What Small Business Owners Can Learn From Reality TV Shows
There’s no doubt about it: there are tons of trivial, low-budget, poor quality TV programs currently being aired, that give justification to the label of “ boob tube”.
There are talk shows that don’t “say” much. Programs that promote girls behaving badly. And a host of other fluff stuff.
But, with some selective viewing, you might be surprised to discover that there’s much to be learned on TV that can enhance professional and personal development, and shorten the learning curve.
Particularly when it comes to owning and operating a business.
Below are a few quality choices to check out, for your viewing pleasure and enlightenment.
1. THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE
When it comes to business, Donald Trump is no chump. The creator of this weekly program, and a larger-than-life leader in real estate, provides many lessons worth heeding regularly for business owners in any field.
The story line? Essentially the show takes famous folks from different industries, (i.e. models, actors, comedians, singers, wrestlers) and divides them into two equal teams of men and women. He then provides them with weekly “assignments” or tasks where each is pitted against the other for the ultimate title of his “apprentice”. The project manager, (each episode), of the winning team is rewarded with a donation to his favorite designated charity. On the losing team, someone has to be fired.
Much like any work “environment” Donald has to deal with egos, catfights, ineffective team members, and general mayhem.
You’ll never be bored in his boardroom. Even though he’s the boss that America “loves to hate”, Donald is decisive, discerning, and demanding. Note that he always surrounds himself with a good “team” (usually his family members or trusted long time friends). He gets feedback from the various people he manages to get a broader perspective of the success of his projects. He’s a survivor. He’s tough, but he also gives praise when earned. Just a few principles and policies that today’s business owner should incorporate in their management practices as well. Visit their site at: http://www.nbc.com/the-apprentice/
2. SHARK TANK
Produced by ABC and originally launched back in 2009, this reality show features five filthy-rich investors, (a.k.a. “sharks”) that are presented with products and services from entrepreneurs where the panel has the opportunity to “buy into” the business, both figuratively and literally.
What can business owners take away from this show? Pertinent questions like why should consumers, advertisers, or lenders “invest” in their business? How are they different from their competitors? Is their price structure realistic? Does there “elevator pitch” quickly and accurately convey what their business is about when presenting to others?
Watch episodes here: http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank
3. TV COURTROOM SHOWS
Whether it’s Judge Judy, Judge Mathis, or People’s Court, business owners can benefit on discussions and rulings related to labor laws, liability, wrongful termination, and contractual compliance. Knowing a little about the law can potentially save money and serve as a protective measure when conducting business.
These are just a few examples of how reality shows can be used as teaching tools, much like textbooks and real-life experience, to enhance business owners’ know-how, and ultimately their net worth!
About the Author: Jennifer Brown Banks is a noted blogger, veteran freelance writer, and ghost writer.
Her blog, Pen and Prosper was chosen as a Top 10 Finalist at Write to Done’s annual contest. Banks has been featured at award-winning sites such as: Men With Pens, Technorati, Write to Done, Pro Blogger, and Daily Blog Tips.
Vist her site @ http://penandprosper.blogspot.com/
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Photo Credit: linh.ngân
Start a Small Business in a Recession
Many entrepreneurs dream of starting their our small businesses. For many the question is not what type of business to start, but when to start up a business and cut the ties to your 9-5 job. The dilemna facing every small business start up since October 2008 is: ”Do I have enough money to start a small business during a recession?”. Here is information on starting a business in tough economic times and having success in the process.
As the ecomonic crisis of 2008 clearly demonstrated, having enough capital to see your business through is critical. During times of economic contraction banks, other lending institutions, and even venture captialists and angel investors become much more discerning regarding the quality of the business propositions they will fund. According to the Wall Street Journal even proven business models such as franchises are currently having trouble getting sufficient money to expand. International Franchise Association data shows that franchises owned by small business entrepreneurs need over $11 billion in capital this year while banks are only making available $9.5 billion. That’s a gap of over 18 percent which will go unfulfilled.
One factor cited by CNN Money in hampering small businesses is the reluctance to step up debt and borrowing while confidence on the economy is still low – both on the part of business owners and the markets they serve. In fact the United States Federal Reserve is reporting that small business loan demand has been weak of late. The assumption is that uncertainty surrounding the presidential election and what will transpire with the economy post-election is paralyzing small businesses in regard to raising new capital. A recently conducted survey of small and independent business owners by the Nation Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) shows only 7% of small business owners think that right now is good time to expand their business. This data is collected monthly by the NFIB Research Foundation. Click here to view the entire PDF of the most recent NFIB survey data.
One business owner who started his small business in the teeth of the economic downturn is Neil Heuer. Mr. Heuer along with business partner Eddie Martin founded the Naples custom cabinet manufacturing and design firm Grand Woodworking in the summer of 2011. While not the depth of the economic crisis, the timing raised a few eyebrows among competitors in the South Florida real estate and remodeling sector. Mr. Heuer gives the following tips regarding capital requirements at startup, ”I would recommend creating a business plan including finanacials for the first year of the business. Make realistic estimates of what the expenses are going to be in order to keep the business functioning at a high level. This number should be the minimum capital reserve that you consider at startup. That way, if your business takes off and you earn high revenues you’ll be covered. Conversely if the sales are not rolling in, you’ll be covered for the first year or so. That will give you the breathing room to adjust your strategy or pricing models if necessary to agressively grow the business and stay competitive.”
Many entrepreneurs choose to start with a popular resource for those businesses needing capital – the United States Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA has information on its website to help business owners navigate the process of applying for loans and grants. You can get started on the process by visiting the SBA.gov Small Business Loan web page here. The site includes information on small business loans, grants, venture capital and bonds. Best of luck in starting up your new business venture.
About the Author: Derek Vaughan is an Internet industry veteran and expert. Prior to entering full time consulting work, Mr. Vaughan was responsible for online marketing at The Walt Disney Company where he marketed ecommerce for the ESPN.com and NASCAR.com brands. Mr. Vaughan received his M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University and currently serves on the HostingCon Advisory Board.
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Essential Tools for Scaling Your Start-Up
So you’ve built your idea into a real deal company, made it through the grind and finally making some cash. The question is can you continue to grow; can you scale? A vital part of scaling your business will be using the right tools to handle more and continue working as you grow.
CRM
A big piece of making a scalable business is having insight into your sales and marketing activities, this is where CRM comes in. Without a system to manage your sale process and measure marketing activities impact on leads and sales you are essentially working in the dark. The biggest keys in sales and marketing are measurement to see what works and what doesn’t. A good CRM system can be invaluable in helping to get to your business goals since it solves 2 major problems that happen in growing startups: data fragmentation and boosting productivity.
When it comes to selection, there are a number of solutions available including Salesforce.com, Sugar and Leads360. Depending on what your business is, the nature of your sales cycle and the technical capabilities of your team your choice will be different. In general Salesforce.com would probably be the best defacto solutions because of its ability scale from very small all the way to enterprise levels with very little need for implementation other than training. Salesforce also has the advantage of the most heavily integrated with other business applications via its massive AppExchange. That being said, given your situation you really need define, in detail, what your main requirements are given your sales process to pick the solution that best fits you. For some help I would recommend checking out this great piece that goes into much more detail from CRMbuyer on CRM for the Small Business (it says for small business but can work for anyone).
Document Management
While it may not seem vital to your business, the documents and records you have are incredibly valuable. The edge in business today is the ability to collect, retrieve and analyze your business data better, faster and more efficient than the competition. A document management system is really vital to getting most out of the documents and the processes associated with them. While in their infancy these systems were little more than a paper conversion system but nowadays they do a whole heck of a lot more. Beyond having advanced indexing to let you retrieve vital information in seconds, the best system provide insight into what steps in document processes are inefficient as well as providing valuable info on what the workload for many of your departments are.
Out of the more advanced systems available docSTAR is one to check out. Similar to the way Saleforce operates, docSTAR has an advantage in that it can scale with nearly any size business. If you’re still pretty small you can go with their more basic option that’s cloud based, but they can easily transition you to their more advanced system that includes all sorts of goodys including a thing called PackageWorks that provides detailed data on all your document processes.
Customer/User Feedback Systems
Growing a source of feedback from customers is extremely important to know how to improve your product/business and continue to grow. These aren’t really one tool but a variety to continue to measure and refine.
Web Analytics
Know what and how people are interacting with your website; Sounds simple but a ton of people in non web centric startups don’t focus on this awesome (free) data! Using Google Analytics you can learn a lot about what’s working and how/if buzz is growing around your business. I could write a whole post on Google Analytics but if you’re serious about learning it check out this Google Analytics Guide (props to Slingshot SEO).
Feedback Surveys
Too often startups rely on instinctual gut feelings to determine product or service offerings and changes…if you’re trying to scale, stop doing it. Start getting qualitative feedback from your user base and actually know what’s working and what’s not. Survey.io is an awesome tool to use that helps you understand your most passionate customers. The survey questions from the system revolves around emotion “How would you feel if you could no longer use [your product/service]” and have only 4 options ranging from very disappointed to no longer using. If you can get to over 40% of users reporting “very disappointed” then you are on your way to building a scalable business. The 40% benchmark was determined across hundreds of startups, those who were above 40% were generally able to continue their growth, and those who were under tend to struggle.
Scaling isn’t the finish line
Now that you’ve got some tools you should be looking at to scale your business it’s important to point out that once you get some traction, scaling isn’t the end of the road. There is still much work to be done to really make your business continue to grow; you’ll need to go into executive mode and rely more on data. Use some of these tools and the transition should be a bit easier.
About the Author
Gerad Hoyt is an online marketing strategist who specializes working with start-up clients. Currently Gerad is working with Pre Employment Testing software provider Chequed.com.
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8 Businesses You Can Start Today With No Cash!
If you’ve been wanting to get into business for yourself, but money is holding you back then don’t fret! There are plenty of opportunities available to those who don’t have the start up cash in their pockets. While having a little money on hand for business cards or fliers certainly helps; here’s some businesses that scrape the bottom of the barrel to get you going.
1.) Lawn Care
People are lazy. They don’t want to mow their grass. I’m one of those people and I happily pay somebody else to come and cut my grass for me. If you’ve got a truck, and a mower you could already be on your way in this business. Print up some fliers, start offering to mow friends or family member’s lawns, and post an ad up on Craigslist. A small investment in a magnetic sign for the side of your truck doesn’t hurt either!
2.) Cleaning Service
Again, people like cleaning about as much as they like mowing the lawn. Starting a maid or cleaning service can also be a quick business to get going. Try going door to door to local businesses that are full of busy professionals in small offices. If they don’t have their own full time cleaning staff they may be interested. Again, Craigslist is a valuable tool for starting a local business fast.
3.) Junk Removal/Scrap
My friend’s Dad helped put her through college doing this. If you have a truck or ideally a trailer so you can haul more stuff you can make a pretty penny with scrap or junk removal. You can either charge people to come and get their stuff or just pick metal up for nothing and sell it to the junk yard. There’s plenty people who just drive around on trash day and pick up washers, dryers, and other big metal appliances and are literally picking up dollars off people’s driveway. The home owners are happy to have it gone because they would have otherwise had to make a special call to Waste Management which they may have to pay for themselves. Most people also don’t have enough scrap themselves to bother taking it to the junk yard. It’s a bulk sale type of business.
4.) Start An eBay Business
If you’d prefer to do something online you can start an eBay business. Ebay is generally a very quick way to get started selling online, because the traffic is already there. You can get started immediately by selling things you have laying around your house. This could be old electronics, clothing, ect. A lot of people buy things from yard sales or Craigslist locally and then sell them on eBay where the price is much higher. You could also think about finding dropship suppliers if you want a more reliable product sourcing method and want to upgrade your eBay business.
5.) Start A Consignment Business
Technically this also goes into the eBay business category, but not exclusively! Don’t have any of your own stuff to sell? Why not sell somebody else’s! A consignment business advertises an item for sale by a third party and then collects a commission. If you have a place with high visibility or you know how to move merchandise you could make some cash doing this. Several people in my town with property on busy roads sell cars off of their lots.
6.) Start A Internet Service Business
The internet is also full of busy people who don’t have time to do everything. Web masters are one of them! If you can do something useful like write articles you could turn that into a business as well. The thing about web masters is they usually have a lot of sites to run and don’t have time to write for them all consistently. If you’re a good writer they could be willing to pay in bulk for your writing services. Try signing up for sites like Fiverr or posting on webmaster discussion forums like Digital Point. Many of these places have a market place where you can sell services like this!
7.) Design Service
If you have any skills as a designer either through graphic arts or web site design you could start working for yourself. There’s probably a lot of small business owners in your area that would like a website or need a high quality logo created for them but don’t know how to get it done. Try marketing your business to local people. If you can meet any face to face at an event it would help you out a lot most likely. The only start up costs for this business are your time and a computer to work on.
8.) Pet Sitting Business
This one is incredibly easy, but can make you a surprising amount of money. I know several people that do this regularly. Most of the time they just go to the person’s house and baby sit their dogs for the weekend or while they are on vacation. If you love animals then this could be a great fit for you. Try advertising in the paper, offering this service to friends, and online. You could also try asking places where people with animals visit if you can put up fliers on their window or cork board. For example the vet, dog groomers, or the pet store. An additional business tactic? Offer the business owner a referral fee if any of their customers purchase your dog sitting service!
These are just a couple ideas, and I’m sure there’s plenty more you can come up with! Do you have any ideas for a great business you can start this weekend with little or no up front capital? Post it in the comments section!
Penny writes more about online business, finance, and investing on her personal finance blog. If you’d like to see more articles from her you can check out PennySeeds.com!
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5 Strange and Profitable Businesses
Have you ever had an unusual thought and wondered if it could turn into a profitable business? Here are five of my favorite unusual businesses:
1. Game Truck
Game Truck – Scott Novis developed Game Truck, a portable gaming party, after he found he was disappointed in his four-year-old son’s birthday party at a pizza arcade in 2006. Scott noticed that children were playing boring, static games, and that most of the kids had better games and better graphics on their home game boxes than were being offered at the party.
Scott went home, and, in his garage, retrofitted a truck with gaming consoles, flat screen monitors, and cool decorations, creating the first Game Truck.
After successfully trying it out at a friend’s birthday party, Scott turned his idea into a thriving weekend business. His company has since grown to nearly $2 million in revenue. Game Truck has nearly 40 trucks in 20 locations across the country, and 12 individuals are employed in its home office. The company also offers franchise opportunities.
2. Zipz Shoes
Zipz Shoes – John Stefani was at a family reunion in 2004 when he and his father began talking about how many pairs of dirt-caked children’s shoes were in their presence. John’s father, Jerry, said it would be great if an interchangeable shoe existed – one where you could mix and match the tops and bottoms, and throw the dirty part in the wash.
The idea stuck. After the reunion was over, John and his siblings went home dreaming about mix-and-match footwear. They sketched several prototypes of shoes held together with everything from Velcro to pins until, finally, Jerry designed a shoe held together by a zipper.
Zipz Shoes’ first year of sales was in 2010, and the company grossed $1 million in that year.
Zipz Shoes retail for $45 a pair and are available online and through boutique retailers. They are distributed in 40 countries, drawing particular interest from customers in Europe, Japan, and the Middle East.
3. The Something Store
The Something Store – In the summer of 2007, Sami Bayrakci was surfing the Internet in search of a birthday present for his friend. After an hour of fruitless browsing, Sami decided it would be so much easier if someone else would just make the decision for him. And so the idea of The Something Store was born.
When Sami first shared his idea with friends, they thought it would never work. At SomethingStore.com, customers pay a flat price for an unknown item. Who would pay for something when they don’t know what they’re getting?
But Sami gave it a try. With a small start-up investment of just $3,000 for supplies, he designed his own website and began selling small, lightweight items in order to keep shipping costs down.
Within his first few months of business, Sami had sold several thousand “somethings.”
4. Beaten Path Trails
Beaten Path Trails – If you don’t have access to nature, it’s not easy to appreciate it. Hikers and backpackers use trails to gain access to nature, but construction of these trails is not easy. Laws prohibit the construction of trails with the use of vehicles and machinery, and that presents a difficult situation for many contractors.
But Tyler Johnson has created a different kind of contracting business which has achieved plenty of success building and maintaining trails.
On the Beaten Path Trail Contractors started less than a year ago, and has already acquired around $ 3.3 million worth of contracts. On the Beaten Path Trail Contractors offers $17 per hour to off-season ski resort employees and to college students on summer break for work done creating and maintaining trails.
On the Beaten Path Trail Contractors currently has 63 workers in four states, and there doesn’t appear to be any worry of government cutbacks. Tyler says support from government officials for both access to nature and job creation will ensure that the contracts keep coming.
5. City Slips
City Slips – Susie Levitt and Katie Shea, both finance students at New York University, noticed that many women walked home barefoot at the end of the day because of their uncomfortable heels. So the young women decided to start a company which offered easily portable flat shoes.
They worked with contract designers and manufacturers in the United States and China, creating a pair of flats which folds up to fit into a pocket-sized zip pouch. When women put the flats on, the pouch becomes a tote bag in which they can carry the high heels they had been wearing.
CitySlips began selling in 2009, and they’re now sold by 500 retailers, including Neiman Marcus, Dillard’s, and Bed Bath & Beyond.
Katie says CitySlips have broad appeal. “A 16-year-old leaving her senior prom will grab a pair of CitySlips and put them in her clutch bag, and then there’s my grandmother who will wear them leaving church,” she says.
Launched using $15,000 from personal savings and a $100,000 private loan, CitySlips sells shoes which retail for $10 to $58, depending on the style and material.
About the Author: This is a Guest Post by Vit Kashis from BizStriptease.com. He is also involved with ICLocator.com, Global Marketplace for Hard to Find Electronic Parts.
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Why Every Entrepreneur Needs a Blog
In this fast paced world, things are becoming more technical. We have entered the digital economy and most people nowadays are dealing with the largest network in this universe, the internet. Almost everybody, during week days, spend time in their offices in front of a computer, surfing and working through internet. During week ends, they are at their homes, still slumped in front of their laptops, desktops or tablets, spending their days off with what Facebook can offer them.
Gain Online Presence
At one point of your existence in the cyber world, you have ‘googled’ yourself (no need to deny it, I’ve done it myself). Google is probably the most checked site by everyone. It is fascinating that this site could know almost everything about anything.
If you want to be found by your target market, make yourself visible by putting up your website and market the products or services you offer. Make it more interesting by having a blog site as well. It is more convincing if the approach you use is on a first person basis, like talking directly to your niche. People greatly consider anecdotes and testimonials to support their decisions in acquiring your services or products.
Inform The Market
A blog site is meant to inform people. For example, you have this on-the-spot-promotion like some airlines do nowadays. You can easily do that kind of promotion to your blog site. Such announcements can be very viral that it can reach your whole market.
You can also use your blog to describe your products or services extensively. If some of the viewers would have comments or questions, you can respond to them immediately since you are the administrator of your own blog site. The Blog-Site is meant to inform both your market and you yourself as an entrepreneur. It’s a two way communication.
Co-relate With Other Entrepreneurs
One cannot grow without the help of other people. Competition is not always the case. Sometimes, an entrepreneur also needs new ideas or suggestions from some experts in the same field. Blog sites, being in a more personal approach, help entrepreneur bloggers to co-relate with each other. You can learn from them and vice-versa.
Having your own blog can help you gain more contacts, in connection, to your business or market niche. I believe everyone has the potential to be the next world renowned business tycoon. This only means that there are things that you know but others do not, sharing them through your blog will give you authority and people will look up to you for the great content that you share with them. Letting your business relationship grow helps you as a person and your being an entrepreneur. Your experiences can be a great deal of help to other upcoming entrepreneurs, or vice versa! Business people can benefit from having their own blog site. Not only they can inform their market about their products or services, but it can also offer relevant information to other businessmen who may need it.
One should not be satisfied with their current market reach. There are a lot or other mediums to reach out to potential clients, especially in the World Wide Web where people are online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Make entrepreneurship a more fulfilling experience by sharing your own experiences and ideas in your own blog site. Be an inspiration to many!
About the Author: Jessica Francisco is a cheerful 25-year-old with an odd sense of fun. The least of her broad range of hobbies include swimming, hiking and listening to the music of Michael Jackson. Jessica is also one of the editors of Luke Roxas.
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To Startup or Not To Startup? Five Things to Consider Before Launching Your Own Company
Why start your own business? After all, it may be one of the most masochistic decisions any individual can make.
To begin, startups come with financial risk, and impact of failure on one’s finances can be severe. Moreover, starting a new business is a sure-fire way to distance oneself from friends and family. Startups can be all-consuming, leaving little time for much else—including personal relationships. Finally, starting a business can take a heavy physical and emotional toll. Late nights and meals at one’s desk are not a healthy lifestyle, and the highs and lows of the startup game can drive a person mad.
Here is why I love being an entrepreneur. In short, starting a business is one of the most exciting, challenging, and rewarding ways to spend my working years. Yes, it can be hard and cruel, but six years into it, I haven’t experienced a single day of boredom.
Startups are not for everyone. Here is some advice if you are considering whether to get into the game:
(1) Get some experience first
Some recent academic literature has concluded that the ideal age for entrepreneurship is 40. This is no doubt because can help to have working experience before you start a business. For one, it provides an opportunity to save up some potential capital to invest. Moreover, you will inevitably pick up some useful skills and knowledge along the way—some of which could prove handy, even if your new business is in a field outside of your expertise. In addition, as you work, your network of contacts will grow. This can prove useful in a variety of ways, including client development, recruiting, the pursuit of capital, to name a few.
(2) Analyze your opportunity costs
If you have nothing to lose, it is easier to take the leap into entrepreneurship. If you are the sole breadwinner for a family of 5 with a limited nest egg, it probably makes sense to save up some cash first, and think very carefully about the impact that a bombed startup would have on your life. One other word of caution here in a different vein: Be aware of the risk of your opportunity cost rising too high. Although an increasing employee paycheck is generally a good thing, the higher your salary rises, the more difficult it can become to quit your job and scratch that entrepreneurial itch.
(3) Build a detailed financial model for the business and test your assumptions thoroughly
Once you begin reducing the business to a spreadsheet, the realities of the numbers will begin to emerge. Taking into account all of your expenses and revenues, as well as when they should occur, will give you a sense of whether the business can make money. It will also give you a sense of how much capital you will need and by when. While there are always financial surprises in the startup experience, waiting to build your projections until after you commit to a business is a dangerous proposition.
(4) Speak to potential clients
Treat your new venture as a sophisticated investor would treat a new potential investment and determine whether your idea can be monetized. Do some due diligence and explore whether there is interest in your product or service. Ask client prospects whether they like your value proposition. If you are entering a competitive industry, ask what it would take for clients to switch providers. Knowing what potential clients want and need is critically important to know if there is room in the marketplace for your business.
(5) Ask yourself whether you have the right DNA
Jumping head first into a startup is not for everyone. If you are the type who needs others to motivate you, or who has trouble staying focused when times get tough, starting a business is probably not be the right move. But if you have self discipline, a fair amount of confidence, passion, and a good deal of intestinal fortitude, you may well be the perfect fit for entrepreneurship.
Keep in mind that starting a business is not for everyone. But for those who have what it takes, becoming an entrepreneur may be the most fulfilling professional path.
About the Author: Paul Mandell is a Founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Consero. In this role, Mr. Mandell provides strategic leadership for the company with a rigid focus on excellence at every level of the business. Prior to founding Consero, Mr. Mandell founded and was the President of a national legal support company that was acquired in 2007. The successor entity was recognized as one of the world’s top legal process outsourcing companies during his continued tenure as President the following year. Prior to entering the business world, Mr. Mandell practiced law at Arnold & Porter LLP and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in Washington, DC, and New York, New York, respectively, where he focused primarily on antitrust and pharmaceutical litigation. Prior to his law firm experience, Mr. Mandell clerked for the Honorable K. Michael Moore of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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What an MBA Won’t Teach About Starting a Business
There is much discussion about how beneficial an MBA education is for entrepreneurs starting a business. The debate is about whether the skills required for success as an entrepreneur can be taught and whether the current MBA curriculum allows its graduates to succeed in today’s business landscape. Entrepreneurs must decide whether to invest in a top Online MBA as a prerequisite for starting a business, or rather instead to invest that money directly into a new business.
According to the article, “Seven Essential Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur” published in the Wall Street Journal, having a vision and being passionate about pursuing that vision are believed to be key requirements for entrepreneurial success. Given that most entrepreneurs accept this driving force as a critical component for entrepreneurs, the question germane to the MBA debate is whether you can teach a student how to think in an innovative manner and to come up with a new idea that they are willing to pursue with an intense and ongoing commitment. Considering the enormous commitment and sacrifice that most new companies require, if an entrepreneur does not make a business dream a top priority in the beginning, it will be very difficult to stick with it when the big challenges arrive.
Education Cannot Teach Passion or Innovation
Considering the large number of highly successful entrepreneurs without formal MBA training, a persuasive argument can be made that entrepreneurs do not need an MBA to succeed when they have a good idea and are willing to pursue it against all odds. Some of the better-known entrepreneurs who are recognized as high-profile contributors to society without an MBA include Bill Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft. Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple computer is another entrepreneur that must be recognized as one of the most celebrated entrepreneurs without an advanced education. These visionaries created technologies that have directly impacted the lives of most people in technology-savvy cultures. The problem with MBAs is that its curriculum teaches students what’s worked for businesses in the past; it doesn’t teach them what being innovative and determined are.
People Skills
While many innovative entrepreneurs in the technology industry have not suffered from a lack of people skills, in many other industries this lack could prove a block to success. We’ve all heard the saying that it is not what you know, but whom you know that makes you successful. If this is true for most entrepreneurs, then it is easy to understand why so many people who are well liked do so well in business.
Networking is promoted as a plausible way to find business partners and key employees. An entrepreneur must be able to depend on talent and commitment to make up for a lack of other resources to compete. This is where leadership and charisma play a key role in recruiting the talent necessary for success.
Conclusion
The debate will continue about whether an entrepreneur needs an MBA to succeed as an entrepreneur. Some questions that any new entrepreneur must consider is whether they can commit for the long-term, and whether they can withstand the pressure to compete under duress. Some of the considerations to think about are financial demands and a support system. Entrepreneurs’ challenges are often not limited to business competition, but also include family concerns. Having a spouse or partner who is also committed to an entrepreneur’s dream can make a substantial difference in whether an entrepreneur succeeds.
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Three cost-effective ways to market your start-up in 2012
Friends sneered at you when you said that you are going the entrepreneurial way. You quit your job in that MNC to build this dream product. Now the product is finally out in the open but how do you find takers for your product.
Needless to say, being a startup you always have this financial question mark staring blankly at your face. Keeping in mind the limitations, startups can easily use these three tools to market their product. It is working for us and if you do it right, it will work for you too.
Social Networking might be passé but networking is not :
Start by using your own personal contacts and their contacts. Ask your friends to try and use your product. Talk about your product when you meet each other during social gatherings. You somehow have to ensure that the optimism you have for your product, gets communicated around. And all said and done, Facebook and Twitter are still one of the best ways to talk about your brand online.
Data Visualizations:
A picture is worth a thousand words. People might not be interested in your 1000 words article but they would love to see a nice graphic communicating the same idea. Try exploring infographics to market what your product stands for, what problem it seeks to solve, industry trends in your market, etc.
Blogging:
This is an effective way to make yourself heard online. Post articles that you think your target market would be interested in. Try and establish yourself as the thought leader in your industry. Encourage the idea of blogging within your organization. Ask employees to contribute their own take on things.
All the best and have a rocking year!
About the Author: Shilpi Choudhury is an Inbound Marketing Specialist and Business Blogger based out of Bangalore, India. She is currently working for DiscountPandit, Bangalore, which is a deal search engine that provides users a faster, simpler and a comprehensive deal search experience.
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Guide to Renting Desk Space for Small Business
When you’re starting out in business, or even if you’re already up and running, then the cost of office space is often one of the biggest headaches facing any venture. Little wonder then that so many people simply decide to work from home, because this can be a great way to cut costs and keep overheads to an absolute minimum.
However, for anyone who has even gone down this route, or who is thinking of giving it a try, working from home comes with a whole array of cons that stack firmly up against the pros. Sure, there’s no commute, you’ve got creature comforts all around you and it’s cheap and easy.
The downsides can soon pile up though, because working from home can be solitary. There are also the interruptions that you’ll probably get from well-meaning loved ones. And working from a spare bedroom, study or even the garage soon loses its appeal. In fact, when you weigh it all up, the working from home scenario can be a double-edged sword.
Moving on up
It’s not suprising therefore to find that many small businesses are biting the bullet and moving into rented desk space locations. This can actually be a great way to go, and if you’re already leasing an office, then it makes sense to consider this angle too. One of the main benefits is that contracts are invariably on a short-term rolling basis and highly competitive.
With landlords keen to maximise profits from their dead space, you’ll find that many locations in inner cities and prestigious business parks are often way more affordable than you might have ever imagined. Of course, if you enter this desk space rental market with just a desk and chair option then there will be precious little in the way of frills. But, if you’ve got a desire to keep it simple and dip in and out of the office, then this may be all you need.
Saving cash
Cost saving will be instantaneous, because the landlord takes care of all the upkeep, the cleaning and all the rest of it. Desk space rentals often come with broadband internet but almost everything else will be absent. But the plus side to that is you just need to turn up, plug in your laptop and get working. Then, at the end of the day, simply unplug and head off home.
The added benefit of all this is that it’s highly flexible and you can be in and sitting at your desk in a matter of days or even hours. There’s certainly none of the protracted legal stuff to go through when you’re considering something like a traditional office lease. The same goes for when you want to leave or move on, with those rolling contracts providing much more freedom for people who don’t want to be tied into a contract or lease for years on end. With the current business climate proving to be tricky to say the least, then this sort of flexible working approach suits many people, both start-ups and those in an existing venture.
About the author: Rob Clymo writes on behalf of office space site www.officegenie.co.uk, the online marketplace for serviced offices and shared office space in the UK.
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