Archive for September 2005
This week’s Brain Brew Radio episode is online. This week: Andy with the Cincinnati Bass Cellar learns the mystery of how raising prices doesn’t cause loyal customers to run away… Tonya looks for advice from the Brain Brew Crew on how to make her idea of vinyl car decals a reality…
PR Web: PayGoose.com, a new payment Web site set up to handle all kinds of Internet commerce, has announced plans to launch November 1st. PayGoose.com, similar to other payment sites such as PayPal, allows any person or business to send or receive funds safely and efficiently online. Paygoose.com believes there should be one universal online [...]
For Franchises, Growing Rapidly Isn’t Always Best
Startup Journal: As many businesses discover too late, rapid expansion doesn’t always mean success when building a franchise. When growing quickly trumps other goals, such as grooming competent leaders, controlling costs, picking prime locations or building a customer base, the company’s operations can turn sloppy. “It’s definitely possible to kill off a good concept by [...]
Start A Home Based Wedding Related Business
Work at Home Business Opportunities: How To Start A Home Based Business Related To Wedding Planning.
Manufacturer’s Representatives
One year ago today: Manufacturer Reps Explained.
Via Ty Tribble and our new MLM Business Opportunities Weblog (which is officially being launched next week) comes these four excellent networking tips: Seek alliances. Offer help first, and help gets offered in return. Become active and visible in an organization. Donate gift certificates for your wares to the organization’s auctions and giveaways. When chance [...]
The Young Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting and Running a Business
Amazon: Becoming an entrepreneur offers individuals the potential for financial success and independence. Two new guides explore effective strategies for starting and operating a small business. Mariotti, who founded the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and provides entrepreneurial training for inner-city youth, has written his book “for any young person who wants to start [...]
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The Enthusiasm of Business Opportunity Magazines
One year ago today: The Enthusiasm of Business Opportunity Magazines
Married To Your Business Partner
Startup Journal: After surging during the 1980s and into the 1990s, the number of married business partners appears to have leveled off, according to a just-released study from the Small Business Administration. The study says the number of married business proprietors peaked at a little more than 13.1 million in 1997, up from 10.1 million [...]
Not a People Person: MLM Isn’t For You
Ty Tribble explains that network marketing might not be for everyone in at post on our new MLM Business Opportunities Weblog: First of all, if you do not enjoy working with a lot of people, Network Marketing may not be the right business for you. Network Marketing (MLM) requires you to do two things if [...]
Make Podcasting Part of Your Business
Engineer2Entrepreneur: The thing of it is is that it take 600-1000 hours of study to become expert in something. Interestingly most people spend between 500-1000 hours in their car every year. Smart people, the people who will be going places are listening to audiobooks, making good use of that time to build their own knowledge [...]
Divorce Low, Happiness High Among Entrepreneurs
Desert News: If you are an entrepreneur who is suffering through lots of sleepless nights, whose marriage is on the rocks and who hates everything about your business, you aren’t likely to be found among truly successful Utah entrepreneurs. These are some of the conclusions of a recent survey of more than 100 of Utah’s [...]
David Beisel: Over the past couple years, I have been involved with and close to a number of both successful and unsuccessful startups. To me, the most exciting (and most perilous) times in a company’s life-cycle are the early first stages when it is just getting off the ground. The company’s founder(s) role is an [...]
Work At Home Business Opportunities Weblog: BobVila.com, StartupNation, Overstock.com and Microsoft team up to offer a S.O.S. (Small Office Support) Home Office Giveaway. If your home office is selected a “home office makeover” worth up to $5,000 may be yours! To enter, visit the S.O.S. (Small Office Support) Giveaway! at BobVilla.com.
Frank Demmler: Several weeks ago, we took a look at the founders’ pie. I noted that frequently the founding team divides 100% by the number of founders. I also cautioned that this is the WRONG WAY! I then went on to identify the factors that should be considered when making these decisions. Since then, I [...]
Techcomm Journal: Your first and most important objective as an entrepreneur is to learn how to make a powerful and captivating first impression. This requires honing a business idea into a clear pitch that can be given in 30 seconds or less, which is not easy. In that brief amount of time, you need to [...]
Advantages and Disadvantages of Hiring Friends and Relatives
One year ago today: Advantages and Disadvantages of Hiring Friends and Relatives.
6 Million New Businesses Per Year!
The Entrepreneurial Mind: A new study just released by the Kauffman Foundation finds that there are 500,000 new business start-ups in the US every month. If accurate, that means we are now seeing start-up rates of 6 million a year!
Amazon: It seems like these days, whenever you look at a newsstand, at least one major business magazine has a cover story about a wildly successful entrepreneur in his or her 20s or 30s. That’s not surprising when one considers that one out of every five small-business owners in America is under 35, and that [...]
Wine Tasting Meets Network Marketing
The Traveling Vineyard: The concept of The Traveling Vineyard was born in 2002 when The Traveling Vineyard President, Rick Libby, began hosting friends for casual wine tastings in the comfort of his home. A novice wine drinker, Rick realized that many of the people expressed interest in “buying after trying�. Thus the mission of The [...]
The 55-Plus Crowd Takes to eBay Auctions
Startup Journal: Marcia Cooper and Harvey Levine hoped for a blissful retirement, until they both were laid off from their jobs. They hadn’t planned to quit working so soon and hadn’t saved enough. Feeling unprepared to compete with 20-year-olds in the traditional job market, the 60-something New Jersey couple turned to eBay Inc. Ms. Cooper [...]
Weblog Reader Accepted into Paul Graham’s Startup School
Congratulations to reader Keith Casey for getting accepted into Paul Graham’s Startup School!
Smart Idea: Copying Human Products for Pets
Entrepreneur: The saying goes, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. In Patrick Meiering’s case, what’s good for the owner is good for the pet. In 1995, Meiering was out on a four-hour hike with his chocolate lab, Zuke, when he noticed his canine companion was looking a bit worn out. He [...]
Small Business Liability Insurance
Steve Rucinski: The costs of covering your business and yourself from a potential lawsuit are high. After a decade of intense competition among insurers and low premiums, the fallout from the Sept 11 terrorist attacks and the stock market have increased insurance costs while providing less coverage. Every business owner renewing an existing policy or [...]
MLM – Network Marketing Podcast #3
This week’s episode of MLM – Network Marketing Podcast is online: Dave Stone of MLM Today and Ty Tribble of MLM Blog discuss Network Marketing on the Internet. via MLM Business Opportunities Weblog.
This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists is up, better late than never, at AnyLetter.
One year ago today: Sole Proprietorship Basics.
Tom Nies: Entrepreneurship, for many, has now become the new “Great American Dream� – that is, to become an owner, and so more able to shape and control one’s own destiny in today’s globalized world.
Save Money with Free Legal Docs
Paul Allen: Many entrepreneurs can’t afford to pay $200-300 per hour for legal help, especially with simple things like incorporating and simple contracts. There are many online libraries of legal docs, including some that exist and generate revenue because of Google AdSense. Today I found a consulting agreement on www.lectlaw.com and used part of it [...]
Jeff Cornwall: The latest edition of the Cost of Doing Business is out from the World Bank. This report looks at the cost of regulations on small businesses around the world. The most small business friendly countries in terms of regulations: Canada Australia United States New Zealand Singapore
Carnival of Personal Finance #15
This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is up at the excellent Free Money Finance. I’ve been meaning to recommend FMF for over a month: it has excellent advice and links to some of the best personal finance information available.
Erik Sink: I don’t know squat about whether you could actually sell this, but here are my two cents: Some products ideas fall into a category I call “Just Do It”. This is probably one of them. It sounds kind of cool. It’s not going to be all that difficult to implement. You have the [...]
Make Money with Your Typewriter
From 1952: 125 Ways to Make Money with Your Typewriter. If you replace “typewriter” with “computer” this sounds like the modern work at home type marketing fluff, but there really are some gems in here: Regardless of your talents, and whether you live in a small rural hamlet or a widespread metropolitan area, your typewriter [...]
Sneak a Home Business Around Your Day Job
Home Business Magazine: Nearly one out of two people in the United States work from home in some capacity as part-time entrepreneurs, full-time business owners, and telecommuters. At one time or another, most of them have had to work around a “day job� for an outside employer, with the work usually done from an outside [...]
One year ago today: Buying An Existing Franchise.
Expand Your Retail Business On eBay
MSNBC: Buyers of pricey Los Angeles Dodgers collectibles don’t exactly line up at your door when your music, comics and memorabilia shop is located in Joplin, Missouri. So when Rodney Spriggs finds that one of his 10 Vintage Stock stores in the Midwest has slow-moving merchandise, he lists those items on eBay to reach a [...]
Why 13 Isn’t the Number to Avoid
NY Times: If there is an important number for a small-business owner – besides the bottom line – it is most likely 15. That is the minimum number of employees it takes for federal anti-bias, equal pay and disabilities laws to apply. “Small-business owners are often quite aware of this,” said Elizabeth A. Gaudio, a [...]
Top 10 Reasons That Businesses Fail
The Entrepreneurial Mind: 10. Over-expansion. The need to get there first or to demonstrate revenue growth to anxious investors leads businesses to grow too fast. 9. Poor Capital Structure. Companies take on too much debt… Enough said! 8. Failure to Control the Controllable Costs. Businesses spend down the initial cash before it is flowing in [...]
Startup Journal: Collecting debts efficiently, Mr. McHugh realized, is one of the best ways for small businesses to manage the ebb and flow of cash and hang on to precious capital. It’s not unusual for businesses to borrow, often at high interest rates, or sell chunks of equity that they’d rather keep, because they’ve managed [...]
This week’s Brain Brew Radio episode is online. This week: Marc in White Plains, New York is looking for creative ways to get sports organizations to consider using his sports photography business… Greg in New Britain, Connecticut seeks out Doug and Dave’s advice on how to get his Whirly Whistle in the hands of the [...]
How to Create and Sell Information Products
Michael Pollock: In this episode, I speak with James Maduk about creating and selling information products. More specifically, how to create information products from what you already know and do in your daily activities. Running time is about 60 minutes. Enjoy! via Yaro Starak.
Gavin Bowman: I’ve spent the last five weeks on Codesnipers writing about some of the mistakes I made when starting my company, and during the development and marketing of my products. I doubt they’ll be the last, and I’m sure I’ve already made a few more that I just haven’t identified yet, but I’m done [...]
One year ago today: Franchising’s Flaws.
Anthony Cerminaro: The Service Corp of Retired Executives provides this Template Gallery of the following templates for startups and entepreneurial enterprises: A Business Plan for a Start-up Business A Business Plan for an Established Business Bank Loan Request for Small Business Break-Even Analysis Competitive Analysis Financial History & Ratios Loan Amortization Schedule Nondisclosure Agreement Opening [...]
Measure Everything Significant
Bob Parsons: Back before I started Parsons Technology I became impressed with something I read about John D. Rockefeller. In fact, I still think about it and use it to this very day. I learned that Mr. Rockefeller was one of the few people in his industry (perhaps the only one) who knew exactly how [...]
Ken Dyck: Peter Caputa of WhizSpark, a web application that helps event planners set up web sites to promote and manage registration for their events, is generating quite a lot of buzz in the blogosphere with a new promotion that offers users a chance to use the service free-of-charge. What’s really interesting about buzz Pete’s [...]
Retirement Plans: A New Source for Business Capital
Bison Franchise Forum: When it comes to owning and operating a business, finding the right form of financing can be an arduous task. Where do you find the necessary funding to seed a business, buy a new one, or raise additional working capital? Traditionally, business owners have used bank loans, SBA loans, personal loans, credit [...]
Bruce Andor: The simple fact is that you can’t lump all one-person businesses into the same basket. To my reckoning, there are at least three different baskets and maybe more. Here’s another article I wrote… The Entrepreneur, the Virtuoso, and the Solopreneur that looks at the different routes you can take in developing your one-person [...]
Starting a Company in 2004 vs. 1993
One year ago today: Starting a Technology Company in 2004 vs. 1993. Joe Kraus’s observations are becoming more spot on every day.
