Three Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs - John Baldoni. By John Baldoni | 2:32 PM May 23, 2011 Sometimes when you’re wondering what to do next in life, good advice can come when you least expect it — like when you’re getting your hair cut. Joan*, the hairstylist giving me a trim, mused aloud about what she was planning to do with her career.
Cutting hair was just one part of her livelihood; she was also a professional caregiver as well as the owner of a rig that her husband operated. But her husband was about to retire from the road, and now they were wondering, “What next?” Over the course of our brief conversation, in no more than the time it took Joan to cut my hair, I picked up on three attributes of her success that are helpful for any entrepreneur: Practical. Purposeful. Impatient. There’s one final trait that successful entrepreneurs share: They realize that inspiration is useless without perspiration. People like Joan enjoy working for themselves because it affords a level of independence. Startup Advice: How Entrepeneurs Gain Credibility.
While talking with young founders in Europe and the US over the last couple months, I have been asked the same question repeatedly -- how can an entrepreneur just starting out gain the necessary credibility to attract capital? It is an important question because, at its heart, a startup investment is an investment in the entrepreneur. And the earlier stage the investment, the more so this is true. We all know the allure of the elusive "serial entrepreneur" -- the rare breed who has done it before (successfully) and will not fall victim to the same business pitfalls (he'll have to discover new ones). I have backed serial entrepreneurs before and will continue to back them. They have valuable startup knowledge to bring to bear on the company building process that we in the venture business clearly covet. So how does an entrepreneur with little or no track record gain credibility? The other way first time entrepreneurs gain credibility is to earn it.
The Startup Daily — Great Ideas from Great Books. Small Business Ideas and Resources for Entrepreneurs - StumbleUpon. EFactor :: Tools for Entrepreneurs - StumbleUpon. Eight Questions To Ask Before You Start A Business ~ PPC Blog - StumbleUpon. Are you thinking of starting a web business? Starting a PPC Management agency? Setting up your own site and selling things, or building a web publishing empire? Before you start, ask yourself the following eight questions. The advantage of this Q&A is that you can quickly see if the idea you’re going to throw your money and soul into is likely to work. 1 . What Do You Do? Define what service the business provides. Try to focus. McDonalds could, no doubt, provide up-market meals, but they focus on selling quick, cheap food.
That is what they do. 2. Who are your customers? Create a mental image of your typical customer. 3. What is your unique selling proposition? If your customers can buy the same services for less elsewhere, or more easily, they will. There is a tendency to model yourself on others. This is not to say doing something wildly new or different is any guarantee of success. 4. This point is so important, it really should be number one. Businesses may have great ideas. 5. 6. 7. 8. The Small Business Checklist - StumbleUpon. 10 Blogs Entrepreneurs Need to Be Reading | Grasshopper Blog - StumbleUpon.
See the 2012 edition: 10 Must Read Blogs for Entrepreneurs (2012 Edition) #1. The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur Site: What it is: Mike Michalowicz provides entrepreneurs and small businesses with tips on everything from starting a business to networking to marketing and health care. Why you should read it: Mike not only provides great tips but he provides great tips from REAL people.
. #2. Site: What it is: Written by a panel of small business owners, the site offers tips and advice on everything business related. Small business trends really covers EVERYTHING! #3. Site: Run by two brothers, Matthew and Adam Toren, Young Entrepreneur is exactly what it sounds like; a site dedicated to young entrepreneurs.
Between blog posts, forums, polls and interviews with other small business owners, the site offers fantastic content. . #4. Site: Why you should read it: #5. . #6. . #7. . #8. How Do I Create a Business Plan? - StumbleUpon. Starting a Business: Advice from the Trenches - StumbleUpon. If you’re like thousands of other designers, programmers and other creative professionals out there, at one point in time you’ve considered starting your own business. Unlike most, you’ve gone against common sense and decided to open shop for yourself. And not just freelance full-time, mind you, but file for the company name, get some stationery, and wade through the legal mumbo-jumbo.
Maybe even get a real office with a water cooler. This article offers real-world advice from the trenches of a small start-up, and is applicable to designers, web developers, copywriters, usability experts and all manner of service providers. Freelancers take heed: there are several items that are just as pertinent to your profession. Write a Business Plan#section1 The most important thing you can do to prepare for starting and operating your own business. A few years ago, new age business rhetoric said forget the business plan and just run with it. File for a Fictitious Name#section2 Funding#section3 Good: Entrepreneurship Corner: Stanford University's free podcasts and video clips of entrepreneurial thought leaders and innovators from Silicon Valley. 10 Ways To Promote Your Business With $5 | Articles | Web Courses Bangkok - StumbleUpon. Do you want to give your business a boost but you don’t want to spend a lot of money?
Try out Fiverr.com. It is a very usefull website to promote your business. Essentially, it’s a marketplace where you can can sell and buy gigs that are priced at $5. Gigs range from doing video testimonials to sending out Tweets to writing a romantic sonnet. In this article I will sum up 10 examples of how to promote your business for only $5 by showing you some gigs that where posted on Fiverr.com. When you order a gig be sure to check out the comments, gig ratings,photo’s and video’s, they give a good impression of the quality you can expect . So, here we go: Adnagam will post a tweet of your choice to 33,000 Twitter followers for $5 Adnagam has over 34,000 followers on Twitter spanning all categories and would like to post a link to your site or whatever you’d like her to say on her twitter once a day to my followers. Pro_facebook will get you 300 likes on your facebook page in 24h. 10 YouTube Videos Every Entrepreneur Should Watch | Inc.com - StumbleUpon.
StartupNation - Source for Small Business Advice, Help Starting a Business, Entrepreneur Forum - StumbleUpon. Free Management Library (SM) - StumbleUpon. .bodycard 0369.