success

Your Dream Will Die Without The Startup Essentials

by Paul Joseph February 6, 2012 Featured

I’ve noticed a great tendency among startup founders to ignore the essentials of business accounting in the early stages of their startup. Just because you are not profitable yet, doesn’t mean you can skip the record keeping. In fact, just the opposite is true.  When you anticipate losses for the first year or two, it is more important to properly document all expenses, including tricky ones like business travel, business meals, and your home office. Sloppy documentation and reporting of these expenses is an open invitation to an IRS audit, which is the last thing you need or can afford during the busy startup period. Expense accounting is just one of the key record-keeping requirements for a successful business: Expenses and income. You’ll need a check register, a cash receipt system, and a record of bills. Also you should include tax records, bank statements, cancelled checks, bank reconciliations, notices from and to your bank, deposit slips, and any loan-related documents. Keep good backups of all computer files. Corporate records. Include here articles of incorporation, bylaws, shareholder minutes, board minutes, state filings, stock ledger, copies of stock certificates, options and warrants, and copies of all securities law filings. In all cases, don’t forget permits, licenses, or registration forms required to operate the business under federal, state or local laws. Contracts. All the contracts you have, even expired ones, should be saved indefinitely. These would include equipment leases, joint venture agreements, real estate leases, and work-for-hire agreements.  It is also good to keep correspondence sent and received by mail, faxes, and important e-mail that you might want in hard copy. Employee records. Include here completed employment applications, employee offer letters, employee handbooks or policies, employment agreements, performance appraisals, employee attendance records, employee termination letters, W-2s, and any settlement agreements with terminated employees. Intellectual property records. This is an especially important category. Make sure you file a copy of all trademark applications, copyright filings, patent filings and patents, licenses, and confidentiality or nondisclosure agreements. Of course, these days you need a personal computer or laptop dedicated to your business with some basic software tools. You should investigate the wide variety of software systems that are on the market, and pick one you makes you comfortable, since you will probably be doing the basic data entry yourself.  This not only will save you money, but it will keep you intimately aware of all expenses and the condition of your overall business. In my experience, the most common small business accounting system I see in startups is QuickBooks Pro by Intuit. Even if you have the money to hire an accountant, you should keep a grip on your business financial affairs. You should be able to explain to yourself how much money you owe out to others, how much others owe you, and how much cash you have on hand. Don’t be shy about investigating local classes as adult education, or even a seminar with the SBA on bookkeeping. An accountant may not be necessary, but you still can’t skip the tools. You can’t walk in with a bag full of receipts. The more organized you are, the more organized you will be when presenting this material to an accountant. That translates to reduced bills from the accountant, and a reduced tax bill from the IRS. You will save time and money, and be more confident about your status. Good record-keeping practices are required to comply with tax laws, and to operate your business properly. When you incorporate your business is the right time to establish the records system. Don’t let your dream get killed by ignoring business basics. Martin Zwilling is the founder and chief executive officer of Startup Professionals, a company that provides products and services to startup founders and small business owners. Check out his daily blog at http://blog.startupprofessionals.com Read more about Marty here .

Tagged as: become an entrepreneur, business, business planning, entrepreneur, small-business, startup, success

0 comments Read the full article →

10 Reasons You’re Not Reaching Your Goals; or, What I Learned from Writing a Really Crappy Novel

by Paul Joseph February 1, 2012 Featured

I hit a big goal of mine – finally – just before 2011 ended. I finished writing the novel I began five or so years ago. When I say finished, however, what I mean is that the very first, very rough draft is complete, ringing in at just under 80,000 words. I am now the proud author of one really crappy novel, but it’s a completely written crappy novel. And one day, after much editing and revising, it may move from “complete but crappy” to, simply, “complete.” I learned a few things through this novel-writing process. Like most of you, I don’t have the means to dedicate my days to a creative outlet, or hobby, or side business, or start-up. I have to squeeze the work in on the edges: in between feeding my four kids something other than mac ‘n’ cheese, keeping up with my freelance writing business, and making sure my house doesn’t get on the HAZMAT radar. Know how that novel got written? One single, small word at a time, with lots of mistakes along the way. I learned what not to do, and through that, I learned what works. The Top-Ten List of What’s Keeping You From Your Goals 1. No planning, bad planning, or too much planning. Oh, the power of the plan. “Plans are useless,” said Dwight D. Eisenhower, “but planning is indispensable.” The act of planning helps you to figure out where you want to go (the goal) and how you’re going to get there (the next action you need to take). The best plans cover just that much information and, really, not much more. No planning can leave you wandering. You aren’t committed to one goal or course of action, so you waver and accomplish nothing. Bad planning can leave you overwhelmed by details, a rigid schedule, or a totally unrealistic view of the daily distractions and obstacles you will encounter. A good plan allows you to be flexible, deal with the details as they arise, and keep moving forward even when things go wrong. Too much planning is just you wallowing around in your planner and task list instead of taking that next action you need to take. Trust me, you won’t make much progress that way. 2. Too many goals. You only have so much time, energy, and availability. If you spread yourself too thin by pursuing too many goals at the same time, you’ll make minimal or no progress in each. That’s just plain discouraging. Instead, focus on one to three “big” goals, and keep the rest of your life in maintenance mode. Once you make significant progress, or reach a goal, you can tackle another. Success breeds success, so you’ll build on your momentum as you complete one goal and go for the next. 3. Goals you don’t care about. Your mom, your spouse, your brother, and your ten best friends may all think it’s a great idea for you to start a business or lose weight. But if you don’t really care, there’s no point in setting that goal. You’re the one who has to work for the goal, so you’re the one who needs to want to get to it. 4. Organizing in lieu of doing. Reaching goals requires that you take action, not spend time eternally preparing to take action. Orderliness is great, yes, and serves its purpose; but your ability to take action does not depend on how organized your stuff, space, or schedule is. Give yourself a limit on organizing and prep work; when you reach the limit, it’s time to start moving forward, even if things aren’t as neat as you’d like them. 5. Too detailed or ritualistic. Writers fall prey to this one all the time. You can read dozens of biographies of writers known for their various rituals and tics, from only writing while laying down in bed to using a particular type of pencil to having the right odor in the room. While those rituals are interesting to read, in real life all they do is slow you down. When you commit yourself to a ritual, you handicap yourself psychologically. “I can’t work unless _____________.” But that’s not true, is it? You can work, as long as you possess the physical and mental ability to do the work itself. Even if that means you have to skip your ritual, or work in a space that doesn’t look, feel, or smell right. 6. Lack of supplies. So simple, I hate to mention it, but if you’re going to do something requiring special supplies, go get your supplies. Now. Set them up. Now. Then you can actually do the work: whether that’s pen and paper, a laptop, running shoes and a water bottle, paints and brushes, or a piano. If you set a goal but refuse to arm yourself with the supplies you need to reach it, you’re not really serious about the goal. Either switch to a goal you are serious about, or set yourself up for this one. 7. Tracking results instead of progress. When you’re working toward a long-term or “big” goal, like, say, writing a novel, it’s easy to get discouraged. In my case, the result – a finished novel – was far-off in the distance when I first started writing. So instead of measuring my success by a result, which was still in the distance, I learned to measure by the progress I made. For example, I would track word counts or minutes spent writing. Sometimes I would push myself to complete 1000 words a day, every day, for a week or a month. Other times, when life got busier, I would just focus on putting in 20 minutes a day. Tracking progress allows you to see that you are moving forward, even if slowly, and that knowledge helps you to keep pushing through. 8. No milestones. Larger or long-term goals need milestones along the way. Training for a marathon is a big undertaking, but if you break it down into certain training milestones, you can keep your focus. Your first milestone could be running two consecutive miles; your next could be running three; and so on, until you reach your goal. Starting a business, another big, unwieldy goal, works well with milestones. First milestone: setting up an LLC. Second milestone: setting a budget for your business. Third milestone: launching your first product. And so on. Tweak as needed for your big goal. 9. No accountability. I am, by nature, a private person. And writing is a private endeavor. Talking about my novel made me feel like it was silly to attempt it, so for a long time I avoided letting anyone but my husband know what I was up to, hunched over my keyboard in the corner. That was my mistake, as it turns out: my husband is not a private person. Pretty soon he was casually mentioning to anyone within earshot that his wife was working on a novel, at which point I would stammer out some sort of acknowledgement while silently vowing to kill him as soon as we got home. But a funny thing happened… First, I learned how to own what I was doing. Was I a real writer or not? Did it matter? I was writing, so I might as own it, and stick with it. Second, I learned that people are intrigued when you set big goals. They want to know why, and how, and what motivates you. They start getting inspired. They start sharing their own big goals. Pretty soon, you’re checking up on and encouraging each other. Before long, I was sharing daily word counts on my Facebook wall. The accountability and encouragement I got, first from my husband and then from many friends, helped me to stick with it on many days when punching out a few more paragraphs was the last thing I wanted to do. 10. No rewards/acknowledgement. You know the great thing about having accountability? Once you reach a goal, accountability shifts to acknowledgement. When I finished my novel, I got to brag about it, on Facebook and to anyone who would listen. Public acknowledgement is a powerful motivator, but that’s not the only kind of reward out there. For bigger goals, promise yourself a reward for every milestone. Make it something fitting with the goal so you stay focused. The Path to Progress The path to progress is not going to be an easy walk. You know that, right? When you set big goals, you set yourself up for an uphill climb. You’ll be working against a culture that encourages mediocrity as well as your own tendencies to procrastinate, be lazy, and question yourself. But you can still reach your goals. Focus. Work on one or two big goals at time. Act instead of planning or organizing. Don’t over-complicate things. Get what you need to get the job done. Track your progress along the way, celebrate each milestone with rewards, and share what you’re doing along the way. The path to progress isn’t easy, but it’s fulfilling, invigorating, and the views are a heck of a lot better than anything on YouTube. Annie Mueller enjoys creating a personal yet professional voice to render complex topics understandable. Her passion is helping home, small, and micro businesses succeed. Read more about Annie here .

Tagged as: business, business planning, business psychology, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, small-business, starting a business, success

0 comments Read the full article →

Seal the Deal: The 6 Laws of Successful Sales

by Paul Joseph January 31, 2012 Featured

Each and every business focuses on its sales numbers.  Whether a company offers products or services, their ultimate success depends on how many people they can convince to invest in them.  While many believe that the executives in their ivory towers determine the daily success of a company, the people truly steering the ship are the salespeople.  These are the individuals who know best what customers want, what customers are concerned about, and what it takes to get prospects to become customers. That’s not to say, however, that each salesperson couldn’t benefit from some help.  A change in mindset can be all it takes to change the course of your ship – and your company’s.  Here are the six laws that each sale hinges on: 1. The Law of Vibration Everything carries a frequency or vibration, and the highest form of vibration is thought.  Things in the same frequency will resonate and attract, while elements in different frequencies will repel or oppose.  This means that fixating on positive thoughts will attract more of the same, while ruminating on negative thoughts will prevent you from bringing positivity into your fold.  Great entrepreneurs have command over choosing the thoughts they’re aware of, and therefore, giving the most energy toward.  Focusing on thoughts that empower you attracts more deals, better customers, and high-quality team members. 2. The Law of Cause and Effect Ralph Waldo Emerson called this “the law of laws.”  The concept of cause and effect doesn’t begin at the physical action/reaction level, despite what you learned in high school physics.  Rather, it begins at the conscious thought level.  The cause (the ideas or perspective you choose to focus on consciously) creates feelings (vibrations) that lead to an effect (the frequency you are in).  Again, this attracts opportunities and challenges that are in line with the vibrations you’re giving off.  You and I bring about our thoughts the majority of the time.  To change your results, you must first change your thoughts. 3. The Law of Engenderment Everything in life has an incubation (engenderment) period.  Babies, for example, incubate over an engenderment period of approximately 280 days.  Deals and sales cycles are the same way.  Some sales cycles and products move on impulse; others do not.  A good rule of thumb for entrepreneurs and salespeople is to remember that you’re always 90 days away from your income potential.  This means that what you’re doing today will not likely manifest into real income potential until 90 days from now.  To jump-start this incubation period, be proactive.  Start calling and visiting prospects – you never know which sale will mark the beginning of your big 90-day period. 4. The Law of Rhythm There’s an ebb and flow to the universe.  Great entrepreneurs understand that this rhythm applies to their business and sales as well.  They work to cash in on the high tide in their business or industry so they can create cash reserves for the low tide.  There’s one constant: change.  Don’t assume that the good times will last forever – or that the bad ones will, either.  Accept that you will encounter both, and prepare accordingly. 5. The Law of Compensation Compensation is a function of 1) the need for what you do, 2) your ability to fill that need in comparison to others, and 3) how difficult – or easy – it is to replace you.  For salespeople, this encourages you to take ownership of your job.  You certainly need to focus on your customers and their needs, but you also need to ensure that you have the skills and confidence to tackle their needs head-on.  Focus on your abilities and your growth as a seller, and you will attract more success. 6. The Law of Minimums A phenomenon that I have witnessed over my work with no fewer than 10,000 entrepreneurs and salespeople over the last decade is that of big goals.  Most people who meet with great success set large goals, which is key to stretching their comfort zones.  This, in turn, forces them to increase their awareness.  However, the vast majority will stop when they achieve what I call their “acceptable minimum,” rather than their actual goal.  This is important to remember.  When all five other laws are in play, we are operating on autopilot, and the target destination will invariably be some minimal acceptable standard we fall back on that’s in the general direction of our most-desired dreams.  With this in mind, the purpose of goal-setting outside of our current performance level is two-fold: 1) it requires us to increase our awareness and grow, and 2) it ensures that our acceptable minimums from yesterday do not remain our acceptable minimums of tomorrow.  We have to continue to move ahead. Great salespeople produce 90% of an organization’s sales.  They’re operating from a higher level of minimums within their subconscious.  They may or may not set goals, but all of them inherently have “acceptable minimums” that exceed the status quo.  This causes them to default to a higher autopilot level, and therefore, receive more than the majority of their counterparts. Why shouldn’t you be one of them?  Following these laws of selling will not only strengthen your thoughts and abilities as a salesperson, but your sales will also grow as a direct result of the changes you’re making within.  Gandhi said it best: “Be the change you wish to see.”  It will also be the change your company wishes to see – and you’re the one who can make it happen. Chris J. Snook has spent over 11 years as an author, entrepreneur, and venture catalyst and has spent the last 5 years in the investment community incubating media startups as the Managing Partner of TLEC Ventures. He co-authored three international best-selling books entitled Wealth Matters 2007 and 2011 (2nd Edition) and Burnout: How to Transform Frustration to Fortune in 2005 .

Tagged as: business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales, small-business, success

0 comments Read the full article →

Why You Need to Compartmentalize Your Life when Building a Business

by Paul Joseph January 30, 2012 Featured

Starting a business can be one of the most challenging things that you can take on in your life. While the rewards of owning your own business cannot be matched in the corporate world, the hours worked and rollercoaster ride of highs and lows can often be extreme. One way to deal with the workload and manage stress is to compartmentalize your life. When you start a business, you will likely wear many different hats, and in many cases wear all of the hats. You might be in charge of marketing, sales, legal, HR, operations, finance, accounting, IT etc. And you might add on top of all that a personal life of some degree. When you add up all of the responsibilities from these different areas, you end up with a very heavy workload. Not only can all of this work create a lot of stress, but there can also be stress from the uncertainty that simply comes with owning and building a business. By compartmentalizing your life, you can try to break down the week into different compartments and then assign your different areas of responsibilities to the different compartments. The key to this working is that you shut down your attention to a particular area to a certain degree when it is not time to work in that area and when it is time to focus on that area, you shut down thoughts and attention to all other areas. Below are some examples of common compartments that can be built. By segmenting the week, we can not only improve focus and effectiveness, we can also stand to greatly decrease stress. Accounting / Finance Unfortunately, there are accounting needs that come with starting and owning a business. Whether it is paying bills, paying employees, balancing the books, or dealing with vendors, there is simply accounting and bookkeeping tasks that need to be done each week and month. If we don’t stay on top of these items, not only can it have a negative impact on our business, it can also stand to create a decent amount of stress. One way to deal with this is to pick a segment of hours during the week where everything else is shut down and attention is solely placed in the area of accounting, bills, payroll, etc. Sales In order to truly be successful, sales is something that you will need to do a little of everyday when building a business. But to pick a day (or days) of the week where we focus solely on sales, we can position ourselves for more success in this individual area. This can be a good tactic when picking up the phone and making some sort of sales calls is a component of our sales strategy. This is something that we can often procrastinate on. But if we block out a compartment for making calls and shut down everything else during that time, we will likely increase the amount of sales activity we are getting in each week. Marketing Two powerful marketing tactics for starting a business can be search engine optimization and social media. And effectively executing with either of these tactics can also be extremely time consuming. Setting time aside side specifically for blogging, improving the website, and interacting on social media can help to make sure enough time gets spent in this area. Personal Time While we spend so much time taking care of the business, we should not forget about spending some time to take care of ourselves. Since starting a business can sometimes mean working everyday and sometimes all day, this can take a toll on both your mind and your body. To help with this, you can set time aside to turn everything off and focus solely on working on you. This could be time spent relaxing, with family and friends, physical fitness, etc. Do you compartmentalize?  What do you do to get the most out of your limited time? Share your insights in the comments. Michael Halper is Founder and CEO of Launch Pad Solutions, LLC , a sales consulting and outsourcing firm that helps businesses to take off and get to the next level. Read more about Michael here .

Tagged as: business, business planning, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, management, small-business, success

0 comments Read the full article →

Time Management – No, But Really This Time

by Paul Joseph January 23, 2012 Featured

We all want to do more things in less time. It’s a common theme throughout all of corporate America, and it even extends into professions like healthcare, education, and civil service. We can’t rely on the institution we’ve placed ourselves in to help us accomplish this goal. Rather, I believe we must rely on multiple paradigm shifts in our own life. No longer can we say, ‘Oh, I’ll do that tomorrow’, or ‘Staying up an extra hour won’t mean much tonight’. 2012 is a new year, a new opportunity to do new things with our lives, and more importantly, our personal lives. If you’re an entrepreneur like me, you probably work 50+ hours per week every week of the year, with the exception of maybe one or two 30 hour weeks around the holidays. You probably have a tight schedule of meetings, development time, and HR priorities. What you may not have is a highly organized and efficient manner of completing all these tasks. Success as an entrepreneur is not failing — ultimately it is a self-sufficient business that runs well under the guidance of a highly skilled team. Every entrepreneur wants to be freed up enough to go back to the dream board, either starting a new project or removing oneself enough from the business they started so they can look at the big picture. For the entrepreneur this means navigating major strategic decisions and focusing on creating new innovative products and services. 50% of What You’re Doing Might Be A Distraction You probably follow many entrepreneurs, on Twitter, Facebook, or even their personal blogs. The ones you follow probably have posts like “Top 10 Marketing Tips & Strategies”, or “Content Marketing 101: Must Read”. These things can be a distraction — at the end of the day, every business boils down to lead generation, conversion, and a sale. All of the social media marketing gurus who want to tell you about how Twitter or Google Adwords makes them thousands of dollars really aren’t relevant to you. If you run a  product or service business, you must understand they run a business telling you how to run a business or make more money ‘socially’ in your business. These are two very different things. Bottom line — if you know what makes you money, you know who buys from you, and you know how they buy — build a well oiled machine before you switch to a hybrid motor. Unless you run a social media business, you do not need to spend more than 30 minutes a day using social media. I know… that sounds extreme, but really it’s true. Remember, we’re talking during business hours here, how much following, Tweeting, Facebooking, blogging, and eGuide reading do you really need to do? Consistent Effective Patterns = Long Term Success Sounds simple right? So many people don’t understand this principle though. This year I’ve started a new series of daily habits. I wake up at the same time everyday, I exercise for 30 minutes, I eat breakfast (you’ve gotta try it), I drive to the office, and then I spend two entire hours doing only the things that are directly correlated with earning myself money. For me this is focusing on lead generation, contact vetting, and reaching out to event planners to book gigs and then following up. Here’s what it’s not — Tweeting, reading blogs, Facebooking, redesigning my website, writing an eBook, participating on forums, HR issues, attending meetings, checking email (unrelated to buyers), etc. Find Someone Else to Crack The Whip If you’re at all like me you may struggle with getting the hard things done first, or other action items done in priority order. It’s very easy to look at a to-do-list and complete all of the things that take the least effort or all of the things that you want to do. Doing things this way though is a recipe for disaster. I find that it helps to have someone hold you accountable. Whether it’s a team member or an assistant, ask them to keep on you about getting things done. Sometimes the best way to make sure you do the things you need to do is by positioning the involvement of other people. That way, you aren’t just letting yourself down if something doesn’t get completed, you’re letting them and maybe the entire team down. And depending on how critical the tasks are, that could mean meeting payroll. Cheers to newly found focus in 2012! Michael Costigan has earned a reputation as a leading young authority on self-identity, making positive choices, and becoming a leader. He succeeds in getting through to teens and offering both them and the adults who care about them practical and realistic advice. Read more about Michael here .

Tagged as: business, business planning, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, small-business, success

0 comments Read the full article →

The Golden Rule About Your Great Ideas

by Paul Joseph January 18, 2012 Featured

Every young entrepreneur has great ideas. They come all the time. In the shower, on the bus, while pouring milk into your cereal. When the idea arrives from somewhere in your soul, it is perfect. Your excitement rises as you realize it is exactly what the world needs – what the world has been waiting for. You start making a business plan. Nothing detailed, just main points. How you will make it, how you will package it, how you will market it, and of course, how much money you will make. As the idea expands and blossoms into a complete business plan you keep asking yourself – why didn’t I think of this before – it’s such a great idea. You picture yourself a few years in the future with your feet resting on an ancient oak desk and a cigar in your mouth – a reporter from Fortune magazine is listening attentively as you tell your success story. A few days pass and you are still high on the idea. It is all you think about, it keeps getting bigger and better. What started out as a little seed of plan has turned into a fully functional money making machine. Of course, it is still all in your head, but there is nothing going to stop you now. You are excited enough that one evening you decide to tell your best friend about it. Obviously such great ideas should be kept secret, if somebody else hears about it they might steal it, but this is your best friend. You ask him if he can keep a secret. He says yes. You barley control yourself. Talking fast and with grand hand gestures you explain every detail to your friend. He listens, nods and sips his tea as you explain how this is going to be bigger than diagonally sliced bread. You finish your speil, exhale and say, “so…what do you think?” Your friend looks at his shoes, and then at you, and then shakes his head, “It will never work”. Like a baseball hitting you in the head, the words make your knees weak. You try to explain again, maybe he missed an important detail. But it is no use, your friend will not change his mind and the damage is done – your great idea bursts. The next day you laugh at yourself for having such a dumb idea. Your Great Idea Will Not Work There is one thing that you can be absolutely certain will happen after you come up with a great idea, actually it is so certain you can call it the golden rule of great ideas. Golden Rule Of Great Ideas: people will tell you your great idea will not work. Unfortunately most young entrepreneurs are not aware of this rule. They have a great idea but it lasts only until somebody shakes their head and warns that it will not work. At first the young entrepreneur is surprised by the rejection, but then creates their own reasons why it will not work. Like a freshly planted seed the idea dies before it ever sees the sun. The golden rule has stillborn untold number of great ideas. Which is a shame because most of the best ideas of the past have come from people who ignored people that said, ‘it will never work’. Of Course It Will Not Work, It Is Something New The main characteristic of a great idea is that it is something nobody has thought of before. You discovered a new way to give people what they want. A way that even the people themselves do not know they want. Before Henry Ford mass produced cars did people want cars? Henry Ford said, “If I asked my customers what they want, they simply would have said a faster horse”. Henry had a great idea that nobody but him realized. Had he told his best friend about his great idea, the response would most likely be, ‘that will never work.’ It is the nature of a new idea to be seen as a bad idea. People know they want a faster horse, but they know nothing about cars. Car, what is that? That sounds like a bad idea, just make a faster horse. Don’t Throw Away Your Great Ideas Of course not all your great ideas are going to work. Some of them are bound to fail. But the only way to find out whether your great idea will work is to rely on your head and gut. You are a much better judge of your great idea than anybody else is. Try it. Do not quit just because somebody says it will not work. If history’s entrepreneurs listened to their friends we would be riding genetically modified fast horses. Roman Jelinek had his own business and then he sold it. Now he is hoping to start another successful business. He is putting all his efforts into his website How This Website Makes Money . Read more about Roman here .

Tagged as: become an entrepreneur, business, business-ideas, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, startup, success

0 comments Read the full article →

Common Mistakes made by Online Business Owners

by Paul Joseph January 9, 2012 Featured

Creating and running an online business takes work… a lot of work! However, we often see some common mistakes made by online business owners that prevent them from having the level of success they truly want and deserve. There are some general guidelines you can take to prevent these mistakes and therefore maximizing your time, resources, and efforts with your online business. End result – having an online business that works with you and is in-line with your values, goals and vision. I will list some of the most common mistakes online business owners make and what you can do the ensure that you do not do the same. And don’t worry if you are already making these mistakes. Your past does not equal your future. With a few adjustments on your part, you can rectify these issues and be well on your way to seeing the results you’d like. Common Mistake #1 : Having the “Build It and They Will Come” Mentality There’s nothing further from the truth than the “build it and they will come” mentality! The actual creation of an online business (website) is one tiny piece of the puzzle of a whole gamut of steps you need to take. Although pushing that little button and seeing your site go live is exhilarating, and you are filled with hope that people will come rushing in any minute knocking at your virtual door waiting to buy your products and services; sadly enough, this rarely is the case. You want clients and customers – you have to go get them! Running on online business is not much different than running a brick and mortal store. You have to promote your business.  In the real world it may mean distributing flyer’s and other marketing materials; in the virtual world it’s status updates, emails and PR releases. In the real world you may have to entice people to come in with free samples, complimentary sessions, coupons, tastings, etc. In the virtual, your low hanging fruit to get people to visit your site may be an eBook, eCourse, white paper report, or audio training. Common Mistake #2 : Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket If you ran a bagel shop, would you rely solely on direct marketing such as mailing postcards to help get the word out about your business? Maybe. Some people would receive your postcard and just toss it right away. Some people may look at it, but not take action on it; whilst a select few will. However, it would be my guess that getting customers using this method will be a long (and often expensive) process; and it’s quite possible you may be out of business before having a chance to turn a profit. The same concept applies to your virtual business. Being strategic on how you spend your marketing dollars is smart business. You often have to dive into various marketing methods in order to evaluate their effectiveness.  If you are investing all your money into only one method, how can you measure it’s effectiveness compared to other methods? Spread your eggs. Try different baskets. You can always cut down on the number of baskets later … Which is smart business! Common Mistake #3 : Not Using Free Resources Effectively There are tons of free resources available for you to get the word out about your online business. But here is where the problem lies with using free resources: business owners either try to use it ALL, use too little, or use the wrong ones. Unfortunately the only way to evaluate which resources to use and in what capacity is by doing your research and trial and error. Every business is different and what may work for one may not work for another. I found the “lean and mean” mentality often times works best. Pick 4-5 top resource vehicles that you know your target market is present, and be an active force within those areas. For example, if you are business coach and after doing your research you know that the your target market gathers on Facebook, LinkedIn, BNI’s groups, Twitter and business forums, than it would behoove you to focus all your time and energy in these areas. However, it’s not only a matter of being present in these areas, but doing so strategically. What do you wish to accomplish by going to BNI events? How can you best optimize this method? Who do you want to target on Facebook and how do you plan to build that relationship? How can you effectively use LinkedIn so you voice gets heard amongst all the other “noise” already going on? You get the idea… Common Mistake #4: Not Reinvesting In Yourself and Your Business The path to entry to starting a business has never been cheaper. You can literally have a online business up and running in a day and maintain it for less that $20 a month. Compare that to opening up a business in the “real” world where starting a business can cost you sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars. You are no longer subjected to having to lease out a small office and accrue all the overhead expenses that come with having that office. Depending on your business, you can quite literally work from your own home and the door to your office exists in virtual space. How cool is that? However just because your business may only exist in the virtual world does not mean it’s not a “real” business. It’s just as real as those businesses you can see, touch and sometimes smell. Therefore, it’s important that you treat it so and constantly reinvest in your business. This can take on two forms: Reinvesting business profits into expanding your business growth Investing time and financial resources into your own personal growth The latter form often gets missed. Your own personal growth is just as important, if not more so, to the success of your business. You can only go as far in your business as your own personal growth allows you to. For example, if you are the kind of person that believes the most you can make in your business is 150K, than that’s all you’re going to make. What if you can work on expanding that personal belief to be of someone who can make 500K? Something to think about… As you can see, some of these common mistakes made by online business owners are not without rectification.  Simply making a few adjustments to your day to day operations (and doing it consistently) can yield positive results in your online business. Here’s one exercise you can do that I know if you take the time to delve deep into the process, can be eye opening and transformational for you and your business: 1. Step into the shoes of your ideal client. 2. Walk her through every step in your business even before approaching with your virtual door. How did she get there? Where did she come from? How did she hear about you? Why did your message resonate with her? What does she see once she steps into your virtual world? What can she buy? What can she learn? What is the message you want her to know? What do you want her do while she’s there? How do you want her to share your message? How will she feel as she opts into your list to get your free offer? How will she feel once she leaves? What will she say about you and your business; and who will she tell? Clarity is key. Knowing upfront all there is to know about what you offer, to whom, how they will hear about it and with which vehicles, will prevent you from making some of these common mistakes – thus catapulting you into a thriving business. Look, we all make mistakes … It’s inevitable. Making mistakes is not the problem.  Failure is not the problem. It’s what you plan to do about it. “The formula for success is quite simple: double your rate of failure.” ~ Thomas J. Watson, Sr. Much Success! Michele Welch is a Personal Coach and Online Business Advisor. She has a blog where she shares tips on how to start your online business and grow it using SEO, Social Media Marketing and various other techniques.  Read more about Michele here .

Tagged as: business, business planning, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, internet, management, success

0 comments Read the full article →

Why You Don’t Need to Be (More) Organized

by Paul Joseph January 6, 2012 Featured

“…the advantages of being neat and organized are typically outweighed by the costs.” – Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman, A Perfect Mess Now, before the professional organizers rain down fire upon my head, let me put in a caveat: order is important. We all need order, in some degree or another, so that we can find what we need and do what we should. Order permeates our lives, from our strands of DNA to how we get from Point A to Point B. Order isn’t optional, but there are degrees of order. The point is, in all areas, to find the degree of order that is effective and then let it go. Perfect order is not necessary. And a messy appearance is often just the surface layer on a very effective, orderly structure. Order, To a Certain Degree Most of us, even the not-so-organized among us, have established order in our lives even if it’s not obvious to the naked eye. We have to, or else we can’t function. You may not be able to locate your last year’s tax return, but I bet you can find your cell phone, car keys, and debit card. You may have clothes on the floor, but you can probably still come up with a decent outfit to wear to that VC pitch. Order exists in our lives, but life itself is messy and ever-changing. Coats get worn instead of hanging pristinely on the coat rack. Life has to be lived, which means the elements of our lives have to be used, not just arranged in alphabetical order. Perfect Is Not the Same as Productive Perfect organization, perfect appearance, alphabetized and color-coded everything does not denote a more productive lifestyle. It just means that you spend an inordinate amount of time keeping things neat, and that you are The Container Store’s favorite customer. Look, I get it. Making things neat and organized and pretty can be fun. I may detest going through paper files, but I can spend a happy afternoon arranging my pantry shelves. And don’t get me started on all the containers and labels and accessories that go with organizing:  I love them all. I have spent more money than i want to admit at places like, well, The Container Store. I want my office, and car, and home to look like those photos on Pinterest, I do. I want to be worthy of a Franklin Covey write-up, a Real Simple cover shoot, and an honorable mention from HGTV. But seriously? A re-organized pantry saves me, what, maybe 2 seconds a day when I reach in there to get the rice and it’s on the labeled bottom shelf instead of stuck behind the canned beans on the middle shelf? I could’ve found it, anyway. Why We Obsessively Organize Our Lives Let’s be honest, at least, when we organize stuff: most of the time we’re doing it to either 1) procrastinate on the stuff we really should be doing but don’t want to tackle or 2) admire our own organizational prowess and get a little confidence boost every time we see how nice the formerly messy area looks. Reason #2 has some legitimacy. We’d all rather feel happy about the way our spaces look. A clutter-free environment, with stuff logically organized and neatly arranged, can make us feel better and, yes, help us to be more productive. Being able to find a file when you need it is helpful. Organization vs. Work But we need to realize that organization isn’t the same as work (unless you’re a professional organizer) and, most of the time, even a pretty good amount of disorder can’t actually keep us from doing work, or even slow work down significantly. The balance is to tackle those organizing projects, but save them for your off-time: nights, weekends, or that random free afternoon when you’re all caught up and you’ve earned an organizational break. I’d say organizing anything is a much better use of free time than watching another episode of Dancing with the Stars . Don’t make these mistakes, however: Saying you’re working when you’re actually just engaging in some pointless organization. Yep, I’m sure your desk would look nicer without all the clutter; I’m equally sure you should spend your time calling those clients instead of clearing your desk. Sabotaging your work time so you can avoid that big ugly thing you don’t want to do. You’ve got 1 hour of uninterrupted time, but you spend 20 minutes of it “prepping” and organizing instead of actually working. Then you look at the clock, realize you have to head to a meeting in 30 minutes, and what progress can you really make on that big project in 30 minutes? None, right? Might as well just check Twitter, clean out your briefcase, check your email, and then head to the meeting. You just didn’t get the time in today… Maybe if you’d had things organized already… Blaming disorganization for a lack of productivity. Sure, you could clean out your files and find things faster. Yes, I’m sure your bookshelves could be neater. Probably you do have too many old contacts in your phone. But none of those things will prevent you from writing the blog post, drafting the business plan, making the phone call, scheduling the meeting… you know… doing the work. “…moderately disorganized people, institutions, and systems frequently turn out to be more efficient, more resilient, more creative, and in general more effective than highly organized ones.” -Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman Bottom line? If you really want to be more organized, dedicate your free time to tackling your files and your closets. But spend your working hours on work, and don’t let a little bit of mess slow you down. Annie Mueller enjoys creating a personal yet professional voice to render complex topics understandable. Her passion is helping home, small, and micro businesses succeed. Read more about Annie here .

Tagged as: business, efficiency, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, management, organization, success

0 comments Read the full article →

Getting Ready for the Real World: Networking Between Campus and the Community

by Paul Joseph January 5, 2012 Featured

College life can sometimes feel like a vacuum.  You go to class, you go to meetings, and you go out with your friends (with a nap here and there thrown in). College serves another purpose, however: to prepare you for the real world.  Your classes, jobs, and experiences should help you find your way to a career you’ll enjoy and succeed at. Networking can be one of the easiest ways to bolster your career success; it allows you to do what you already do on a daily basis – talk with others – and find a focus for it.  There are four great ways you can network to smooth the transition from campus and into the business community beyond it. Informational Interviews and Site Visits Too often, site visits involve group tours with some commentary on how equipment works.  As visitor, your goal should be to learn how that specific piece of equipment fits into the larger process.  Research in advance so you have a grasp of the company you’re visiting, as well as the marketplace it’s operating within.  These aren’t job interviews, but you should seek the same type of knowledge: ask about their supply chain, their inventory control methods, their forecasting methods, their market dynamics, and anything else that interests you about their operations.  They aren’t going to give you trade secrets, but the more information you have about how companies work, the better you’ll know what kind of environment you might function best in. Internships and Consulting Projects Great résumés are not built in classrooms.  Young entrepreneurs need to take advantage of internships and external projects in order to explore topics they’ve only read about.  Unpaid internships may not look appealing, but some of these opportunities can provide invaluable experience that your peers aren’t getting.  They will give you the résumé-building headlines that will pay off as you build a career after college.  The internship you select needs to be geared toward your interests.  If your long-term aspirations involve entrepreneurship, don’t settle for being a cashier at a big box store.  Get involved with suppliers, vendors, store marketing, and customer service.  You want more than cash register transactions – you want to experience the industry.  An internship is a golden opportunity to show initiative and growth. Executive Mentors Mentors within your chosen field provide industry-specific insight.  With an executive mentor, you can learn the ins and outs of the industry he’s joining; he can also get personal guidance on career development.  A mentor can review where you are as an individual, as well as review your goals and how they can best be achieved.  Better yet, an experienced mentor can help you reframe your goals so they’re realistic for who you are as a person and where you want to go as an entrepreneur. Once you’ve set goals, your mentor can help keep you on task.  Your respect for the person you’re working with will push you to work toward the completion of your goals.  Executive mentors have a knack for changing your short-term approach for seeking success into a long-range vision.  Success isn’t a sprint, but a marathon.  Someone who’s been through the ups and downs of a thriving career can show you how to anticipate obstacles and change your mindset about them.  They’ll ask you probing questions, perhaps even questions that you’ve avoided asking yourself.  By avoiding the thought-provoking question, you’re avoiding the problem…and the solution. Professors Professors, many times, can introduce you to executive mentors.  They’ll set you up for great internships and utilize their contact list for site visits.  However, professors won’t share these contacts with just anyone.  By facilitating an experience for you, they know that their endorsement is implied.  Their reputation is on the line when they use their contacts to help you.  Remember that these people have professional lives beyond the college campus – they need to maintain their professional integrity in all aspects of their lives. To overcome any doubt, you’ll need to give them a reason to believe in you.  You must develop a relationship with key professors outside the classroom.  They need to understand your goals, as well as how they might best be able to help you.  If you frequently interact with a professor, he will remember you when he’s talking with professional acquaintances about opportunities and projects available for college students.  Your professors aren’t merely communicators of classroom material – they’re professionals and people.  Get to know them as all three, and you’ll have a strong pipeline for networking. As a college student, you may be limited in the amount of exposure you have to external networks.  Your campus community can be a rich resource to communicate beyond the walls of your institution.  Networking and internship experiences are key components to developing your credibility as an entrepreneur.  Develop your networking strategy from school, and you’ll have a great résumé to show for it when you join the real world. Dr. Greg Bier is a Professor of Management at the University of Missouri. He leads the newly formed Entrepreneurship Alliance in the Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business

Tagged as: become an entrepreneur, business, business planning, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, networking, success

0 comments Read the full article →

7 Vital Keys for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

by Paul Joseph December 31, 2011 Featured

We live in a world where we can no longer depend solely on our education, and certainly not on employment. This would explain the increase in the number of people who are branching out on their own and starting their own businesses. If you happen to be one of these people who are thinking about creating your own startup business, the tips below will be of great use to you. 1. Have Great Expectations – Being limited by your goals is not an option. Do you know what your goal is? Truly successful entrepreneurs generally have goals which differ from the goals of the average person. Not only are their goals unique, but they’re quite lofty as well. Never underestimate the power of your goals. Your future will be affected by the goals you’ve made, and it can also be affected by your way of thinking. Reach for the stars and dream big! 2. Don’t Listen to Haters – Don’t expect everyone to agree with you and your big goals. A lot of people will think that you are jumping in over your head or being foolish. Never let others’ perceptions of you hinder anything you do in your life. This includes becoming an entrepreneur. If you find that particular people are overly skeptical or discouraging, it might be a good idea to distance yourself from them for a while. If that’s not a possibility, simply don’t share your thoughts and plans with them. Setting yourself up for criticism will only get you down and make you doubt yourself. 3. Get Started – No matter who you are and what experiences you’ve had, it’s very common to feel nervous or afraid to take the first step and get started. Whether it is the fear of the results or the fear of what other people might say, you’ve got to rise above it. A person can have the best ideas and visions, but if they don’t take action and get started, they will never achieve anything. 4. Take Risks – In any new venture, there will be risks involved. Every successful person has had to take risks and sacrifice more than they sometimes wanted to. It’s not always easy to let go of money – or sleep for that matter. You get what you put into things, so the more you give of yourself to your business; the more you will get in return. Not only that, but the risks you take along the way will make your success story that much more interesting. 5. Get Networking – Any aspiring entrepreneur needs to be able to network with people. The people you know and associate with says a lot about you. Success tends to rub off. If your friends are successful entrepreneurs themselves, they are likely to share their secrets with you. Having this type of firsthand knowledge on your side will benefit you and your business immensely. 6. Make Mistakes – Let’s get real. We all make mistakes. The ways in which we deal with these mistakes is where the importance lies. Nobody is perfect, and pretending that you are will only negate what your goal is: Success. Admit your mistakes and then learn from them. After all, whether or not you’ve done this before, you can’t possibly expect to be mistake-free. 7. Get Motivated – Everyone needs encouragement now and then, but as an aspiring entrepreneur, you’re going to need more motivation than most. Find books, audios, and people who motivate you, and immerse yourself in their words. Most importantly, keep your eye on your vision and the reason why you want to be an entrepreneur. There are going to be a lot of stumbling blocks along the way, but with true dedication and devotion to your entrepreneurship, you can overcome any obstacle that gets in your way. Matthew Toren is an Award Winning Author, Serial Entrepreneur, and Investor. He Co-Founded YoungEntrepreneur.com along with his brother Adam. Matthew is co-author of the newly released book: Small Business, Big Vision: “Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right” and also co-author of Kidpreneurs .

Tagged as: become an entrepreneur, business, business planning, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, small-business, starting a business, startup, success, young-entrepreneur

0 comments Read the full article →