In My Ears... Entrepreneur on Fire

Let me introduce you to another podcast I listen to on a regular basis. Entrepreneur on Fire is a popular new podcast created and hosted by John Lee Dumas. The format of the show is every day Dumas interviews an entrepreneur, said entrepreneur gives an intro and answers a set of questions. The questions range from “Can you tell us about a time when you failed?” to “what are you excited about for your business?” Due to the daily interviews of entrepreneurs from various diverse businesses, it is amazing to hear and compare the different answers to the same questions. This is the reason I love this podcast – I can listen to it every day or download episodes to listen them back-to-back. Another reason I love this podcast is it gives me confirmation on a few things about entrepreneurs:

We all fail in life. When I’ve experienced failure, it made me feel I was the only person going through my struggle. I felt embarrassed and unable to trust myself to choose the best for me. Eventually, I learned to move on by moving on. My philosophy is life will not stop for your failure. The best way to get through a setback is to come back and go hard. Surprisingly, I never could relate this experience to many other people. However, hearing day after day each and every interviewed entrepreneur talk about their failures and the ways they over came it, confirmed that everyone has a setback but we all have the ability to recover.

In My Ears... 3 Business Podcasts I Listen To

Lately, I’ve been listening to more business podcasts. My new position allows for me to listen to music and during about half of the time in which I’m hooked to my ipod, I listen to podcasts.  Here are three podcasts I regularly listen to:

I’ve been a fan of The Look and Sound of Leadership podcast for about a year or two. The podcast focuses on various topics such as “Creating Clarity” “Elevator Speeches” and “I Talk too Fast”. Tom Henschel, an executive career coach, does the podcasts. The content consists of tips and lessons he uses during his career coaching.

“Real Estate License Roadmap” by Chris Angell is a new business podcast. This is a podcast for those with an interest in real estate. Chris talks about his success as an agent and so far, interviews other agents about the ways they achieve success.

I recently discovered the Entreleadership Podcast. The podcast is based on the Entreleadership lessons by Dave Ramsey, financial and business speaker and author. Entreleadership is a reference to entrepreneurs as leaders. The lessons range from personal growth to financial peace. The format of the podcast is a recording of Dave Ramsey on the subject talking at the Entreleadership conference and then the host, Chris LoCurto, interviews a business speaker, author, or expert within that business field. The podcasts are usually about 40 min long but it is 40 min of great insight.

Whether the interest is business, career, or life, business podcasts can be contributive to personal growth. The podcasts mentioned can be found via iTunes store or on the hosts’ website and are free. 

Quick Steps for Professional Dreamers

Hello again, it’s been some time. All I can say is I’ve been busy. While cruising for something substantial to write about, I decided to skip daily news and write about positive business advice. I came across “How to Be a Visionary Thinker” by Maria Tabaka from Inc.com. This amazing article is a guide to putting our professional dreams to work. By professional dreams, the article means “something that we are excited and passionate about—and will also be very profitable” (don’t let "profitable" throw off social/non-profit entrepreneurial dreams). It is viable, practical and strategic.

Tabaka used advice from Marcia Wieder. Wieder is CEO of Dream University and a “personal transformation expert, former president of the National Association of Women Business Owners, and has been the catalyst for thousands of individuals turning their dreams into realities over the past 20 years”. She says, “I think that sometimes people forget that we need to marry the two ideals, passion and strategy, to achieve success.”

Wieder advises to take time to explore our dreams and really ask ourselves if our dream is our passion and are we willing to put in the work to make that dream a reality. This “passion quest” should then manifest into mastering “the skill of enrollment”. Wieder describes enrolling as “sharing your vision in a way that inspires others to join you, hire you, or even invest in you”. During the enrollment process, it is very important to articulate your dream well to others and have them see your dream from your eyes.

Tabaka delivers Marcia Wieder’s “four-step process” for professional dreamers (I’m not listing every word - so please read the article):

1. Establish Rapport

Get people to trust you in order to have them work with you and/or invest in you. “In the enrollment process you are inspiring people, not selling to them.”

2. Build Value

“To build value you must understand what your customers want.” Communicate with your target audience - use social media, talk to them, survey them.

3. Overcome Obstacles

Continue the conversation with the people around you. “Make it easy for people to say yes to you by encouraging them to share their ideas with you”. Ask open questions - What? When? Where? Why? - inspire people to open up and stay open. Often, obstacles are not overcome because those involved are not communicating and it leads to misunderstanding.

4. Secure an Agreement

“Don’t leave a discussion without determining the next step”.  When the conversation has ended, understand from where it continues.

These four steps can be applied to everyone - dreamers, workers, executives, etc. Specifically for professional dreamers, if you have already decided that your dream is real and practical, these steps help to get others to become part of the dream and help you to better mold the dream into reality. 

Biggest Steve Jobs' Lesson: Perseverance

Wednesday, Steve Jobs passed away. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Apple, which he resigned from on August 24. He is the innovator behind some of the most revolutionary products of our time. There is a lot that can be said about Jobs; his history vast and filled with many lessons about business and ambition. But I’m not going to write about his entire life because many journalists have done a great job of doing this so far. Instead, I would like to reflect on the biggest lesson Steve Jobs experience has taught me: perseverance.

I was a freshman in high school when the iPod came out. At that time, I didn’t quite know who Steve Jobs was and lately, within the past few years, I have reveled in his presentations and the pieces of his past that I discovered. The most surprising part of his past is to learn he was ousted from the company he co-founded, Apple.  Apple was created in 1976. After some success, in 1983, Jobs hired John Sculley as CEO, an executive from Pepsico, hoping for a more refined managerial contribution.  In 1985, Sculley led the board to fire Jobs.

The college-dropout who started his dream was now shut out from that dream. There is no doubt that Jobs felt humiliated. In his 2005 commencement address to Stanford he stated:

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me… I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley.

What did he do? Well, he placed one foot in front of the other and moved forward. Steve Jobs created NeXT Inc. The company introduced a computer with great software and as WSJ.com notes “its operating system would eventually become the foundation for OS X, the software backbone of today’s Macs, after Apple purchased NeXT for $400 million in December 1996.” At that time, Apple was suffering with “nearly $2 billion in losses in two years”. Thus, Jobs was brought back in 1997 as CEO with a $1 a year salary.

When he returned back to Apple, he restructured the company to focus on software and innovative products with great aesthetics. The iMac came out in 1998, the iPod in 2001, the iTunes Music Store in 2003 and the iPhone in 2007. The rest as we should all know is successful history and profitable present.

After years to reflect on his on past, this is what Jobs had to say about learning to deal with a very public firing:

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life…

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love.

As a 25-year-old woman faced with pressure to be everything the world often stereotypical defines as success, I already feel like I have moments of regret regarding my education and career. But then, I read about Steve Jobs and it lets me know that the best way to deal with failure, embarrassment, and dark moments is to move forward. Tap into the part of you that refuses to let others see you fall. I’m not saying that all of us will get fired and then rehired to start multi-billion dollar companies - there is only one Steve Jobs. The lesson is that whatever life has for you, you can still find as long as you don’t let bad experiences stop you. The best revenge is success from perseverance. The best legacy is picking yourself up.

If I could only thank Steve Jobs for one thing, it would be for teaching us a great lesson on perseverance. He will be missed immensely and never forgotten.

Jonas Bevacqua, Co-founder of LRG Passed Away

Jonas Bevacqua co-founder of LRG, Limited Research Group clothing, died Tuesday.  The cause of death has not been released. Bevacqua died at 34 and started his company in 1999. The style of his clothing was a hybrid between skateboard style and hip hop with eclectic splashes added. According to “Jonas Bevacqua,Co-Founder of LRG Clothing, Dies at 34” by Douglas Martin of NYtimes.com, “In 2002, Entrepreneur magazine estimated the company’s annual revenue at $150 million and ranked LRG fifth among the 500 fastest growing companies that year”.

The clothing was embraced by many celebs within and outside of the hip hop industry. The company also embraced its style into a full brand by “[promoting] underground recording artists and [having] its own skateboard team.” He started the company when he was a parking valet and worked his way up to a successful entrepreneur. It’s truly sad to hear of his passing. The LRG team has written a tribute letter, which is on the homepage.

Study Showed 35% of Entrepreneurs have Dyslexia

In 2004, the Cass Business School reported that 20% of entrepreneurs in England identified themselves as dyslexic in a poll; in America, the figure was 35%. According to “Dyslexia Fosters Entrepreneurs?” by Eric Markowitz of Inc.com, there is an intriguing phenomenon in which researchers find those with dyslexia are able to do well as entrepreneurs. I would never think that a dyslexic entrepreneur is anything to ponder out of the norm but 35% in America and 20% in England are significant percentages as both are more than those with dyslexia in the population. (According to article, 4% of England’s population had dyslexia in 2004. I tried to “google” the percentage of those in America, at a glance, it seems the figure is around 10% to 15%). According to the New York Times, which is quoted in the article, “The study also concluded that dyslexics were more likely than nondyslexics to delegate authority and to excel in oral communication and problem solving and were twice as likely to own two or more businesses”.

The article was inspired by Journey into Dyslexia by Alan and Susan Raymond, a documentary that “examines the role of dyslexia in the lives of successful entrepreneurs and corporate leaders around the world.” The article lists Ben Ross, Steve Walker, Carol Greider, Richard Branson, Charles Schwab, Ted Turner, John Chambers, and Henry Ford as dyslexic prominent business people. So what are the theories as to why such a significant percentage of entrepreneurs are dyslexic? Here are some from the article:

“They come to the realization that society pronounces the number of skill sets that are necessary for success that they don’t seem to have. And they go out and build the environment in which they will impact.”

- Carl Schramm, CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to advance entrepreneurship, who appears in the documentary.

Expand, Change, Brand: 3 Companies that Survived the Housing Crisis

Writing about the state of the housing market isn’t engaging news; the dire state of the market is a known fact and truly amazing news will be news stating the market has somewhat gotten on its feet. I catch up with my real estate desire by indulging in HGTV shows, especially “Selling New York” and I previously enjoyed the last season of “Million Dollar Listing”. I always have an interest in the ways people help themselves stay afloat and thus, keep their industry going. “Home-Remodeling Businesses Get New Business Models” by Jason Fell of Entrepreneur.com showcases three home improvement companies and the changes they have implemented to adapt to economic conditions. I’m going to try my best to give a quick summation for each business; please refer to the article for more info.

Princeton Air Conditioning Inc.

This company originally focused on air conditioning and heating. 2008 was the beginning of change. “Company president J. Scott Needham laid off 10% of his 40 person staff and called an emergency meeting with his top managers” and began to consider changing his target market. He decided to make his business a franchisee of GreenHomes America and expanded the business to “offer energy-efficiency services, including insulation, high-efficiency hot-water systems, and geothermal heating and air-conditioning systems”. The result: 2009 revenue 17% higher than 2008 at $6.9 million and 2010 revenue was $8.5 million.

Formerly Crossroads Custom Carpentry, now River’s Edge Project Management

Matt Vetter’s business was home remodeling and centered in Detroit, MI. But as Detroit struggled so did Crossroad Custom Carpentry. 2006 was a turning point with revenue dropping and Vetter considered targeting the restaurant business. He started River’s Edge Project Management “which assists quick-service restaurant franchisees with new store construction and development”. The business was funded by whichever remodeling jobs he could do and he built his client list from his network. 2007 he got his first client and according to the article “revenues last year were up about 70% over 2009”.

Sam Nazarian Purchases Competitor and Becomes King of L.A. Nightlife

Sam Nazarian is a 35-year-old CEO of SBE, a hospitality, restaurant, and nightlife company in Los Angeles. “Nazarian now the West Coast’s Most Powerful Nightclub Operator” by Jessica Gelt reports, this week Nazarian purchased his competitor in the nightlife field, Syndicate, and with this purchase, “[he] has sealed his reputation as Los Angeles’ King of the Night”.

The article reports all together Nazarian heads 25 “hotels, restaurants, lounges, and nightclubs”. He plans on increasing this to 35 by next year, expanding beyond the California market, and, hopefully, being able to establish himself in London. The article also suggests that another goal is “towards an eventual public offering of the company”

While details of the purchase are not being released, former competitor and founder of Syndicate, David Judaken had nice words about SBE:

“It’s SBE’s industry to lose… They are truly going to be a powerhouse, and it’s just a function of how they maintain the existing businesses and roll out the new ones that will define their future”

Nazarian also had some words for LA times about his drive:

Groupon Inspires Emulators: The Phenomenon of Fast Following

Regardless of the way you feel about Groupon, one positive effect of the company are many startups emulating their model. According to Jessica Bruder in “In Groupon’s $6 Billion Wake, a Fleet of Start-Ups”, the effect is called fast following. Fast following is “the idea that copying a blockbuster start-up yields fewer risks and potentially great rewards”. I consider this “fast following” positive because the examples given in the article are start-ups that expand on the Groupon model. As a reminder, the Groupon model is “team up with a local merchant, send out an e-mail blast pitching a discount coupon for the merchant’s product or service, and keep half of the revenue that comes in”.

These are the examples given by Bruder:

Emulators who send out deals based on your demographic.

From sexual orientation to race to food choices, you can receive deals based on your demographic from emulators representing that group. Jodi Samuel and Allen Ganz, created Jdeal. The sight is focused on deals for the Jewish community and by Jewish centered businesses. They have 8,000 subscribers and are expected to make $500,000 in revenue for their first year. There split is 60-40, 60 for the merchant.

Those representing local, often ignored, locations.

Last year, Rob and Wendy Jaffe, brother and sister, started Conejo Deals. They were inspired from the lack of deals within their region of Conejo Valley, CA. Their company focuses on their community, reaching out to local customers and local merchants. They have 10,000 subscribers, and have made $700,000 revenue so far. Their split is 50-50.

If You Don't Have a Job, Create One?

During CNN's Ali Velshi's "Your Money" segment today, the topic was the rate of start-ups. He reported the rate of start-ups is at its highest in 15 years, giving the tagline of the topic "if you don't have a job, create one". Some of the figures given: 

• 565,000 businesses created per month in 2010 
• of those 0.1% hired employees 
• the demographics most likely to create a business: age group 25-34, high school dropouts, and immigrants

Velshi gave two quick interpretations of the figures, 1. a significant amount  of the unemployed are taking matters into their own hands and creating their own job and 2. unfortunately, they are not creating jobs for others. His correspondent on the topic (forgive me, I don't remember her name) stated for these businesses to start hiring they would need more funding.

About 3 weeks ago, I was reading an advice column in a Elle magazine and a single mother asked how can she get a job when she has been unemployed for about a year and most jobs only hire people who do not have gaps in their work history. The response from E. Jean, the advice writer was for the reader to create a business. Just like that... create your business if you don't have a job. It doesn't sound realistic to me. Clearly, Velshi's segment shows that those who can start businesses have gone out and done so. To advise a reader who may not have the resources or funds to start a business to go out and do so is not advice.  

It's great that some have taken the sole proprietorship route. This is a great time to become self-employed, if you can, but not everyone has the resources to do so. Lack of resources is also the reason why some of new businesses can't hire others. Although, realistically, if you create a business for yourself because you couldn't find a job, your top priority is turning a profit and making up for lost income.

If you don't have job, but have the resources and dedication to create a business, make your own job. For those who lack resources or who have no interest in starting a business, I would say to look for advice from someone who can realistically advise you on your next move. Ali Velshi can give you the facts, but writing into fashion magazines might be a bad move. 

p.s. sorry for the lack of posts, my mac is in the apple store so my resources have been limited

Daniel Gross: 19-Year-Old Creates a Service thats Indexes Online Life

I discovered a new service by reading about its creator. The service: Greplin, a search tool on all-things-you online. The creators: 19-year-old Daniel Gross and 27-year-old Robby Walker. I specifically read about Daniel Gross who was interviewed by Christine Lagorio of Inc.com in article “How This 19-Year-Old is Taking on Google”. Both creators are from my generation and I love reading stories about young entrepreneurs. Daniel was interviewed because of his age; he hasn’t gone to college and joined Y-Combinator, a start-up funding program, right after high school. Within the last two days of the program, Gross and Lagorio created Greplin. The idea received support and now it has $5 million of funding and the site launched last week.

According to the article and the Greplin website, the service provides an account in which all social media is indexed and users can search for anything within the index. Example: you can search “Inception” and the results will include the word mentioned in all of the your social media from email to Facebook. Gross’s inspiration for the service:

“I had this very long list of things I thought would be cool. Greplin was always near the top…Greplin was the one project idea I had for which I was the target audience…if you look at a product like this, it’s useful. There’s a need. And the question is why hasn’t someone built it already?”

Entrepreneur.com: Last Day of 2 Weeks to Startup Series

This is the last day on “Two Weeks to Startup” Series. To recap, Kimberly Stansell has written 9 articles so far for 9 days of preparation for building a startup. I have written summations of the articles in four posts.

“Let Entrepreneur.com Guide You to Your Startup” (Days 1 & 2)

“Entrepreneur.com: Their Guide to Your Startup” (Days 3 & 4)

“Entrepreneur.com: Their Guide to Your Startup – Days 5 & 6”

“Entrepreneur.com: Their Guide to Your Startup, Days 7 to 9”

Now for the last day “Two Weeks to Startup: Day 10. Hand Out Your Shingle and Sell”

This article is all about selling. Prepare a plan on the ways in which to sell your product or service to prospects. The plan should include aspects of your business the customer should know as they are being pitched. The two important points of the article are to understand any and all problems prospects have with the product/service and to be passionate about the product/service no matter the struggles. Acknowledging problems indentified by customers can help you understand your product/service from their perspective and will teach you to tailor the sales pitch.

Passion has to do with exciting your customer. Think about Steve Jobs and the way he presents an Apple product. He does it will full passion and confidence in the product; most can’t help but to be excited with him. Customers can’t ignite passion in you and will not push a product for you.

As usual, read the series on Entrepreneur.com. I think the articles are a good resource for entrepreneurs with not much of an idea or guide on starting up. Clearly, the information I sum up and the actual articles are guides, meaning that entrepreneurs should take the time to do vital research. In no way does the article or my posts serve as the entire information needed for a start up. Entrepreneur.com also has many other resources for entrepreneurs. 

Entrepreneur.com: Their Guide to Your Startup, Days 7 to 9.

Here’s another post about Entrepreneur.com’s “Two Weeks to Startup” Series by Kimberly Stansell. I’ve previously written about days 1 to 6, which can be found in the post archives. This post is going to be days 7 to 9, Develop a Marketing Plan, Build Your Support Team, and Execute Your Marketing Plan, respectively. Remember, I’m offering quick summations, reading the articles will give much more valuable info (because if I repeated every single thing that would be plagiarism).

“Two Weeks to Startup: Day 7. Develop a Marketing Plan”

Marketing is essential to introducing your business to the intended target audience. At this point, with research done from day 2 and parts of your business plan written from day 4, the marketing aspect of your business should have already taken shape. With the plan, you go further by figuring the means of promoting your business, e.g. social media, print, or personal.

The article also states a customer service plan needs to be made along with the marketing plan. Customer service plan consists of ways to keep customers and build customer loyalty. For service, retail or client oriented businesses, a detailed policy “[considering] money-back guarantees, buying incentives, and the resolution of customer complaints” is needed.

“Two Weeks to Startup: Day 8. Build Your Support Team”

The title is pretty self-explanatory. The most important point is your team should be defined with broad, important ranges “from contractors and suppliers to advisory board members and employees”. Other than actually interviewing people, look amongst your network for those who have the qualities to benefit you and your business.

“Two Weeks to Startup: Day 9: Execute Your Marketing Plan”

Action. The keyword is action. Not only do you execute the plan, but it is now a portion of the job. You can’t just set up the ads, the site, and promotions and then wait. Do the work to reach out to your audience. The article gave more examples of things to do. But essentially the marketing plan is suppose to be a plan well thought out from Day 7. We’re working in days so there’s always room for improvement. Just be prepared, have a plan, and act.

All the articles include links to other sources on Entrepreneur.com and downloadable resources. For a list of the Kimberly Stansell's articles in the series so far, go here.

Iman: CEO of IMAN Cosmetics feeding an Ignored Consumer

Iman is an international fashion icon, having graced major runaways and many fashion photo spreads. Since 1994, she has been a businesswoman. She is the founder and CEO of IMAN Cosmetics. The company makes cosmetics and skincare products for women of all color tones. Despite the bad economy, her company is making about $25 million. Iman was featured on Black Enterprise Business Report; the video is featured on the website.

The short interview featured a look into her transition from model to businesswoman. Her inspiration for the company came from an experience while doing a photo shoot. The makeup artist informed her he did not have makeup for her skin color. From there, Iman built her company. She stated on the interview “It’s not about race but skin tone”. The reality is most major cosmetic lines do not carry makeup for women of color or have enough range to include the different multitude of tones and shades for such women. Her company not only fixes her problem but also feeds a much-ignored consumer demographic, women of color who wear makeup. From my experience, the makeup industry is still lacking in recognizing women of color as a consumer. Quite frankly, as a paying consumer, I’m pissed. Yet, I’m also satisfied to know some major lines are making an effort to feed my demographic and that Iman has done this for many years.

The business point is she found an audience and became one of the only companies to satisfy this audience’s needs. As an entrepreneur, one can sometimes find inspiration by appealing to ignored groups. The meaning of group can include a giant range. Example: Todd Greene found it hard to shave his head so he created a modified razor to fit in his hand and now he runs HeadBlade; it satisfies bald men.  His story was featured on “How I Made My Millions” by CNBC.

Iman is a great businesswoman. Despite other cosmetic companies similar to hers and the economy, her company stays successful. Now, Iman also sells fashion handbags and accessories on Home Shopping Network and is the host “The Fashion Show” on Bravo. 

Entrepreneur.com: Their Guide to Your Startup - Days 5 & 6

I’m back with another update on Entrepreneur.com’s “2 Weeks to Startup” Series. I have previously written about Days 1 to 4, which can be found in post archives. Also, my posts are quick summaries; take the time to go to the website and read the articles. This post will be about Day 5 and 6.

Two Weeks to Startup: Day 5: Find Financing

As an Entrepreneur, you will need money. Even if you run a non-profit, money is needed to cover costs. The article mentions many ways to find financing:

Microloans: “private and SBA-backed agencies make loans from a few hundred dollars to $250,000”

Crowdfunding: “a way of networking with people online willing to invest usually smalls amounts of money…”

Niche or specialty loan: loans given to certain groups such as minorities, women, students, etc. or certain types of business

Venture or angel funding: great ideas can get large amounts of funding but in exchange, for a portion of the company. The process for venture or angel funding can be a long process and as the article points out, needs a well-put-together business plan. I learned a little about the process from watching the reality show “Start-up Junkies”.

Take the time to search online. One of the websites I visit for quick business news and resources is theCashflow.com. The website is about helping small urban entrepreneurs. On the website, the creators offer $10,000 funding to businesses. It is an application process, and the site is filled with stories on funded companies. There might be other similar sites or major business sites that have their own funding program.

Two Weeks to Startup: Day 6. Name Your Business

The name is very important. The name identifies your business and is your brand. But sometimes we like names that might be taken. The article advises to take some time to search through public resources to be sure the prospective name of your company is not taken. Also, search the website. Every time I think of my future domain name, I put it in the address bar or Google it. The article also offers a link to a trademark database.

The next step is to hire a trademark professional to help ease the process of trade marking your name and then, the next step is to determine the type of business you will have, for tax purposes. For all of the paperwork, the article states, your city should have a business resource center.

As stated read the articles for more information and for links to other similar articles on the website.

Entrepreneur.com: Their Guide to Your Startup

Entrepreneur.com has continued their Two Weeks to Startup Series. The series can be found on the website. Recently, day 3 and 4 have been posted by Kimberly Stansell.

“Two Weeks to Startup – Day 3: Calculating Startup Costs”

Obviously, most businesses need money to start. Startup investment needs to cover costs for up to 6 months. The article warns that not all businesses will see revenue quick. Also, not all businesses make profit in the first year. For an idea of costs to expect, Stansell offers to seek free resources that can provide you with a draft of startup costs. And better to overestimate costs than to underestimate. Of course, the article features worksheets to help with configuring costs.

“Two Weeks to Startup – Day 4: Write Your Business Plan”

The article states the business plan is the roadmap of your startup and the means to obtaining resources such as a loan. The business plan should also be considered the most important part of your business, if you plan on introducing it to outsiders. Whether for marketing, investors, or potential partners, all will need to see a business plan or a draft of one to consider working with you. While you can market your business without the plan, the plan includes the details most do not have time to mention in an elevator speech.

The three main parts of the plan are the business concept, the marketplace section, and the financial section. While they are only three parts, they will take a lot of consideration. The article includes great resources: the website’s business plan guide, a guide from the U.S. Small Business Administration and the website’s sample business plans. All of the links can be found on the article.

Let Entrepreneur.com Guide You to Your Startup

Entrepreneur.com is doing something really great. For two weeks, they will offer a series: 2 Weeks to Startup. Everyday from this Monday, Kimberly Stansell will give a day-by-day guide on gearing towards creating your startup business.

“Two Weeks to Startup: Day 1. Finding the Right Fit” is the task about evaluating your skills, interests and background and finding the business that would work with them. Things to do are to think about favorite interests, think of your resume, overview your personality, and speaking with people you know in businesses you’re thinking about opening. The article includes links to tools to help find the right business.

“Two Weeks to Startup – Day 2: Research Your Business Idea” is, as the title states, about research. First, find your niche. Your niche is dependant on the audience of your product or service. Not just the audience you want to reach but the audience that will honestly go to your business. Then, conduct market research. According to the article, three important areas of research: industry information, target market, and competition. Also use public free secondary sources. Secondary sources are mostly previous market research done about your product/ service, industry, audience or competition. This article also includes forms and links to tools to help with market research.

Today “Calculating Your Costs” should post on Entrepreneur.com. 

Dan Schawbel: Personal Branding as a Gen-Y'er

I was cruising through Entrepreneur.com, looking for an interesting article to read and write about. I came across an article about Dan Schawbel an incredible, hard working entrepreneur. Schawbel is 27 years old. Being 24, I try to find stories relatable to my demographic and/or experience; It helps me to gain insightful advice from someone similar to me about possible challenges. Schawbel being from my generation, I was very excited to read, “How a Gen-Y’er Launched a Personal Branding Firm” by Young Entrepreneur Council.

Dan Schawbel’s road to entrepreneurship started in 2007 with a blog dedicated to personal branding. That turned into a magazine titled about the subject. His work gained him a job at a business magazine as an “up-and-coming personal branding expert” and a promotion at his full time job to social media specialist (that’s right, he was holding down a full time job, while blogging, running a magazine, and contributing to another publication). All along, Schawbel gained attention within the field of personal branding. In 2009, he wrote Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future. Finally, as of this year, Schawbel turned all of his work into Millennial Branding LLC and quit his full time job.