Taking calculated actions while minimizing risks!!

DJ Skreebz designed this logo! Thank you!

By: Skyler Johnstone

Welcome to the Entrepreneur Life 101 blog!

My name is Skyler Johnstone, I am 22 years old and I have been an entrepreneur most of my life. Basically, I  didn’t have a choice in the matter, BUT I have been loving every minute of it. My parents and grandparents were all entrepreneurs in one way or another with both a successful baby clothing business and a play in the real estate market up to this day. First and foremost, real estate can be very lucrative so keep that in mind but be careful of the downfalls. When I was a young man instead of sending me to daycare my mom would bring me into her baby clothes store while my dad went to work as an electrician in Seattle. I was joyfully forced to grow up knowing numbers, business layouts, business plans, marketing goals and the key point, How to turn a profit!!! Case in point, my mom was able to buy baby clothes from Goodwill and then put them in her shop for a reasonable mark-up.

What is an entrepreneur you might ask? An entrepreneur is a person who stakes his/her money on an idea or business they feel will be successful and recoup their investment back with a sizable profit.  Believe it or not we are all entrepreneurs in one way way or another. Don’t believe me? Well, you have a job right?  You had to spend your time and money looking for that job did you not? Gas costs money and I’m sure your time isn’t free either. By searching for that job you staked your own $1-100 in gas to get to work or that job interview and thus you are actually staking money into the fact you will make enough by the end of the day to substantiate the cost and expenses you have incurred. So just by driving to work that day you are in more ways than one an entrepreneur. At the same time you are taking the risk that your employer may or may not pay you for that days labor and thus you are an entrepreneur too!!!

    If you don’t have a job, tough shit, create one!! But wait, hear me out and let me explain. It is very self explanatory but sure enough some out there are scratching their head at this idea because they never knew it as a viable option.Believe it or not, a business can be started with as little as $20. No it’s not a typo, $20 can start a business. I started my window washing business See Clear Windows with only $20. I invested it into a bucket, a squeegee, and a little dish soap to start. With a little bit of vigor, creativity, and a go-getter attitude I walked across the street in the same parking lot and turned my $20 investment into a $100 profit for only 3 hours of not so hard labor. I had asked the local stores if I could wash their windows at a discounted price because I was just starting out and not surprisingly most had said yes! Long story short, I re-invested part of the profits back into my one day old business and thus I had my own operational and profitable window washing business and I made more money at it in that one day then I could’ve working part-time at minimum wage job for two! After the first month I had setup approximately $300 in monthly reoccurring business accounts which, albiet could have been more but usually residential cleaning is more lucrative. During the first month I setup a website, designed logos,  made fliers, business cards and hired employees. I’m willing to bet you didn’t know it was that easy either. My first month I had turned a profit of $2,000, not bad for a 19 year old college drop-out at the time. Keep in mind I am back in school right now but at the time I was not.  I hired laborers off of Craigslist to flier all of the local neighborhoods on a commission base which worked out perfect for my needs as a small business. I invested into setting up an LLC a few months later and even did some advertising on a local newspapers website as a premier advertiser.Well enough about me, the rest of this blog and it’s articles are for you! But, if you decide to go out and start a window washing business don’t forget to get insurance, a valid license to operate and something to protect you and your potential employees. If you have any more questions about my past window washing endeavors or need advice on your business ideas feel free to contact me anytime via email at entrepreneurlife101skyler@gmail.com or follow me on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter #el101skyler.

Thanks for reading my first post. Keep reading it gets better! I look forward to talking to all of you very soon. Don’t forget to share my page with your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. I hardly ardevtise so if you like what your read, please tell your friends.

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How to Maximize Your Company’s Value before Meeting with a Venture Capitalist

By: Tim McEneny (Former Chairman and CEO of PurchasingNet, Inc.)

Note: This is the first of a three part series describing how entrepreneurs can get the most out of a meeting with a Venture Capitalist (VC).

Part 1- How to maximize your company’s value before meeting with a Venture Capitalist

Part 2-Understanding Venture Capitalists and other potential investors

Part 3-Making a Presentation to a VC…..Do’s and Don’ts

Months before thinking about meeting with a Venture Capitalist (or any potential investor), you’ll want to focus on ways to increase the value of your business. The greater the value of the business, the more likely you’ll be to draw interest from the VC community.

How do you determine the value of your business today? How do you start to increase its value? To answer these questions, you’ll need to look at it thru the eyes of the VC. Today you may be concentrating on improving customer satisfaction, but this may not be an “A item” for a VC. Let’s examine the “Value Drivers” most important to VC’s.

In the case of our internet software company, the main “Value Drivers” were:

 

The “A Value Drivers”

1.      Revenue Growth: For most technology businesses, top line revenue growth is the most important determinant of enterprise value. The valuation of a software business is commonly stated as a multiple of annual revenue. For example, during the Internet boom, software companies were valued at up to ten times annual revenue (or more). During the Internet bust, software values were in the one-to three-times range (or lower). Normally, revenue multiples are based on the last twelve months (LTM) or trailing twelve months (TTM).

2.      Profitability: The importance of profitability varies depending on the overall direction of the economy. In good times, profitability may be a requirement for a VC. If you aren’t currently profitable, you’ll need to develop a believable “path to profitability”.

3.      Visibility: This means more than being able to forecast revenues and net income. This means you already have actual orders and contracts for products and services that you will be providing in the future. Some refer to this as “backlog.”

4.      Recurring Revenue: This means that there are actual service contracts and subscriptions with existing customers that extend into the future. This has become the second most important factor (behind growth) for most VC’s and acquirers of software companies.

5.      Management Team: The quality and depth of your management team is a factor in the decision to invest. The investor wants to know that your company can run without you (in case you leave or get hit by a bus).

 

The “B Value Drivers”

1.      Customer Base: The number of active customers and the quality of the customer base is important to many investors. Also, make sure you understand your cost to acquire a new customer.

2.      Unique Position in the Market: Investors value uniqueness. What makes your product or service different than the competition? What is your Unique Selling Proposition?

3.      Financial Processes: There can be no doubt in the VC’s mind that you have sound financial systems and controls. Also, if the buyer uses accrual accounting, make sure you can easily present your financial statements using this method of accounting. They’ll be looking at the last three years of your financials.

4.      Making It Easy on the Buyer: If investors sense there will be lots of work and complications with the deal, they’ll likely back away. Previous outside investment can be a complicating factor.

5.      Market Size: In addition to the current overall market size (in terms of total revenue), an investor will want to know your market share. Very often acquirers will want to know the “addressable” market size to gauge the opportunity.

The “C Value Drivers”

1.      Domain Expertise: How much do you and your team know about your market segment? Patents can be helpful. Awards can be useful. Experience is valued.

2.      Customer Satisfaction: Every company says they have happy customers. Third-party “proof” can be useful to prove your point.

3.      Partnerships: Forming partnerships with other companies is a good way to find a potential buyer. If you’ve actually worked with a company in the past, it can lead to a strategic investment.

Of course these Value Drivers can vary depending on the industry, but this list should give you a good starting point and help prepare you for a productive meeting with a VC.

Next time: Understanding VC’s and other potential investors.

“Read to succeed, write to teach”

By: Skyler Johnstone- @el101skyler

I recently came up with this quote last quarter while trying to read and study for a midterm in my economics class but never really dove to far into its meaning for me and how I can explain it to others so here is a formal explanation with detailed how-to step by step guides to become a more proficient reader and how to retain the information you are learning.

READ TO SUCCEED

1. By picking up a book or scrolling through the endless pages of news available to us on a daily basis we are not only expanding our horizons of knowledge but constantly testing our abilities to physically preform the function of reading. It is said that 1/5 people in the world is illiterate or does not know how to read or write even a basic high school level. This being said is a very sad fact, my blog being about entrepreneurialism is a key product of hard work and determination including but not limited to knowing how to read and write. So the main concept I am trying to portray is that you should not undervalue the privileged it is to be able to read. By reading something new daily you can learn new words and broaden your knowledge about the world and whatever business it is you are trying to get into. There are resources available for every profession all it takes is a little bit of elbow grease so to speak. With my window washing business I literally practiced on neighbors windows and watched online videos until I picked up certain strokes that cut my work load nearly in half.

2. When you are reading your brain is in a completely different place. Innovation and creativity are flowing through you more naturally than any other part of your day. When I am reading, I am constantly writing down my new product ideas and thinking of things that need to be improved. It is not about reinventing the wheel but you can make a more proficient wheel that gets you better gas mileage, so to speak.

3. If you want to learn new skills you have to do one of two things, be taught it first hand or read your course material in school and retain it however you can. Lastly if you want to succeed you can falsify your resume to get a good job and puff it up beyond your own capabilities but again this being an entrepreneurship blog you have to realize that when you are your own boss you don’t have to have that piece of paper saying you have a bachelors/PhD or any of those things. Are they helpful? OF COURSE! For an entrepreneur he learns in a much different manner, school turns from a necessity to a source of personal enrichment. For me I love going to school not to just learn and gain a degree but to become a better leader. Like it or not when you become an entrepreneur there are unexpected responsibilities to your peers and employees looking up to you. You have to decide whether you would rather manage or unfortunately micro-manage in some managerial positions or lead and inspire your employees to instead of tell them what to do but rather guide your goals for the company. Leaders tend to be much more respected and an obvious jump in productivity level will be very apparent right away if those types of changes are made in an organization.

WRITE TO TEACH

1.  The title is very self explanatory but let me go into a little further detail. By writing things you’ve learned down on paper or like myself via the internet, retention of the information goes through the roof. How does that teach however you are wondering? Well easy, I am sure you didn’t know you could start a window washing business with as little as $20 or that solitude can be a positive aspect of life, in fact building the best leaders who are more patient and collected than other dictators we can see in the world today. 

2. Anything you decide to write will eventually teach someone else a life lesson when you are dead and gone. Now, don’t mistake me as a pessimist because I am far from it but your words will be seen by someone and whatever was on your mind shall be reviewed and studied at some collegiate level or another. We may not think of ourselves as writers or teachers but could you disagree that we each have something we can teach our youth. Whether that be our own children or the young ones we see that need a little extra guidance in making important life decisions. Wouldn’t you agree that you wish you could have read a book from your grandparents about how to live life and make certain choices. We recognize that as people get older the much wiser they also become. It is sad that our most intelligent minds in the world are lost to sickness and death but it is up to us to pass on our own legacy.

3.  It may be a book, it may be poetry. Whatever you decide to write, let it be you. Don’t let your punctuation and flow distract your mind from the more important message you are trying to convey. Think about all the college books we have read or are reading now, someone wrote that. Has that information become more of a cornerstone in your life teaching you valuable life lessons or pertinent information you could not live without? Just to make note of before I get chastised, punctuation is very important  but if you are an artist then let your art flow. Try not to doctor it up just to look good because I have this theory about art and women for that matter. I always think art and women are so much more beautiful when they are more natural and organic, I’m not saying not to shave those sensitive areas but who needs all that extra make-up or shadowing for a piece of art, just make more. It looks beautiful the way it is and the world will enjoy it better the more natural it is. I mention women as well because well women are a thing of beauty as well and one of the most under paid and under valued resources humanity has to offer. So this is my one way of reaching out to my female readers and tell each and everyone of you that you are more capable than us guys so please break out of any type of timid shell you have been hiding under and make it happen already! And if you need my help, all you have to do is ask.

Please help me spread the word about my blog. I have only optimistic entrepreneurial advice to offer and it can only become popular with YOUR help. Comment, Share and favorite my page, Follow and check out my Facebook page by clicking the link below!!

Thanks for your eyeballs! Hope you enjoyed this article on my newest -Skyler Johnstone- quote

Hey it’s that one guy—Who writes all this stuff for you!! Goofy sure- but knows his stuff? That’s up for you to decide.

Author of Entrepreneur Life 101

“Read to succeed, write to teach”

Guest writer: Entrepreneurship in a Digital Age

Being an entrepreneur means many different things to different people.  For me it means being able to take control of my life, my business, and follow my dreams.  Be that online, or in a real world marketplace.  Originally I started my first business, back in the 1980’s, to pursue my hobbies of dancing and costuming.  I was able to join with a partner and create a small business which provided dance costumes and soon branched out to include jewelry and other items.  I eventually sold out for personal reasons.  Later I also opened a janitorial service business, a desktop publishing and website design business, and eventually a sports equipment business owner found me and I was suddenly in manufacturing and sales of sports equipment.  Looking back it was quite a thrilling ride.

Today I concentrate on my hobby of writing for websites, my own and others.  This also includes blogging, social media and other online ventures.  Having been in both the virtual and real world there are a couple of tips I can share for would-be entrepreneurs out there interested in joining this club.

1.      Follow your interests.  It is probably the most overused yet vital tips you will hear.  Why?  By following your interests you bring a passion to the endeavor that is lacking otherwise.  If you are not passionate about what you are doing, you will soon lose interest. While I had several small businesses, they were not really my passion and while I made a success of them, and was able to sell out for a profit, I soon discovered that my passion was elsewhere and so my energy faltered.

2.      Energize yourself. In spite of the claims of quick incomes, a small business is demanding. Demands on your time, your energy, and again your passion, can often be one of the first things to discourage budding entrepreneurs.

3.      HAVE A PLAN.  Don’t rush into anything. Decide what you want to accomplish, set some goals. Without a plan you are doomed to falter, go off goal, or fail completely

Living and trying to work in the digital realm is one of the most confusing and confounding endeavors of our times. Technology is ever changing and what worked yesterday, may not work tomorrow, as you may have already seen.  But, there are some timeless strategies you can use to help you survive.

DO NOT fall for the myriad of ‘one click and get money fast’ scams you see clogging the internet search engines or your email box.  If you are on marketing lists, unsubscribe.  I have looked at most of them and can tell you they will only make those promoting the programs rich, not you. 

DO NOT put all your eggs in one basket, so to speak.  If you have decided you want to be an affiliate, and simply sell the products of others, great.  You CAN make a decent living doing so, BUT, utilize as many different programs and companies as you can, not just Clickbank.  Through diversity and a variety of income streams you can realize your dreams.

DO your Due Diligence.  Check out the market place. Are you interested in gardening, for example?  Do you plan to sell advice in the form of electronic eBooks, and or products through different associations with manufactures or distributors?  You may find that the competition is enormous and no matter how wonderful your digital store is, it will pale in comparison to the giants.  BUT, perhaps you decide to specialize in some aspect of gardening. The more specific you can design your enterprise site, the better the chance of gaining the traffic that will support your efforts.

Lastly, always remember, your CUSTOMER is your FIRST priority.  Everything else will follow if you treat your customers fairly and respectfully.  Good luck.

At my site, Cagleonline , you can find a plethora of FREE informative materials, eBooks, and videos that can help you build your business or boost a slow business.  I am Barbara Cagle and I have been serving the internet community for over 20 years.

 

Thank you Barbra! Dear readers, please comment on what you think and be sure to visit Barbra’s page for help with your digital age questions. We are still accepting guest submissions if anyone is still interested send me your submission to entrepreneurlife101skyler@gmail.com Thanks for reading and have a great, productive and fruitful day! 

Revisiting Solitude

     Hey everyone, I know it has been quite a while since giving you all an update, just like your life, my life has been busy as well. Long story short I am starting my own fashion line called Get Your Own Swag or GYOS for short as I like to call it. You can visit my website at http://www.getyourownswag.com and even be part of our upcoming flash mob commercial if you live in or around Seattle. If you dig my style and where I am going and feel you can help in anyway I would be happy to entertain any type of help. Ok enough with self-promotion let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Solitude. 

 

    Recently when describing to a friend how solitude is a good thing for creating a great leader it dawned on me that I haven’t been able get any alone time myself. Why is Solitude important? How can being alone actually help ourselves grow within ourselves? 

    Being alone helps you not only clear your mind of all your life’s worries but it helps you find inner contentment with what you already do have, rather than striving for things you don’t. By getting into your own head you free yourself from other inhibitions like life’s worries and how heavy the world is on your shoulders. From an entrepreneurial standpoint we can recognize that when starting your own business you will be managing people and setting guidelines for how you want things to play-out. The question is at that point, would you rather be a good leader or a good manager? Leaders inspire people to better themselves where managers merely manage and delegate.

    Final question, would you rather inspire people and help people better themselves within your business where you can grow and learn together or just have followers just follow everything you say and do?

    From myself and other entrepreneurs mindsets we recognize that many companies offer cash bonuses for securing patents. That being said creativity is best manipulated in a creative atmosphere, which is usually in the company of a good leader. If you are not the leader type maybe you can reach out and talk with a good leader within your community or even myself. Optimism is really the backbone to a good leader and for me it comes naturally but for others one key concept that I try to instill into peoples hearts and minds is the fact that optimism comes from within, you can’t really teach happiness because it has to come naturally and organically. 

 

All I can sum up my entire article about is that inner contentment is the key to happiness and leadership comes from a happy person who spends plenty of time alone with their own thoughts. 

 

Please comment and let me know how you feel about my content, if you dig it cool, if not I understand but tell me why not so I can change and visit important information for you and your needs. 

 

Thanks everyone for your support and I look forward to talking with you all very soon! 

Set realistic goals

    The title pretty much explains itself but some shoot for the stars, fail, and give up. Any successful entrepreneur can attest to the fact that when you fall off of a house you should not just get back on but try harder to stay on. Maybe that means tightening up your grip or not letting loose of the figurative reigns. If you run too loose of an operation things are bound to fail and fall through but by setting realistic goals for yourself and the company more people stand to succeed, yourself included. 

Realistic goals mean that you and your company will have something to be happy about more frequently. By setting smaller more realistic goals your company will grow and expand more rapidly because your employees have something to look forward too and work harder for. 

In lue of keeping this article short and too the point keep in mind goals and how they work. When setting a  goal you reach out for something that is attainable or even slightly unattainable so it will help you work harder yourself to attain it. The smaller the goal the better when running a business. No goal is too small to set thus most things are within grasp if all your smaller goals lead to a bigger purpose. 

Don’t forget to set goals for yourself and your company or it will be much harder to succeed. Without realistic goals however, your company is sure to have a much harder time growing and expanding to the company you wish it to be. 

 What do you think? What is the hardest part about being a business owner and how can those problems be dissolved? 

 

Entrepreneur Life 101-READER RESPONSE

So, what does entrepreneur mean to you? 

 

An entrepreneur is an individual who can see their own success using a personal vision. Not needing the “conventional” path as it were. Better yet realizing they alone hold the key to the end game of success. Personally empowered with a plan for business but more importantly armed with a never say die attitude that will not allow for anything other than a PROFIT.  Customers, business partners and employees are drawn to a confidence that radiates from a self empowered individual that the world happily calls “Entrepreneur.”

Thanks
Enjoy
Gary

Cheaper is Better. Cheap is the new black.

Cheap is the new black.

I have been saying it for years but it is about time I explain the reasoning behind my favorite thought – cheaper is better. What does it mean to be cheap? Buying single ply toilet paper? Store brand products over larger conglomerates? Or maybe you take it farther than me and collect sauces from restaurants for personal home use? How much farther can you honestly take being cheap and why does it matter?

The cheapest people you will ever meet are usually the richest people you will ever meet. There is reasoning behind my madness on this theory and this is it: People who are cheap either have to be due to limited funds or want to be because they need their money for other things. At what point does the average citizen change from a middle-class-pay-for-everything-out-of-pocket American to a freegan (dumpster-diver)? Desperate times definitely call for desperate measures, sure, but if that middle-class American isn’t starving and can afford his food then why dumpster-dive in the first place?

My thinking is principal. For me if the food is good it is good, and where I receive it matters less than what is tastes like. So, by being cheap you open up your capital to diversification. From an entrepreneurs stand-point, capital is the most important key to success in most cases. I know anyone can get a job, but capital and a creative mind classifies you as a different smaller sub-group that really is the stimulus package the United States was not only created with, but desperately needs today. The world is constantly in need of a doer, someone who will not just try their project out but make something of it. I know I have mentioned it before but those mom and pop shops around the country really are the backbone of the economy because even the largest of animals and businesses, and people for that matter, all start out with the smallest of beginnings. We take a seed, plant it in the ground and a few years later we have the start of a large redwood that can reproduce and start a forest.

Our creative mind and business ideas are just like that small redwood seed. We may have a slow start and it may even seem as though our idea isn’t taking, but that’s the part of growing a forest. It takes one good seed to populate the entire forest and our idea and business can do just that. Do you honestly think McDonald’s grew to one of the biggest fast food restaurants in the world over night?

To fall back on the cheapest people/richest people comment think about the quote “ A penny saved is a penny earned”. Now add the relevance of today and inflation and think about it this way “ A dollar saved is a dollar earned.” If we can break free from how we look at prices we can actually start to save more and more. For example whether I go to the grocery store or out to eat at a fancy restaurant, I always ask for a discount. I know that a discount on the price is possible because I have trained my mind to realize that any price on any item tangible or intangible can be negotiated. So even if it is 10% off the bill if the bill is $100 that’s $10!! I can do a lot with $10 – don’t even get me started.