Important Dos and Don’ts When Starting Your Business
Published July 26, 2011 | 
When Starting Your Business
We are often asked about, “What are the most important things to be aware when starting a Business?” I have put together a list of some of the most important “Dos and Don’ts” considerations you need to think about overall before starting your business.
TEN MOST IMPORTANT DOS
- Live thriftily and begin saving up money (your equity-injection) for starting your business.
- Focus on learning all you can about your intended business by first working for someone else in the same kind of business.
- Take into account the benefits of starting your business as part time and then growing it.
- Contemplate the rewards and advantages of starting and operating a family business.
- Be honest and measure your level of skills and training against your potential competition.
- If you’re manufacturing a product, think about subcontracting to low cost suppliers.
- You really need to test market your product or service before starting or expanding.
- Make “for” and “against” also known as “pros” and “cons” list that best describes and illustrates the specific business you are considering.
- Experienced advice is extremely valuable, so talk to as many people as possible in your intended business for advice.
- Compare all your opportunities that you are considering to determine the best.
A significant part of the realities of starting your business is not just the “dos” you need to always consider, but even more importantly are the “don’ts,” which more times than not creates bigger problems than forgetting one of the “dos.”
TEN MOST IMPORTANT DON’TS
- Consider leaving your job even before you have completed a business plan.
- Contemplate starting a business in a field you do not enjoy.
- Risk all of your family’s assets, and limit your liabilities to a predetermined amount.
- Go into competition with your employer by starting business part time.
- Hurry and rush to select a business. Remember, there is no penalty for missing an opportunity.
- Select a business with too great risks or hurdles. Go for the smaller hurdles and less risks.
- Select a business in which you have got to have the lowest prices to be successful.
- Ignore the obviously negative factors and issues of a wished-for business.
- Permit self-confidence to carry more weight in your decisions than careful diligence.
- Allow the promise of theoretical, dreamed about, and too good to be true rewards deter reality testing first.
Small Business Success – Growing a Small Business Takes Time
Published May 27, 2011 | 
Compared to the time it takes to start a small business, growing that same small business takes much more time. Despite what you may have heard on late-night television infomercials, you can’t expect to jump right in and start making millions of dollars or even be profitable in the beginning. What it takes is sustainable, all-inclusive marketing tactics to build your customer leads, your sales, and ultimately your bottom line or profit.
Many of the successful businesses we observe in the economy around us make business success look easy (especially the larger ones). It is important to understand many of them have a highly-specialized marketing and sales staff running their daily operations. 
The reality is that most small business owners can’t afford such a staff, and they are on their own responsible for all aspects of the daily operations, including marketing and sales.
But the good news is that with the correct and precise focus, you can become that dedicated and expert marketing department. Although it requires a little bit of work up front in the beginning, you can get sales leads streaming through the door all by yourself.
Make it a dedicated goal that you will invest some time in educating yourself on a few simple uncomplicated marketing strategies and resources. A whole new level of business growth you never thought possible, will result from the little bit of work you accomplished up front.
If you can become proficient in a few simple areas, you will be well on your way to success.
Don’t try to implement all of these steps at once… that would be way too overwhelming.
Take them one step at a time and build as you go.
Just choose a few of the strategies you want to work on now and start there. Then, little by little, you’ll build up your marketing efforts until you can count on consistent sales and associated work from month to month for the business.
The Next Great Entrepreneurs – Travel and Tourism
Published April 5, 2011 | 
One of the most successful Entrepreneurs and business minds, John D. Rockefeller is quoted declaring that “If you want to succeed, you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.” Which is not only simple, but shines light on the fact that part of the Entrepreneurs independent spirit persona is creating new paths for success that turn out to be much greater than that of accepted traditional success. Given the deteriorating rate of economic recovery, perhaps Global Entrepreneurs have taken his advice to heart–literally.
An overabundance of industry reports indicates that the travel and tourism industry are back, and predicting by the end of 2011, things will be better than ever. 
With total revenue expected to achieve a record of nearly $1.4 trillion, the opportunities expected in the sector will be some of the biggest that has ever been.
The experts aren’t kidding either. Let’s just take into account this set of bright global forecasts for 2011: International trips are projected to jump 5.5 percent, to 95 million; domestic trips will rise 1.2 percent, to 627 million; hotel revenues will go up by 4.4 percent, to $115 billion; travel agencies will bring in over 3 percent more in revenue, making the total approximately over $12 billion; tour operator revenue looks to expand 5 percent, to just under $4 billion; and even the RV parks and campgrounds industry is due to experience an increase in revenue of 1.5 percent, to over $4.5 billion.
You should understand that’s only part of it. As the industry continues its shift online, many opportunities are quickly emerging. The “app” market, for example, has grown from practically nothing to billions of dollars in just a few short years. Smartphone owners love their access to a multitude of Wi-Fi finders, flight status updaters, local restaurant finders, virtual budget booking assistants, translators and much, much more.
Websites offering distinctive and unique travel-leaning services have made a robust performance too. The websites include Wanderfly.com, a made to order travel recommendation travel engine in the same tradition as both Hunch.com and Pandora.com; and we can’t forget Dopplr.com, a site that allows travelers to share their itineraries and get travel advice within their networks.
The online travel community and available tools will continue its growth trends in and beyond the foreseeable future, and by doing so continue improving the efficiencies of the industry as a whole, and thereby increasing demand for travel. It will prove to be a good era for new entries into the industry, and once again prove John D. Rockefeller clearly knew exactly what he was talking about.
The Next Great Entrepreneurs – Business Goes Boomer
Published April 4, 2011 | 
A funny thing happened on the way to retirement. Gen Y is quickly being overtaken as the most powerful demographic by Baby Boomers.
Let’s take a look at what’s happening. The 76 million-strong age demographic has been making banner headlines for providing a lot of market opportunities including construction services that make homes more senior-friendly, supermarkets with senior-friendly lower shelves and wheelchair-compatible shopping carts, and growing sales and tech support by phone for seniors, provided by seniors.
In addition, would-be retirees forgot to retire and are taking over the workforce. Surprisingly to other age groups, almost two thirds of boomers still working expect to remain in the workforce for at least nine more years, and even more surprising by the beginning of the next decade, 80 percent of North American-born workers will be older than 50. Some experts are expecting an even bigger boom in entrepreneurship as healthcare reform begins taking effect in 2014.
Understand that what this evidence means is in the very near future, boomers will have a lot of power. I think it is safe to predict that as boomers continue to age on the road to retirement, employers will definitely have to contemplate creating optional work arrangement choices and other ways to oblige them. The fact of the eminent future boomer takeover is acknowledged by everyone planning for the near-future global markets.
On closer examination, the old stigmas attached to being old continue to lose their significance and doesn’t necessarily mean boomers lose “with it” points. Globally and in the U.S., universities are offering classes, course studies, and gathering important research on boomers and the future.
Here’s a few Interesting Boomer Facts
- Baby boomers are the 1st generation in American history in which the majority has obtained at least some form of higher education.
For Baby Boomers, health care is shifting from a medical topic to a blend of entertainment, fitness, beauty and spiritual well-being.- The top 6 concerns of Baby Boomers are: a) Having enough money to retire; b) Overall financial health; c) Having enough energy to do what they want; d) Having enough money for health care; e) Taking action to prevent disease; and f) Getting good advice from doctors.
- One in four boomers in the U.S. has a second home, and the typical vacation home buyer was 52 years old, earned $82,800 and purchased a property that is 197 miles (median) away from their primary residence. The largest concentration of vacation home buyers is in the Midwest.
- By 2020, healthy living will become a trillion dollar business.
- Gardening is the #1 hobby for adults over 50.
- The median consumer for a new Harley-Davidson cycle is a 46-year old male.
The Next Great Entrepreneurs – Future Creativity
Published April 1, 2011 | “The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.” – Peter Drucker
“Going into business for you, becoming an entrepreneur, is the modern-day equivalent of pioneering on the old frontier.” – Paula Nelson
It’s increasingly difficult to accept as true, but according to several “experts” including the scholarly people at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the economy’s been in recovery mode from the “Great Recession” since June 2009.
Unfortunately, a really big rationale for the resulting stagnation to-date has been, all of us that make up the global market. It’s in our DNA or human nature to wait for economic indicators to turn positive before all of us that are Entrepreneurs are willing to hire and spend.
But Entrepreneurs waiting around is unwise and foolish, and what makes Great Entrepreneurs truly great is the very fact they don’t wait, as the world markets including 
both local and global shout and plead for innovation, and businesses that realize and take advantage, can capitalize on the resources and capital they already have to ignite the next possibilities.
This brings our discussion to the point of identification of some excellent news, which some of you in the market both understand and are proceeding accordingly. Resource constraints naturally stimulate great business practices, and as a direct result the survival rate of new independent business in some sectors is well on the upswing.
Global Entrepreneurship found a very small percentage of businesses actually closed down last year, 
when compared to the number of closures in previous years. Even better yet, many small-business profit margins are at a multi-year high directly because of purely innovative and business process savvy cost-cutting procedures and practices adopted and put in place. Hiring may have stalled in many global sectors, and continues to remain so, guess who’ll be first in line to scoop up new employees when sales activity and revenues begin to slowly increase.
So understand and put the news and dire predictions about double-dip recession, dismal unemployment and the drop-offs in entrepreneurial activity out of your mind. Instead, you should remain focused on the fact that since the financial crisis laid waste to business as you have known, the world is packed and overflowing with business potential just for you.
Lastly, the global economic future will be inhabited by movers and shakers that are the Next Great Entrepreneurs, who even now are poised to take their place of greatness.