To be an entrepreneur is not proprietary to inventing something or creating a business from scratch..

Many of you may be asking yourselves “how am I going to climb this intimidating mountain of success?”  While this is a legitimate question, the real question is whether you possess the single most dominant attribute found in almost all of our successful self made business people. It is basically a prerequisite for entrepreneur 101 and beyond.  So what is it you ask? Less complicated than one might think.

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

Guest writer:    Tim McEneny

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:…

“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…

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…

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…

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:…

Reader Response #4 ” What does entrepreneurship mean to you?”

By: Samantha Fenelus

 

“Innovation is the creation of the new or the re-arranging of the old in a new way” – Michael Vance.
This quote to me perfectly defines entrepreneurship, it epitomizes exactly what and entrepreneur needs to create a successful company. To me, a successful company will have a good foundation, strong work forces, and an open mind, to have the ability to know when to change and re-arrange their products. Simply in my opinion to be a great entrepreneur you must have a creative mind, and good work ethic, without either the company will miss something that is vital to the survival. Never think an idea is to small, instead work the idea in both aspects until it’s a formidable idea that rivals all of the new products being created. All in all entrepreneurship to me is embodied in the quote, take an archaic idea, use your unique mind to change it and create a business plan, become the entrepreneur you want to be.

 

Awesome! You don’t have to re-create the wheel you just have to figure out a different way to sell it or find a different interested buyer. Thanks again for the great submission. I and all the readers of Entrepreneur Life 101 can’t wait to read more of your content and ideas. 

So what does entrepreneurship mean to YOU?

Reader response #3 “What does entrepreneurship mean to you?”

By: Dhiran Shah.

 

Entrepreneurship to me is about constantly looking for problems / opportunities, finding them, building solutions, and making economic value out of it for self and those involved. It is a lifestyle where in one chooses to live a few years (often these are the struggle years) like no one else would choose to, so that he / she can live the way they want to at a later stage (once when he/she has realised the dream of creating a sustainable successful business) that others cant. Its about taking risks, sacrificing friends and family time (if you are in a job, you still able to maintain a good work life balance), constantly learning, listening, networking, looking for like minded  people…

 

  

 

 Dhiran, what a great submission! I never quite mention the sacrifices an entrepreneur has to make but sleep, hard work and smart thinking are all key points to being successful. Personally and I am sure everyone likes to work smart not hard but opening your mind to separate investments is where it all starts. Checks and balances applies very much to owning your own business so I strongly agree that we should apply that to our schedule. 

 

What do you think? What is entrepreneurship mean to you? I am still taking submissions for the next week to see how many people submit and in between there will be new submissions from myself but highlighting a totally new subject you are sure to enjoy reading and maybe even learn something from. Comments keep my world in balance so don’t be shy!!