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Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Don't Let Fear of Failure Stop You From Starting a Small Business
How to Get Over Your Fear When Starting a Small Business
Monday, January 19, 2015
Saturday, January 17, 2015
The Critical Process of Identifying the Right Co-Founder
Having a co-founder can offer an entrepreneur a different perspective, help with the refining of ideas and allow for a sharing of the workload. It might even grant a startup a competitive edge.
But there’s no exact formula for finding the right one. Two co-founders might determine that they made the right choice only with the passage of time -- a luxury for most entrepreneurs.
Several entrepreneurs across the country recently opened up to me about their co-founder experiences and the character traits needed to ensure the best results.
The 3 Essential Things Needed in a Founders' Agreement
Q: How do you suggest structuring a founders' agreement?
-- Shine Reuben
A: When getting a new enterprise off the ground, there is nothing more important than having a clear agreement amongst the founders around a handful of key issues that are critical to your ability to safeguard the future viability of your new enterprise and to raise venture money. These key issues cover three really important areas: the roles and responsibilities of the founding team, equity ownership and vesting and IP ownership.
Confused? Here is a more detailed breakdown.
The Critical Process of Identifying the Right Co-Founder
Having a co-founder can offer an entrepreneur a different perspective, help with the refining of ideas and allow for a sharing of the workload. It might even grant a startup a competitive edge.
But there’s no exact formula for finding the right one. Two co-founders might determine that they made the right choice only with the passage of time -- a luxury for most entrepreneurs.
Before You Form a Partnership, Make Sure Your Bases Are Covered
No man is an island -- not even you, fearless entrepreneur. Even the sharpest business owner has to call upon others for assistance. And sometimes you need a partner to really help your business take off.
When I started a business nearly three decades ago, I didn't go it alone. My partner, Mark, was my best friend since grade school. We decided we’d be partners before we even knew what type of business to start.
We decided to start a custom software business. However, it was the 1980s, and we were too early in the game. So, we tried a second business idea: a recruiting network.
Richard Branson on the Value of Debate in Business Partnerships
Editor's Note: Entrepreneur Richard Branson regularly shares his business experience and advice with readers. Ask him a question and your query might be the inspiration for a future column.
Q: I wonder if you can make suggestions about how to make business partnerships work when your partners don’t see eye-to-eye. -- Velma Ganassini
Velma, in business just as in life, you’re not going to get along with everyone all the time. Dealing with the differences as they arise, while remaining open to the viewpoints of others, is crucial to building long-lasting business relationships.
Over almost 50 years in business, I have learned that having a healthy debate about strategy and direction is vital if a business is to succeed, so I always encourage my colleagues to challenge me and speak up if they disagree with any of our group’s plans. The old saying that “a family that eats together, stays together” also applies to disagreements in business -- a team that challenges each other will be successful together. This may seem like bad advice to leaders who believe that senior management teams should always be harmonious, but I disagree. Of course, you cannot be at permanent loggerheads with your senior colleagues or fellow founders, but the occasional debate is good for everyone and will help to sharpen your team’s focus.
At Virgin’s senior management meetings, we have not always immediately agreed on which investments to make or which course of action to take. For example, in 1999 all of my senior colleagues were opposed to our launching Virgin Blue Airlines (now Virgin Australia Airlines). But I and other supporters of the venture fought hard to move forward, since we felt very strongly that the airline was going to become a very valuable business -- and that turned out to be right. (On the other hand, I kept our Virgin Megastores open a few years longer than my colleagues wanted to, and they were right.)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on Partnering With Your Partner
As we continue to blur the lines between our personal and professional lives, some couples really take the idea of a merger to the next level by working together in a business. But is this a good idea?
I worked with my own husband for a 10-year period before parting ways (professionally, not personally), so I can share with you some of the upside and downside of partnering with your partner in business.
The Good
You have trust: Just as in a relationship, finding the right business partner requires putting your trust into another person, which is challenging to do. Theoretically, your spouse should be one of the most trustworthy individuals you know (if you don’t agree with this, you probably have bigger issues to consider). Once you have found someone you can trust as your partner in life, who has skills and values that complement yours, it can be a great foundation for a trustworthy business partnership.
You have shared perspective: Business is much like a roller coaster with lots of ups-and-downs. As partners going through this together, you will have greater empathy and compassion to support your significant other -- and vice versa -- when you have front-row tickets to understanding what the other person is going through. This can make it easier to deal with some of the pitfalls of business, or at least lessen the burden on the home-front from a rough day at the office.
You get to avoid Craigslist: Not only is it difficult to trust someone as a business partner, but the process of locating, interviewing and testing out a partner is a tough one, with no guarantee that they will work out in the end. So, you can save time, money and effort by eliminating that part of the process.
The team effect: It can enhance your relationship to work jointly on projects. When you create something of value together, you can deepen your bond and connection.
Plus, don’t forget that you save gas money by carpooling -- which is not a trivial issue with gas prices as high as they are today.
13 Tips to Create the Perfect Partnership
Creating the perfect partnership takes understanding, significant effort and above all a sincere desire to make it work.
I’m proud to say that I’ve been married for a quarter of a century. A few of my business partnerships have lasted nearly as long. My right-hand man James Shehan and I have been working together for more than 16 years. I co-founded a business with Andrew Krauss 13 years ago.
5 Signs That You Need to Split From Your Partner
Here’s the story: You’ve got a great new business idea that was devised with your best friend or favorite co-worker and you’re ready to quit your day job to have a go at entrepreneurship. You’ve collectively agreed that a 50-50 partnership is the right move and you’re both equally and clearly committed to the common goal of world domination via your new venture.
Sound familiar? If you’ve ever started a business with a partner, it should, or at least some iteration of it should, because most co-founded startups follow some version of this plan. The good news is that it can, and regularly does, work. The bad news is that if it doesn’t work, it’s highly likely to be the result of a bad business partnership, as opposed to a bad business or idea.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Why It Is Important to Teach Girls About Entrepreneurship
Over the past year or so, I have spoken with countless female entrepreneurs for my articles on Entrepreneur and for my own blog,NeonNotebook. I have noticed a few random reoccurring themes.
First, I am not sure why but it seems we all wanted to be veterinarians at some point. Second, the best advice given us has typically come from our dads. And third, most of us didn’t grow up wanting to own a business. Instead, it became a conceivable career option along the way.
What Young People Must Know About Entrepreneurship
Do young people view entrepreneurship as a viable career option? Not according to a recent analysis by The Wall Street Journal that showed that only 3.6 percent of households headed by adults younger than 30 owned stakes in private companies. This figure represents a 24-year-low in young entrepreneurs.
7 Steps to Defining Your Niche Market
In their book, Start Your Own Business, the staff of Entrepreneur Media, Inc. guides you through the critical steps to starting a business, then supports you in surviving the first three years as a business owner. In this edited excerpt, the authors explain how you can find the right niche for your entrepreneurial needs.
4 Reasons Why an Online Business is the Best Investment You Will Ever Make
Entrepreneurs are a rare breed of individuals who are constantly exploring new business opportunities. Some seek out new opportunities on their own while others are constantly being pitched new ideas.
The majority of opportunities, no matter how good they might sound, end up being a complete money-sucking nightmare due to expensive overhead, slow scalability and low margins. Online businesses, however, can be very appealing because they don’t have the traditional hurdles that most new ventures face. The following are four reasons why online businesses are the best investment entrepreneurs can make.
1. Offers incredible scalability
Not every single online business is going to automatically morph into a huge success with rapid exponential growth. Many entrepreneurs start an online business thinking customers are automatically going to find them and sales will pour in because they have a small footprint on the Internet. They think that a few tweets and some Facebook posts are all it will take to snowball an online business into a virtual ATM machine.
Scaling any business is not easy, whether it is a brick-and-mortar location or an online business, but an online business has advantages. For instance, a brick-and-mortar retail store has a defined audience, typically a radius from the business location. An online business isn’t restricted by this and can market to a worldwide audience.
Once a successful marketing and advertising strategy is identified an online business can simply open up its target and increase budget to grow very fast.
2. Provides limitless freedom
Many entrepreneurs are drawn to online businesses because of the freedom they offer. Modern technology, laptops, tablets, business apps and VOIP communication systems are just some of the tools that allow businesses to be operated from any location. Next time you are in a Starbucks take a look around -- I guarantee someone is working on their online business or startup while connected to wifi and sipping their favorite coffee.
Not being tied to a particular location or desk from nine to five can be very empowering. Some entrepreneurs don’t know how to balance the freedom and fail miserably, while others use the freedom as motivation to work even harder. Don’t mistake freedom for time to slack off. True entrepreneurs respect the freedom and understand that the hard work is well worth the ability to spend more time with their families and partake in activities that most miss out on because they are part of the nine to five grind.
3. Low overhead and high margins
An online business will often allow you to eliminate some of the huge costs associated with an offline business. Not only can you eliminate things such as pricey office or retail space and long-term lease commitments, but you can also eliminate having to tie up your money in stocking inventory. A drop-shipping agreement with the manufacturer or a manufacture-to-order arrangement can greatly reduce your financial-risk and will allow you to maintain more consistent margins with less upfront cost.
Imagine if you had a business that sold hats and you carried five variations: red, blue, green, yellow and orange. In a physical brick-and-mortar location you would need to keep all of the variations in stock because you don’t know what hat the people walking through your door are coming to buy. If the yellow hats don’t sell you are forced to discount them and take a loss. Selling the same hats via drop-shipping would mean you won’t be left holding unsold merchandise that you have already paid for.
4. Access to a worldwide market
The beautiful thing about an online business is the ability to run it 24/7 without boundaries. There are no geographical boundaries and there are no specific hours of operation -- an online business can produce revenue around the clock, even while you sleep.
With a well thought-out social media plan, search-engine optimization and paid media strategies, an online business can thrive. You have access to the entire world right at your fingertips. The luxury of being able to target specific states, regions and countries gives an upper hand to online-based businesses.
Have you previously invested in an online business or are you considering it in the future? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Lessons from Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns
Learn from the Best
Since Fundable got its start in April 2012, we’ve helped hundreds of startups raise tens of millions of dollars, helping turn prototypes into products and ideas into successful businesses. Though these successful startups run the gamut from mobile apps to fashion lines to restaurants to craft breweries, there are a few universal lessons that can apply to any company looking to jump into crowdfunding. Now, it’s time to learn some lessons from successful crowdfunding campaigns.
Company: Grapevine Craft Brewery
Monday, January 12, 2015
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Don't Take These Jobs If You Want to Get Married
If you have a crush on your dentist, you might be barking up the wrong tree: 81 percent of dentists are already married—the highest marriage rate for any profession. Someone’s chosen occupation, it turns out, can tell you a lot about the chances they’re single, married, divorced, or in some other relationship arrangement. Using Census data and data from the American Community Survey, we charted marriage and divorce rates across occupations from from 1950 to 2010.
The 10 most important life lessons to master in your 30s
A few weeks ago I turned 30. Leading up to my birthday I wrote a post on what I learned in my 20s. But I did something else. I sent an email out to my subscribers (subscribe here) and asked readers age 37 and older what advice they would give their 30-year-old selves. The idea was that I would crowdsource the life experience from my older readership and create another article based on their collective wisdom.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
7 Lessons You Learn in Your First Year as an Entrepreneur
Super successful founders look back on their startups' first year and share their biggest lessons learned.
Few learning curves are as steep as the one that faces first-time entrepreneurs. So how do you avoid going tumbling down it like an amateur skier who wandered onto a black diamond trail? Get advice from more experienced founders who are willing to share their own initial bumbling missteps, of course.
5 New Gadgets From CES That Will Change How You Work
Fresh off the convention floor, these high-tech upgrades are also supremely useful.
At CES this week in Las Vegas, there are gadgets everywhere. A few of them seem superfluous--does a dog really need a video camera collar or will a belt that tightens automatically really help you lose weight? Maybe not. Yet, there are quite a few practical gadgets that could change how you work and help with your next business trip.
The Smartest Money Tips for 2015 From Warren Buffet and Other Experts
Reduce debt, set financial goals, but be sure to invest in yourself.
Want more wealth in 2015? Most of us do, but we're not sure how to get there. To help us figure it out, the finance site GOBankingRates compiled one piece of advice from 11 top financial wizards for the coming year, and invited readers to vote for the best. If there's a consensus among the experts it seems to be this: Invest in yourself and your own smarts; be conservative everywhere else.
That makes a lot of sense. This is the age of the entrepreneur, but with continuing
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