Yesterday afternoon as I was fishing through junk-mail – I came across a one-million dollar-bill. No, not a bill for a million bucks – but a black and white paper copy of a million bucks, stapled to the top of a legal sized envelope.
I opened it. I wonder if it means that the fake-preneur got his point across? According to the sender — it seems as though I should re-finance my house. Perhaps he doesn’t know that I just sold my house. His letter with the fake money stapled to it went on to describe how I was quite un-smart for not answering his previous attempts to assist me in the refinancing of my property. He stated that he used the money (fake as it was) to get me to open the envelope.
Several things struck me about the guy. Multiple things bothered me about the guy. First of all—he used fake money. Let alone a copy of fake money. He belittled his audience (me) in his letter. He used poor quality paper and made several grammatical errors. But, what really bothered me is that when I phoned his 800 number to tell him to stop sending me fake money and degrading propaganda – he had a very cheesy voicemail message.
If you plan to use cold calling or direct snail mail to get the attention of new customers – you must follow through with professional voice messages or answering services. Now, the fake money culprit was obviously not very professional. And I called him to kind of just prove that to myself. But his letter did promise one on one service and personal attention. His letter promised human interaction.
Cheese heads like that open the door to truly creative people like us. We know our customers don’t want fake money and fake promises. Consumers are sick of the “same old.” You can’t sell quality in a cheesy way. So waste no time sending letters that aren’t proofread or printed cleanly. Each item that holds your name or logo is a direct representation of you.
Class goes a long way. But the world has a way of permanently marking those who take the cheesy way out.
Entrepreneurs have ideas galore! For many of us, we’ll use our ideas to build ventures in an effort to grow those ventures into something big, something great.
Unfortunately, that rate of success to failure is usually pretty low as many of our ideas fall apart and we start to detach ourselves from them as we accumulate better ideas that we wish to push forward with.
When that happens – especially for us serial entrepreneurs – we are left with a bag full of companies that we never really grew either because we didn’t have the means to do so or we simply lost interest in the project.
Money, time, and energy were put into all of these ideas, thinking that they were going to be something big. However, just because you never followed through with the project, it doesn’t mean that the idea was weak – it probably means that your interests lie elsewhere.
Have you ever considered selling those ventures to someone else? If not, you should start thinking about that. Just recently I was thinking about my first company that I ever built (here’s the story) and how it was just sitting around on my hard drive not doing anything.
Though I never really pushed forward with the site – even when it started making me some money – I strongly believe that it’s a viable business and in the right hands someone can turn it into something great. Which is why I plan to sell the service in a few days (stay tuned).
As a young entrepreneur, you are going to accumulate ideas on top of ideas and there comes a point when you have to consolidate your resources into the things that you care about the most.
You’ll need to practice a level of close-mindedness and have the ability to “sell out” on your other ideas and concentrate on the ones that you can really see growing into something big.
Selling Out on your ideas (among other things) can be done in many ways:
Literally selling your old ventures to people to raise cash, solidifying your position
Simply to stop putting time and energy into an idea that isn’t going anywhere or doing anything for you
Stop associating with people who are steering you in a direction that isn’t conducive for growing your business
Blocking out the desire to go in a million directions and start focusing on what you (not other people) want to do with your life as an entrepreneur
Don’t think of selling out as a bad thing, because it’s not. It’s a way to move forward with your business and to gain a superior position with what you are trying to do.
When you’re running a business you should be playing chess, not checkers. Entrepreneurship – to a larger degree – take strategy and plotting; each move you make is going to be critical and you can’t be scared to sacrifice a few pawns when your ultimate goal is to sack that king – to change the world!
Entrepreneurs play a very complicated game in life, nothing is really for certain or a sure fire guarantee, but I think that’s why a lot of us chose this journey, because it is fun, exciting, forever-changing and isn’t the same old boring lifestyle that some experience in corporate America.
However since things can become flagellant and you never really know which way a task will go, you have to plan and strategize to ensure that you hedge your losses.
Since most entrepreneurs also tend to be optimist, they usually look at venturing scenarios or projects from the standpoint that they are absolutely certain that things will work out to maximum capability, which is a good attitude to have.
However it is also important to create and draft an emergency plan of what you will do when something astronomical does happen to take place with your business or a specific project so you can have the proper strategy and plan of action in place.
This is something that many young entrepreneurs often leave out of their planning process, they will hit many other areas, but they will only draft a plan according to if the project is a success.
Think about the tornado and earthquake drills you have to do in school or at your job every so often. These drills are performed so everybody can know and understand what to do if a natural disaster or catastrophic event were to take place.
However just because these individuals want you educated on what steps to take and how to handle these emergency situations, doesn’t mean that they want them to actually occur! The same notion relates to us and our businesses.
So the next project that you are involved in, try to think things through a little more than you normally would. You don’t even have to spend too much time on this specific area, just make a quick note in your head about what your secondary plan of action may be.
One thing to always keep in mind is although you may be planning out your steps that you will result to if your project is not a success, doesn’t mean that you have to begin thinking that it will actually fail. Throughout the whole process of planning and executing always think positively and expect for your venture or project to exceed its full potential
This is, by far, one of the most inspirational and motivational speeches that I have ever heard. Steve Jobs really opens up as he tells us never to give up, always think of your day on Earth as if it’s the last, do things that make you happy, and most importantly….drop out of school if you find that it’s wasting your time.
Can you believe it, Mind Petals didn’t have a group on facebook. Well as of today we officially do and we’re hoping to have many young entrepreneurs join the group and get the discussion going.
facebook is clearly the official social networking site for the college student. From starting back in 2004 until now, facebook continues to grow and grow like no tomorrow. College students are beyond surprised when they find out that one of their friends doesn’t have a facebook account. It’s like: “What are you crazy!?”
So in an effort to spread the word of Mind Petals to more young entrepreneurs, making a facebook group was an awesome direction to go down.
If you’ve been enjoying Mind Petals and know other young entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs in the making that would benefit from our network and our newly founded group, please spread the word and help us spark more minds into the world of entrepreneurship.
In Nelson Mandela’s inaugural speech he said that our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but in fact that we are powerful beyond belief. He said that it is not our darkness, but our light that frightens us. (It’s a great speech, by the way. You should Google it).
I know that I have a tendency to get a little weak in the knees when I score a big gig, or get noticed and complimented by an individual with some sort of power in my industry. (I blame my humbleness on the Catholicism that was force-fed to me for 17 years – but that gives me stories to write, so I have an outlet). Entrepreneurs or not – all of us have to deal with the highs and lows of our self perception and motivation levels.
Entrepreneurs or not – we are all in charge of our own lives and success. However, as entrepreneurs we decide what kind business we want to run. AND WE HAVE CONTROL OF HOW THAT BUSINESS GROWS AND MUCH MONEY WE MAKE.
I’ve struggled through countless dead-end day-jobs, bug –infested studio apartments, and peanut butter and jelly diets in order to call myself my own boss. And I continue to make sacrifices for the sake of living my dreams. But now that I am truly my own boss – the consequences for not following the rules are so much higher.
We set the rules for our business, but when there’s no BIG ENFORCER DUDE to write us up or fire us if stuff doesn’t get done properly – it’s easier to slack off.
I’m guilty of allowing fear to motivate my slack-offness. I’m at a great point in my life, career-wise. A turning point. I can take all this work and opportunity on full force and really kick some ass. But there’s this little evil Jiminy Cricket guy whispering in my ear; make chocolate chip cookies, or go to the mall with your girl friends instead, he says. It’s as if part of me doesn’t really want me to succeed. Perhaps it’s like what Mandela said.
Perhaps it’s the thought that if we finally get to where we want to be – there won’t be anything left to do after that. I really enjoy my work, and I want more of it. And Lord knows I need the money. I know that I’m in this for the long haul, but the constant inner struggle is ever present.
Fighting your fears is a huge part of growing your business. You may have to take leaps out of your comfort zone, and make hundreds of cold calls or attend stuffy meetings to get your word out. You are the boss, so eventually you will also be needed to guide the progress of others in your company.
Each little success will probably bring an ounce of fear with it – and that’s normal. But never let the fear turn into laziness. And never stop working. Just know that we all feel it. I recommend enlist the help of others to round out your overall company progress.
I have this theory that everyone needs and editor, everyone needs to set reachable goals, and everyone needs time away from work.
Fight Your Inner Enemy with These Weapons:
The Editor
You don’t need an actual editor. But you need a close business associate who can be a check point for your progress. Someone who you can spew your ideas at, and who will give you constructive feedback. Someone who you feel comfortable accepting advice from – even if it means “editing” your work a bit. The president has a cabinet, and the entrepreneur needs an editor.
The Right Goals
Set schedules are important. But they’re only good if you follow them. We need to set goals that we can reach. Goals that we can measure the progress of – because we need to see our own progress to keep motivated. Setting short term and long term goals will help you feel less overwhelmed. I think that being overwhelmed is often what causes me to step back and stop working.
Personal Time
Personal time comes after work time. You don’t just take personal time when a whole load of work comes in. Set some standard “you” time – like a consistent day off. But also allow for spontaneity. Never forget that you are still young and cool. Getting out and experiencing the world can help free your mind of your fears and help your creative juices to flow – when you return to the office.
You are an entrepreneur – which means you’ve already accepted that you were put here to make positive changes. You already know that you’re going to make an important difference in the world. But do you realize that the steps you are now taking are already working toward that success? And you’ve already been a great influence to others?
Realizing your greatness can only prove to help the world more.
I never really knew the importance of carrying myself with a little personality until a couple of years ago. I use to think that business was all about business and people didn’t really care how I acted as long as I got the job done.
To a certain degree this use to be true however in today’s climate where competition is very high and consumers/clients have many other options, you have to add as many positive variables into your business as possible.
Many times when you’re negotiating a deal in reality you may be presenting a particular product or service, but hundreds of people in your area may also be presenting the exact same thing. You may try to present and sell on price, but with economic conditions and supply and demand factors, many times your price will be very similar to your competitor’s price as well.
Of course everybody says that they offer superior customer service and support for their clients and customers, but that’s something that the client can’t see and they won’t be able to determine if that is true until after they have made their buying or contract decision, so this isn’t really a major determining factor on the front end of the deal neither.
Ultimately when you’re closing a deal the prospect is going to end up making their decision based upon YOU. That’s right, like my old sales manager use to say at one of my sales positions jobs, “the client is ultimately buying you.”
So while holding this idea in mind always remember to present yourself in a very professional way, but also present yourself as someone who is likable, easy to get along with, intelligent and someone who will be dependable and reliable.
Recently I presented a cleaning bid for my commercial cleaning business. My business partner knew another individual, who in turn knew the office managers of this particular firm we presented the bid to and he’s also the one that told us that they had an open contract.
After going in and presenting my bid we obviously didn’t hear anything from the company because they were not making their decision until around the first of the year.
However my partners contact did recently speak with the individuals from the firm we’re trying to put a deal together with and they mentioned how they liked me as a person and how I presented myself and that our firm is definitely in the front running for the deal.
I’m sure without a doubt I didn’t talk about anything different that other contractors who had performed a walk through and submitted a bid before me didn’t discuss, all we truly talked about was the details of the contract and what they expected to receive from the contractors that they hired.
I was in the office a total of fifteen minutes at the very most; however I presented and carried myself in a certain manner and displayed a likable personality; folks, this is a hidden secret to keep in mind when you’re working on your next deal. It could offer that extra edge that you need over your competitors.
An entrepreneur’s life is about creating a healthy balance between work and personal relationships – because both are constantly evolving and revolving around us. Work never ends. And, family never ends. So we take our work home and our parents to the office (virtually) every day.
An unhealthy or unsettled relationship with loved ones or family members can
be a serious drain on your business success.
I often mention family relationships (particularly with parents) in my column because I have a lot of experience dealing with the ups and downs of those relationships. I come from a very loving and demanding family – lucky me. But, I’ve helped counsel some less fortunate entrepreneur friends who have even been forced to cut ties from their families in order to live a healthy life — and follow their dreams.
As we are all our parents’ children – we can understand the need to want to make them proud. Or even sort of pay them back for what they’ve given us in life. Or –for giving us life! Mothers especially have earned a kind of ultimate respect and forgiveness award from us. I’ve known some moms who’ve done some pretty outrageous things to their children, and have been met with open arms after the anger settled.
Families who can continue to forgive one another for their mistakes become stronger with time. Strong and healthy families are not the families who never fight – they are the families who accept and overcome each other’s differences.
I am a mother now. And I know that not all of you can relate just yet. However, as a mother of what I consider a healthy family – I can tell you that all a good parent wants is for the happiness of their children.
Moms and dads can get crazy- because we/they are just as human as anyone else. But behind it all, you should feel loved unconditionally by your parents. And they should be showing some effort into accepting who you are.
I know of mothers who actually expect their children to “PAY” them back. It IS impossible to give your parents as much time as they have given you — and still go on to live your own life. To pay your parents back properly is to make the most of yourself and what they’ve given you without losing touch with them.
If you are bringing family problems to work or stressing out about seeing your family for the holidays because you are worried about impending arguments – consider changing the way that you deal with your families expectations and problems.
Sometimes professional counseling can be very helpful. I know – everyone seems to have a shrink these days. But its rare to see someone actually admit they need it.
If your parents can’t apologize for their role in hurting you or can go months without speaking to you – that is a serious problem that cannot be taken lightly. And it is pretty much impossible for this negativity not to affect your business.
Many factors, including mental illness, have contributed to the decision of some of my associates to cut ties with their folks. And doing so has not subtracted the love they have for their moms and dads, but it has given them a better self image and overall healthier life.
Because parents are only human – we cannot expect them to be problem free. But we also cannot carry their baggage through life and work with us each day. If dealing with mom and dad ALWAYS makes you feel more bad than good – please do something about it.
Last week I spoke with the founder of CollegeMedium, another new college classified marketplace. Today I learn of Chegg.com, a well establish university classified site that seems to be winning the race amongst many of these sites popping up.
Chegg has over 650,000 textbooks listed in their database and are currently selling items such as furniture, cars, clothing, etc… With their intuitive and clear design, Chegg is extremely easy to use.
Chegg has an ebay look and feel to it, allowing users to sort the listing by highest and lowest price. On Chegg, students are also allowed to swap their services by bartering their items for something, which is a nice little addition.
Though these college classified sites are becoming extremely commonplace, I don’t think that they are having any real impact on Amazon which is probably the number one place that college students turn to when purchasing books for school. But it’s way too early in the game to even begin comparing Amazon to sites such as Chegg, Dormitem, and CollegeMedium.
And as founder of CollegeMedium pointed out: “facebook seems like the next logical step, I strongly doubt that’ll happen. A classifieds site is simply a different form of advertising, which is already facebook’s primary revenue stream. As such, creating a free-classifieds section would seem a bit counter intuitive.” facebook may not even be thinking about entering the market.
But based upon what facebook has written on Dormitem’s buzz page — “You’re on our radar” — I beg to differ.
Another concern that I have for these sites is the fact that publishers are updating textbooks by the year and sometimes even by the semester. I personally remember my professors demanding that we purchased the latest version of a particular book for class. So will many student purchase outdated books? I doubt it.
It’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top or if all these sites can co-exist? But from the looks of it, Chegg has a clear lead in this race and with the recent acquisition of textopedia.com and the $500,000 in funding, things may only be getting brighter for Chegg. However, this is still a very fragmented market and still up for the taking.
In many cases as young entrepreneurs you have to find alternative ways to cover fees, incurring expenses and ways to increase capital cash flows which usually means using debt instruments or in my case taking on a job.
For about six month now I’ve been working another job during the graveyard shift and weekends to help with expenses and find an alternative way to financing.
I’m also an individual that feels like investing is basically another form of entrepreneurship, so I’ve also been taking some of my earnings and investing them in stocks, mutual funds, precious metals like gold and silver and of course my business ventures.
Basically my whole level of thinking is to currently increase cash flows, investments, appreciable assets and to reduce liabilities like debt, expenses, depreciable items and unnecessary purchases.
I’m not the type that really likes to use loans because like I mentioned before I want to keep my debt levels low and I’ve had some bad experiences with credit cards when I was younger and I always try to learn from my mistakes.
So really where does that leave me, it means I need to burn the midnight oil and put a little elbow grease into my efforts and grab another position, which I happen to hate by the way!
Every night and weekend when I go to work I’m reminded of why I chose entrepreneurship as a lifestyle, because being in the rat race just isn’t a level in life that’s conducive to my personality or my individual goals.
Now that I’m working when I use to be in bed resting, I’m usually only getting a couple of hours of sleep per night and I’m always tired throughout the day. In fact usually at least one or maybe even two days out of the week, I will go 24 hours or more without any sleep at all.
However knowing that this is only a temporary pattern and that I have greater opportunities to look forward to very soon helps motivate me, because it is always easier to continue on when you can see light at the end of the tunnel.
As for right now I’m working a fulltime job, operating several entities and going to school fulltime, so you can imagine just how busy my lifestyle is at this point. How long I will keep the job is a mystery, but I’m guessing maybe until this spring when I graduate.
Consistently over and over again I must remind myself of what my father and grandparents always told me when I was growing up,
“Sometimes in life to get to where you want to go you have to do things that you don’t want to do.”
Seasoned web developer, savvy entrepreneur, and a part of the Eventful team, Nate Ritter is full of innovate ideas and information to share with fellow young entrepreneurs. One walk-through Nate’s blog and you’ll be exposed to a slew of technology, business strategy, entrepreneurship, and management articles that’ll leave you feeling a bit smarter than yesterday.
So you’re back to your apartment, dorm, office, or home away from the family and the holiday fixins. And, after a weekend of super sales, traffic congestion and leftover turkey cobblers—many of us can feel a bit out of sync with our regular lives.
It’s hard for anyone to recover after a 3-4 day weekend. But what’s different about this past holiday is that the entire corporate America took a lapse in work. Tis the season for retail business boom. Mall workers put in extra hours so that we can shop at midnight.
But the business world is all but dead—and will be until at least January 15th. CEOs are taking vacations, bosses are going home early and everyone else is holding grab bags and pot lucks. I worked in the corporate realm for years and always kind of looked at this time of year as a great opportunity to sneak up the ladder.
This is the perfect time of year for freelance consultants and copywriters to break into the market or get more clients. While in-house copywriters take breaks – we freelancers can step in to pick up the slack and gain some experience.
Yes, it’s true that there isn’t loads of work to be had at this time, but if you’re at the right place at the right time – you might make some lasting connections. Think about contacting your usual list and maybe some new folks to see if anyone is in need of your services. Good cold calling skills will prove to be your best asset. Check out William’s advice for ways to talk your way to paying work.
You can bank on the business that the snoozing corporate workers leave undone. But you do have to go out and grab it.
This is also a great time to re-connect with distant associates, send personalized holiday cards, take stock of your home office and stock up on all of the supplies that are on sale.
Don’t snooze like the rest of them. Use this time of year to your advantage.
You wakeup every morning and start the day by thinking about how you are going to grow your business. You think about how you are going to improve your services. You think about how much money you are going to make. You think about how many awesome people that you are going to network with that day. You think about how much traffic that you’ll receive on your site. And you think not only “think” about making these things happen, but you “will” it to happen.
And you know what? As time goes by and you continue to think in that same direction over and over again – on such a constant basis that you aren’t even aware of it anymore – these things actually start to happen! The things that you want most out of life start coming to you and your thoughts begin to materialize.
This is what people call the Law of Attraction and it really does make sense. Being a young entrepreneur and understanding the Law of Attraction can be a very powerful thing. It can help you to get anything that you want out of life and grow your business to phenomenal heights that surpass anything that you ever dreamed about.
It’s no coincidence that when things go wrong with your business and you start to think negatively about your venture which leads to negative results. Negative attractive negative and positive attracts positive. There is no mystery to that.
When you understand that your environment – the people you meet, the feats you accomplish, the food you eat, and the things you say – are all direct reflections of your thoughts, then you can begin to start using your thoughts (energy) to start making things happen with your life.
If you want to become a billionaire, then believe that you can. If you want to change the world, then believe that you can. If you want to start one of the most revolutionary and innovative companies in the world, then believe that you can. Once you start believing and accepting, then you are already halfway there – the next step is to take action and just do it!
As entrepreneurs we’re not always going to have all the answers; we won’t have all the bases covered; and we won’t always been 100% confident about something. But that’s OK. You have to push forward no matter what and take action even in the face of uncertainty. Embrace uncertainty. Embrace the unknown.
Because if you do that, and you believe that you can attain anything that you want out of this world, then the chances of it actually happening are so, so, so much greater. You’re always going to attract what you want — your mind is the strongest magnet in this universe.
Wakeup every morning and keep your mind focused on what you want to do with your business; how you want your business to penetrate and affect the minds of the people living in this universe. Keep your goals at the forefront of your mind and never loosen your grip on those thoughts.
The week before last I was really flying high due to all the business related activities I had going on. I had so many deals working that looked promising that I truly couldn’t believe it, because it just seemed too good to be true.
First off I had a piece of real estate property that I helped an investor acquire; the property was absolutely beautiful, the price was great and the seller was all set to go through with the deal. Contracts had been exchanged and a closing date was all set.
The deal looked like a surefire bet and I was already thinking about how I was going to spend my consulting fees from the deal! Then on top of that I had another property that was looking like it should sell.
You see one of the real estate investors that I’ve been working with on a lot of projects had a property that they were trying to liquidate on the west coast, so they offered me the opportunity to help them market the property and accumulate qualified leads.
So that is what I did and we received an excellent response from buyers. One lady was all set to go through with the deal, so once again I was thinking about how I was going to spend my bonus!
Then with my cleaning business my partner and I had a deal working that was beginning to look solid. We were about to acquire a contract that offered a good revenue stream to our business and didn’t have very demanding terms.
Once again I just knew the deal would go through and I was thinking about how I was going to re-invest my half of the monthly contract check! However I would have to put all my big time spending plans on hold suddenly.
A long story short, both the property deals fell through: one because the lady found something else she liked and the other because the property owner’s “secret” business partner which we knew nothing about, wanted out of the deal.
The cleaning contract we were about to get fell through because the old company who “supposedly” was no longer interested in the building due to conflicts with the office managers worked out all their differences and received a contract extension.
My Dad told me there would be days like this and I’ve experienced them before, but boy do they hurt! To go from having three deals that seem sold up to going to nothing back to square one isn’t the greatest motivator I can think of.
However after this happened I went right back to work even harder trying to accumulate deals to put together. I realized that I had to get back out there and try to make something happen again!
To all my fellow young and aspiring entrepreneurs, don’t get upset when business dealings don’t go your way,
Just get back in the game
I can promise you sooner or later things will fall into place in a big time way!
Here are some awesome, awesome, awesome quotes from the movie “The Secret”. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but by the looks of these quotes, I definitely will. Wow, these messages got my mind thinking and I hope they do the same for you.
Mind Petals Advisory Board member, Carolina Salas, and I have put together a list of resources for women entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs are doing big things in the world of entrepreneurship, helping to shape the new direction of technology, innovation, and startups.
I build companies, it’s what I love to do. I’m in a different stage of my life–it is no longer the build and sell. I want to build a legacy–something that will last for a long time. We came up with a simple model of bringing humanity back to air travel, and making a difference. Becoming a better company, being the best in a really bad industry.
As an entrepreneur, you never — ever, ever, ever — want to stop asking questions. I was reminded of the power of asking questions while driving home from a Thanksgiving gathering in Connecticut this afternoon as my younger brother started asking a million and one questions while in the car driving back to New York.
No matter how much you know or how much you don’t know – it doesn’t matter – you should never stop trying to gain more answers in life. I would venture to say that some of the most successful entrepreneurs in life were ones in class who asked their teachers a ton of questions during class, even to the point where the teachers would become extremely annoyed and the students would start calling them suck-ups. I was like that.
It’s in your best interest to be as inquisitive as you can and to feed your thirst for knowledge whenever possible. There is so much that we can learn in this world and by not asking those who have the potential to share their knowledge, would be doing a huge disservice to yourself and your future as a successful entrepreneur.
By asking questions, you are admitting to yourself that you don’t have all the answers and that you are willing to learn more. You are allowing your intellect to grow and expand as you begin to grasp subjects that you once had little or no idea about. Sure, studying and doing your research is a must, but when you throw questioning into that equation, you become a powerhouse of knowledge.
While starting a business you’re bound to run into many, many, many obstacles that will leave you feeling clueless at times. When you find yourself in such a situation, don’t be scared to reach out to those who can help you overcome and get through your particular situation.
A few weeks back I interviewed the founder, Daniel Scudder, of college classified site Dormitem and since then, guess what, I have come across another college classified site known as CollegeMedium.
At this rate, there will be more college-based classified sites on the net than we can handle. But the question is: Which site is going to reach that critical tipping point? Which site will win this race or can these sites coexist?
Or maybe the real question is: When will facebook step into the mix and create a classified system of their own?
When comparing Dormitem and CollegeMedium head to head, I think that both sites are heading in the right direction and offer equally powerful systems to help college students; but in terms of design, I’m going with CollegeMedium.
Here’s the interview with CollegeMedium founder, Emmanuel Azih:
What’s your case that makes your site better than Craigslist?
Cragislist is a great service that relies on the good nature of human beings. It is with this embedded trust that such a site thrives and succeeds.
CollegeMedium, on the other hand, plays an active role to ensure the protection of our users. For example, since only students are allowed to post items for sale, most transactions will occur on campus, which limits the temptation of crime or fraud based on false identities or interests.
In addition, CollegeMedium has certain restrictions on the site to ensure that Jobs, and Housing can only be viewed by student accounts as determined through facebook or a valid .edu address.
Would you say that you have a superior service that Dormitem.com and why?
It would be unfair to compare Dormitem to CollegeMedium as CollegeMedium intends to connect students with non-students while Dormitem’s simply serves as a marketplace for students.
From a web design or aesthetic perspective, I’ll let the readers come up with their own conclusions.
Aren’t you scared of facebook implementing a classified service and rendering your site among many other college classified sites obsolete
overnight?
facebook is a great utility that we’ve strongly incorporated in CollegeMedium. However, when people go to facebook, they go there to browse profiles and ‘poke’ hotties, not to buy and sell items, find jobs, or roommates.
Furthermore, while integrating a classifieds section onto facebook seems like the next logical step, I strongly doubt that’ll happen. A classifieds site is simply a different form of advertising, which is already facebook’s primary revenue stream. As such, creating a free-classifieds
section would seem a bit counter intuitive.
Why do you think so many college students are focusing on classified services and which are the ones most likely to succeed?
Well the potential is tremendous, and everyone recognizes that. The difficult piece is connecting all the schools together and getting students
to use the site. facebook has successfully done that with their social utility. At CollegeMedium we’re not focused on having a college or student-only classifieds site. We simply want to connect students with non-students, companies, and other students from surrounding schools.
The sites that are most likely to succeed have to recognize that focusing on students alone may seem like a great idea, but to successfully gain
user-generated content it must be open to non-students as well.
Be honest: if you came across CollegeMedium and Craigslist 2 years ago, which one would you use?
Well it depends on my needs. If I’m looking for a student to perform a part-time job, or even a student roommate I’ll wholeheartedly visit
CollegeMedium to fulfill that need. Alternatively, if I need someone with a few years of experience then Craigslist would most certainly be the better
option.
How was it being an entrepreneur at Georgia Tech? Come across a lot of startups over there? Can you talk about any?
Funny thing is at Georgia Tech I never really thought I’d end up an entrepreneur. I was studying Electrical Engineering in hopes of making that
a permanent career. Promptly after graduating, I found a gap between students and non-students and I’m simply trying to bridge that gap.
How have your marketed your service and what has been most effective in getting the word out?
Georgia Tech has been really supportive. They were actually the first to write an article about the site and since then we’ve been featured in a lot
more magazines in the Atlanta Area. I personally believe if you build something that’s worth talking about, people will talk about it.
With Thanksgiving less than a week away – I’m already dreading the trip home. My mother has informed me that she needs my help cooking (which I absolutely love to do). But she also dished out the restrictions: No fancy pumpkin stuff, no pasta and no fruit pies. She hates fruit pies.
But Ma, I said… I don’t really eat meat anymore. Oh I know… she says. I don’t either. The only meat we’re having is turkey, pork roast and ham. I guess her theory is: if it doesn’t moo it aint meat.
Our phone conversation poked holes in my sprouting ulcer and my culinary ego. I want to show off. I want to arrive with trays of beautiful baked goodness, and have my whole family be like oh we can’t believe it’s vegetarian. I want to somehow bring them into my world for a bit, and let them taste something new.
We compromised. And that’s pretty much what we have to do if we are going to remain civil with each other.
If you are dreading the holidays – ask yourself why. As an entrepreneur you need to remember that you are a natural problem solver. I know that your family may be set in their ways – but family relationships don’t always have to remain stagnant.
It’s MUCH harder to break set patterns than it is to establish new connections with clients. But, compromises can usually be made.
When sticky situations arise (and they often do around this time of year) – think of Mom, Dad and Aunt Betty as clients. How would you mediate the vegetarian situation on a traditional meat lover’s holiday with parents who are all about the Atkins way of life?
The holidays are hard for mould breakers who’ve broken away from the nest. So, this week, I’m going to fill your plate with practical suggestions for coping with the upcoming family season.
I have a bunch of tips and ideas that I’ve used to kind of train my parents. But, if you have specific topics or questions you’d like me to cover- don’t hesitate to ask.
We live in a highly visual environment. Less time and more stimulation, means we rarely have the time nor the want to read the fine print. Your company’s graphic design and the colors you use greatly influence consumers.
Federal Express is a good example. The combination of their highly descriptive name and their use of the colors red, white and blue, subconsciously relay the message: just like the government post only quicker.
But the use of color is not just as simple as that. Age, race and gender also play a part in color psychology and are frequently being used to target specific markets.
For example white in North America is a symbol of purity, the stranglehold of the bridal market however, in China white means death. So to export a million white bridal dresses to China would more than likely lead to bankruptcy.
The subconscious message you are trying to relay to your consumer will also be dependant on their experiences. Raising a white flag for example, won’t mean surrender to someone who has never been to war or seen a war movie.
Here is a list of colors and their meanings. See if your company is relaying the right message. Look around and see how your competitors are relaying their color message is it more effective than yours?
Last night while attending the Tech Crunch party here in New York City, I met a fellow young entrepreneur who handed me a very unique business card with his image/contact info on one side and an image of a beautiful girl on the other side.
The shape of the card was pretty unique as well: it was a slender rectangular shape, not like the usual larger rectangle which is typical of most business cards.
I was definitely impressed with the design of the card and asked what company he got it from. He told me of a company called Moo that allows you to customize your own cards with images from your flickr account. How cool!
I checked out the Moo site today and was definitely impressed with all the creative styles that people have come up with for their business cards. So much so, that I plan to order myself some of these nifty cards. I think that’d they would also make great Christmas gift as well.
These cards are bound to help people remember your business once you hand them to someone – they’re just that cool! So get creative, add some nice flickr images to your Moo cards, and start networking with your new and improved biz cards!
Oh, and by the way, the Tech Crunch Party was hot! Thanks Michael and everyone else who put together such an amazing party. Good stuff.
Hi my name is corporate America, why don’t you come have some fun with me and join my party buddy. What, you want to hang out with entrepreneur instead; are you mentally insane! Why would you strike out on your own like some renegade when there is a whole corporate America out there that offers you great opportunity?
Do you need me to spell out all the excellent jewels you will be missing out on? Fine I will, but I promise you after I’m done explaining what you’re missing, you won’t want to even think about that entrepreneur crap anymore!
For starters you’re missing out on a pure opportunity of a lifetime. Everybody knows that entrepreneurs end up owning their companies one day, becoming richer while their employees slave and labor to make the owner wealthier, but the employees continue to grow poorer and further in debt themselves. Now which would you want?
Also don’t forget about the set pay you will receive in corporate America, we will give you a nice steady eddy pay check, most likely with little deviation and we will work you to death, keep you around the office all night.
Yup, that’s right we will have you pulling your hair out trying to reach deadlines in hopes of you one day receiving a promotion, which we will pass you up on despite your loyalty and qualifications and give it to the next guy or gal who is less qualified, because they learned the art of tush kissing and you didn’t. Are you convinced yet to leave that entrepreneur stuff alone, O K let me go deeper.
I almost forgot about creative control, that’s right-we will offer you absolutely zip, nada, zero, NONE!
Sure we will make you sit in conference rooms all night with other stuffy pencil pushers trying to think up great ideas, but when you come up with one, we will do you a favor and shoot it down or either if it’s really good, we will just take all the credit for you and receive the large bonuses when the project is a great success! That way we keep the pressure off ya kid, you know what I mean?
Then there are the BENEFITS! Ahh, now I know that I’ve got you hooked. Old entrepreneur can’t offer you those nice secure 401K’s, Stock Options and Pension Plans can he?
Of course he can’t, the best he can do is offer you loads of residual income, cash flow and assets in hopes of you placing all your income into your own investment avenues, what type of friend is he!
Of course after we make great promises to you about your secure retirement assets, we will however have to quickly cut them in half or possibly even take them away. Now calm down and don’t overreact; now I told you I’m your friend so I would never leave you high and dry like that without giving you some sort of reward.
Instead of you having to work 25 plus years, I’m going to give you an early retirement due to your years of hard work and hump busting! That’s right when you’re in debt up to your eyeballs, have bills to pay and a family to support, I’m going to give you a MANDATORY permanent vacation, some refer to it as downsizing, rightsizing or layoffs.
Whatever you call it, it’s the same right, just like there are different ways to say tomato. Now old entrepreneur would never offer you these benefits, because when you’re running the streets with him, you will have complete control over your job security, your investments and when you want to retire. Well doesn’t that just take all the fun and excitement out of it!
Now I know that you have to be convinced about corporate America now! So let me ask you, do you still want to be an entrepreneur?
Elise had never in her life been called ma’am before she started comparison-shopping credit card services. In the last two hours, seven different customer service reps had called her ma’am.
“What about monthly fees?
“None.”
“Equipment costs?”
“Free for as long as you keep our service.”
“Installations, signup, up-front, or first-and-last fees?”
“Just the $35.95 due when we set up the card scanner. Our technician will do his best to integrate it into any standard POS station software.”
“POS?”
“Point of Sale station. Your cash registers if you are using any computerized sales or inventory tracking.”
“Oh. Um…I haven’t decided what I am doing for that yet. I am just shopping around right now.”
“Well, if you have one, our technician can usually integrate the credit card scanner in a couple of minutes, but if you choose to use paper invoicing, the our unit can stand alone just as easily.”
“Awesome. Thanks so much for your information.”
“You too, ma’am. Thank you for calling…”
Elise hung up the phone and checked her notes. Dave had strongly recommended she do some serious compare/contrasts on the credit card verification service she chose. His advice was obviously well founded. In two hours of call she had been quoted service charges ranging from 0.45% to over 6% of sales, with installation, equipment and signup charges ranging from absolutely free to over $600. Each service promised to work directly with her bank, depositing charges anywhere from 20 minutes to 48 hours after verification.
This was something Elise was not used to in consumer commerce. As an end user, competing pressures and lots of advertising ensures that companies offering similar services offer them at roughly the same prices, or at least within the ballpark of the same prices. Enterprise services however, especially within banking, seemed like another world. Even when she was setting up her checking account for the business she found that the range of charges and services between banks varied erratically, with no clear relationship between pricing and features.
Some of the companies she just called would end up costing her business literally hundreds of dollars more a year for the exact same service. Elise felt she was likely to be spending a lot of time on the phone in the next few weeks.
I just spent seven bucks for a portrait package (pics of my son) – and I’m not going to even say from where. Because, quite frankly-I’m a bit embarrassed for shopping there. But, I don’t have a lots of cash and $7 seemed like a good deal.
I should’ve known when the photographer first showed me the photos on the computer screen that they would come out too dark. But she insisted that their “finishing touches” would make my son look “just adorable” in his little monkey costume. So I bought her schpeel, paid my 7 and waited a month to get my pictures.
Despite my previous skepticism—I was pretty excited to pick up the photos today. The smiling cashier handed me my envelope after making me wait about 20 minutes – so she could chat with co-workers. I opened them, frowned and got in the car to head for the grocery store. The pictures sucked and there was no way I was sharing them with my family.
In the long run – my $7 portrait package cost me about $12 in gas and at least 2 hours of stress. I just had to return the darn things. I wasn’t going to settle for sub-par quality. I had to fight with Customer Service because the cashier did not give me a receipt (as if I’d gotten the portraits at some other place called “Wal…).
I know I did the right thing by not just swallowing the money and hiding the pics in the drawer to give to relatives we don’t like that much.
We don’t have lots of money to waste. In fact – none of our money should be wasted. We need to be satisfied with our purchases, and purchase from places that sell quality. Always trust your gut when it comes to this. If a fancy restaurant makes your soup cold or their coffee burns your mouth – say something.
Don’t settle for stuff you don’t love because someone sold it to you for cheap. Every penny counts. And, when more of us demand excellence – there will be more excellence to choose from.
Would Donald Trump be as successful if he’d called Trump towers, ‘Tower on the Park’? Would Rachel Ray be as merchandised if her show was called ‘Cooking in the Kitchen’ instead of ‘Everyday with Rachel Ray’?
There is a lot in a name and sometimes there is no better name than your own.
By literally naming Me Inc. after yourself you immediately give yourself notoriety which in turn builds a brand that people come to recognize.
Example:
A small restaurant in downtown New York opens. It’s called 51st&3rd. 51st&3rd does great business over the next five years. They build up a steady base of clientele and get a great Zagat rating.
The owners, a husband and wife couple work hard to keep the business afloat and manage successfully to build a mini empire.
Then something unforeseen happens, their building gets bought out and they have to vacate.
Can you have a restaurant on 42nd & Lennox called 51st&3rd? No.
Had they called their restaurant after themselves they could pick up and move on. They could have franchised and built a mini restaurant chain in different states, countries, an off shoot catering business, a selection of cookbooks, cooking seminars.
Now I’m not saying that every business should be named after the owner. Some owners prefer to remain anonymous. Some might even argue that to name the business after themselves can diminish its on-sell price. To that I have one word: Walt Disney.
People pay money for a brand not a business.
The most important thing is to build that brand quickly and efficiently. A locally, globally recognizable brand sells itself.
The intelligent entrepreneur is one who surrounds himself with an army of people who are smarter than him. The entrepreneurs that have incredible breakthroughs are the ones who are able to effectively attract and partner with people who can do things “brilliantly” that you can only do “decently” at best.
When it comes to entrepreneurship, if you surround yourself with less than stellar individuals, you will always be bound to mediocrity. In order to really take your business to the next step, you’ll want to continually challenge yourself with individuals who really know their s&*t.
It’s one thing to be a solo-entrepreneur and run a business all by yourself – that’s cool – but it’s another thing when you’re not consistently surrounding yourself with excellence – not cool.
Why has Bill Gates maintained his dominance after all these year? Believe me, it’s not because he is a brilliant coder; he’s admittedly a decent one a best. He’s been able to stay on top of the world because Microsoft isn’t in the business of hiring mediocre people; they’re in the business of hiring insanely smart people who are extremely dedicated to the world of technology and innovation.
Surrounding yourself with greatness isn’t a linear thing; it can be done be done in many ways:
Attend conferences and events with market leaders. Make it a habit to reach out and make connections.
Keep in touch with those friends who are experts on particular subjects. By speaking to them, you’ll broaden your knowledge base considerably.
Ask for the business card of someone who you think would make an excellent fit to your company; someone who thinks disruptively and can nudge your venture to the next level.
Once you’ve found talent, do everything in your power to maintain that talent. In the long-run, you’ll be glad that you did.
It’s so, so easy to fall into the trap of only surrounding yourself with people that you feel comfortable with – that’s just human nature. But you need to make steps outside of human nature; you have to step into uncomfortable environments where people can really shatter what you thought you knew. Because with that shattering and uncomfortably experiences, comes growth.
As MTV reality show says: “You think you know, but you have no idea.”
In a previous column I wrote about my current business’s success in raising monetary and material donations for the school, just by asking for aid and clearly explaining what was needed.
A few weeks ago, we set out to raise more money. This time it had to be cash, cement blocks and 2×4s would not do. We needed to purchase several pieces of electronic sound equipment to make and edit a full music CD. The CD is a collection of Christmas music played entirely by the students and set for sale to locals and parents.
When we set out, we had some doubts that the money would materialize. We felt certain that we had already received as much financial support as the local community was prepared to offer. In an attempt to make giving to this cause more palatable, we offered to put the name of any donor on the inside of the CDs cover.
The result surprised us. A whole array of businesses and business owners who politely rebuffed us several months earlier, eagerly competed to give us fifty a hundred, even two hundred dollars a piece in exchange for that sponsor credit. We raised the funds almost painlessly.
It just goes to show, even charity is better if there is something to sweeten the pot. Name recognition comes easily to a free music school supporting the entire community of a small island. That same name recognition is more difficult for the small dive-shops and boat-rental companies that made up the bulk of our new donors. Goodwill is more difficult to get, more difficult to maintain, and ever so much more vital for their profit margin. We were happy to share our exposure in exchange for their money.
Remember that Goodwill can and should be treated as a tangible asset. If you have plenty of exposure, try selling a bit of it in exchange for favors, friendship, or just cold hard cash (the way we did). If you do not have enough, look for someone who does and try arranging a trade. You might be surprised how many individuals or non-profits out there already have all the name recognition you so desperately need, but are not using it. A strategic partnership could greatly benefit you both.
At some point I’m going to have to learn to keep business ideas, pursuits and plans under wraps, because there are dream snatchers everywhere. I’m sick and tired of bumping into people who are supposedly associates or even friends, expressing a project that I’m after or working on, then finding out that they have gone behind my back and tried to work the same function.
Once I was speaking with one of my own family members discussing a new business that I was working on creating, which at the time happened to be a wholesale car purchasing and brokerage company.
Since I use to work in the automotive sales industry, I had a lot of connections in the field, understood how the whole process worked and knew wholesalers who were making a ton of money.
So I tell this family member my idea that I’m working on and he’s just listening tentatively and then he would say something like, “Well how do you plan on getting started in a business like that?” So I would explain in detail the process.
After the discussion he tells me, “I’ve got to tell you, you’re on to something pretty big there.” So then a week later this same person comes up to me saying that he has a new business plan that he’s trying to construct for a new venture he’s pursuing.
Initially I think, “Wow that’s great,” because I love to see others, especially my own family members pursuing operations within the area of entrepreneurship. I ask him what venture he planned on creating and he then explains to me with a straight face that he had come up with this awesome idea to create a car brokering business.
I said, “You stole that idea from me! Wasn’t I just explaining that business idea to you just a week ago?” Of course he denied having gathered the idea from me and said that he had thought of this venture over two years ago. Yea right and I am George W. Bush.
So anyway I chose not to venture into the field really for other reasons and a much more enjoyable and potentially profitable business became available and I pursed that instead of the car brokerage business. The last I heard this family member made some attempts at getting his venture off the ground, but I don’t think he succeeded at it.
I could tell story after story explaining how people tried to undercut me and steal my ideas, venture creations or even contracts that I was after. Just learn to keep your mouth shut and speak to those who need speaking to and avoid engaging in frivolous conversations which offer no benefit or opportunity for your growth.
Are people just getting nicer in my older age – or am I completely oblivious to reality? I’ve recently been given a sweet opportunity that’s topped with more layers of sweet goodness—an opportunity that anyone in my shoes would love.
I met someone who believes in my vision and wants to help make it more of a reality. I met someone who sees it the way I do, and is offering help for the pure sake of art.
Could I ask for more?
I’m accustomed to reaching out and helping other writers, artists and entrepreneurs. But, I found myself second guessing the motives of this seemingly wonderful help-offer-er. My gut tells me that he is sincere – but all of my friends tell me to be careful.
So that’s why I waited a week before I answered his call.
It was the internet and links and cyberspace that brought us together – and I believe that’s where the skepticism was born. I did not reach out to the helper. The helper reached out to me via e-mail.
It’s true that anyone can send you an e-mail and ask you to meet with them. It’s also true that a lot of crazy crap goes on in this world, and you’ve got to be aware of your surroundings at all times. But good honest people do exist. And if you are wondering why someone is reaching out to you– it’s most likely because you deserve it.
I’ve spent years in front of my computer sending manuscripts, resumes and grant applications. I’ve followed up with 90% of the contacts that I’ve made over the years. And I still don’t have a book deal. The help-offer-er who contacted me was never on my list of people to call. I’d never heard of him.
I’ve also spent years tutoring writing and doing everything I can to help my fellow writers succeed. This opportunity may be the product of all my hard work.
Life usually happens like this. Stuff comes in disguise and not always from the direction you are expecting. The internet may be full of uni-bombers and porn stars – but it is also full of good people who would otherwise not have the chance to know you. So, if someone reaches out to you give them a chance.
I used to think that I was the only entrepreneur in the family. My parents never ran their own businesses. Actually, I found out years later that my father ran a small clothing business at one point in New York City before I was born. And over the past 2 years or so, two out of my four brothers suddenly became extremely entrepreneurial.
I was very happy to see my brothers step into the world of entrepreneurship. Like me, they always had it in them, but just unleashed their desires to create a company a bit later than I did.
My older brother, Darius, launched his own mortgage company on Long Island at the age of 24. He’s doing a phenomenal job and he’s becoming more and more established as the weeks go by. It’s his aim to become a full-fledged bank within 3 years of operation.
The brother below me, 21 year-old Danny, jumped into the entrepreneurship scene just over a year ago as he started his film company by creating music videos for famous rappers such as Wu Tang Clan and interviewing people such as “Fat Joe” (yes, he lives up to his name).
I was truly impressed when I found out that he was able to network with these well established artists. Sometimes even being invited to their homes to hang around and relax. Over the past year, he’s built up a list of clients and fattened his portfolio by creating free and low budgeted music videos for these artists. He eventually wants to break into feature films.
Sure, it’s awesome being an entrepreneur. But it’s even greater when you have brothers, sisters, or parents who are also entrepreneurs. It gives you that extra boost of confidence knowing that you’re not in it alone and that your family members understand what you’re going thought — the bumpy journey to success.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve always been big on trying to coax my siblings to become entrepreneurs. Yeah, people should be able to choose their own route in life. But if you’re an entrepreneur and you see that same sparkle in the eyes of your brothers or sisters, then help them unleash that desire!
You will have family members who are so caught up in “playing it safe” that they’ll suppress their entrepreneurial spirit their entire lives without ever giving it a shot. If you can do anything to prevent that, then do it now.
Educate your family:
Lend them books of entrepreneurs who made it big.
Sit down with them and share your plans and offer ideas on how they can build a business.
When you accomplish something big, show them how you did it.
These things, and many more that you can think of, may help fan that flame towards stepping over to the world of entrepreneurship. And if it doesn’t, well, at least you tried, eh?
Do you have any family members who would make great entrepreneurs but just don’t want to give it a shot?
On Monday, I wrote about the individual, catering to a market of savvy consumers who are no longer interested in brand worship. Fellow mindpetals columnist, Gina Laverde’s comment, “is unique the new same?” couldn’t sum it up better.
Yes unique is definitely the new same.
Last night at the launch of Samsonite’s new Alexanda McQueen luggage range we once again witnessed the trend to cater to the individual.
Among the range of ‘black label’ leather goods, a bag inspired by the human form – including rib imprints and crocodile prints for days a new range of vintage handbags have been released with a ‘DYI’ feel.
Each bag, although the same size and shape allows the customer to choose their own fabric, trimming and essentially, individualize a mass market product.
Reality shows such as ‘Project Runway’ have increased the yearning for everyday people to be fashion designers, singers, directors, lovers, husbands, wives ect. And so, this new line of bags caters not only to the savvy consumer seeking an individual touch to their accessories but to the reality market who long to have a say in their own style.
It’s yet another example of business recognizing the individual, making each consumer feel special, original and unique.
There is a reason that I always try to give back to others in my community that are in need if I truly have the opportunity to. It is largely due to the fact that when I was younger and in need somebody reached out a hand and gave to me.
This individual didn’t give me the typical materialistic items that come to mind when you mention the word “needy” like food, cloths or money. Instead he reached out to me with much more beneficial and longstanding possessions like knowledge, wisdom, hope and inspiration.
This person that I’m speaking about was my high school counselor/ social worker and his name was Steven. Steven was only in his late 20’s and had not been out of college very long so everybody in school typically listened to what he had to say more than some greasily old teacher who didn’t have a clue what life was like for a teenager in the late 90’s.
I could easily write a whole article or even an essay about how Steven took me under his wing as a mentor, taught me about the importance of life goals, work ethic, money saving habits, Christian values and even ultimately inspired and helped me to get admitted into college.
However this article isn’t focused on Steven per say, but instead on one of his quotes that he use to mention to me. That quote was, “You can learn a lot from a dummy.” Now I’m sure you’re familiar with this saying, it was made famous in the late 80’s to mid 90’s because it was the slogan for drunk driving commercials.
Steven taught me to apply this rule to life and the fact that you really could find strong lessons from the stupid mistakes that others committed without impeding the same faults yourself. Imagine if you use this quotation with your venture and entrepreneurship, you could save yourself loads of time and wasted money.
For instance if a person jumps off a bridge and splatters their body all over the concrete fifty feet below, do you really need to follow and do the same thing before you realize that it probably isn’t a smart move; Heck no, you know that it’s not a good thing to do just by judging the outcome of the person who tried it before you.
O K, so this example is a bit extreme and very basic, but I’m sure you realize my point. Using another example more close to home for us entrepreneurs, if you’re in the bottled water distribution business and one of your competitors has attempted to target middle school kids outside schools and their company sales suddenly dropped greatly.
Then you can learn from their mistake to ensure that you don’t try to target that market, but instead penetrate another area which possibly offers greater opportunities. The fact that you didn’t ignore their short comings and fallacies would allow you to have a competitive advantage and this knowledge was free of charge at your competitor’s expense.
I know that entrepreneurship and business sometimes can be very complicated career fields, however since society has continued to transpire and develop into a complex world many human beings have skewed away from the basics of life.
However if you can learn to embrace basic knowledge, common sense and practical principles like the one I just discussed then you stand a chance of developing a competitive advantage over others who fail to recognize, choose to ignore or simply don’t capitalize upon the subtle and simple lessons in life.
Here’s a question for you established entrepreneurs: if starting capital were not an issue, would you be doing the same thing right now?
This is a fantasy scenario. If someone had, the day before you committed yourself to your current venture, offered you a blank check and said, “Do anything you want with it, as long as it is a business,” what would you be doing differently?
For me, it is tempting offer a flippant, “oh nothing,” and insist that my current venture, a free music school for underprivileged children in Honduras, is everything I could ever want. I might smile and intimate that being better funded would be nice, but is merely a matter of scale.
That would almost be true—almost, but not quite.
Given an additional twenty, or forty, or sixty thousand dollars, I would probably be doing the exact same thing, but bigger. Given a real cart blanc, however, given hundreds of thousands, or millions, I would skip the middle step.
The purpose of the school, though most visibly to teach children how to play music, has always been about multiculturalism. It is about expanding horizons. It is about exposing world-wide tourists to Trinidad music, poor children to performance art, performance artists to educators, teachers to students, the rich to the underprivileged, and, incidentally, my pocketbook to a living wage.
I have bigger plans, bigger ideas, that I cannot afford to pursue right now. Every once in a while, I find it helpful to pause and recall that fact. I think my mental health benefits from remembering that no matter how hardscrabble and corporeal my current business is, it’s not all I have in me. I could do more. I can do more. And when the funding becomes available, I will do more.
Over the past few weeks I have spent well over $100 (and going) trying to resolve various server issues that I’ve been having with my sites. It’s been a very frustrating ordeal and has left me in the dark at times.
However, the entire situation has forced me to learn more and more about servers. Not just the bare basics, but a real in-depth understanding of what’s really going on. It’s still an ongoing battle that should be resolved within the week or so, but money continues to be spent and time continues to add on as the days go by.
I am really starting to see, first hand, that running into issues with your venture that initially result in the loss of money, clients, and time can be a blessing in disguise. Sure, it sucks while you’re going through it and you can’t help but feel despondent at times, but your business is going to come back strong than ever if you fight through the obstacles.
If it takes losing money in order to learn how to do something right or improve upon something to make it even better, then you simply have to accept that that’s just a part of being an entrepreneur – money will be lost and unintended hours will be allocated to remedy the problem.
Looking back, I have been losing money ever since my first project. But at the same time, I have been growing wiser and more efficient in my ways. Whenever money is lost or I am forced to spend money in order to get the job done right, I always make sure that I fully understand the pitfalls that led me to spend or lose that money.
By having a true understanding of your mistakes, you are less likely to fall into the same traps and end up continuing to have to unload more cash – cash that can be used for better things.
So always remember that you aren’t necessarily only losing money when you are forced to correct your errors and make improvements, but you are taking steps to ensure a future for your company even though it may not feel like it. Just keep pushing forward, no matter what!
What have you lost money on? And did you learn from it?
Last week I 
You wakeup every morning and start the day by thinking about how you are going to grow your business. You think about how you are going to improve your services. You think about how much money you are going to make. You think about how many awesome people that you are going to network with that day. You think about how much traffic that you’ll receive on your site. And you think not only “think” about making these things happen, but you “will” it to happen.
As an entrepreneur, you never — ever, ever, ever — want to stop asking questions. I was reminded of the power of asking questions while driving home from a Thanksgiving gathering in Connecticut this afternoon as my younger brother started asking a million and one questions while in the car driving back to New York.
Last night while attending the