Archive for 2005
Startup Fever: Pitching a VC soon? Make sure you aren’t about to make any of these seven easily avoidable mistakes from David Beisel.
Inc.: An old joke: A store owner purchases pencils for 10 cents a piece, then turns around and sells them for only a nickel. Noticing this bizarre behavior, his partner asks, “How do you expect us to stay in business that way?” The man replies, “Volume!” Surprisingly, many novice entrepreneurs choose a similar strategy. They [...]
Make it Great Before You Try to Sell It
Ramit Sethi: Here’s a pattern I see a lot: Somebody launches something He tries to make money Then he tries to make it valuable and useful What a funny way of doing things.
The Language of Venture Capital
3i: The international venture capital and private equity industry has a language all of its own. To help beginners we have created a guide to the jargon. via Ken Dyck.
Business Week: There’s a lot to be said for careful planning and cautious review when starting a small business. But there’s another side to the story, say some entrepreneurs, and that’s following up a good opportunity and seizing it. Howard Melamed calls it “the science of opportunity.” In 2002, he and his wife Barbara took [...]
Beware of the Devil’s Advocate
Fast Company: We’ve all been there: the pivotal meeting in which you push forward a new idea or proposal you’re passionate about. A fast-paced discussion leads to an upwelling of support that seems about to reach critical mass. And then in one disastrous moment, your hopes are dashed when someone weighs in with those fateful [...]
Interesting Posts from Around the Network
This blog is part of the Business Opportunities Weblog Network. Here are some interesting recent posts from around the network: Ask: How to Teach eBay Franchise: Franchisor-Assisted Financing MLM: The Ultimate MLM Product Work at Home: Save $10,000 Just By Reading This Blog!
How Working at Home Works for This Mom
Gina Seamans in Startup Journal: How I’ve made working at home ‘work’ for me: Teaching the kids to respect the office and work time. When I’m working, they must go to Dad for everything. Before entering the office, they must knock and be invited in. They are never allowed to touch the computer, copier or [...]
Dave Stone via MLM Business Opportunities Blog: Successful entrepreneurs seek opportunity in what many consider unlikely places. I believe they have developed a mindset that embraces change along with the understanding that change is a unending condition of life. The entrepreneur is a non-conformist. The entrepreneur is a “if it ain’t broke, then break it� [...]
Mobile media is coming…quicker than you think!
Did you know that: More people are connected to the Internet via mobile phones than computers Most people in the world will experience broadband Internet on their phones and not a computer Mobile phone users in South Korea send over 1500 SMS a month and many use their phone to do 100% of their email [...]
Bruce Maxwellin an interview in the SF Chronicle: Bootstrapping is founded on two simple techniques. The first is time-shifting your payables into the future. You don’t have the cash today, so you say to people, “If you give me this resource today, I will pay you in the future.” If you can do this on [...]
Sean on Life: Here’s a simple question: Venture Capitalists spend all their time examining new opportunities and new companies, and have the money to make these new ventures fly. Why then do they not start their own companies (which they can plan out in advance and own entirely) but instead invest in other people’s companies [...]
Five Tips to Improve your Creativity
Brad Isaac offers five tips to improve your creativity: Drive home a different way from work tomorrow. Sleep with your head at the foot of the bed Eat dessert first Take a walk during your lunch hour Sit at a shopping mall and “people watch”
→ happytailsdogspa.com The pet industry’s figures are soaring and there is no end in sight. Last year, total pet expenditure reached $34.3 billion and more and more dog owners are providing dogs with the kind of care they would give their own children, only adding to the growing need for dog day care and grooming [...]
Entrepreneurial Whiz… or Just Another Crazy Old Man
Wayne Hauschild, the owner GameDaySigns wrote: I represent a small but growing segment of American small business, the Senior Entrepreneur. Later this year I will be 61 years old and am very excited about my new career. My company, GameDaySigns, produces licensed College spirit merchandise. Over the past several years I’ve encountered many does and [...]
Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman
Sarah Bosch concludes her reviews this week, with a look at Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman. I’ve been a businessman for almost fifty years. It’s as difficult for me to say those words as it is for someone to admit being an alcoholic or a lawyer. I’ve never respected [...]
This week’s Carnival of Marketing is up at Brand Autopsy.
I’m back from my first blog vacation in a year. Thank you to all of the guest posters who helped out while I was away, and thank you to everyone for continuing to read, comment and email. I have a ton of messages to follow up with, so if you’re awaiting a response, please give [...]
This week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction is up at Free Money Finance.
This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists is up at Techronization.
How To Write Off Your Startup Costs
Microsoft Small Business: Once you open your business and start generating revenues, you can write off many of those initial startup costs at tax time. But there is bad news too. The rules for taking advantage of these deductions are not as straightforward as they are for your business’s ongoing expenses. Here are six steps [...]
No Selling in Network Marketing?
You’ve seen the web sites and you’ve probably heard the streaming audio sales pitch… No Selling! Not MLM! $3,000 a week from home! The next time you see one of these sites, you can pretty much bank on the fact that they are MLM and the average guy makes $3 a week. We will discuss [...]
Whether a small business of 1-5 employees or a Fortune 500 executive with thousands of employees, enagaging them is critical. How do you move an employee or a supplier to thinking critically about your business? And how do you engage the hearts and minds of employees instead of just their “hands and backs”? Those little [...]
I’ve seen quite a few startups make these same mistakes time after time: 1. Mistake: “Ramp up the sales before you have a product/service” It’s going to take a sales team 2 – 3 months to understand the customer, the selling process and how to replicate that. Adding more people to the sales team is [...]
A Professor Moonlights In Computer Forensics
Startup Journal: The entrepreneur: Gary Kessler, 52, is an associate professor of computer science at Champlain College in Burlington, Vt. The business: Mr. Kessler has worked as a computer-forensics consultant on the side for the past five years. Computer forensics is the process of gathering evidence from a computer. “Frequently, you are looking at files [...]
Noah Kagan reflects on his time in a cubicle that ended recently. He lists out a few things that suck about corporate america. The one that rings true with me: Meetings: Spending nearly 50% of your time in meetings seemed like a waste. I’ve worked for wide range of companies during my short time in [...]
Limiting Risk When You Tie The Business Knot
The Morning Call: Up-to-date statistics on married-couple-owned businesses are hard to come by, but both the International Franchise Association and the National Federation of Independent Business agree that they’re seeing a resurgence. ”Over the last five years, we have seen our married couples in business together go from about 20 percent to just slightly under [...]
Hugh speaks the truth at gapingvoid: Business Porn is just like Ordinary Porn or Real Estate Porn, except instead of it being about the women we wished we could sleep with, or the houses we wish we owned, it’s about all those cool, lucrative, exciting jobs and businesses that we wish we had, instead of [...]
Clarifications on Venture Capital
Dave Taylor gives a few simple clarifications on Venture Capital and provides some good links to read more about it: A common scenario, however, is for a VC to buy 20% of a company, where that might look like this: • pre-money company valuation: $5 million • VC investment: $1 million • post-money company valuation: [...]
This week’s Brain Brew Radio episode is online: This week on School Time, Dr. Jeffrey Stamp explains why keep is simple stupid really works… Craig with Naturally Elegant in Atlanta, Georgia seeks out Doug and Dave’s advice on how he can brand his mineral mud from India… Doug and David talk to Tom of Cottingham’s [...]
Flip Your House Without Losing Your Shirt
Bankrate.com: Bolstered by the many home renovation shows that dot the TV landscape, the recent housing boom has spawned a lot of interest in making money, by renovating a fixer-upper and selling it at a higher price. It seems like a no-brainer, but is flipping a house a sure-fire path to riches? “It’s not that [...]
Everybody seems to have their own definition of exactly what Web 2.0 is. According to Wikipedia, “the phrase currently refers to one or more of the below”: a transition of websites from isolated information silos to sources of content and functionality, thus becoming a computing platform serving web applications to end users a social phenomenon [...]
I Believe in Network Marketing
I believe in some basic concepts behind Network Marketing: 1. The opportunity to own and operate your own business with very little start up costs. 2. The opportunity to help others start their own business. 3. The opportunity to build a business in your spare time outside of your regular job or traditional business. Most [...]
This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is up at Financial Fruition.
Evan Williams of Odeo, Inc. has posted his Ten Rules for Web Startups: Be Narrow Be Different Be Casual Be Picky By User-Centric Be Self-Centered Be Greedy Be Tiny Be Agile Be Balanced Read about them…
Being First Is Often Enough For The Media
Duct Tape Marketing: Business owners always want to know what they should pitch to media folks to generate a story. Guess what, it’s not your 5th anniversary, unless you are the first business of its kind to actually last five years. The media loves firsts and so does the market. First to market is news! [...]
The third Carnival of Marketing is being hosted at Pete Caputa’s pc4media.
This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists is up at Gill Blog.
Buying A New Car This Holiday Season?
My Audi A4 3.0 car lease expires in a few months. I’m looking around for what I want to get spring 2006. So many people have had terrible car buying experiences, but in reality it’s very easy! My tips below should help new car purchases—I’ve tried my best to keep it very simple. 1. #1 [...]
Noah Kagen of OkDork.com is starting off the holidays by giving out a $500 scholorship to the best business idea sent to him. You can see the details at his site.
Gifts That are Better Than Money
Free Money Finance has come out with their list of suggested Black Friday gifts: Emigrant Direct has a 4.0% yield — a great place to store your emergency cash. Open up an account for yourself or someone you love. You Need a Budget is a powerful, easy-to-use budgeting system that offers $65 in free offers [...]
While Dane’s off being a daddy, I’ll be hanging around to make sure everything keeps on chuggin’ in his absence. Along with me, the guest posters will be: Chuck Huckaby Ty Tribble David Xue Dan Portnoy Meanwhile, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to forward them my way.
The Right Network Marketing Company
Ty Tribble: The Direct Selling industry has nearly doubled in the U.S. over the last 10 years and Network Marketing is one of the least expensive ways to start your own home based business. Here is a short list of questions that may help you evaluate a Network Marketing company. 1. Would you buy the [...]
Jeff Cornwall has the full text of the original Thanksgiving proclamation: Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that [...]
How to Raise Money for Your Business
Entrepreneur.com: To help you get your head around the different ways you can finance the growth of your business, we’ve compiled mini-guides that cover the basic information on 19 different financing sources. Read through our guides to learn the basics, and then start hunting! Start-Up Financing Equipment Leasing Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) Microloans Asset-Based [...]
Online Retailers Gear Up For Busy ‘Black Monday’
Startup Journal: This coming Friday is one of the year’s biggest days for shoppers and retailers. But for many, the Web has made the following Monday just as crucial. With the rapid expansion of the Internet, the Monday after Thanksgiving has grown to be the all-important kickoff of the online holiday shopping season. On that [...]
Seth Godin: Pricing is a very effective signaling device, no doubt about it. People (and businesses) assume that good stuff is worth more. People pay for stuff on eBay for stuff based on the velocity of the auction instead of the innate value of the item. Real estate brokers warn you that a house that [...]
This week’s Carnival of Marketing is up on About.
Carnival of Personal Finance #23
This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is up at Frugal For Life.
A man goes to his bank manager and says “I’d like to start a small business, how do I go about it?” The bank manager leans back and clasps his hands together on his gut and replies “Buy a big one and wait.” via Blue Mau Mau.
