Rick Salmon

Am I crazy to be an entrepreneur?

rs@ricksalmon.com (Rick Salmon)

I woke up this morning and my first thought was that “I am crazy”! Stark, raving, mad, lunatic crazy. It was all triggered by an argument that I had with my business partner yesterday, which was by no means his fault. Crazy can be defined as doing the same thing over and over, but expecting a ...

Personal Ad: Great Technology Seeks Sexy Problem to Solve

rs@ricksalmon.com (Rick Salmon)

You would not believe how many times I have met brilliant entrepreneurs with amazing, cutting-edge technologies who are clueless about their markets and about who will actually be willing to pay money for their inventions. I talked with a guy who works at a local patent office recently. He said that they get 10 such ...

It is hard to change just a little. Easier to change a lot.

rs@ricksalmon.com (Rick Salmon)

To succeed as an entrepreneur you have to pay attention. You must pay close attention to what is going on around you – to your company, your market and to your own mindset. And quite often you will discover that you need to make changes. The problem with change is that changing just a little is ...

Are you Marketing to Hunters or Farmers?

rs@ricksalmon.com (Rick Salmon)

I was reviewing a marketing plan for a startup company the other day when I suddenly got a flash of insight and understanding. This company is struggling to succeed with their sales and marketing because they might be targeting the wrong group. The decision makers in their target market are Farmers, yet all their marketing ...

Laid-off?… then Become An Entrepreneur

rs@ricksalmon.com (Rick Salmon)

These days, the workers in the Northeast of England have the feeling that things have not been worse since the famine and plagues of the middle ages. Unemployment is at an all-time high, problems are escalating and you have a whole new generation growing up without any means of work or income other than government ...

USA passes Educating Entrepreneurs bill

rs@ricksalmon.com (Rick Salmon)

“Every $1 dollar invested in this program will put $2.87 into the national treasury” - N.Velazquez (US State Representative) “The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in our region. What is lacking is the opportunity and ability to tap into ‘the experts’.” - Donna Kilhoffer (Community Education Council) On July 28, 2009 the US House of Representatives ...

Coaching Athletes vs. Coaching Entrepreneurs

rs@ricksalmon.com (Rick Salmon)

COACHING ATHLETES: All professional athletes have coaches. No serious competitor would attempt to compete at peak level without one. A coach is not just another player or colleague; a coach is a specially trained person with a very specific role. A coach does not have to be a star athlete. Sometimes the best coaches were never ...

The Most Common Mistakes that Startup Companies Make

rs@ricksalmon.com (Rick Salmon)

There is an old saying that goes: Success is the result of Good Judgment Good Judgment is the result of Experience Experience is the result of Bad Judgment Have I learned anything after almost 20 years of doing startup companies? I try not to make the same mistakes more than at least 1 time. Today I sat down ...

Daring to take the first step

rs@ricksalmon.com (Rick Salmon)

We live in an amazing world with so many talented and creative people. Every once in a while I see something that is so different and novel that it makes me stop and marvel. I just watched a YouTube video that had this effect on me. I found it mesmerizing. It takes six minutes to view, ...

The Entrepreneur Mad Hatter

rs@ricksalmon.com (Rick Salmon)

Today I feel like Johnny Depp in the movie Alice in Wonderland, who plays the role of the Mad Hatter. An entrepreneur in an early-stage startup company has a lot of different hats to wear, and this can be enough to drive you stark-raving mad. In order to keep my business afloat I need to be ...