Archive for June 2004
Start Your Own Wireless ISP – Part 2
Last week Robert Cringely explained how to start your own wireless ISP. This week he details one guy who took his advice and and ran: First to Dave Hurley, who brings new meaning to the admonition that real estate is all about location, location, location. In Dave’s case, location means having line-of-sight to a few [...]
MaryBeth Matthews: “Is it nature or nurture? How much effect does a creative environment play in raising children who will become innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs? In a group of children who have always been trained to follow directions, who are the ones that decide to make their own path? Have they always danced outside of [...]
Julian Sanchez: “It seems that, from the point of view of establishing a reputation, you’re sometimes better off for being interestingly wrong than exactly right.”
Are You Really An Entrpreneur?
Dan Sherman: The point here is, contrary to popular myth, being an entrepreneur is more than just having your own business. Anyone can establish a small business. All it takes is a license and a passion for a particular thing. But an entrepreneur looks at EVERYTHING in his/her daily life and quickly assesses whether it [...]
Jeff Cornwall: “Part of the mythology of entrepreneurship is that VC’s play a major role in new venture development in this country. The myth has evry entrepreneur thinking there is a VC out there for them. I have met small retail start-ups that actually think they can get VC funding. (In case you still believe [...]
Entrpreneur: It seemed like such a great idea: You found the ideal niche market, complete with potential customers by the dozens and profit potential galore. Maybe you already found the ultimate location, or you’ve put together a stellar e-commerce site that would even put Amazon.com to shame. There’s just one problem. You haven’t the foggiest [...]
Jeff Cornwall: “There are more and more niche banks popping up like mushrooms after the rain. They focus on serving women, hispanics, etc., etc. There is a new one here in Nashville reported in the Tennessean that is focused on Asian immigrants and health care. These banks are playing a significant role in our entrepreneurial [...]
Spotting Trends is the Path to Success
Small Business Trends: Entrepreneur magazine suggests that spotting trends is a path to business success. Part of the article outlines mogul Donald Trump’s trend spotting tips. Trump, who has built a business on trends (which partly explains his involvement in The Apprentice reality TV trend), offers these tips for entrepreneurs eager to capitalize on what’s [...]
BusinessPundit: “One of my employees made a mistake today. Like any other company, we give more discounts the more you buy. Well, someone who looked at buying a lot decided not to. He paid, but called me later and said the per unit cost didn’t work out to what he thought. I explained that for [...]
802 Most Common Small Businesses In the United States
From Google Answers, comes the 802 most common small businesses in the United States: Abrasive Blast Cleaning Services Accountants Acoustical Analysis Services Actuaries Acupuncturists Addressing & Mailing Services Adhesive Application Services Adult Schools Adventure Travel Agencies Advertising Agencies Aerial Surveying Services Agricultural Support Service Air Cleaners Dealers Air Cleaning, Purifying & Monitoring Services Air Conditioning [...]
News sites like the Seattle Times, or the New York Times that require free accounts to access the archives can be a pain if you just want to read a quick article and don’t want the to go through the hassle of creating an account. A quick tip: try “laexaminer” as both the username and [...]
Something is seriously wrong in the retail clothing industry, especially in that department that should be a bastion of “sugar and spice, and everything nice” when an eleven year old girl has to ask Nordstrom to stock more demure clothing. Work at Home Dad pointed to an article about it in the Seattle Times with [...]
Not our typical fare, but this report comparing the economics of the EU and the US is a very interesting read. From the report’s introduction: France, Italy, Great Britain and Germany have lower GDP per capita than all but four of the states in the United States. In fact, GDP per capita is lower in [...]
Duct Tape Marketing: Instead of simply listing your clients and telling about the results you have delivered, take a photo of every one of your clients using your product, meeting with you, doing something goofy involving your name brand. The power behind this technique is incredible. Suddenly, you can offer tons of proof that people [...]
From Murray N. Rothbard in Man, Economy, and State: We shall concentrate on the capitalist-entrepreneurs, economically the more important type of entrepreneur. These are the men who invest in “capital” (land and/or capital goods) used in the productive process. . . . The capitalist-entrepreneur buys factors or factor services in the present; his product must [...]
How to Make Big Money in Your Own Small Business
Amazon: “Ever dream of starting your own business? According to USA Today, more than 47 million people want to own their own businesses and over 20 million actually do. In How to Make Big Money in Your Own Small Business, bestselling business author Jeffrey Fox offers sound rules to succeeding in small business, whether you’re [...]
Work-at-Home Check Cashing Scam, Exposed
ScamSafe: “The way it works is that they have people deposit checks, ranging in amounts from a few thousand to as much as $100,000, into their personal or business bank accounts. The check typically arrives overnight via FedEx. Unbeknownst to the victim, the checks are fraudulent—stolen, altered and forged to appear real. The thieves tell [...]
Brett Lider: I think it is about time to make offshoring much, much more personal. Why not sub-shore [the work you don't enjoy], W2W-style and take the day (or two) off? It costs $15-20/hour. via Victor Lombardi.
StartupJournal: “Petunias may seem like a commodity, indistinguishable without their packaging, but Matt Horn, owner of Matterhorn Nursery, has figured out how to produce and merchandise plants and other garden supplies so customers drive miles out of their way to pay higher prices. Even a bag of dirt from Matterhorn is special: It contains composted [...]
I’m trying to gain a better understanding of my readers, and would really appreciate it if you would take a couple seconds and answer the following survey questions. Thank you. I will be posting the results in a couple weeks. Age under 14 14-18 19-24 25-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71+ Gender Female Male Entrepreneurial [...]
Inc.com: “A number of employees, all of them perfectly pleasant as drinking buddies or dinner companions, had grown complacent, behaving as though they had earned some kind of tenure. Even some longtime friends were slacking off. “I figured if I hired my buddies, they’d work their butts off for me,” Baker says. Instead, he had [...]
Common Craft’s 1st Anniversary
Congrats to Lee LeFever for surviving his first year in business for himself!
Ebay And The Rise Of The Mompreneurs
Business Week: “Today, upwards of 430,000 people in the U.S. alone — more than are employed worldwide by General Electric Co. and Procter & Gamble combined — earn a full- or part-time living on eBay selling everything from fashion to farm equipment, with the highest-sellers grossing up to $1 million a month. Of the estimated [...]
Hoover’s IPO Calendar: “These companies are expected to price, and begin trading during this period.” Interesting reading, especially if your entrepreneurial intentions are purely spectatorial. Thanks for the tip, Loyd.
David Wecker and Doug Hall of Brain Brew were asked how to find a market: Amelia, it’s real simple. Go find rich people. The people with the most money are usually the best people to get a lot of money from. The first places she should investigate are the markets with the most money available. [...]
