- Jay Maharjan

This is a follow-up piece on what I was writing on creative entrepreneurship. I was encouraged to explore further on the topic of creative entrepreneurship after receiving several responses, emails. I also had a great radio call on the same topic this week hosted by Creative Convergence.

As I wrote earlier in one of my posts, Picasso once said – Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up -.. Creativity, entrepreneurial, innovative drive dies when we grow older. The reason the drive dies is because Life happens and priorities shift. But for the select group of passionate creative entrepreneurs, the passion lives on and they make sure that they turn their craft into meaningful, fulfilling career.

Over the last ten years, I have been extremely fortunate to work with and consult some of the leading minds in the entertainment industry. More I get to interact with entertainers from all ages and demographics, I tend to find that one common sentiment, concern over and over again – i.e. on how to sustain career in this highly competitive arena. I remember my first meeting with the legendary 80 year old Academy award winning director Arthur Hiller at his Beverly Hills office back in 2001 when he shared his secret behind longevity of his career. Hiller was different in his peer group, he had a Masters degree in Psychology and always stayed grounded, truly followed his passion and focused on film-making. He successfully went on to direct 33 major studio releases, including several classics. Besides Hiller, I have worked with many notable professional athletes and entertainers and I can firmly say that the sentiment among all has been the same – that it is extremely important to treat your craft as a sustainable creative entrepreneurial venture.

I have found the analogy between sustaining business competitiveness and a creative career more similar than I had previously thought.

The age old mantra to succeed in business has been to be able to maintain competitive advantage. I see day in and day out how smart people with the highest level of intellects crashing and burning in spite of great ideas and multi-million dollar initial funding. This happens in every scale – from a mom and pop store around the corner to a major Fortune 500 companies – if you fail to know your customers, adapt quickly, sustain your competitiveness, you will crash. The key is to be able to understand your customers early on and do everything that your resources allow to master your craft to add value.

The analogy for the entertainment industry is the same that you have to understand your customer, in this case it could be your fans if you are a studio, could be the studios you are a screenwriter, the record industry if you are a musician and so on and so forth. Will write more on this topic tomorrow. Please feel free to comment, post your questions.

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- Jay Maharjan

Living in Los Angeles, I come across creative types who are often struggling to balance between mastering their craft versus marketing them. Creative professions, by nature is highly competitive in regards to making monetary gains. Creative types disregard the realistic aspect of making it and truly follow their passion. And by all means they should give their best to master their craft, but being little bit entrepreneurial would make a lot of sense.

Fundamentals of entrepreneurship applies in the creative domain as well. Highly successful entertainers are savvy entrepreneurs. Mick Jagger, though hard to believe, attended the prestigious London School of Economics and had a strong entrepreneurial acumen; Oprah Winfrey has built her media empire and now starting her own network, keeping entrepreneurial spirit alive all along the way.

1. Think Outside the Box

It is ok to focus on non-glamorous venture while honing your craft. A notable screenwriter friend of mine built a post-production business of transcribing for studios and production companies after finishing his internship at a major Studio. He was extremely passionate about building this venture. He became so successful that after building a solid clientele and track record, he sold the company. With the new found fortune and keeping his passion for screenwriting, he focused full time on screen writing. He successfully sold his first screen play the following year for half a million dollars – in a bidding war between multiple studios. The takeaway is that his dynamic personality along with the passion for both business and his craft allowed him to be successful in both areas. The creative types MUST learn to be entrepreneurs.

LEVERAGE on social media: Social media is a great on-ramp tool to connect ( with influencers, executives, studios, production companies)

There is a plethora of applications being created, making social media as the tool to connect with the end users. RIPFONE, a company that I am a part of, uses mobile devices to interact with live television events. RIPFONE technology enables major advertisers to interact with customers, fans via twitter, eliminating expenses related to traditional media like radio and television.

Spot411, nother company founded by one of my business partners, uses a facebook platform to socially watch television shows and movies simultaneously among friends viewing from multiple locations.

How can a solo creative entrepreneur build his presence on Twitter, Facebook and connect with entertainment industry?

- Be exceptional at what you do!

This may sound like a simple advice. But in reality, this is the foundation for everything that follows. You can have ICM, CAA represent you, but end of the day if you are not exceptional at what you do, you probably wouldn’t make it. In creative field, just like in any other field there is a portion that has to do with the god given innate talent and the rest has to do with dedicating everything you got to master your passion. Once you have your craft mastered, then you would want to push your presence on social as well as traditional media networks.

- Trust is everything!

To be an influencer or get noticed in social media, winning trust is essential. Impacting within social media is not a popularity contest. It is better to have a small pool of like-minded people in your vertical group than a random large following. Once you have your social network in place, the beauty of social media tools like twitter is that followers are already opted in so you can communicate with them directly (DM) without coming across as spammer. Even the ones who are not following you, you can interact by addressing directly and publicly via a tweet.

- Social Media is JUST a medium

Social media tools – the likes of blogs, twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Four Square are just tools. Smart creative entrepreneurs must learn to use them appropriately and not use them just because its a fad at that time.

You must be good at what you do. Once you choose the right social media tool, the message still has to be appropriate and effective. Higher frequency of messages does not translate to higher effectiveness. Articulate your message, keep your value proposition simple – follow the priceless advice from the world of sales – KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid!

- Think like an investor investing in your own creative venture

Treat your passion as an entrepreneurial venture or a career.

Before spending anytime on social media, think of it like a venture and rationalize in a way that if you would pay somebody else to do what you are planning to do yourself.

If the answer is no, then you shouldn’t be doing it. Bottomline – make sure that time is being spent wisely and you are not distracted from the craft that you should be mastering instead. Creative entrepreneurship is truly an ART of business.

-  Always add value!

Creative arena can be self-centered, narcissistic at times and that it is easier to forget to help others succeed before focusing on you. The reality is that if you help your fellow artists succeed, in essence you are creating a roadmap for your own success! It is not a coincidence that major producers, directors, screenwriters and artists – that most of them supported each other prior to becoming famous collectively. Most likely, they parted their ways when they made it big, but just like mega business moguls, most of the entertainment moguls had that supporting camaraderie early on in their career.

I would love to hear from creative entrepreneurs out there! Feel free to shoot me an email – ideas4entrepreneur at gmail.com – or post comments here..

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With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves. In this inspiring talk he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father’s wisdom.

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Jay Maharjan

Being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. Entrepreneurship requires a will to deal with many unknowns. Sustaining competitive advantage long enough to capture the opportunity to scale up is the name of the game.

Here is a list of things that you must remember as an entrepreneur if you wish to come out as a winner.

1. Great businesses are often simple and non-glamorous
2. There is no substitute for selling
3. Innovation is critical, execution is everything!!
4. Have compelling service that customers will need you
5. Make people who work for you sell for you
6. Keep your partners close and keep your competitors closer
7. Think like a venture capitalist

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Center for  NanoComposites & Multifunctional Materials at Pittsburg State University, my alma mater is hosting 2009 nanotechnology entrepreneurship forum on April 24, 2010. Under the guidance of Dr. Chris Ibeh, a leading authority in the field of nano-technology, this forum will focus on nano science and the entrepreneurial aspect of bringing science to market.

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Friends at TELA SOFA Jose Yenque and Juan Escobedo are organizing The 2nd East LA International Film Festival. Film makers from around the world – Submit your films directly to TELA SOFA or email to us. TELA SOFA is a collaboration of professional directors, editors, cinematographers, writers, photographers, actors, fashion designers, muralists, painters, makeup artists, graphic designers, and musicians. Together, these talented professionals provide opportunities to at-risk youth in the areas of theater and film making (including: editing, poster design, script writing, pre-productions, production and post-production. as viable and positive alternatives to drug abuse, gang violence, and domestic violence, along with prevention of teen pregnancy, STDs and AIDS/HIV).

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Like millions of readers around the world, I read and watched Michael Crichton’s classics growing up. Crichton became the only author ever to have works simultaneously charting at #1 in television, film, and book sales (with ER, Jurassic Park, and Disclosure, respectively). An MD turned author who loved to mix medical fiction in his body of work, was a conceptual thinker ahead of his time. In this Charlie Rose Interview few years before his unexpected death, Crichton talked about nano-technology, genetic engineering among other interesting facets of his life.

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The following is a post written by a blogger Dave Phillipson. Even though I would have written few comments differently, the overall sentiment about the show ‘Shark Tank’  is accurate. Hollywood is known for replicating proven TV formats that are successfully tested elsewhere. The widely popular shows like “Who Wants to be a millionaire”, ‘The Office’, along with a parade of reality shows imported from the UK did well in the past. But, this time Hollywood got it wrong in every level, trying to imitate BBC’s ‘Dragon Den’ format.

Having lived in 6 states and advocated for and worked with numerous entrepreneurial ventures, I find that the fundamental entrepreneurial spirit here in the United States is different from almost every other part of the world. America was an experiment, the country built on entrepreneurial spirit and the foresight of the founders. 98% of all businesses in the United States are small businesses. 40 million Americans practice entrepreneurship at some level on a daily basis. What these hardworking entrepreneurs do not want to see is a show on their National TV showcasing fellow entrepreneurs as underdogs, being taken advantage  by mean spirited, unknown investors who do not seem to understand what it means to be an entrepreneur and what it takes to foster entrepreneurship from a bigger picture.

Here is an excerpt of his post..

_________

by Dave Phillipson

Not many people even know what Shark Tank is.

That’s because not too many people watched the trainwreck on ABC Television.
Here, we’ll uncover the truth behind the actual ratings.
Sure, it had a twitter following, though even the majority who followed it on twitter didn’t have much of a following.

It’s major problems?

It was mean spirited.
It was competitive
The sharks took advantage of entrepreneurs
The show didn’t do a good job of education
People don’t want to see that

By mean spirited there were some awful personal attacks by the Sharks, who actually weren’t as business savvy as the show built them up to be.

The show could have been collaborative, but instead, they chose the competitive model. The same model that Napoleon Hill, Earl Nightingale, W. Edwards Demming, Alan Dohrmann, Buckminster Fuller and Walt Disney stated would eventually cripple the United States. (It’s now crippled the global economy). The solution: a business model akin to the days when an entire community would raise a barn, sink a well and build the fences and homes.

The sharks would take advantage of desparate and uneducated Entrepreneurs. They would strike deals such as taking 51% of a company for $40,000 or 60% for 90k. They would then snicker and congratulate each other for “what a steal” they got the company for.

At CEO Space, I see deals like 20% for 5,000,000 or 2 million, or 3. 5% for 100k, etc., on a consistent basis. It is the norm at CEO Space. In 2009, CEO Space has generated over $3 Billion Dollars in funding for its members, while all the banks and venture capital firms were sitting on their hands. That was in just 5 meetings. In a full season of Shark Tank, I don’t think the entrepreneurs spent more than $3 Millon total.

The only education happening on Shark Tank was how to get screwed. There was no drill down on language, there was no conversation about, what one needs to do to become successful. If you watch SharkTankTVshow.com, you will watch an investment banker do an excellent job of educating entrepreneurs.

American’s don’t like to see quasi-rich people taking advantage of people trying to get ahead. We’re big-hearted & soft. A brilliant example of that is the overwhelming outpouring of acceptance of Under Cover Boss which came on after the Super Bowl, on CBS.

Read the original post on his blog

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By Chris Savage

This is probably going to look like a commercial for the Calera company but I’ll say right off the bat that I have no connection or financial interest in them.

What I do have is a scientist’s interest in them.

Here’s a statistic that shocked me: cement manufacturing is responsible for 5% of global CO2 emissions and in the U.S., cement production represents 2.9% of overall energy usage.

What Calera has figured out how to do is use CO2 from factory emissions to make concrete. And here’s the amazing part:

Calera estimates that each cubic yard of its concrete would soak up more than 1,000 lb of CO2. In contrast, producing a cubic yard of traditional concrete generates more than 500 lb of CO2.

Most of the info in this blog entry is from a recent article in Chemical & Engineering News (Amer. Chem. Soc. membership req’d) called “Seeking To Cement A Green Future”. In the article the talk about several new cement manufacturing start-up companies that are aiming to make “green” cement and wallboard. But the part about Calera was what really caught my interest.

From the article:

To make cement, manufacturers heat limestone in a kiln to 2,650°F. The process eliminates chemically bound water molecules, releases CO2, and produces a marble-sized material called clinker, which is then ground to a fine powder. Gypsum is added, and the resulting cement is mixed with water, sand, and aggregates to produce concrete. The rehydration causes an exothermic chemical reaction that hardens the mix.

Brent Constantz, Calera’s chief executive officer and an associate professor of geological and environmental sciences at Stanford University, plans to produce cement and aggregate that will enable the production of concrete with a negative CO2 footprint. In Calera’s process, CO2 from hot industrial flue gas is bubbled through mineral-rich seawater or hard water. Calcium and magnesium carbonates precipitate out of the solution and are transformed into two concrete ingredients: a synthetic limestone aggregate and an amorphous calcium carbonate with cementlike properties.

“Our process is akin to the skeletogenic process of corals and other marine organisms that precipitate carbonates from seawater,” Constantz says. Calera estimates that each cubic yard of its concrete would soak up more than 1,000 lb of CO2. In contrast, producing a cubic yard of traditional concrete generates more than 500 lb of CO2.

For the precipitation to occur, the solution must have a high pH. Depending on the water source, Constantz tells C&EN, the company can opt to use a proprietary, low-energy electrochemical process to add alkalinity. The full process is being tested at the company’s Moss Landing pilot plant near Monterey, Calif.

Will this eliminate all 5% of the CO2 generated from the manufacture of concrete? No. There are some conditions that must be met in order for a plant to be viable.

Given the mass-balance challenges of creating sufficient carbonates from flue gas and water, Constantz says Calera will have to carefully select its locations. The ideal site would include a power plant to supply CO2, a concrete ready-mix plant, and a water desalination plant. He says Calera’s wastewater, when stripped of its calcium and magnesium, could be inexpensively desalinated. And salt from the desalination could resupply Calera with raw material for the electrochemical plant.

So, of course not all cement can be made in this way. But, because of the negative carbon footprint of the process, every pound of concrete made using this process is the carbon equivalent of NOT making 2 pounds of cement in the conventional process. If one-third of all cement made used the Calera process, it would be the same as eliminating all CO2 emissions from current cement manufacturing. Put another way, founder of Calera, Brent Constantz, says “For every ton of cement we make, we are sequestering half a ton of CO2?.

It’s worth having a look at the video on Calera’s website. It features Carl Pope, the former Executive Director of the Sierra Club, speaking quite favorably about this exciting new technology.

heart of the Calera process is the technology associated with carbon capture and conversion to stable solid minerals.  We refer to this new process as Carbon Mineralization via Aqueous Precipitation or CMAP for short.   In its simplest form CMAP involves contacting gas from the power plant with water (aqueous) containing hardness and a base buffer (alkalinity).  The water chemistry is controlled such that the carbon dioxide in the power plant gas is absorbed into the water and reacts with the water hardness to form solid mineral carbonates, which are very similar to fine limestone particles.  These solid mineral carbonates now contain carbon dioxide that would have been emitted into the air.  After removal from the water and appropriate processing the solids have value in a number of construction applications.  The versatility of CMAP also allows the generation of bicarbonates using half the amount of input materials but still mineralizing carbon dioxide that can be pumped into any underground saline zone for storage without the possibility of leakage of carbon dioxide.

Click here to read the original article

more calera video

Brent Constantz Testimony: United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

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James Cameron’s big-budget (and even bigger-grossing) films create unreal worlds all their own. In this personal talk, he reveals his childhood fascination with the fantastic — from reading science fiction to deep-sea diving — and how it ultimately drove the success of his blockbuster hits “Aliens,” “The Terminator,” “Titanic” and “Avatar.”

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Eric Topol says we’ll soon use our smartphones to monitor our vital signs and chronic conditions. At TEDMED, he highlights several of the most important wireless devices in medicine’s future — all helping to keep more of us out of hospital beds.

As director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla, California, Eric Topol uses the study of genomics to propel game-changing medical research. The Institute combines clinical investigation with scientific theory, training physicians and scientists for research-based careers. He also serves on the board of the West Wireless Health Institute, discovering how wireless technology can change the future of health care.

In his early career, Topol was credited with leading the cardiovascular program at Cleveland Clinic to the topmost position in the US. He also was the first physician researcher to raise questions about the safety of Vioxx, has been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and was named Doctor of the Decade by the Institute for Scientific Information.

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Recorded on February 1st, 2010, in the same studio as the original 25 years earlier (Henson Recording Studios, formerly A&M Recording Studios) “We Are The World 25 For Haiti”, in which Jones and Richie serve as executive producers and producers, was created in collaboration with executive producers Wyclef Jean, Randy Phillips and Peter Tortorici; producers Humberto Gattica and RedOne; and co-producers Rickey Minor, Mervyn Warren and Patti Austin to benefit the Haitian earthquake relief efforts and the rebuilding of Haiti.

Academy Award-winning writer-director Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby), whose own personal efforts as well as those of Artists for Peace and Justice have already saved countless lives in Haiti, filmed the private recording session to create the accompanying video and behind-the-scenes production, and serves as Film Director and as an Executive Producer with Jones, Richie, Jean, Phillips and Tortorici.

The 25th Anniversary recording features over 80 artists and performers. The recording of We Are The World 25 For Haiti embodied the same enthusiasm, sense of purpose and generosity as the original recording 25 years ago. Every one of the artists who participated, regardless of genre or generation, walked into the room with their hearts and souls completely open to coming together to help the people of Haiti.

Here are some exclusive pics taken by a business colleague Lex lang, CEO at H2Om Water. H2Om water was the official water of We are the world 25.

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Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we’re educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types…

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Long Beach, California (CNN) — A lifelong fascination with science fiction and the ocean has driven “Avatar” director James Cameron’s career, he told the TED2010 conference Saturday.

“The ocean is so rich with amazing life,” he said beginning a session called “Wisdom,” the final one of the conference. “Nature’s imagination is so boundless compared to our own human imagination.”

Cameron said some thought his filming of “Titanic” was about the opportunity to depict “Romeo and Juliet” on the doomed ship. In fact, he said, “Secretly I wanted to dive to the wreck of the Titanic.”

He did wind up exploring the wreck and said he saw amazing forms of underwater life. Cameron was struck by the comparison between deep ocean exploration and space travel; in both cases there’s a search for alien creatures and no hope of rescue if you can’t get back yourself. “I completely closed the loop between being a science fiction fan as a kid and doing this stuff for real.”

Read the full story

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Fast growing, entrepreneurial organizations need employees who regularly demonstrate entrepreneurial characteristics and work habits. Management of entrepreneurial companies must work diligently to recognize, identify and attract this type of employee during the recruitment process to assure a steady stream of the people with the “Right Stuff” to fuel growth of the venture.

Employees come in all shapes and sizes with all sorts of different skills and quirks. Their outlook and approach has been tempered by past experiences, good or bad. In the relatively short period of time that you have to do hiring, you have to cut through the prospective employee’s resume and verbal statements and figure out if he or she has the “Right Stuff”. This is really important because just as “a bad apple will spoil the barrel”, an employee with the “Wrong Stuff” will drag your whole effort down. It would be one thing if a Wrong Stuff employee simply didn’t contribute, but it is worse than that-he usually sucks up scare management time, creates diversions for Right Stuff employees- you get the picture.

So what are the characteristics of highly effective “Right Stuff” entrepreneurial employees? Here are a few to keep in mind as you interview potential new hires, you probably can think of others.

Ability to Deal With Risk. An entrepreneur has to operate effectively in an environment filled with risk. The Right Stuff Employee can deal with risk and uncertainty. He is able to make progress towards goals and is able to make decisions when lacking one or several critical resources or data.

Results Oriented. The Right Stuff Employee is results oriented, she takes ownership to get the task done. She is a “can do” person who demonstrates common sense in her decision and actions and is able to cut through and resolve problems that divert others. Her business judgment is sound and becomes stronger with each experience, decision or recommendation. While supervisors and managers may disagree with her ultimate recommendation, they usually agree that the alternatives she presents are reasonable for the situation at hand.

Energy. The Right Stuff Employee has high levels of enthusiasm and energy; he consistently generates output that is higher than could be reasonably expected. He is fully committed to the organization, its goals and overall success.

Not only does he desire to make a contribution to results, he needs to see the results of his contributions quickly, not measured in years! He will seek out an organization that solicits and acts upon his ideas, gives credit where credit is due and points out errors and poor decisions quickly and clearly. He performs effectively with limited supervision and is able to self-motivate and set priorities with minimal guidance.

Growth Potential. The Right Stuff Employee’s reach exceeds her grasp today. Today’s Right Stuff Employee is often next year’s supervisor and a department manager soon thereafter. She is willing to accept much higher levels of responsibility that is the norm for her position, title, experience level or salary. She acts as a strong role model, trains and coaches others, and soon begins to assume supervisory responsibilities, again much earlier than would be expected in a normal corporate environment.

Team Player. The Right Stuff Employee is a true team player, she recognizes how her role contributes to the overall effort and success of the organization. She accepts accountability and ownership for her area of responsibility and expects others on the team to do the same. She also recognizes the roles and contributions of others and applauds their efforts sincerely.

Multitasking Ability. The Right Stuff Employee is flexible to accept new duties, assignments and responsibilities. He can perform more than one role until the incremental duties and functions assumed can be assigned to co-workers in newly defined roles. He is also willing to dig in and do grunt work tasks which eventually will be performed by lower level employees.

Improvement Oriented. The Right Stuff Employee is more than willing to challenge in a constructive way existing procedures and systems; to her the status quo is temporary. She suggests changes and improvements frequently and encourages others to do so also.

Right Stuff Employees are easier to manage in some ways but require a higher level of management involvement in others. Ordinary (average) employees will not produce extraordinary results over time; Right Stuff Employees will generally produce extraordinary results consistently over time. Unfortunately, unless properly motivated, managed and rewarded, Right Stuff Employees could perform at lower levels and only produce ordinary results. So what makes a Right Stuff Manager?

First of all the Right Stuff Manager must herself have the characteristics of the Right Stuff Employee. Beyond that she must have the basic skill set of sound business judgment, practical hands-on experience, general management skills and common sense. She must be committed to and contribute to the organization’s vision and mission and must convey this commitment in multiple ways: written, verbal and by actions. She needs an awareness, understanding and interest in the technology trends what affect the venture and its customers.

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J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

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For more information: visit eco-la.org

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Ready to leave your job behind and become your own boss? It takes a certain kind of person to make it through the first few years. To help you along, we’ve culled the best tips from our own members – people with years’ of experience in running their own businesses.

1. Don’t work for less than you can afford to, but do offer a discount to customers or clients who sign contracts with you.
2. Find people who will refer jobs to you. If they send you nightmare jobs, make sure they’re balanced out with rewarding (profitable!) ones.
3. Surround yourself with supportive people and don’t be discouraged by anyone. If your idea is good and you’re determined to stick with it through the first few difficult years, your chances of success are great.
4. Be flexible in your thinking. Prepare to change the way you work, the products you use and the services you offer, in order to meet the demands of your customers.
5. Admit your mistakes, correct them and carry on.(For example, if you purchase a piece of equipment that does not meet your expectations, send it back, sell it or exchange it!)
6. Develop a good relationship with your bank manager and creditors. Show a genuine interest in solving problems. Pay as much as you can afford to, to everyone to whom you owe money.
7. Get trained! You’ll be spending a lot of time doing things that have nothing to do with your area of expertise, like bookkeeping, marketing, and IT support!
8. Avoid isolation. Even if you work closely with your clients, you won’t be part of a gang anymore. Develop your own network of entrepreneurs that you see regularly and bounce ideas off. Ideally they’ll allow you to vent your anger and share your successes.
9. Separate your work and personal life. Set your working hours and stick to a strict timetable. When you’re not available to clients, leave a message on your answer machine letting them know when they can expect a reply from you. Let them know how to reach you in an emergency.
10. Plan some ‘thinking time’ into every day. If you pack your diary with back-to-back activities, your business will never grow.
11. Plan time to do something you enjoy at least a few times a week – recharge your batteries!
12. Write a business plan so you’re clear about what you’re doing, and update it every year.
13. Develop an excellent telephone manner and react quickly to any complaints or problems.
14. Confirm orders personally and immediately, especially those you receive on email.
15. Never lose sight of the big picture – look for innovative, little-explored directions in which to take your business.
16. When you find someone cleverer than you, employ them!
17. Solicit advice from people who know, for example, other entrepreneurs and reputable small business advisers – the DTI offers lots of information and support for new businesses.
18. Don’t enter a business or a venture that you know nothing about. You’ll be running to catch up for the rest of your business life.
19. Have an existing, loyal customer base and start locally.
20. Be aware that you will get through any initial investment quickly, so ensure you are covered financially until at least the end of the second year.
21. Focus on a specific goal and work at it until it’s achieved
22. Never worry about how to get things done when you are first developing your idea.Money and resources will come together once you have set your goals and begun to work at them.
23. Make quality in every aspect of your business your primary focus and aim. If it isn’t, you will eventually go out of business.
24. Use the Internet. Use email. Build a website (if you aren’t familiar with websites, try HTML for Dummies), send out email newsletters, buy online banner advertisements and register your site with all the major search engines.
25. Delegate. You might have to hire a good PA, lawyer, or marketing professional to ensure you’ll be profitable in the future.

source: ivillage.co.uk

More useful articles on entrepreneurship:

Tips for budding entrepreneurs

11 Principles of Entrepreneurial Leadership

Top 7 Hiring Mistakes for Startup Businesses

Top 10 Most Practical Blogs for Entrepreneurs

10 tips for entrepreneurs seeking angel capital

15 entrepreneur blogs worth reading

10 critical steps to writing a business plan

10 cool colleges for entrepreneurs

Selling a business: Top 10 tips for entrepreneurs

Top 10 reasons for buying a franchise

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Jay Maharjan (03.04.09)

In the time of the recession, I hear more people discussing the need for ‘sustainable’ innovation. As the legendary venture capitalist Eugene Kleiner would say – Even turkeys can fly in a high wind. In the times of strong economies, even bad companies can look good -. We need a new breed of entrepreneurs who understands the meaning of sustainable innovation and its impact in creating sustainable competitive advantage – creating companies and innovations that can weather through the tough economic times.

It is time for America to look at entrepreneurship from a whole new dimension. We need to address entrepreneurship at the grass roots and pre-college level. Gone are the days when getting a college degree would give you a pass to get a good job. Introducing a couple of college entrepreneurship courses won’t cut it anymore. What is innovation? Innovation requires dedicated entrepreneurs with right attitude, drive, and persistance to take risk. Xylus Sand has written an appropriate piece on innovation.

Innovation doesn’t come from the antiquated academic structure geared towards the industrial revolution of the 20th century. The world is changing. People and governments around the world are focusing on innovation…and the easy accessibility to innovative tools, combined with diminishing barrier to entry and the fast changing dynamics of social, political and economic condition is strongly influencing what once was the regional monopoly on innovation. But, the beauty is this is nothing new – the Union weathered through depression, several economic downturns and always came out strong. It can be done again, but we must follow different strategy – the strategy that will demand to bring about changes at the fundamental level.

We need to focus on youth entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial acumen needs to come at an early age. Picasso once said – Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up -.. Creativity, entrepreneurial, innovative drive dies when we grow older. It is important to keep creativity, inquisitive mindset, the DRIVE alive. Reforming education can be a polarizing topic, but introducing entrepreneurship in classrooms across America soon should be a no-brainer. Inclusion of entrepreneurial themed courses could expedite the much needed reform across the board.

On my blog and on my twitter page, I receive several emails and DMs everyday from Kids, teens and college students who are passionate about entrepreneurship. Its inspiring to see kids working with their parents and starting websites to offer advice on managing money. High school kids are developing successful business models out of social media sites like MySpace and Facebook – the concept that boardrooms across America are scrambling to understand. College film students are bootstrapping and developing studio quality movies.

I will be featuring some of the mind blowing entrepreneurial ventures sent to our blog. Stay tuned!

Like always, as so many of you have already done, feel free to email ideas, comments, feedback on our effort. Ideas4entrepreneur@gmail.com, 877 466 2360

Here is a small list of websites relevant to youth entrepreneurship –

a. The Funded Founder Institute b. SBA Youth Entrepreneurship Center
c. DECA
d. National Academy Foundation
e. NFTE
f. Ashoka’s Youth Venture
g. YSN Network

Photo (left to right): NFTE (Network for teaching entrepreneurship) Third-prize winner Scott Paiva, Second-prise winner Zoe Damacela, President Barack Obama, and first prize winner Kalief Rollins.

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Operation Street Kidz, a creative grassroots effort in Los Angeles under the leadership of Commissioner Josof Sanchez is making difference in lives of youth across inner cities of LA. The group recently teamed up with executive producer Baby Bash and directors from Kanye West music videos – “Through the wire” and “Jesus Walks” to bring a rare experience for high school students at Blair High School in Pasadena for students to learn and experience what it takes to be media entrepreneurs..students learnt various facets of film making and also auditioned for a chance to appear on the upcoming music video shoot for Jasmine V produced by Baby Bash.

4entrepreneur.net ( and YCEN Young Creative Entrepreneur Network ) is exploring ways to introduce entrepreneurship among youth in inner cities of Greater Los Angeles. Email us at ideas4entrepreneur@gmail.com with any feedback, creative suggestions and potential partnership/sponsorship opportunities.

Students take a break from auditioning for the video shoot..

Commissioner, Julie Matsumoto from Operation Street Kidz talk to the crew and the team about rehearsing for the shoot

Corey Jordan, a senior at Blair High has a dream of making a career in entertainment, but focuses on finishing school, wants to play basketball for Texas…

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Starting a business is a major commitment that will consume 24/7 of your life with no end in sight. It is always good to know what you are getting into before you take the plunge. From my experience writing business plans for large and small companies alike for the last 8 years, there are basically two reasons why you need a business plan – the first reason is to re-assure yourself that this wild dream that you have in your mind is actually attainable. And, the second reason is to convince a lender or a venture capitalist. More than likely, you are writing for the second reason. Whatever your reason may be, as the legendary management guru Peter Drucker would bluntly put – always ask yourself what your business is, who your customers are, and what the customer considers value.

In my opinion, here is a list of pointers that will save you headaches later.

a. Be clear about what you are selling.

Spend as much time as you need to define and clarify what you are selling. From the gettgo, come up with a 15 second elevator pitch. This will come handy later on. If you need professional help to come up with a pitch, companies like – 15secondpitch can help. This is a great resource to help you discover who you are, what your company does, and what others perceive of you and your verbal and written messages.

b. Come up with Mission, Vision, and Objective statements for your venture.

Mission, Vision, and Objectives – They may all look the same at first glance, but they reflect different rationale.

The mission statement represents the underlying operating philosophy and the values of the company – ‘The mission at Company ABC is to provide a reliable, yet affordable XYZ technology for residential customers.’

The Vision statement represents a long term plan – that provides a direction to make significant impact – ‘Our vision at company ABC is to become a global niche leader in XYZ technology by the year 2009.’

The Objective represents definitive goals for different purposes within the company. Peter Drucker first popularized the term “management by objective” in his 1954 book ‘The Practice of Management’. Objectives can be set in all domains (services, sales, R&D, human resources, finance) – ‘The main objective of company ABC is to understand the target market, to implement the most optimized form of logistics, to include a series of efficient fulfillment processes and to provide an unmatched form of customer service.’

c. Be honest with your Strengths and Weaknesses.

You can conduct a simple SWOT analysis on your venture. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Create four quadrants and fill up with honest lists of answers. This simple test allows you to assess your compatibility with the venture that you are getting into. This test will also indicate opportunities, threats and barriers to entry that exist in your vertical market.

d. Conduct a thorough research on your vertical market.
Leverage on new Internet research tools to conduct comprehensive studies. At every stage of your research, be open to adopt new directions based on your findings.

e. Make sure there is a real opportunity.
or move on to a different venture.

f. Make sure your product or service addresses pain point (s).

This goes back to the point (a). Understand and address your customer needs.

g. Conduct a thorough research on your competitors.

Create a matrix and conduct a thorough competitive analysis. See what your competitors are offering.

h. Make sure your product or service addresses pain point (s) better than your competitors.
Its all right if your competitors got in the market before you did. But, focus on doing things little bit differently that you address the customer needs, pain points better than them.

i. Be realistic with the revenue projections.

Don’t fall for cliches like – ‘According to Forrestor’s research, our market will be $ X billion by ___’, ‘We will drop our product in China and we will make billions.’ There is nothing wrong with wanting to become another Google or Microsoft, but make sure you have unique product or services. If you have a patent on your innovation, that helps. If you already have an angel investor on board, that gives you credibility. If you have a veteran management team in place, thats going to help you a lot! Always be ready to explain to lenders and Venture Capitalists how you are going to reach the big numbers – and never ever use cliched answers.

j. Surround yourself with people smarter than you. Do not be afraid to ask for help.

Always reach out to people smarter than you. Big ideas take right people to bring them to life. You want to do things smartly and not give your idea away, but at the same time you need to be open to sharing with right people. One rule of thumb is – it is better to team up with people with complimenting skill sets. If you are an engineer, you don’t need another engineer to support your point of view. You need a professional sales partner to sell your product, and a sharp finance guy to keep the numbers in order.

k.. Seize the opportunity to scale up – quick.

Big deals don’t happen on their own. Big deals happen because of right people, right product, right momentum in the market among many possible variations. If you have everything in order and luck is in your favor, seize the opportunity to scale up – and do it quick! Otherwise, good entrepreneurs know when to pack up their bags and move on to another opportunity. I advise entrepreneurs to get out of business if the venture doesn’t take off within two years.

More to follow on this topic.

If you need help with business planning, please  contact Jay Maharjan & Associates @ 877 466 2360 ext 1

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Jay Maharjan interviews Lindsay Davenport, the former world # 1 professional tennis player and the winner of multiple grand slam tournaments, including Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open. Davenport talks candidly about making of a professional tennis player at an early age, entrepreneurship and overcoming insecurities growing up.

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Looking for a job? Consider creating your own. There are a number of social resources to help you connect with other entrepreneurs and get your business ideas off the ground.

Here are the top 10 social networks for entrepreneurs. Each helps entrepreneurs succeed by providing them with the guidance, tools and resources they need to setup their company and gain exposure.

Have another social site to add to this list? Tell us about it in the comments.

1. Entrepreneur Connect

Facebook reviews

2. PartnerUp

3.  StartupNation

4.  LinkedIn

5. Biznik

6.  Perfect Business

From business networking to a video center where you can learn from successful entrepreneurs, a business plan builder and even an investor center, you’ll have most of the resources you need to create or regenerate your business. There is a free basic membership and a gold membership that costs $29.99 per month.

7.  Go BIG Network

8.  Cofoundr

9.   The Funded

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As an entrepreneur, making that first impression is crucial. I recently saw this survey posted on 15secondpitch.com that caught my attention. According to Jim Convery at 15secondpitch.com, ” 69% of 2505 professionals said they have trouble explaining what they do, and/or feel uncomfortable pitching themselves. And, of three groups with a strong need for effective self-promotion, over one-third said they hate going to networking events and/or do not have unique business cards.”

Laura is the co-founder of 15secondpitch and has been featured in number of publications and television shows, including ABC News. Here is an exclusive 4entrepreneur interview with Laura Allen

4entrepreneur: What is a 15SecondPitch?

Laura Allen: The 15SecondPitch is a clear, concise and compelling way to explain who you are and what you do in just 15 seconds. We live in a very exciting time when people are also extremely busy. If you don’t grab their attention in the first 15 seconds, you’ve lost them for good.

4entrepreneur: What motivated you to come up with this idea?

LA: What I noticed in 2002, when my partner Jim Convery and I started the business was that many people had a lot of trouble answering the question, “So, what do you do?” Over the years, I found that the people who were great at networking and connecting with others were the people who always had a great job, they never had to look for more clients and they generally had a much easier time making things happen for themselves. I realized that most of my peers were having trouble landing a job and the 15SecondPitch helps with that!

4entrepreneur: What is the secret to developing a powerful & effective pitch?

LA: We walk people through the 4 Key Steps of creating a great 15SecondPitch using a tool we developed called the Pitch Wizard. Your users can see this for themselves by clicking the link in “Box # 2” on our homepage. I’ve met a lot of people who don’t like networking, so I figured if we made it easier to answer this question, we’d make it easier for people to relax and have a better time at networking events. I know that I used to struggle every time someone asked me what I did for a living, because I used to give the “Jack of All Trades” pitch where I would tell you everything I’d ever done in my life. That was exhausting for me, and especially for the people who had to listen to it!

4entrepreneur: What are some of the differences in strategy when it comes to developing a15SecondPitch for a large corporation versus for an individual entrepreneur?

LA: When I work with individuals, I am entirely focused on helping them achieve their goals. Sometimes they need to find a new job, so we craft a pitch and individual marketing strategy that helps them achieve that. When I work with small business owners, we usually focus on making more sales. When I work with a large corporation, the pitches are still highly individualized, however, I also need to make sure that the pitches follow standard corporate message guidelines. “Corporate” pitches can be very successful!! Imagine if you worked at one of the top Wall Street firms or one of the most creative ad agencies? These companies have spent billions of dollars on making sure people know about them. Then, when you meet someone who works there, they get to talk about What Makes Them the Best at what they do, in the context of working for a large company that most people have heard of.

4entrepreneur: How do you measure the effectiveness of your pitch?

LA: First, ask yourself, “What do I want to accomplish with this pitch?” Do you want to take the VP of marketing to lunch because you’d like to work at his or her company in the future? Do you want to meet new and interesting people to expand your social and professional network? Do you want to make more cold calls during the day? Do you want to make more sales or attract more clients? Figure out exactly what you’d like to happen and then craft your pitch. You also need to actually go out and TEST your pitch. Do people understand what you do? Are they excited about talking to you? Do they seem to be running for the exits? Pay attention to how people are responding to you, and tweak your pitch accordingly.

4entrepreneur: Do you recommend any free resources online for entrepreneurs – to prepare an effective pitch on their own?

LA: I always recommend the 15SecondPitch.com Pitch Wizard, of course! It’s a great way to get your started with your pitch. I recommend that people go test out their pitch at a local Meetup http://www.meetup.com group. There are so many excellent meetup groups all over the country and many of them are free. This is a great low-risk way to see how your pitch works.

4entrepreneur: For entrepreneurs and businesses who are interested in seeking professional services from your company, how can they contact you? What are some of the types of services that you and/or your company offer?

LA: The best way to reach me is via email at: laura@15SecondPitch.com. I spend a lot of time on the phone doing 90 minute sessions with my clients, so I am able to respond to people much faster via email. We’re doing a great promotion now called the Entrepreneur’s Package:

http://www.15secondpitch.com/entrepreneur

For people who want a “pay as you go” option, I offer $149. phone sessions. We’ll also be releasing a series of information products shortly and also offering a series of teleseminars.

( 4 entrepreneur Interview: copyright 2008 4entrepreneur.net )

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In this economy, everyone’s looking for ways to cut down, and small businesses are no exception. One of the best ways to save money in business is to examine your annual expenses and consider how you can decrease those costs. Thankfully, there are some pretty amazing resources to help you figure out new ways to do just that. Check out what we consider to be the top 100 blogs for resources and inspiration to cutting your small business costs in 2009:

General Business Finance

Learn more about business finance from these blogs.

1. Startups.co.uk Money Blog: The writings in this blog will help you avoid cashflow headaches, deal with taxes and more.
2. Rosemary’s Business Finance Blog: Read Rosemary Peavler’s About.com business finance blog for great advice on cost cutting, effective finance and more.
3. Shoestring Smarts: Shoestring Smarts will help you learn how to build and operate a successful business on a limited budget.
4. Mostly Economics: Mostly Economics is full of helpful Indian economic and business research that can help you cut your costs.
5. Pakdi: Pakdi’s blog discusses layoffs, money, business, and more in Malaysia.
6. Young Professional Finance Blog: Get great ideas for finance from this blog that highlights young professionals.
7. Freakonomics: Read this blog to learn interesting concepts in business economics.
8. Lion and Gun: In The Lion and Gun, you’ll find news, philosophy and more related to politics, business and finance.
9. Wallstrip: This blog highlights company stocks at their height, and examines the reasons why that company is doing so well.
10. Art of Money: Learn more about business finance through this blog about online business.
11. SpendMatters: In this blog, you’ll find practical advice for spend management.
12. AL6400: Alan Yu’s blog is all about making and saving money in your business.
13. Maver Management: Maver Management Group offers advice and information for cost cutting, profit, and more.
14. Money Talks: In this blog aggregator, you’ll find some of the best posts for business finance and cost cutting.
15. Business in General: Read this blog to get insight and advice into business finance, growth, and more.

Accounting

Effective accounting can help you find money, so get a few tips and ideas from these business accounting blogs.

1. Basic Accounting: Use the advice in this blog to learn how to use accounting to make your business finance situation better.
2. Accounting Observer: Jack Ciesielski’s blog is all about accounting, investment, and finance.
3. re: The Auditors: This blog focuses on business finance problems.
4. Samarak: Samarak offers useful advice, tips and news for small business accounting.
5. Sox First: Read this blog for insight into Sarbanes-Oxley, management, compliance, and more.

News

Stay informed about the world that affects your business, and you’ll be able to make better decisions about what to cut and what to keep.

1. Dealbreaker: Dealbreaker highlights business news and financial gossip, pointing out mistakes from other companies that you can learn from.
2. Curious Capitalist: The blog offers commentary on markets, the economy, and business.
3. Traders Trade: Stay updated on the latest in business and financial news through this blog.

Business Inspiration

Get inspired to cut costs and improve your business with the inspiration found in these blogs.

1. Small Business Trends: Get inspiration for building a financially stable business from this blog.
2. Business Pundit: Drea Knufken’s blog discusses smart business.
3. The Entrepreneurial Mind: Dr. Jeff Cornwall’s blog will help you learn more about financial management and more.
4. Freelance Switch: This blog for freelancers can help you learn how to cut costs and build a better freelance business.
5. Small Biz Survival: In this small business resource, you’ll learn about focusing on income producing activities, smart marketing strategies, and more.
6. Freelance Folder: Freelance Folder offers wisdom for working efficiently and cutting costs as a freelancer.
7. Small Business Blog: Through this blog, you can learn how to make financial efficiency of marketing, managing and growing your business.

Business Resources

Use these blogs to find low cost or free business resources that you can take advantage of.

1. Small Business Mole: Make use of this blog to find money-saving business resources.
2. Small Business CEO: Small Business CEO is all about resources and knowledge for small business CEOs.
3. Fresh Inc.: In Fresh Inc.’s blog, you’ll find lots of useful business resources that can help you save money.
4. Entrepreneur.com: This blog can help you learn smart strategies for a slow economy, find money saving business resources, and more.
5. YoungEntrepreneur: YoungEntrepreneur highlights creative and often low cost ideas for startups, and provides regular advice for business cost savings.
6. Invoice Factoring Blog: Read this blog to get great ideas in invoice factoring and more.
7. Mind Petals: In this group, you’ll find creative entrepreneurial activities that can help save your business money.
8. Business Idea of the Day: Get new business ideas every day from this blog.
9. Neville’s Financial Blog: Neville’s Financial Blog highlights low cost, successful business ideas.
10. Dorm Room Biz: On the Dorm Room Biz blog, you’ll find out tips for bootstrapping and creating a successful business on a dorm room budget.
11. How to Change the World: Guy Kawasaki offers wisdom on bootstrapping, venture capital and other creative funding ideas.
12. Biz Plan Hacks: Use these business plan hacks to run your business smarter.
13. Open Innovators: Open Innovators offers a variety of great ideas for business finance, including crowdfunding.

Startup

These blogs offer cost cutting and business building advice specifically for startups and growing businesses.

1. Up and Running: This blog from Entrepreneur will help you learn how to start your business and establish healthy finances for it.
2. FastUpFront: The FastUpFront business blog offers advice for staying out of debt, avoiding bank loan mistakes and more.
3. College-Startup: College-Startup offers great advice for reinvesting your profits, making business work on a dime and more.
4. StartupNation: Read this group blog to get great advice on starting your business on the right financial foot.
5. Noobpreneur: Here you’ll find plenty of cost cutting ideas and business inspiration.
6. Inspired Business Growth: Wendy Piersall’s blog focuses on entrepreneurial finance in the growth stage.
7. The Vest Pocket Consultant: Through Rosalind Resnick’s blog, you can learn how to effectively grow your small business without breaking the bank.

Frugality

Get inspiration for running a frugal operation with the help of these blogs.

1. Young and Frugal: Employ these frugal ideas for millenials in the way you conduct business.
2. Principled Profit: Read Principled Profit to get guidance on being frugal and ethical.
3. Frugal Hacks: Frugal Hacks will help you be more frugal in business, and use smart ideas to save more money.
4. Being Frugal: This blog will give you great guidance for being frugal, even when starting your own business.
5. Frugal Freelancer: This freelancer blogs about saving money and being frugal.
6. Festival of Frugality: This carnival blog will help you learn how to pinch pennies in business and beyond.

Business & Personal

These blogs offer a mix of personal finance, business, and entrepreneurship.

1. I Will Teach You to Be Rich: Ramit Sethi’s blog is full of pearls of wisdom for low cost, productive business.
2. Get Rich Slowly: Get Rich Slowly offers great personal finance advice that can be applied to business, as well as entrepreneur resources.
3. Mint: The Mint blog will help you learn how to reduce your personal and business expenses.
4. Consumerism Commentary: Flexo offers advice for frugality and smart money management.
5. FiveCentNickel: Five Cent Nickel has inspiration for cost cutting in personal and business finance.
6. WalletPop: WalletPop offers great advice for managing your personal and business finances.
7. Blueprint for Financial Prosperity: This personal finance blog can help inspire you to be more frugal with your business finances.
8. Personal Business & Finance Blog: This blog promises to provide you with answers to all of your finance problems in business and beyond.
9. Simplenomics: The Simplenomics blog will inspire you so simplify your entire business, including your business finances.

Cost & Supply Management

Cut down on costs in your raw materials and more with the help of these blogs.

1. Better Projects: Read this blog to learn about project cost management and more.
2. Expense Management: Expense Management will help you learn how to reduce your business costs.
3. Online Outloud: Read this non-conformist business blog for advice on cost management and beyond.
4. Expense Solution Blog: Read this blog to find solutions to expense management and more.
5. 360 Vendor Management: This blog advocated vendor management so that you can get the most out of your vendor money.
6. Buyer Analytics: Use the advice in this blog to learn how you can make procurement more affordable.
7. Purchasing Transformation: This blog will help you meet challenges in supply chain and purchasing to save money.
8. The China Sourcing Blog: Learn more about using China sources to cut costs through this blog.
9. Supply Excellence: This blog will help you find strategies for cost saving in supply management.
10. TEMptation: With this telecom expense management blog, you’ll learn about a variety of ideas for expense management in telecoms and beyond.
11. E-Sourcing Forum: Read this blog to find out how you can attain success in supply and spend management.
12. Vendor Management: In this vendor management blog, you’ll find great information about improving relationships with your vendors to save money.
13. Effortless HR: Read Effortless HR to learn about payroll expense management and more.
14. Consumerist: This blog will help you consider your role as a business consumer, and learn how to get more value out of your purchases and interactions with suppliers.
15. Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services: This blog will help you better understand how to use credit card processing and merchant accounts, and can help you figure out how to save money on these expenses.
16. The Business Finance Blog: Here you’ll find out about business loans, alternative financing and more for small businesses.
17. Maximum Business Credit: This blog offers great information for financing your business in an affordable way.
18. VC Freak: In this blog, you’ll learn all about venture capiral news, startup funding, lending, and more.
19. MSBCHQ: MSBCHQ offers great advice about business credit and credit services.
20. Venture Chronicles: Through Jeff Nolan’s blog, you’ll get great insight into venture capital, finance, and more.
21. Commercial Finance Zone: Get help with commercial finance by following the advice on this blog.
22. The 21st Century Supply Chain: Get interesting ideas and perspectives on supply chain management through this blog.
23. Procurement Blog: This blog will help you make sense of procurement and better understand how to save money in the process.

Marketing & Customer Service

Learn how to make better use of your marketing dollars with help from these bloggers.

1. Startups.co.uk Marketing Blog: This blog offers a variety of useful topics on marketing that can help you save money and reach your audience more effectively.
2. Solo Business Marketing: This blog has great ideas and inspiration for effetctive and low cost marketing.
3. Basic Marketing: Read this blog to learn the basics of effective marketing, so you can better use your marketing budget.
4. Heart of Business: Heart of Business will help you design your business to make your customer happy.
5. Matt’s Creative Advertising Blog: In this blog, you’ll find excellent ideas and resources for creative advertising.
6. What About the Mailbox with No SPAM in It?: This blog explains how to make your marketing efforts more effective for your money.
7. Schipul Blog: Get smart and creative marketing thoughts from the Schipul Blog.
8. Marketing Genius: Maple Creative’s blog offers marketing tips and more to help you succeed with less money.
9. Duct Tape Marketing: Read this blog to learn about effective marketing ideas that are also affordable.

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Project Needs and Beneficiaries

The earthquake was the biggest to hit Haiti in over 250 years. Widespread damage and collapsed buildings are widespread. Casualties and death toll are not yet known, but are expected to be high given the quake’s proximity to the capital and flimsy construction of buildings. This Fund will provide emergency relief to victims and survivors.

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Successful leaders don’t start out asking, “What do I want to do?” They ask, “What needs to be done?” Then they ask, “Of those things that would make a difference, which are right for me?” They don’t tackle things they aren’t good at. They make sure other necessities get done, but not by them. Successful leaders make sure that they succeed! They are not afraid of strength in others. Andrew Carnegie wanted to put on his gravestone, “Here lies a man who knew how to put into his service more able men than he was himself.”

Check Your Performance

Effective leaders check their performance. They write down, “What do I hope to achieve if I take on this assignment?” They put away their goals for six months and then come back and check their performance against goals. This way, they find out what they do well and what they do poorly. They also find out whether they picked the truly important things to do. I’ve seen a great many people who are exceedingly good at execution, but exceedingly poor at picking the important things. They are magnificent at getting the unimportant things done. They have an impressive record of achievement on trivial matters.

Mission Driven

Leaders communicate in the sense that people around them know what they are trying to do. They are purpose driven–yes, mission driven. They know how to establish a mission. And another thing, they know how to say no. The pressure on leaders to do 984 different things is unbearable, so the effective ones learn how to say no and stick with it. They don’t suffocate themselves as a result. Too many leaders try to do a little bit of 25 things and get nothing done. They are very popular because they always say yes. But they get nothing done.

Creative Abandonment

A critical question for leaders is, “When do you stop pouring resources into things that have achieved their purpose?” The most dangerous traps for a leader are those near-successes where everybody says that if you just give it another big push it will go over the top. One tries it once. One tries it twice. One tries it a third time. But, by then it should be obvious this will be very hard to do. So, I always advise my friend Rick Warren, “Don’t tell me what you’re doing, Rick. Tell me what you stopped doing.”

The Rise of the Modern Multinational

The modern multinational corporation was invented in 1859. Siemens invented it because the English Siemens company had grown faster than the German parent. Before the Second World War, IBM was a small maker, not of computers, but of adding machines. They had one branch in England, which was very typical for the era. In the 1920s, General Motors bought a German and English and then Australian automobile manufacturer. The first time somebody from Detroit actually visited the European subsidiaries was in 1950. A trip to Europe was a big trip. You were gone three months. I still remember the excitement when the then head of GM went to Europe in the 1920s to buy the European properties. He never went back.

21st Century Organizations

Let me give you one example. This happens to be a consulting firm headquartered in Boston. Each morning, between 8 A.M. and 9 A.M. Boston time, which is 5 A.M. in the morning here in California and 11 P.M. in Tokyo, the firm conducts a one-hour management meeting on the Internet. That would have been inconceivable a few years back when you couldn’t have done it physically. And for a few years, I worked with this firm closely and I had rented a room in a nearby motel and put in a videoconferencing screen. Once a week, I participated in this Internet meeting and we could do it quite easily, successfully. As a result of which, that consulting firm is not organized around localities but around clients.

How To Lead a 21st Century Organization

Don’t travel so much. Organize your travel. It is important that you see people and that you are seen by people maybe once or twice a year. Otherwise, don’t travel. Make them come to see you. Use technology–it is cheaper than traveling. I don’t know anybody who can work while traveling. Do you? The second thing to say is make sure that your subsidiaries and foreign offices take up the responsibility to keep you informed. So, ask them twice a year, “What activities do you need to report to me?” Also ask them, “What about my activity and my plans do you need to know from me?” The second question is just as important.

Prisoner of Your Own Organization

When you are the chief executive, you’re the prisoner of your organization. The moment you’re in the office, everybody comes to you and wants something, and it is useless to lock the door. They’ll break in. So, you have to get outside the office. But still, that isn’t traveling. That’s being at home or having a secret office elsewhere. When you’re alone, in your secret office, ask the question, “What needs to be done?” Develop your priorities and don’t have more than two. I don’t know anybody who can do three things at the same time and do them well. Do one task at a time or two tasks at a time. That’s it. OK, two works better for most. Most people need the change of pace. But, when you are finished with two jobs or reach the point where it’s futile, make the list again. Don’t go back to priority three. At that point, it’s obsolete.

How Organizations Fall Down

Make sure the people with whom you work understand your priorities. Where organizations fall down is when they have to guess at what the boss is working at, and they invariably guess wrong. So the CEO needs to say, “This is what I am focusing on.” Then the CEO needs to ask of his associates, “What are you focusing on?” Ask your associates, “You put this on top of your priority list–why?” The reason may be the right one, but it may also be that this associate of yours is a salesman who persuades you that his priorities are correct when they are not. So, make sure that you understand your associates’ priorities and make sure that after you have that conversation, you sit down and drop them a two-page note–”This is what I think we discussed. This is what I think we decided. This is what I think you committed yourself to within what time frame.” Finally, ask them, “What do you expect from me as you seek to achieve your goals?”

The Transition from Entrepreneur to Large Company CEO

Again, let’s start out discussing what not to do. Don’t try to be somebody else. By now you have your style. This is how you get things done. Don’t take on things you don’t believe in and that you yourself are not good at. Learn to say no. Effective leaders match the objective needs of their company with the subjective competencies. As a result, they get an enormous amount of things done fast.

How Capable Leaders Blow It

One of the ablest men I’ve worked with, and this is a long time back, was Germany’s last pre-World War II democratic chancellor, Dr. Heinrich Bruning. He had an incredible ability to see the heart of a problem. But he was very weak on financial matters. He should have delegated but he wasted endless hours on budgets and performed poorly. This was a terrible failing during a Depression and it led to Hitler. Never try to be an expert if you are not. Build on your strengths and find strong people to do the other necessary tasks.

The Danger Of Charisma

You know, I was the first one to talk about leadership 50 years ago, but there is too much talk, too much emphasis on it today and not enough on effectiveness. The only thing you can say about a leader is that a leader is somebody who has followers. The most charismatic leaders of the last century were called Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Mussolini. They were mis-leaders! Charismatic leadership by itself certainly is greatly overstated. Look, one of the most effective American presidents of the last 100 years was Harry Truman. He didn’t have an ounce of charisma. Truman was as bland as a dead mackerel. Everybody who worked for him worshiped him because he was absolutely trustworthy. If Truman said no, it was no, and if he said yes, it was yes. And he didn’t say no to one person and yes to the next one on the same issue. The other effective president of the last 100 years was Ronald Reagan. His great strength was not charisma, as is commonly thought, but that he knew exactly what he could do and what he could not do.

How To Reinvigorate People

Within organizations there are people who, typically in their 40s, hit a midlife crisis when they realize that they won’t make it to the top or discover that they are not yet first-rate. This happens to engineers and accountants and technicians. The worst midlife crisis is that of physicians, as you know. They all have a severe midlife crisis. Basically, their work becomes awfully boring. Just imagine seeing nothing for 30 years but people with a skin rash. They have a midlife crisis, and that’s when they take to the bottle. How do you save these people? Give them a parallel challenge. Without that, they’ll soon take to drinking or to sleeping around. In a coeducational college, they sleep around and drink. The two things are not incompatible, alas! Encourage people facing a midlife crisis to apply their skills in the non-profit sector.

Character Development

We have talked a lot about executive development. We have been mostly talking about developing people’s strength and giving them experiences. Character is not developed that way. That is developed inside and not outside. I think churches and synagogues and the 12-step recovery programs are the main development agents of character today.

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1. Shareholder Value as a Strategy. The notion of producing attractive returns for investors is as old as investing, but this was a decade when the pursuit of shareholder value eclipsed too much else. Increasingly sophisticated tools and metrics for value-based managementpushed the consideration of stock price effects deep into operational decision-making, and made sure everything pointed toward bonus day. By 2009, even the man most known for focusing on value was saying it was a dumb idea. “Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy,” Jack Welch proclaimed. “Your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products.”
2. IT as a Utility. The current mania for cloud computing is the latest step in a long process by which enterprises have dispensed with their proprietary glass houses and begun buying computing capabilities as services. One impetus was the Y2K scare, which forced attention onto those onerous legacy systems as the new millennium dawned.
3. Enterprise Risk Management. Sounds crazy right now to say that the last decade was notable for risk management. But especially after 9/11, companies saw the sense of bringing the many and various pockets of it under the same umbrella. Newly empowered chief risk officers looked for trouble spots on a landscape ranging from financial hedging to pirates on the open sea.
4. The Creative Organization. The decade saw a general revolution in the way many organizations came to view their source of competitive advantage, and a commitment to finding ways to produce creative output more reliably. Even before they embraced “design thinking,” managers were encouraging collaboration, drawing on diverse perspectives, and engaging whole workforces in “ideation.”
5. Open Source. Purist geeks will be quick to point out that the term open source and some very substantial achievements came in the late 1990s, but here we pay homage to the spread of that model beyond software code. Was it only in 2001 that Wikipedia was born? And how many things have been wiki’ed since?
6. Going Private. Cheap debt reignited the LBO scene just as post-Enron reforms created real disincentives to operate as a public company. As the decade wore on, private equity’s playbook for turning around businesses was increasingly held up as best-practice management. Now, ideas like, ahem, leveraging up don’t seem so wise, but private equity’s devotion to strategic focus and demanding governance might endure.
7. Behavioral Economics. Okay, by now, you’re all shouting “that’s definitely older than 10 years” and you’re right. But talk about a set of ideas whose time has come. In the prior decade, can you remember when someone with Steven Levitt’s profile had a breakout bestseller? Or when someone modifying the word economist with “rogue” (or “rock star”) could keep a straight face?
8. High Potentials. Consulting firms and other deeply knowledge-based businesses knew this all along, but in the past decade the rest of the corporate world woke up to the fact that some managers are more equal than others. Formal programs were established to identify, cultivate, and retain “hi-po’s”. Executive coaching, a perk often provided for the anointed, experienced explosive growth as an industry.
9. Competing on Analytics. Decades of investment in systems capturing transactions and feedback finally yielded a toolkit for turning all that data into intelligence. Operations research types, long consigned to engineering realms like manufacturing scheduling, got involved in marketing decisions. Managers started learning from experiments that were worthy of the name.
10. Reverse Innovation. The bigger story here is the maturation of the concept of globalization, particularly with regard to emerging economies. Most big corporations in 2000 saw them primarily as a source of natural resources and, increasingly, cheap labor. Then, as rising employment fueled the development of middle classes, cities in India and China came to represent valuable markets. Now, these non-US consumers are coming to the foreground. Firms like GE and Microsoft are doing R&D in emerging markets, optimizing on those preferences and constraints, and then bringing the results back home.
11. Sustainability. More than anything, the first ten years of the 21st century will be remembered as the decade that businesses went green — if only in their marketing to a public highly attuned to Al Gore’s inconvenient truth. We’re not cynical on this point, however. The efforts we see by companies large and small to reduce their carbon footprints and other environmental impacts are sincere and effective, as far as they go. But ten years from now, as we revisit this exercise, forgive us if we declare 2010-2020 to be the decade of sustainability. “The idea was in the air before 2010,” we can picture ourselves writing. “But this was the decade when it really took hold.”

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In life, it’s said that two things are certain – death and taxes. But in business there’s only one certainty: taxes. Tax obligations go hand-in-hand with running a business. From the federal government on down to city hall, you need to be aware of which taxes your business needs to pay, how much in taxes you owe, and when you need to file. Make a mistake and your tax bill grows. At the same time, if you plan ahead, take the right available deductions, and prepare your tax returns properly, you can save on the amount of taxes your business must pay.

Taxes may be the least favorite topic for small business owners, but it’s one of the most important. The steps you take before the end of the tax year can help your business save money almost immediately. At the same time, the beginning of the next tax year is a good time to review whether you are maximizing your deductions and maybe even get a second opinion on additional ways you can save on taxes. Knowing how to minimize the amount of taxes you pay means that you get to keep more of the money you earn. Failing to properly manage your taxes means that your business might wind up in trouble.

“You could sink your business,” says Richard M. Colombik, an attorney and CPA based in Itasca, Ill., who has served as the State of Illinois Bar’s liaison to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). “It might put you in a position where your profitability is so small that it is not worth the effort that an entrepreneur has to put in to run their own company. They might be better off getting a job working for someone else.”

The following pages will detail the different types of business taxes you need to be aware of, how to determine your deductions, and tips for how to save on taxes so your business — and you — can ultimately benefit.

Types of Business Taxes
There are a variety of taxes for business. “Understand your responsibilities to help you meet them on a timely basis and avoid costly penalties for failing to act on time,” advises Barbara Weltman, a tax an business attorney and author of J.K. Lasser’s Tax Deductions for Small Business and the Big Ideas for Small Business newsletter. Here is a rundown:

• Income taxes. There are federal and, in most cases, state income taxes to contend with, whether the business pays the tax (as in the case of a business organized as a C corporation) or the owner pays the tax on his or her share of business income and expenses (as in the case of a business organized as a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, or S corporation).
• Employment taxes. If you have employees, you must withhold income taxes and the employees’ share of Social Security and Medicare (FICA) taxes. You must also pay the employer share of FICA, plus state and federal unemployment tax. If your business is incorporated, you are an employee if you work for the business and you owe these taxes even if you’re the only employee. If you are self-employed, you owe self-employment taxes (the equivalent of the employee and employer share of FICA) on your net earnings from the business.
• Sales taxes. If you sell goods and services and you are based in a state with a sales tax, you may be required to collect sales taxes on your transactions. While the customers pay the sales taxes, you can be subject to penalties for failing to collect the taxes and pay them to the state.
• Excise taxes. Depending on what type of business you operate, certain businesses may pay excise taxes on fuels, highway usage by trucks, and for other activities.

Taking the Right Deductions

Set up books and records
Even though you may use a casual approach to recordkeeping for your personal taxes, you can’t do this for business. “The tax law specifically requires certain records in order to take deductions,” Weltman says. “Without these records, legitimate expenditures may not be deductible.” Here’s what you need to comply with tax rules:

• A system to track your income and expenses. This is easily done with computer-based recordkeeping solutions that enable you to handle this matter yourself.
• Procedures to collect and store required receipts and other proof of expenditures. Set up file systems to categorize your receipts (e.g., car-related expenses, meals and entertainment costs, and capital expenditures).
• Policies on certain recordkeeping. For example, if you use your personal vehicle for business, you need to track your business mileage in a diary or log book. If you have employees and reimburse them for their business-related car expenses, explain how to them how records must be kept.

Make smart tax elections
Under the tax law, most expenses incurred in business are deductible, while most income is taxable (there are, of course, some exceptions). The tax law gives you options on when and to what extent you claim certain deductions or report income. Here are some examples cited by Weltman:

• The cost of buying business equipment usually is deducted by claiming a depreciation allowance (fixed by law) over five or seven years, or longer periods. However, under certain conditions, you may qualify to elect first-year (Section 179) expensing to deduct the entire cost of equipment in the year it is placed in service. (See below information on changes to federal law regarding Section 179.) Making this election accelerates the deduction, giving you an immediate tax benefit for your outlay.
• The expenses of a personal car or truck used for business can be deducted in one of two ways: claiming actual costs or relying on an IRS standard mileage rate. If you keep good records of your costs, you can then choose the deduction method that produces the greater write-off.
• Selling property on the installment basis where at least one payment will be received in the year after the sale generally means that the gain will be spread over the period in which the installments will be received. However, you can elect to report the full gain in the year of sale, even though payments won’t be received until later. This election makes sense when you have current losses that can be offset by the installment sale gain, meaning that the gain is fully sheltered from tax.

Keep current with law changes
The tax law is constantly changing, with major legislation, court cases, and IRS rulings appearing frequently throughout the year. Many of these developments present positive tax opportunities — if you know they exist and you act on time. Often, waiting until the annual meeting with your accountant may be too late to learn about and act on these opportunities.

For example, starting in 2008, Congress passed a measure as part of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 that let businesses deduct the full price of qualifying equipment purchased or financed during that tax year. Usually, under Section 179 of the IRS code, businesses that buy qualifying equipment can write off those expenses in smaller increments spread out over a series of years. But the new measure allowed businesses to deduct the full purchase price for the year that they bought it in, a move that could let a business pay lower taxes in the current year and still buy or lease more equipment to write off in subsequent years. In addition, Congress raised the dollar limits on these deductions. The limits were $125,000 per item not to exceed $500,000. They were raised to $250,000 per deduction, not to exceed $800,000 for the total amount purchase. Congress extended this under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Another example came following Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma in 2005. A number of tax-saving breaks were created to run for a short time. The charitable contribution limitation was raised for individuals and corporations, but only through the end of 2005.

Colombik says that a lot of new tax provisions aren’t properly utilized by small and mid-sized businesses because they or their paid tax preparers aren’t aware of the deductions. “No one knows everything about taxation because they keep changing the law,” he says. “The tax law is so incredibly broad based. I don’t believe that anyone could be an expert in every single area. It would take a lifetime just to be an expert on retirement plans.”

When businesses ask their tax preparers if there is anything else they can do to save on taxes, most often the response is, “No. You’re doing everything you can.” Colombik says that isn’t necessarily truthful. You’re taking all the deductions that your tax preparer knows about and that’s why you might want to get a second opinion. He recommends finding a dual degree professional from the American Association of Attorney CPAs, who can understand both tax planning and the law.

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Of course, if you’re going to do it, you want to do it right, right? Here are 10 business trends for 2010, according to Entrepreneur Magazine:

1. Green power. Cleantech, including smart grid, solar, biofuels, and batteries, overtook IT and biotech to garner 27 percent of all venture capital in the third quarter of 2009, according to Cleantech Group.
2. The senior market. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, three of the top 10 industries with the fastest employment growth relate to “aging services,” including healthcare, elderly and disabled services, and community care facilities for the elderly. USC even has a new master’s program in aging-services management.
3. Discount retail. At Wal-Mart, dollar stores, and resale shops, business is booming. While sales at Neiman Marcus dropped 14.8 percent, Family Dollar had record profits of $291.3 million in 2009. And according to the National Association of Resale Professionals, sales at secondhand stores grew by 31 percent last year.
4. Local business. The Department of Agriculture says that farmers markets have seen 5 percent annual growth for the past five years. Major chains are introducing “Locally Grown” sections to their produce departments and the USDA recently launched a “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” marketing campaign.
5. Education. There’s no better time to retrench or reinvent yourself than a bad economy. Revenues at institutes of higher education are expected to grow 4.9 percent to $421 billion in 2010, according to IbisWorld.
6. Parental outsourcing. The new name for childcare, housecleaning, and other domestic services, “parental outsourcing” is booming. And revenue for tutoring, test prep, and driving schools is expected to increase to more than $7 billion in 2010. Likewise for sports coaching.
7. Health and wellness. Revenues from healthcare and social assistance grew 3 percent to $452 billion during the second quarter of 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And the Home care industry grew 7 percent annually over the past five years, according to IbisWorld.
8. Texas. The Wall Street Journal named Austin and Dallas top “Youth Magnet” cities, and Texas cities dominated a host of 2009 “best cities” lists for relocation, home-building, and job creation.
9. Affordable alcohol. We’re still drinking just as much, if not more, we’re just drinking lower-cost booze and we’re doing it at home. In any case, the alcoholic beverage industry is expected to see record revenues of $455 billion in 2009.
10. Pets. Americans spent $43 billion on pets in 2008, and that number’s expected to grow by 5 percent for 2009.

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Entrepreneur TV interviews the Legendary Rock n Roll artist Bobby Womack. Womack talks passionately about beating the odds, following his passion with full of personal anecdotes first time int his exclusive interview.

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Entrepreneur TV is proud to support2009 VAF Legends of Tennis Charity Tennis Classic. The tennis legend Rod Lever will be honored at the event. All the proceeds from the event will go to various charities in India. For more information on the event, please visit www.thevaf.com

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Entrepreneur TV is proud to support The Diversity Awards once again this year that will take place on Sunday, November 22, 2009. Entrerpeneur TV strongly believes and supports the mission of MMPA (Multi-Cultural Motion Picture Association ) and its signature event The Diversity Awards to utilize the cinematic medium to foster a better understanding about diversity and what it means to our society by showcasing how all cultures, stories and histories are inextricably interwoven and linked.

Recognizing the Achievements this year:

Limited tickets for this By-Invitation only event available through 4entrepreneur.net at tickets.pdf

To sponsor the event, click here sponsorship.pdf

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Donna LeBlanc is a renowned  entrepreneurial therapist and the author of “The Passion Principle”

LeBlanc’s latest book, The Passion Principle, is based on her revolutionary psycho-spiritual approach to understanding and using personality signatures or styles to capture passion and purpose in life and work. The book and CD collection reveal so clearly the patterns and reactions in our lives that block our success and keep us stuck. Vivid, clear, and totally authentic, she places her thoughtful lens on each of each issue, struggle, strength and greatest hope and provides a plan for creating the life we each desire for ourselves.

( 4 entrepreneur exclusive Interview: copyright 2009 4entrepreneur.net, Photo credit: www.donnaleblanc.com )

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Starting a business is a major commitment that will consume 24/7 of your life with no end in sight. It is always good to know what you are getting into before you take the plunge. From my experience writing business plans for large and smallcompanies alike for the last 8 years, there are basically two reasons why you need a

business plan – the first reason is to re-assure yourself that this wild dream that you have in your mind is actually attainable. And, the second reason is to convince a lender or a venture capitalist. More than likely, you are writing for the second reason. Whatever your reason may be, as the legendary management guru Peter Drucker would bluntly put – always ask yourself what your business is, who your customers are, and what the customer considers value.

In my opinion, here is a list of pointers that will save you headaches later.

Be clear about what you are selling

Spend as much time as you need to define and clarify what you are selling. From the gettgo, come up with a 15 second elevator pitch. This will come handy later on. If you need professional help to come up with a pitch, companies like – 15secondpitch can help. This is a great resource to help you discover who you are, what your company does, and what others perceive of you and your verbal and written messages.

Create a proper legal structure for your business

Right legal structure will save you headaches later. There are many legal factors that come in play while choosing the right structure for your business – always consult with a good business attorney. For an instance, choosing a Corporation in many cases will cost you more on taxes with its double taxation clauses, but will provide you with the most immunity from personal liabilities. There are websites like FindLaw that provide both free and premium services for small businesses.

Come up with Mission, Vision, and Objective statements for your venture

Mission, Vision, and Objectives – They may all look the same at first glance, but they reflect different rationale.

The mission statement represents the underlying operating philosophy and the values of the company – ‘The mission at Company ABC is to provide a reliable, yet affordable XYZ technology for residential customers.’

The Vision statement represents a long term plan – that provides a direction to make significant impact – ‘Our vision at company ABC is to become a global niche leader in XYZ technology by the year 2009.’

The Objective represents definitive goals for different purposes within the company. Peter Drucker first popularized the term “management by objective” in his 1954 book ‘The Practice of Management’. Objectives can be set in all domains (services, sales, R&D, human resources, finance) – ‘The main objective of company ABC is to understand the target market, to implement the most optimized form of logistics, to include a series of efficient fulfillment processes and to provide an unmatched form of customer service.’

Be honest with your Strengths and Weaknesses

You can conduct a simple SWOT analysis on your venture. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Create four quadrants and fill up with honest lists of answers. This simple test allows you to assess your compatibility with the venture that you are getting into. This test will also indicate opportunities, threats and barriers to entry that exist in your vertical market.

Conduct a thorough research on your vertical market

Leverage on new Internet research tools to conduct comprehensive studies. At every stage of your research, be open to adopt new directions based on your findings. Make sure there is a real opportunity. Or, move on to a different venture.

Make sure your product or service addresses pain point (s)

This goes back to the point (a). Understand and address your customer needs.

Conduct a thorough research on your competitors.
Create a matrix and conduct a thorough competitive analysis. See what your competitors are offering. Make sure your product or service addresses pain point (s) better than your competitors. Its all right if your competitors got in the market before you did, but focus on doing things little bit differently that you address the customer needs, pain points better than them.

Be realistic with the revenue projections.

Don’t fall for cliches like – ‘According to Forrestor’s research, our market will be $ X billion by ___’, ‘We will drop our product in China and we will make billions.’ There is nothing wrong with wanting to become another Google or Microsoft, but make sure you have unique product or services. If you have a patent on your innovation, that helps. If you already have an angel investor on board, that gives you credibility. If you have a veteran management team in place, thats going to help you a lot! Always be ready to explain to lenders and Venture Capitalists how you are going to reach the big numbers – and never ever use cliched answers.

Surround yourself with people smarter than you. Do not be afraid to ask for help.

Always reach out to people smarter than you. Big ideas take right people to bring them to life. You want to do things smartly and not give your idea away, but at the same time you need to be open to sharing with right people. One rule of thumb is – it is better to team up with people with complimenting skill sets. If you are an engineer, you don’t need another engineer to support your point of view. You need a professional sales partner to sell your product, and a sharp finance guy to keep the numbers in order.

Seize the opportunity to scale up – quick.

Big deals don’t happen on their own. Big deals happen because of right people, right product, right momentum in the market among many possible variations. If you have everything in order and luck is in your favor, seize the opportunity to scale up – and do it quick! Otherwise, good entrepreneurs know when to pack up their bags and move on to another opportunity. I advise entrepreneurs to get out of business if the venture doesn’t take off within two years.

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about 4entrepreneur.net – 4entrepreneur.net is a website dedicated exclusively for the causes of entrepreneurship. If you are interested to contribute or an entrepreneur seeking advice, email to ideas4entrepreneur@gmail.com or call 877 4662360

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