Archive for October 2005
Investing in the Future, or Indentured Servitude
Noah Kagan may be onto something with his idea for indentured servitude: Sponsor someone from high-school/college to professional. Not just a scholarship but a life-ship. Still unclear? I am saying you recruit a high-school or college student and mold them into a professional photographer: Pay for their schooling to learn photography, $150 class + books [...]
Are Your Business Procedures Documented?
Frank Ross: Sometimes, as home-based entrepreneurs, we like to store things in our heads. Our heads are good for thinking things through, but are not very good places to store things like procedures. Documenting such routine procedures like order taking, return processing, and shipping procedures has many advantages. First, you don’t have to worry about [...]
Reveries: A funny thing happened to Marlboro cigarettes when the government said it could no longer use mass media to market its products — its ad spending went down and its profits went up, as reported by Nanette Byrnes in Business Week (10/31/05). “Philip Morris does not disclose how much it spends promoting the brand, [...]
The Best Part About Being An Entrepreneur
Does this sound like you? Since most people hate their jobs they spend approximately half of their wakeful life miserable. This is why people max out their credit cards and income. They buy new cars and big houses trying desperately to make their life interesting. The best part of being entrepreneur: I work on things [...]
Kiva sounds very interesting: Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on our website and then lending money online to that enterprise, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course [...]
Don’t Let Ego Kill the Startup
Business Week: For nearly two decades, Jonathan Hirshon has nurtured startup entrepreneurs as a Silicon Valley marketing and communications consultant. Along the way, Hirshon has observed both sorry failures and stunning successes, and he became an entrepreneur himself — founding Horizon Communications, a Santa Clara (Calif.)-based consultancy, in 1995. Though it takes plenty of moxie [...]
Presentations from Startup School
Anthony Cerminaro: For more on Startup School held at Harvard on October 15, 2005, including copies of slide shows and mp3 versions of presentations, see the Presentations (Startup School Wiki) site.
Sarah Bosch continues her reviews this week, with a look at Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of the Start : The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything. Meaning is not about money, power, or prestige. It’s not even about creating a fun place to work. Among the meanings of “meaning” are to Make the world [...]
Small Business Owners Don’t Retire
Startup Journal: For many small-business owners the question of how to handle retirement is easy to answer — just never do it. In a survey of owners about plans for the end of their careers, 46% said they will never fully retire, while 11% don’t plan to retire until at least age 70. Less than [...]
This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists is up at Triple Pundit.
OPEN Adventures in Entrepreneurship Wrap Up
Clay Shirky‘s final recap from the OPEN Adventures in Entrepreneurship event I participated in last week is up on OPEN from American Express’s website: Open Adventures in Entrepreneurship, an on- and offline event sponsored by AMEX OPEN Small business, kicked off on October 18th, with an interview of Sir Richard Branson in Miami, and continued [...]
Branding Lesson from Mr. Crack
Startup Journal: Amid the millions of dollars poured into branding each year, comes this story of how of a tiny business with little sex appeal — or even appeal for that matter (who likes to think about cracks in the basement?) — managed to achieve national recognition, half a million dollars in apparel sales, appearances [...]
My wife and I are expecting our second child, another boy, in a few weeks but we haven’t picked a name yet! Please help! Our name rules: It can’t be popular. Our first son’s name, Emerson, is number 755 on this list. It shouldn’t start with an E. Don’t want to start a trend. It [...]
Is Your Home Business Properly Insured?
Portland Press Herald: Many homeowner policies provide only $2,500 of business personal property coverage at your house and $250 away from your premises. That will barely cover your desk, file cabinet and computer. If you are using a garage that’s separate from your house for storage or any other business operation, you may be subject [...]
I just discovered an excellent podcast called Venture Voice by Gregory Galant. From the introduction: What does it take to start a successful business? We’re working the phone to find the answers by calling entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and their friends and foes. This podcast (or, for the uninitiated, Internet radio show on demand) features our [...]
ABC News: Joan Coukos’ transition from international banker to artisanal chocolatier began when she found a set of chocolate molds at an antique market in Belgium. “I felt like I was on the verge of some discovery,” said Coukos. “I couldn’t put them down.” She began gobbling books on chocolate and making chocolate once a [...]
Six Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing a Business Name
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Naveed Ahmed via Evhead: I think to be a successful entrepreneur only 3 things matter: A clear vision of where your company is going. Genuine desire and passion to create amazingly great products/services. Strong conviction that your product/service is going to make a positive difference in your customer’s life. via BizzBangBuzz.
MLM Business Opportunities Blog: Want to know how much money you will make in Network Marketing? Use this handy chart below. Move a lot of goods – Make a lot of money Move a little bit of goods – Make a little bit of money Move no goods – Make no money
Micro ISV: According to several estimates, about 1 billion people now use the Internet. You job is to interest 0.00001 of them in your Micro-ISV’s product. 1 Billion exactly? Of course not, but if you look at the stats at www.clickz.com and at www.internetworldstats.com, about a billion people, give or take a New Zealand, is [...]
Top 10 Most Practical Blogs for Entrepreneurs
About.com’s list of the Top 10 Most Practical Blogs for Entrepreneurs is out: Small Business Trends Just for Small Business WorkHappy.net Duct Tape Marketing Home Office Voice Sacred Cow Dung The Entrepreneurial Mind Escape Velocity BizzBangBuzz Business Opportunities Weblog Congratulations to everyone who made the list!
A reader sent me this story: An unemployed man is desperate to support his family. His wife watches TV all day and his three teenage kids have dropped out of high school to hang around with the local toughs. He applies for a janitor’s job at a large firm and easily passes an aptitude test. [...]
Getting To Done: Roll Your Own Business
Keith Robinson: As an entrepreneur that’s right in the middle of bootstrapping my own business together, I’ve got a bit of experience and I’m learning more and more every day. I thought it might be interesting to share some tips and some of the lessons I’ve learned so far. Make sure it’s right. Have some [...]
Can A Home Wind Turbine Make Money?
BBC News: Domestic wind turbines have been described as “the new handbags” – the latest luxury items craved by those who want to be first to try new technology. But this description overlooks their green credentials, because any electricity powered by the elements is reducing CO2 emissions, which are blamed for global warming. And there [...]
I’m planning to start a Brazilian version of this blog and am looking for someone to do the translation from English into Portugese. Please send me an email if you’re interested.
Genuine VC: Seven Questions Employees Should Ask Before Joining a Startup
Seven Questions Employees Should Ask Before Joining a Startup
AP: Susan Sobbott, president of OPEN from American Express, left; Sir Richard Branson, CEO of the Virgin Group, center; and veteran TV journalist Jane Pauley, right, pose at the start of “Adventures in Entrepreneurship: an OPEN Forum on innovation, inspiration and beyond” an OPEN from American Express Event at the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami [...]
You Need to Be a Little Crazy : The Truth about Starting and Growing Your Business
Sarah Bosch continues her reviews this week, with a look at Barry Moltz’s You Need to be a Little Crazy: The Truth About Starting and Growing Your Business. A lunatic is defined in the dictionary as someone who is insane or eccentric. Additionally, a lunatic is often described as wildly and giddily foolish. That’s right. [...]
Rob on What Business He’d Launch
Rob has posted his answer to the final question If you weren’t doing what you are doing, what business would you launch tomorrow? from OPEN Adventures in Entrepreneurship: The field that I think will drive future change more than people give it credit for – artificial intelligence. Yeah I know it’s been making huge promises [...]
This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists is up at Blawg Review.
My DIY Audio and Video Production Center
Today question from OPEN Adventures in Entrepreneurship is: If you weren’t doing what you are doing, what business would you launch tomorrow? Surprisingly, this is an incredibly difficult question for me. Not because I’m not full of ideas for potential businesses and adventures, but because it requires that I stop, and take a step back [...]
Today question from OPEN Adventures in Entrepreneurship is: How do you manage change? This is my second answer today. My first is here. Being in business has always required the ability to adapt. Capitalism thrives because it allows the market to route around obstacles. Today, though, the pace of change confronting small business entrepreneurs is [...]
Today question from OPEN Adventures in Entrepreneurship is: How do you manage change? The only constant is change, and to be an entrepreneur today you really have to embrace and understand that no matter how diligently you prepare, your business will probably not be exactly the same one year from now. I’ll post more on [...]
Phil Dunn: When considering the value of your products, pay special attention to buyers’ fears. Fears also indicate benefits, and, they can be intimately intertwined with dreams. With Tivo, for example, customers fear advertising mind control while dreaming of convenient TV watching. With soap, they fear stinking while dreaming about attractiveness. When you get right [...]
The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing
R. F. Parker, a reviewer on Amazon: The title of this book makes it sound like a white-paper or a report, but it is really 200+ pages of conceptual, well-written marketing advice. Each “step” is actually a high-level concept and each forms a different section of the book. Each “step” is then broken down into [...]
Do You Have an Entrepreneurial Mind?
Inc.: So just what makes an Inc. 500 CEO tick? To better understand the mind of the Inc. 500 CEO, strategy consultant Keith McFarland teamed up with Inc. magazine and administered the Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) to nearly 250 leaders of Inc. companies. TAIS has been in use since the 1970s and [...]
More followup from Startup School: Coverage: Linux Journal, Michael Mandel, Chris Sacca, Harvard Crimson, Gabor Cselle, Part 1 and Part 2, Kevin Hale, Ben Atkin, J Aaron Farr, Ted Tagami, Frederick Giasson, [day] will, Daily Static, Keith Casey. Images: Kevin Shockey, Lou Huang, Miguel Menchu, Beau Hartshorne, Ted Tagami, Branimir Dolicki. There are links to [...]
Paul Graham’s Startup School Recap
Weblog reader Keith Casey, who originally signed up because of a post he read here, has made a report on his experiences at Paul Graham’s Startup School. It sounds like he had an excellent time, and has loads of good advice to share. Here’s how he described Paul Graham’s presentation: Next, was the nearly infamous [...]
Anita has responded to today’s challenge from OPEN Adventures in Entrepreneurship with her own style of answer, and lists the top five websites that small businesses wouldn’t be able to live (as well) without. Two of my favorite from her list are: SCORE Biz Powerlinks – SCORE’s (Service Corp of Retired Executives) website is impressive. [...]
Rob has posted his own take on today’s question from OPEN Adventures in Entrepreneurship: First off is Skype. Talk free with anyone, anywhere. If you want to do business in another state, or even another country, you need Skype. I’ve talked with people in Europe and it work better than the telephone. Next on my [...]
What’s New & Essential For Small Business
Today’s question from OPEN Adventures in Entrepreneurship: There are a number of institutions that small business couldn’t live without–FedEx, Kinkos, Staples, Starbucks. What new functions are essential to small businesses today? Google? Ebay? What else? I recently experienced something that I’d long since forgotten: what it must have been like to do business before the [...]
Big Companies Are Not Entrepreneurial
Dr. Jeff Cornwall: “I decided several years ago that once a business goes public, things change enough that I no longer consider the business to be entrepreneurial any more. All of these companies were started as entrepreneurial ventures, but being a public company alters governance, corporate culture and management practices enough to make it a [...]
According to Darren Rowse, a Google Page Rank update is underway. I’m really excited about this update because this weblog is finally a PR7, and the other sites in my network (Español, MLM, Work at Home) are all PR5! While the update is underway, you can check your new PR with SEO Tools’ Future PageRank [...]
Ty Tribble: In order to stay in business you must solve problems. Most people assume I am talking about business problems like cash flow, inventory, and customer service issues, and while those things are important to your business, they do not keep you in business. What will sustain your business long term is how well [...]
Transcript of Jane Pauley’s Interview with Sir Richard Branson
I wasn’t able to attend the kickoff event for the OPEN Adventures in Entrepreneurship conference last night, so I’m really excited to finally read the transcript. If the event was half as good as this transcript reads, it was an outstanding success, and amazing time: Jackie Gleason Theater 1700 Washington Avenue Miami Beach, Florida 8:00 [...]
Get Intimate With Your Customers
Rob touched on it his post, but one of the biggest advantages small business have over their larger rivals is that the people who make the real decisions in a small business typically work more closely with their average customers than do their counterparts in large companies. This intimacy allows a freedom of communication that [...]
On Meeting Richard Branson – Part 2
Anita Campbell: One thing I do want to mention is how much enthusiasm and energy was in that crowd. The session went longer than expected. Other than a handful of people (possibly parents leaving to go relieve babysitters at home) everyone seemed enthralled and stayed until the end. In fact, there was so much energy [...]
The Battleship vs. The Row Boat
When I was young, and first starting out in business, I worked with my father in a variety of small businesses. It was almost an apprenticeship-like arrangement, because although I was young and had my own responsibilities within the business, my relationship with my father made me privy to issues that I would have normally [...]
Anita Campbell: Last evening I met Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur, and renowned journalist Jane Pauley. I have to say, it was a memorable encounter just to see how poised and yet down-to-earth they were. … After a while in walks Richard Branson, with Jane Pauley on one side and Susan Sobbott, the President [...]
A Night With Richard Branson: The Money Quotes – Part 1
BusinessPundit: I want to talk about the night and about Richard Branson. But you don’t want to read 3000 words right now, so I’ll break it into smaller posts over the next few days… What were the money quotes? Branson said he was never interested in being a business owner or entrepreneur, but just wanted [...]
