Topics
The Idea
Articles
5 Things To Consider When Selecting A New Business To Start
Many people dream of starting their own business. They long for the day they can work for themselves instead of someone else. They see others doing it and ask themselves, "How hard can it be?" In reality, most new businesses do not succeed. In order to increase the likelihood of your succeeding, you will need to carefully consider every aspect of that business before you start. This article will discuss five of the most important criteria you should filter your choices through before deciding which is the right business for you.
Duh! Why Didn't I Think of That?!?
There are so many business ideas that present themselves to us everyday. The challenge is to be able to look at the world in a different way to really see those opportunities as they are presented.
Someone Will Steal Your Business Idea?
Good new ideas don't usually make money for a new entrepreneur. It takes far too much money to launch a new idea, build a market for it and persuade customers to buy.
Books
Awakening the Entrepreneur Within: How Ordinary People Can Create Extraordinary Companies
These words have been defining the life of Michael Gerber, bestselling author and international small business guru. He created E-Myth Worldwide in 1977 to transform the way that small business owners grow their companies. Now he's created In The Dreaming Room as a place where entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurs come to discover how to make their dreams a reality.
Michael E. Gerber .
Collins Business.
304 pages .
Hardcover.
Cost: $24.95
College Entrepreneur Handbook: Ideas for a College Based Business
Regardless of whether you plan to open a small campus coffee cart or take on the world with an internet startup, the College Entrepreneur Handbook is a real world guide that can help you reach your dreams. It's loaded with information on how to manage your time and develop creative solutions around the barriers that might otherwise discourage you from fulfilling your dreams. Don't take a part-time job to help pay for school - own your own business! With the right idea and the know-how outlined in this guide, you could be on your way to becoming the next Federal Express, Dell Computers, Nantucket Nectars, or one of the many others founded by college students.
Jonathan Reed Aspatore .
Oasis Press.
200 pages .
Paperback.
Cost: $14.90
Generation, Inc.: The 100 Best Businesses for Young Entrepreneurs
Start-up essentials for dreamers and doers--the 100 best opportunities for building a business from the ground up.
The nine-to-five grind is not for everyone. Now more than ever, young entrepreneurs dream of becoming their own boss. And this is the book that will show them how to do it.
Elina Furman .
Berkley Trade .
383 pages .
Paperback.
Cost: $13.00
Events
Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour
The Extreme Tour is an experiential event that has travelled to over 45 colleges and has shared the entrepreneurial mindset with over 9000 students! Event includes high-profile young entrepreneurs as keynote speakers, workshops, panel discussions, and networking.
Venue: Hamilton County Alliance
Location: Carmel, IN,
IN,
United States
Phone: (800) 930-8021 x 703
Website: http://www.journeypage.com/events/HCA/
Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour
The Extreme Tour is an experiential event that has travelled to over 45 colleges and has shared the entrepreneurial mindset with over 9000 students! Event includes high-profile young entrepreneurs as keynote speakers, workshops, panel discussions, and networking.
Venue: Maysville Community & Technical College
Location: Maysville,
KY,
USA
Phone: (800) 930-8021 x703
Website: http://www.journeypage.com/events/MCTC/
Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour
The Extreme Tour is an experiential event that has travelled to over 45 colleges and has shared the entrepreneurial mindset with over 9000 students! Event includes high-profile young entrepreneurs as keynote speakers, workshops, panel discussions, and networking.
Venue: Lake Erie College
Location: Painesville,
OH,
USA
Phone: (800) 930-8021 x703
Website: http://www.journeypage.com/events/LEC/
Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour
The Extreme Tour is an experiential event that has travelled to over 45 colleges and has shared the entrepreneurial mindset with over 9000 students! Event includes high-profile young entrepreneurs as keynote speakers, workshops, panel discussions, and networking.
Venue: Stark State College
Location: Canton,
WV,
USA
Phone: (800) 930-8021 x703
Website: http://www.journeypage.com/events/StarkState/
Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour
The Extreme Tour is an experiential event that has travelled to over 45 colleges and has shared the entrepreneurial mindset with over 9000 students! Event includes high-profile young entrepreneurs as keynote speakers, workshops, panel discussions, and networking.
Venue: Northland Community & Technical College
Location: Thief River Falls,
MN,
USA
Phone: (800) 930-8021 x703
Website: http://www.journeypage.com/events/Northland/
Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour
The Extreme Tour is an experiential event that has travelled to over 45 colleges and has shared the entrepreneurial mindset with over 9000 students! Event includes high-profile young entrepreneurs as keynote speakers, workshops, panel discussions, and networking.
Venue: Iowa Valley
Location: Marshalltown,
IA,
USA
Phone: (800) 930-8021 x703
Website: http://www.journeypage.com/events/Marshalltown/
Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour
The Extreme Tour is an experiential event that has travelled to over 45 colleges and has shared the entrepreneurial mindset with over 9000 students! Event includes high-profile young entrepreneurs as keynote speakers, workshops, panel discussions, and networking.
Venue: Iowa Valley
Location: Marshalltown,
IA,
USA
Phone: (800) 930-8021 x703
Website: http://www.journeypage.com/events/Marshalltown/
Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour
The Extreme Tour is an experiential event that has travelled to over 45 colleges and has shared the entrepreneurial mindset with over 9000 students! Event includes high-profile young entrepreneurs as keynote speakers, workshops, panel discussions, and networking.
Venue: University of Rochester
Location: Rochester,
NY,
USA
Phone: (800) 930-8021 x703
Website: http://www.journeypage.com/events/UOR/
Researchs
The Making of an Entrepreneurial Generation
Availability of resources, advanced technology, and a distaste for the corporate world are making generation Y - those born between 1977 and 1994 - the most entrepreneurial in history. This Inc.com article touches on some of the research and some of the reasons, then offers 30 profiles of generation Y entrepreneurs.
Videos
Web Sites
10 Businesses You Can Start in Your Pajamas in 2008
Selling homemade organic beauty products or customized T-shirts is no longer just a weekend hobby for earning some extra pocket change. In the age of e-commerce, a growing number of retailers are capitalizing on the Web to sell their products, and making more than a supplementary income in the process.
10 Dumb Ideas that Made A Lot of Money
People will buy anything, no matter how dumb. Pet rocks and singing fish sold out of the store and while no one will admit to owning one, someone has to be buying it.
Check out a bunch of dumb ideas that made a lot of money. Maybe they're not so dumb after all...
10 Imaginitive Ways to Pump your Mind for Ideas
Ever play with Tinkertoys as a kid? This toy where you had wheels with peg holes in it, and wood stems of various sizes in which you could create anything. Well, I ran across this book, Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques, by Michael Michalko, has inspired my creativity...I'm only about 28 pages into it!
He has ten ways to help drive your creative juices. I have paraphrased them for us to use.
10 Steps to a Great Elevator Pitch
Jeff and Rich review the strategies for delivering a rock solid elevator pitch. Anyone who is interested in starting up a business can benefit from mastering these steps.
100 Sites Entrepreneurs Should Visit
These days, it seems that almost everyone has a blog, so it's often hard to separate what's really worth reading from what isn't. Luckily, we've done the work for you and narrowed it down to 100 highly informative sites. Take a look at what they have to say and see how they can help you grow your business.
2008 Hot List
We've busted out the crystal ball to predict the hottest industries for the coming year.
3 Ways to Create A Blockbuster New Product or Service
If you don't have a big idea you simply fade into the background like every other 'me-too' product or service. Actually it's not always even about having a proprietary product/service. This is really more about positioning and the immediate reaction a prospect has to your deal the moment they hear it.
5 tips for creating an 'elevator pitch'
An elevator pitch is a brief statement about who you are, what your business is, and why it is special. The idea is this: If you were in an elevator with a potential business investor and you had only 30 seconds or an elevator ride to make a memorable impression, what is it that you could say to make an impact?
7 Lies That Prevent Your Great Idea from becoming a Real Business
A lot of people have a Great Idea. It might be a new invention or a local service business. Unfortunately for consumers, many would be entrepreneurs are waiting for "the right time" to start their Real Business. They have plenty of reasons (excuses) for the delays. From lack of time to lack of experience, our minds have creative ways of rationalizing our fears.
Here are 7 common excuses for not starting a Real Business, along with strategies for overcoming internal fear, uncertainty and doubt ("Internal FUD").
8 Top Tips for Young Entrepreneurs
Online start-up businesses run by young adults are an increasingly common phenomenon. A commonly overlooked demographic, however, are the real youth - those under 18 years of age. With online businesspeople facing very low barriers to market entry, many tech-savvy kids are getting in on the act and taking advantage of the opportunities that abound.
Advice on Taking an Entrepreneurial Leap
Terry Corbell, a management consultant, has some advice for all the readers who responded to an invitation I made last month to send him questions about running a business. Make a list of your weaknesses, he told those who asked how to get started.
Choosing a Franchise
More and more, women are discovering that franchising is a great way to become a business owner. Whether your background is banking or baking, marketing or mothering, you've probably developed a set of skills that will translate to any number of franchise opportunities.
Dare to Dream
Create an "impossible" goal--and discover the possibilities.
Dorm Room Dreams
Sure, there are plenty of college students that charge $5 for a cup at a keg party. Rarer are the students that see opportunities in their collegiate surroundings and start successful businesses aimed at serving other co-eds.
Elevating the elevator pitch
It's not easy being a "prospective customer" in today's highly diluted and complex market. If you're the targeted prospect, you're constantly barraged with marketing messages and annoying sales pitches. Whether the pitch is presented on the radio during a morning commute, in a postal in-box, by e-mail, over the phone or face-to-face, you may be overwhelmed by the number of companies and messages seeking your limited time and attention.
Elevator Speech Essentials
Terri Sjodin, founder and principal of Sjodin Communications, a public speaking and sales training company, goes over the six components of a successful three-minute elevator speech.
Elevator Speech Essentials
Terri Sjodin, founder and principal of Sjodin Communications, a public speaking and sales training company, goes over the six components of a successful three-minute elevator speech.
Escape from Cubicle Hell
From retirement-averse baby boomers to Gen Y-ers disillusioned with the corporate world, a growing number of people are starting businesses out of their homes in a wide range of industries.
Everyone Has Million Dollar Ideas
Tell me if you have experienced this scenario: You have an idea that you are certain will change the course of humanity. Your idea is so revolutionary that people will be beating your door down to get it. However, because of the daily riggers of life, you set your idea on the shelf. A couple of months later, while watching television, you see your idea there. Someone else stole it from you and is profiting from it.
Five Franchising Web Sites for Women
Franchising offers women a chance to be entrepreneurs and own their own businesses. As franchising continues to grow on an annual basis, the franchising opportunities for women expand into a variety of business areas.
Five Qualities Every Start-Up Must Have
The venture capital industry can seem, at times, opaque. But, although it might seem like there is a good deal of hocus pocus involved in the funding process, the things that any venture capital company is looking for are actually quite basic and logical.
Five Ways to Stay on Top of Hot Trends
Spring is the season of new beginnings and an excellent time to review your business strategies. What's new, what's hot, and what do you need to pay attention to?
Flip & Tumble Reusable Bag
Flip & Tumble is an unique and modern reusable bag created by Eva Bauer and friends right out of graduate school.
Franchising - A Safer Path for Entrepreneurs?
If you were trying an aerial trapeze stunt for the first time, would you do it without a net and safety harness? Probably not because chances are very good that you would fall. The same holds true for business ownership. If you’ve never been your own boss, doing it alone could be difficult, scary, and full of the unknown.
Fresh Entrepreneurs
Handmade hats, organic food for children, and a Web site that turns rants into actions. BW Chicago profiles three companies worth watching.
Funding Growth in an Age of Austerity
You know you can't outgrow your competitors unless you out-innovate them. But in an era of rampant R&D belt-tightening, how can you squeeze more innovation out of every dollar you invest?
Great Intrapreneurs in Business History
These classic examples from the big leagues of product innovation began with an intrapreneur - an employee who convinced his or her company to chart a new course.
How to Become a Wedding Consultant
Dum-dum-de-dum . . . uh-oh. Aren't soon-to-be-newlyweds nervous enough without actually having to plan the wedding? Let happy couples hand over the hassle to you and your bridal consulting business.
How to Get the Job of Your Dreams
It's a feat few people ever accomplish. Here are some suggestions from those who have -- a designer, a professional video gamer, a stand-up comedian, a musical producer/performer, and an adventure columnist.
How To Make A Million Before You Turn 20
While their peers were out making trouble, these young achievers were making bank.
Forever in search of the secrets to entrepreneurial success, we peeked into the inspirational lives of five whiz kids who built million-dollar enterprises before the age of 20.
How to Make Your Millions
Making a million is a milestone--the defining moment of success for many entrepreneurs and an attainable goal for those tapped into today's hottest trends. Entrepreneurs are keeping their fingers on the pulse of what's hot in today's marketplace. They are the trendsetters, the pioneers, the ones to watch as they lead the pack, followed closely by franchisors poised to capitalize on winning ideas and spread concepts nationwide.
How to Patent A Product Idea
If you determine that applying for a patent is the right move for you, here are a few key points to keep in mind.
How To Unlock Your Company's Creativity
Innovation is one of those sexy-squishy words that big companies throw around in splashy ad campaigns and white papers. Innovation implies new stuff; new stuff implies growth; and growth implies higher stock prices and beach houses in the Hamptons.
Iconoculture
A new world perspective. For a whole new world. Iconoculture Global ViewSM provides unprecedented insight into consumer behaviors and emerging trends as they unfold and evolve around the world. Want to reach farther? Explore further?
Ideablob.com
ideablob.com is where entrepreneurs and small business owners can share and grow their business ideas – and have a chance to win $10,000 towards fulfilling them.
Great ideas are generated every day by people all across the country, and now these ideas have a place to live and grow. Eligible individuals can submit their business idea to ideablob.com, and based on votes from the ideablob.com online community - which includes other innovators as well as friends, family, colleagues, associates, teachers and mentors - one idea every month will win $10,000.
As individuals take part in ideablob.com's growth, their business has the potential to grow right along with it.
Imminent Domaining
The domain name market is a hot investment opportunity for entrepreneurs.
Is the Opportunity Real?
We've all been in that sales situation where you think you have it wrapped up and at the last minute it stalls. They stop returning your calls and emails, all correspondences are very short and to the point, the RFP is hanging out there, it seems like your prospect has simply fallen off the face of the earth. So what happened?
Is Your Great Idea A Real Business?
We've all been there: drinking our morning coffee, reading the business section, washing our dogs, when--Bam!--an idea for a new gizmo or service that's going to change the world comes crashing home.
Knock 'Em Dead
Do you know what to say when someone asks, "So what do you do?" Given this opportunity, a well-scripted response--known as your elevator speech--should begin flowing off your tongue.
Learn how to deliver a masterful Elevator Pitch
You can picture it - you step onto an elevator and standing right there is your dream financier. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Your pulse quickens. Your body temperature rises. You know this is your shot.
Mastering the 30-Second Pitch
To captivate prospective clients, distill the most pertinent information about your business or product into a quick and compelling message.
New Business Ideas: It's My Own Car
A car isn't just a means of transport; consumers spend large sums of money on their most coveted cars and they would want to personalize the car with the latest bells and whistles into something they can be proud of. More than just driving, consumers want to be able to enjoy entertainment and keep themselves updated with work while on the road, using the latest technology or trendy fun stuff.Entrepreneurs are making it easier for such proud car owners.
No Patents on Thinking ... Yet
By defintion, a patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a patentee for a fixed period in time for the disclosure of an invention. The invention must be new, innovative, useful, and cannot be obvious to the type of business. Yet I wonder whether some patents granted are really characterized by this description.
Online invites, upgraded
The online invitation marketplace is a crowded one, with heavyweight Evite and a raft of smaller contenders all vying for their share. But a new site recently launched in the hopes of taking online invitations to a new level.
Perfecting Your Pitch
Endless articles, books, and blogs have been written on the topic of business plan presentations and pitching to investors. In spite of this wealth of advice, almost every entrepreneur gets it wrong. Why? Because most guides to pitching your company miss the central point: The purpose of your pitch is to sell, not to teach. Your job is to excite, not to educate.
Protecting Your Intellectual Property in China
China has been called the world headquarters for counterfeit goods, the source of everything from designer-brand knock-offs to black-market aircraft parts. For companies that outsource their manufacturing to China, intellectual property (IP) problems are not limited to brand-name rip-offs.
Putting Time Into Your Product
From inventor to overnight millionaire? Not exactly. Here's the long-term solution to developing a product effectively.
Putting Time Into Your Product
From inventor to overnight millionaire? Not exactly. Here's the long-term solution to developing a product effectively.
Researching the Inventions Market
Market research is one of the most essential steps in the product development process. Yet, it's also the step most commonly skipped. By ignoring it, you may be missing out on feedback critical to your product's success, as well as an accurately defined target market.
Rise of the Robots
Robots are well on their way from the pages of science fiction to your front door. In fact, advanced humanoid robots could arrive on your doorstep as early as 10 years from now.
Seven Businesses You Can Start Tomorrow
You don't need a fancy pedigree or specialized set of skills to launch a business. Some start-ups require more capital than others, of course, and all companies demand care and feeding. But if you can muster the courage, do a bit of research and secure a tax identification number (so Uncle Sam can take his cut), you can be your own boss.
Seven Sure Steps to Choosing a Franchise
Franchising is a wonderful way to go into business for yourself. So many things have already been established for your benefit: branding, marketing, processes, products, systems, etc.
Seven Sure Steps to Choosing a Franchise
Franchising is a wonderful way to go into business for yourself. So many things have already been established for your benefit: branding, marketing, processes, products, systems, etc. Building a business through franchising has been so successful that franchised businesses generate jobs for more than 18 million Americans and account for 9.5 percent of the private-sector economic output, according to a study released by the International Franchise Association Educational Foundation.
If you are convinced that you want to investigate franchising for your next career move, how do you go about finding just the right one?
Small Business Tools From The SBA
If you are thinking of starting a franchise, or for that matter, any type of small business, there are a multitude of free tools that the SBA has for you to use.
Small Town, Hot Idea
From small beginnings come great things. While they're not often seen as places to start trends, small towns can be incubators for new ideas by providing entrepreneurs with community support and a place to startup with little--if any--competition. So while new concepts may have little staying power in a trend-obsessed place like Manhattan, small towns can be the perfect breeding ground for the right idea.
So you've got a business idea...Now what?
Everyday people come up with thousands of great business ideas that could have produced multi-million dollar companies. But these ideas go nowhere because people aren't sure where to begin.
Soda Can Advertising
A Ukrainian inventor, Johan De Broyer has conceived the idea for a re-sealable aluminum soda can featuring hidden advertising messaging.
Speaking Roses
Speaking Roses invented a process that has revolutionized the floral and greeting card industries forever. They have created a method of transferring images and messages onto fresh-cut flowers without harming or shortening the life of the flowers. This refreshing twist on both flowers and greeting cards enhances the emotional response in both the giver and the receiver, and has garnished international attention and phenomenal success.
Starting a Business? Cover Yourself
If you are starting a business or just dreaming of it, you can expect the startup stage to be heady, exhiliarating, challenging, rewarding and sometimes scary - all at the same time.
Startup Advice from George Costanza: Do The Opposite
As it turns out, this "do the opposite" strategy works out for George. Things start working out for him. By going against his natural instincts, he ends up doing things "right". He's noticed. He comes off as being different.
So, what does this all mean for startups?
StartupNation's 5 Startup No-No's
We spend a lot of time giving advice on the things you absolutely should do in order to be successful as an entrepreneur. So, bucking the typical modus operandi around here, we figured it was time to focus on the ugly stuff you absolutely should not do. Sometimes, tough love is the best kind of support there is.
And the no-no's are...
Still Not Sure What You Want To Do? Take a Roadtrip And Explore
There are so many young entrepreneurs out there, still in college, who haven't started their business yet. Many of you know that you want to start a business, but just aren't sure what you want to do, exactly. Some of you have fears. Some of you have doubts. And some of you are constantly pressured from your parents to go the corporate America route.
Strategies: Here's how to set up a business
My friend is about to retire, but he's much too young to stop working. So he turned to me for help with the basics of setting up a business. One of the first things he wanted to know was, "What do I have to do - legally - to set up a business?"
So let's start with some fundamentals...
Tapping into the Brain of Generation Y
If innovation and invention are the lifeblood of successful companies, from garage start-ups to global corporations, why not employ the brightest minds of the young generation to feed it?
The Escalator Pitch
Forget the elevator pitch. Forget the press release. Forget the PowerPoint deck. If you were making a "Twitpitch" about your business, it would be over by now.
The Most And Least Profitable Businesses To Start
Entrepreneurs start companies for all sorts of reasons. Maybe they have a passion, like being in control, want more flexibility--or even hate their current jobs.
But no matter the inspiration, one thing's for sure: They'd better make money.
The Most Important 30 Seconds Of Any Sale
The most daunting task in sales is cracking open the door.
Fail to nab a few minutes with a qualified prospect who can make a decision, and you might as well hang up your cleats. And plenty do fail.
The Trend in Trends
"Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes," by Mark J. Penn, was published a couple of weeks ago. Its title reminds one of the 1982 best seller "Megatrends," by John Naisbitt. Mr. Naisbitt also has a new book out, "Mind Set!" on how to interpret trends. The Internet search giant Google has recently decided to offer consumers the Google Trends Labs, which allows you to see how frequently topics you enter have been searched for by other Google users. A retail-industry think tank at the University of California, Riverside, has announced a new trend in trend-prediction: prediction markets, which will, it says, produce more prescient predictions about online sales trends. Is there a trend here?
Thwock, Gulp, Kaching! Beer Pong Inspires Inventors
Sick of cleaning sticky floors after bouts of beer pong, a popular campus drinking game, recent Northwestern University graduates Andy Wright and Mike Johnson put their engineering degrees to use. They devised a triangular rubber mat that helps keep plastic cups of beer from toppling over.
Time-Tested Businesses That Rake It In
Tech titans like Microsoft, Google and Yahoo! grab headlines, but there are a slew of traditional, targeted businesses that yield big profits for small players.
Top 10 Franchise Food Trends for 2008
The food franchise industry is the largest and the most profitable of all the franchise industries. The biggest sub-industry of the food sector is fast-food franchises, such as McDonald's, KFC, Burger King, 7-Elevin Inc, and many more fast-food franchises. But every year there is always a new departure in the food industry that rivals fast-food eating and dining, and 2008 is no different.
Trailblazers: Dorm-room businesses that made it big
Your laptop is your shop. You store your inventory in your dorm room. You cooked up your idea in your backyard. Or the basement.
It's a tiny endeavor, yes. You may not know where it'll end up when college is done. Not for sure, anyway.
But students like you became Silicon Valley's most unassailable businessmen.
Turning to Plan B
You've got a great idea. You've researched the market and perfected the products and services. So why aren't the customers buying?
What's The Problem?
"What's the problem?" Sounds like what a parent says to a child in distress. Turns out, though, that this might be one of the most important questions you ever ask. That's because little happens in business unless there's a problem to be solved.
Write a Great Elevator Speech
Your dream client is standing next to you in the elevator. How can you use the next few minutes to sell him your idea or company? Ira Koretsky, CEO of Business Storytellers, has written "elevator speeches" for Charles Schwab and Warner Bros. Here he shows you how to craft a killer 30-second sales pitch.
Whitepapers
Could You Fall in Love with a $300 Robotic Dinosaur?
A decade ago, Caleb Chung helped create Furby, the six-inch-tall robot whose personality evolved as its owner interacted with it. Now he's about to launch his latest creation, Pleo, a $300 robotic dinosaur engineered to relate to an owner on a more personal level.
The Idea
Almost any successful entrepreneur will tell you there are many great ideas. The real problem is identifying the right one and making it happen. A lot of effort goes into finding an idea that can succeed and is right for you.
The Mistake of Generation Y: Lessons Learned by a Young Entrepreneur
A generation Y entrepreneur replies to the inquiries of a budding next-generation entrepreneur with business and life lessons. The chief lesson: Take a longer-term view and instead of pursuing quick cash opportunities look instead to gain in knowledge, experience, friends, and business relationships.
