Entrepreneurs: Even FREE has Important Value
Published July 16, 2009 | 
Team Altman Interesting News:
A critical concept that every Entrepreneur needs to understand completely and include in their strategies, is the fact that even if you give something away to someone without asking for any money in return, they have already placed a value on the item or information, and that how you present the commodity (i.e. product, information, service, etc.) either increases the perceive value, or lowers it.
Just think, if no one believed there was any value than you would experience poor success in ever giving anything away, and many issues as simple as the time and effort it takes to receive something either adds to, or takes away from the perceived value, a simple but effective concept to remember when designing processes and associated steps customers and website visitors have to go through to reach the final step. The more steps in the process of achievement, the impact is negative on perceived value, and fewer items are given away, and the fewer steps in the process, then the positive impact is greater on perceived value and increased levels of success experienced.
Entrepreneurs need to remember, even when giving away something for free, understanding the presentation and processes for receiving whatever it is, and the impact on perceived value, is critical for reaching the levels of success you want to reach.
The Rest of the Story: http://mashable.com/2009/07/16/free-price/
Web in Numbers: Twitter Back on Track, Wolfram Alpha and More
Published July 9, 2009 | 
Team Altman Interesting News:
It’s always good to regularly check to see what the market thinks about the different social media platforms to make sure you stay on the right course of utilization of the best combination of tools at your disposal, since as Entrepreneurs we need to be ready to change and adjust our strategies to best optimize our efforts and maximize our connectivity with the markets, both locally and globally.
To help you fine tune your entrepreneurial strategies, opportunities and success, check out the rest of the story.
The Rest of the Story: http://mashable.com/2009/07/09/web-in-numbers-twitter-wolfram-alpha/
Global Entrepreneurial Strategies Part 3
Published June 22, 2009 | 
“The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.“–Peter Drucker
It is extremely important to realize that highly successful Global Entrepreneurs go to great lengths to develop and maintain their level of understanding of the entrepreneurial strategies they identify and employ, and the specific impact the strategies have on each phase of their business operations.
The U.S. and Global entrepreneurial strategies discussed so far have been the “leadership” and “imitation” strategies. Another strategy involves the control of a small market and is called the “entrepreneurial niche” strategy that means a “practical monopoly” in a “small segment of the market,” and this strategy aims at making successful entrepreneurs immune to competition and therefore unlikely to be challenged, as the successful entrepreneurs will take the cash and let the notoriety go, since it is not important whether they’re known in the marketplace because they control, their segment completely.
Of course, a drawback to this strategy is there is “very little growth” experienced in the market, depending completely on the size of the market, so that if the number of consumers grows, then the business grows, if the size of the market decreases, then the associated business goes down, and keep in mind this strategy can go down fast, as it can become obsolete almost overnight if someone finds a different way of satisfying the same end use.
A similar entrepreneurial strategy involves “highly specialized skills” that tend to serve a larger niche, or market size, and can put entrepreneurs so far ahead in their field that it’s hardly worth the competition to challenge them since they become the “standard”, and typically the timing of the strategy has to be done at the very beginning of a new industry, a new custom, a new market, or a new trend.
It is important to know of course, that specialty skill niches are rarely found by accident, and results from a “systematic analysis of innovative opportunities,” and in every instance the entrepreneur looks where a special skill can be developed to give their new enterprise a unique controlling position, but once the controlling position is achieved the entrepreneur’s skills must constantly be improved in order to stay ahead of any competition, and maintain market control.
Experience has shown the specialty skill niche is a “highly advantageous position,” especially in the rapidly expanding “new technology industry, or market” where it is the most advantageous strategy. In a new technology, a new industry, or a new market, the strategy offers an optimal ratio between opportunity and risk of failure, or in other words the greatest chance for success and the combination of today’s Internet market and social media represents extremely interesting areas for such success.
Experience has also exposed limitations and it is important to note the greatest threat to the specialty market position, is success itself that turns the niche market into a mass market that is flooded with competition, and presenting the entrepreneur with the challenge of knowing exactly when to “re-adapt the business model” or “sell the business” for the most profit and continue searching for new specialty niche markets to explore and conquer, but the return on investment of time and skills can be extremely high.
Global Entrepreneurial Strategies 2009 Part 1
Published June 20, 2009 | 
“Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.“ –Peter Drucker
In a nation of Entrepreneurs like the United States and other global markets, Entrepreneurs make up the backbone of the global economies, and they will be the ones who create economic growth and the jobs to bring the global economy out of the recession. So when looking at entrepreneurs and their inherent strategies it must be noted that some strategies are purely deliberate and some strategies purely evolve with the market. Of course, the real world, inevitably, involves some thinking ahead as well as some adaptation along the way.
Entrepreneurial innovation has never been part of the institutionalized systems and of large corporations with labor unions, and never will be. Systems have never been able to reproduce the thoughts and passions of genius entrepreneurs, or even the most ordinary competent strategist, and in almost all cases never will, and large systems, processes, and especially the labor unions aren’t designed to encourage the creative and innovative thinking that comes from the passions, of true independent innovative entrepreneurs.
So when we examine the requirements of entrepreneurship we know that good entrepreneurial management is part of the formula along with real entrepreneurial strategies and the strategies for entrepreneurial success are few and simple, but yet difficult, since it takes a true independent entrepreneur to identify the real opportunities which present themselves, especially during times of recession, and recognition of market trends and conditions that create new opportunities is a strong trait that identifies the true entrepreneurs. Additional traits of entrepreneurs are innovativeness and creativity, willing to take risk for their new ideas and innovations, able to anticipate future needs and problems, willing to work independently with self-direction, and a strong sense of competitiveness that comes from the passion inherent to the entrepreneurial spirit.
At the very heart and essence of entrepreneurship is innovation, which is the effort to create purposeful and focused change in economic or social potential, which includes three kinds of innovation. The first kind of innovation is “technological innovation” which is innovation including new products, ideas, and technologies. The next kind of innovation is “economic innovation” which includes entrepreneurship and turning those things into new businesses and industries, and finally, “cultural and social innovations” which are the ability to invent new ways of thinking, new art forms, new designs and concepts that identifies trends in the marketplace and associated opportunities.
These different identifiable components of innovation can share the same thought processes of the entrepreneur as they reinforce each other and overlap, and many times the genius of the entrepreneur is noticed and identified because they are able to apply all three kinds of innovation at the same time to the same problem or opportunity.
As always, the “Entrepreneur Nation” will eventually spur economic recovery, but the timing of the recovery is dependent upon what kind of problems or barriers entrepreneurs encounter with systems and institutions, huge U.S. Government intervention and its related regulations and taxes, that affect how quickly they can adapt their innovations to the marketplace, which will start to create growth and jobs in the U.S. and global economies.
What is the Entrepreneur’s Role as a Leader?
Published June 18, 2009 | 
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”—Max de Pree
“The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict?”—Max de Pree
Part of the responsibilities an entrepreneur has when trying to successfully operate their business is developing the traits and qualities of a good leader, qualities that inspire confidence and trust from not only employees, but customers as well, and the confidence they have that you know what your doing and trust that you will do what you say you will do, in addition to other attributes any good leader must develop and use before anyone willingly follows them.
To be a successful leader the entrepreneur must develop a clear and concise vision needed to inspire people by giving them purpose and direction, and you will get the best out of your team, since it is only natural for people to want to be part of a success story, and it is the entrepreneur’s task as a leader to show them how you can lead them there.
Developing a well thought out plan is critical to accomplish your vision, and the plan doesn’t have to be expansive and elaborate, but you need to clearly define the path which you are going to lead the team on from point A to point B, in simple, clear, concise steps and be sure to assigned timelines with deadlines to each step of the process, and finally, the entrepreneur needs to make sure that everyone is on board with the plan and clearly understands not only their individual roles, but the role of the team as well, to insure the team’s and your success.
If you do not have the instinct, then you must develop the leadership attribute of decisiveness, since no one wants to follow someone who can’t make up their own mind, especially when it comes to what is perceived as small decisions, and this doesn’t mean make unknowledgeable decisions, but first get as much wise input and counsel as you can, and then make an educated decision you can live with and always be ready to make new decisions based on additional information, and remember that informed decisive decisions is a quality of a leader that others are willing to follow.
A successful entrepreneur is able to adapt and make adjustments in the ever changing world of the marketplace, adaptation to new trends, technology, products, and marketing strategies, always working with the plan in mind, and brainstorm with the team ways you can best adapt to changes, implement the necessary changes with the thought always in mind that the plan is a virtual living tool, not static doctrines that would actually be worthless if one could not adapt them to the ever changing marketplace.
Your role as an entrepreneur and leader is only as good as your word, and when it comes to your word, keep it, as in if you tell someone working for you that you are going to do something, then do it, and it is important to remember that it takes time to build the integrity of one’s word, and only a moment to undo all the work, as nothing destroys trust and confidence like breaking your word, for which there is really no excuse.
Genuine praise should be given whenever it is warranted, as it is important to keep high morale for continued high performance, and avoid even the slightest temptation to give false praise unless you want to lessen and diminish the work that’s already been done.
Employees will always notice entrepreneurial leaders that are honest and fair-minded, but they are even quicker to notice dishonest and biased behavior, even the most subtle displays, and great leaders avoid playing favorites and destroying the high morale of the team, always working to build and maintain the successful team.