Founded in 2002, Springwise.com prides itself for being an “independent innovation firm, scanning the globe for the most promising new business ideas.” Trend watcher and entrepreneur, Reinier Evens, who developed the London-based company, decided to create a database of new startup ideas, covering numerous industries, through a variety of international perspectives.

This appropriately named “Ideas Database” is the core of Springwise.com, and allows visitors to “browse over 3,000 new business ideas” instantly. Searches are made easy, with article archives divided by industry, date, and country of origin. The database is accessible throughout Springwise’s website, with a panel of icons on the right side of each page that represens different idea genres.Once you click on an image, you are sent to a page of the latest headlines and startup ideas related to that particular field.

Springwise’s wide assortment of information is gathered by a field of 15,000 idea spotters, scattered across more than 70 countries. Through this network of researchers, the company is able provide users with the newest business and marketing ideas as soon as they emerge, and connects them to current consumer trends. Springwise cites its readership as ranging from aspiring business owners to established CEOs, demonstrating how varied its resources can be used.

You can easily become involved with what Springwise has to offer, simply by sending in a tip, or subscribing to the site’s newsletter. Its free newsletter, subscribed to by over 150,000 business professionals, is available in weekly and daily formats, allowing you to keep up to date

Staying Motivated as an Entrepreneur

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Order Your Tasks by Size

Generally, the gradual completion of tasks by size is the best method of initiation. By accomplishing small tasks first, you will grasp the concept of working efficiently, and eventually move to a quicker pace of productivity. Finishing smaller tasks motivates you to keep the progression going, and move on to the larger ones by breaking them down into smaller tasks as well.
Eventually, completed tasks will help you achieve goals, and when starting off, realistic, but challenging objectives are the ones worth undertaking. As with any set of standards, the size of goals will increase with success. Minor goals can start as daily thoughts, regarding what you want to accomplish for the day.

Conquer Your Fear of Failure

You shouldn’t feel discouraged if a goal is not immediately met; attaining goals is a process that takes time. Fear is also often associated with starting a business, as the possibility of failure is constantly lingering. However, in order to be successful, worries cannot hold you back. Prospects that are realistic are usually achievable, and persistence will give you a much better chance at achieving your goals. Taking risks is part of the game, and remaining positive helps. At the same time, you should always be aware of when something is worth going for, or when it is a lost cause.

A simple exercise that can help overcome your fear of failure is to draw a line down the middle of a sheet of paper,

Finding a Niche for Your Online Business

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Therefore, if you’re looking to start an online business, you need to find a way to differentiate themselves by finding a niche. A niche is smaller, more focused market within a broader, more general market. For example competing with PetCo.com selling by selling generic pet supplies is a difficult task, but focusing on selling aspecific toys that help trains puppies or unique color-changing cat litter may yield a steady amount of traffic, and is likely an industry with significantly fewer competition. The fewer the competition, the more likely the consumer is to find your business and purchase your product. This is key. It makes it worthwhile to spend a fair amount of time to dive deeply into a specific niche.

A niche market is important for identifying and zeroing in on the right people, services and products for online businesses. The more you know your defined niche market, the deeper you can dive to find similar blogs or sites stay informed about the newest information and changes in the industry, and advertise to your target audience. The niche will help you find a focal point to build your site around, and make it easier to develop ideas for new products or services that appeal to your specific niche and interested consumers.

Deciding on a specific niche will make it easier for you to choose keywords that will help bring targeted traffic to your site. The wrong keywords can be misleading and get people exiting as soon as they enter

What Does Entrepreneurship (Really) Mean?

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

According to Babson, “Technology has evolved. The economy has shifted. The world has changed. And today’s entrepreneurs do more than just start businesses. The world needs a new definition of entrepreneurship. We’re writing it here.”

The clever ad campaign has garnered over 1200 responses, and raises an interesting discussion, that practically everyone has a different definition of the word entrepreneurship. The meme on the right is funny, but proves the point that people have different perspectives on the matter.

Those who are not entrepreneurs or have never worked at a start-up, may think of the stereotypical entrepreneurs Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and picture a glamorous lifestyle. Yet others who are ingrained in a hierarchical corporate environment might think of entrepreneurs as lazy and without the same work ethic.

The fact of the matter is that entrepreneurship is a very broad word. One dictionary definition is “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.” This can refer to practically anything ranging from a food truck owner to someone in the non-profit industry. However, almost every entrepreneur I have spoken to has his own definition of the word and has his own emotional connection to the concept.

This is because at its core, entrepreneurship is vastly different from a job. Entrepreneurship draws a specific breed of person. I believe

Building a Startup Team on a Budget

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

It's hard to get these moments to convince someone to give up an hour, or day, or week or year of their time to help you build a company.

I’ve read articles on how to build a team once you have the essential people locked, but where do you start if you’re starting from nowhere? Networking goes without saying, but here are a couple other tips that I’ve found to be helpful.

1. Put The Shamwow In Their Hands and Give Them a Bucket of Water

If you’re trying to sell an orange piece of cloth by talking about how absorbent it is…good luck. You need to hand over the shamwow and allow whoever you’re trying to convince, to let them have a go. Show them that if they are to join the start-up, they will be totally hands-on and shape what happens. They will make an impact.

It’s always proven more powerful for me to start by letting a new team member influence the business rather than to hand them a defined role and ask that they fill it. If you don’t like how they influence the project when you enable them, you may not want to work with them anyway.

2. Figure Out Who Actually Has the Time to Commit

When I moved to NYC three years ago, I hardly knew anyone. I’d make up ways to fill my time just to feel busy. Now its hard to

5 Ways to Increase Your Online Productivity

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

If you’re like most young entrepreneurs, your daily to-do list resembles the inventory list of a small supermarket, and the success of your startup heavily depends on your ability to strikethrough as many items off your list as possible.

But even productivity mavens aren't immune to the distractions the Internet facilitates. That's because distractions on the Web are difficult to identify as distractions.

Web content can be interesting and entertaining, and it’s structured so that you smoothly transition from one interesting piece of content to the next. You take a break to read a few personal emails, and you end up browsing deals on LivingSocial and commenting on a friend's photo on Facebook. Fortunately, there are many ways to avoid these common productivity pitfalls. Here are five ways you can increase your productivity on the Web:

1. Stick to One Task at a Time

Whatever you do, don’t juggle tasks. There are plenty of studies that reveal that multitasking is the enemy of productivity. If you're working on your website, work on your website; if you're writing a paper, write the darn paper. Don't have multiple windows and tabs open. And don't bother minimizing them either; seeing them dormant in the taskbar (Windows users) will tempt you to open them.

2. Turn Off Your Smartphone

If you want to be able to focus on a task, you need to make yourself unavailable. This means turning off your smartphone. Don't think your phone is getting in your way? How many times have you reached for it while

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Neil Patel on Overcoming Challenges

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

How did you get your start as an Entrepreneur and what drew you to Entrepreneurship?
I got started as an entrepreneur when I started to sell products to my fellow classmates while I was in high school. I would find these products on eBay and resell them to people.

I was drawn to entrepreneurship because I didn’t want to work for someone else.

How has support from your family and friends been throughout your journey?
They have supported my throughout my journey. Whether things were bad or good, I have always been able to count on friends and family supporting me.

My parents gave me advice throughout my career. Whether it was telling me that people were screwing me over or that I need to do something differently with my business endeavors... they constantly guided me. In addition to that I have also had some rough patches when I first started out and I needed cash, my parents helped me out and never asked for the money back.

What’s been your method for gathering funding and team members for your start-ups?
I typically gather funding from tapping my network. The best place to get funding is from people that you already know.

As for team members, we get them for a variety of places. Sometimes they apply for a job on our site or we find them on the social web and every once in a while friends refer us potential team members.

How have you gotten clients, customers and VC’s to respect you as a

3 Tips to Be a Great Boss

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

1.    Remember what it was like to work for someone else

This is valuable insight since once you are in the position of managing others, and it can be hard to regain that perspective long after the fact. Remember what it was like to have to report to someone, and what you would have appreciated in that position.

For example, do you wish your manager gave you more direct feedback? Do you wish your manager had empowered you more or rather given you more guidance? Empathy, or the ability to put yourself in the other persons shoes is an important aspect of becoming a great boss. This exercise also teaches you about more about yourself and what motivates you.

2.    Find a mentor

If you’re working at a start-up or have founded your own company, chances are that you don’t have an older, more experienced mentor working with you. For this reason, it’s vital that you have a role model outside your company to look up to.

Especially for young entrepreneurs, great role models are those who have started their own companies, as well as executives at VC firms. A great place to meet these kinds of people is through start-up leadership networking events as well as social networks.

3.    Take leadership classes or read books on management

Learning from the experience of others is a great way to make sure that you don’t make the same mistakes. Many community colleges and start-up programs offer

11 Young Entrepreneurs Making a Difference

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Champions of Change: Youth Entrepreneurs is an initiative that the Obama initiative created that highlights diverse young entrepreneurs committed to “creating jobs, wealth and opportunities for their communities.”

Here are the 11 Young Entrepreneurs highlighted as Champions of Change:

1. Erica Zidel, founder and CEO of SittingAround, previously worked as a management consultant. She created SittingAround as a way to help families find quality babysitters in their community.

2. Andrew Yang, founder and President of Venture for America, was previously co-founder and executive of many start-up ventures, most recently a test prep community that was acquired by Kaplan/The Washington Post. Venture for America is a non-profit fellowship program that sends selected college graduates to underprivileged cities in the country to help create jobs.

3. Alex “Papu” Rincon, founder and owner of “fourOsix”, graduated from Carroll College in Helena, Montana, and focuses on startups centered on community and social responsibility. FourOSix promotes his hometown Montana living, art, music and style.

4. Jennifer Medbery, founder and CEO of Kickboard by Drop the Chalk, was a high school math teacher for three years as a Teach For America corps member in the Mississippi Delta, and then as a founding teacher at a charter school in New Orleans. A computer science major, she created Drop the Chalk as web-based software that allows teachers to use data to improve student performance.

5. Josh Linkner is the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners, a VC firm focused on

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Zach Hamilton of DevilWash

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

How old were you when you started DevilWash?

I was 18, living in the dorms at ASU.

Is this your first entrepreneurial endeavor?
Devilwash is actually my second company, I started a lawn care and landscape company when I was 12 and ran that until I left for ASU. When I left Michigan I sold the company to a larger lawn care operation in the area.

Have you always thought of yourself as an entrepreneur? Even before DevilWash?
I think the word entrepreneur has too many connotations, I've always been trying to find profit in things. I love minimizing input and maximizing output in every situation. Both in business and socially. If there is a potential profit and I can mitigate risk, I'm in.

What inspired you to begin working on a project focused on sustainability?
I think this goes back to my views of input/output ratio. The sustainability that DevilWash had was incidental of the process. Yes we were an eco friendly operation, but we had a process that was 3x as efficient as the competition that was also sustainable.

How did you choose the team you have working on DevilWash?
I actually did everything myself for three years, only people doing labor. In the past 6 months I brought on two guys and it worked well for a while. To vet them I did a 3 month trial period, after a harsh selection process. I really just like working with people who are smart and

Occupy Small Business

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

A vast majority of the observations of the current generation prior to the movement would have been best described it as indolence, privilege and an apparent lack of inspiration. Many American’s and the media believe that those adjectives precisely describe the protestors of Occupy. However, there is an alternative view the movement. It has been decades since people of a generation have come together in such a dynamic and profound way. You have to look back to the 1970’s to find causes more idealistic and sensible than the overarching message espoused by Occupy today. The movement’s fatal flaw is a lack of clarity. Too often, the efforts appear disoriented and misguided.

Those involved in the movement all have different ideas of what the movement is and what it should be (both in respect to themselves and others). The same is true in any startup business. We are all shaped by our respective knowledge base and personal experiences; everyone approaches a situation differently. Though it made Occupy inconsistent and erratic at times, the collective viewpoints of its participants gave it its strength. Entrepreneurial ventures allow people to unlock and utilize their collective strengths to shape our cities, states, countries and most importantly, our minds.

As winter freezes over the former encampments of the Occupy movement, those involved should keep the passion of their efforts burning. The energy needs to be directed in a constructive and articulated effort towards creating rich new products, services, businesses and ideas. These

SEO 101 for Web Startups

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

1. Create a list of core keywords (5-10) that describe your site or service

For example, if you sell used textbooks on your site called TextBux, your core list of keywords could be cheap textbooks, cheap college textbooks, cheap textbooks for college, used textbooks, and your brand name, “TextBux”.

However, keep in mind, the more competitive the keywords you choose, the harder you will have to work on ranking high for them, so it’s a good idea to focus on longer tail keywords like “cheap textbooks for college” rather than just “textbooks”, especially if you are in a competitive arena. Longer tail keywords get less traffic on search engines, but bring in a more targeted audience to your site.

2. Include these keywords in your titles and content

Once you have this list, keep this easily accessible at all times because as you create content, you want to make sure to sprinkle these words across your material, but making sure to be inconsipicuous so as to not annoy your readers.

This is important because the more you have a certain keyword in your content (and especially the titles of your pages), the more likely you are to show up higher in search engines for that keyword. As a general rule, you want to mention your primary keyword once for every 200 words of text. Never force in a keyword where it might sound awkward, but instead do your best to include it naturally.

Keyword selection is just one part of search engine's algorithms, but this seemingly

Why Startup Young?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

These are valid concerns that any aspiring entrepreneur needs to tackle, but the early twenties is arguably the best time to start a business. Felix Dennis, the founder of Maxim Magazine and Dennis Publishing, states in his book How to Get Rich: One of the World’s Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets, that one of the advantages that younger people have over others is that they have the least to lose out of any other age group. Primarily, young entrepreneurs haven’t been hooked by the addictiveness of the stability of the regular paycheck, something he argues is “more addictive than crack cocaine.”

For those who want to break their bond from “wage slavery”, as Felix Dennis calls it, the steady paycheck can become a crucial barrier to taking the leap, since expenses typically rise as you get older. While the college student or recent graduate can work out of his dorm room or parents' basement, those with families and mortgage payments rely on a steady income or savings to be able to support themselves through the startup phase, during which expenses typically outweigh income.

Speaking in economic terms, as you gets older, the opportunity cost of quitting a steady job to devote to an entrepreneurial venture full time increases. The person in his 30s will likely have worked through a few pay raises and promotions, and entrenched himself into a career path, while the fresh graduate has yet to prove himself in the workforce, and can likely only gain from taking on an

Creating a Social Media Presence

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Creating a social presence, while it may seem like unnecessary extra work when you’re busy focusing on the core operations of the website, is key to getting your site out there. A report from Search Engine Optimization firm BrightEdge stated that jut including a “tweet this” button on your site (very easy to add through a simple plugin), can drive up to seven times more traffic to the site.

Social media can help your content or website go viral and spread much faster than usual. People are much more likely to purchase something based on a mention by a friend in social media, which is why many retailers like Amazon.com have added the quick option to tweet or post on facebook about your purchase directly after you complete a transaction.

Another reason it’s important to get people talking about your website is that one of the key factors for how your website will rank in search engines depends on how many prominent websites (and blogs) link back to your site or any of its pages, referred to as backlinks. The mindset Google and other search engines use with this is that the more people (the more prominent the better) who link to your site, the more important or expert a source you must be. For example, if a popular news or blog site with a good amount of traffic links to your used textbooks site Textbux.com under “Used Textbooks”, this will help your site rank higher for the keyword “Used Textbooks”.

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