“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…

Investing- Calculated vs Inexperienced

By: Skyler Johnstone

Most people invest nearly blind into their investments without doing any sort of research into their field before they support it. The world of investing is endless. You can invest into gold, stocks, tickets, businesses, personal ventures, the government or anything. There is so many ways to make money in the world it is almost funny how the blunt of our friends can’t even see past their front door step. If you gave me a $5 bill and an hour I can guarantee I could turn it into a $20 bill within at least an hour or less. How you might ask? Initiative. That’s how.  Taking the calculated time to weigh out all the possible $5 investments I have available to me and then line up a market in which I would like to advertise that product and try to find someone who either needs that product or convince someone they do.

BUT! You do not need seasoned sales experience to make a sale. The reason why is because their is always a buyer for any product. Most of the time the winner is in the negotiations, coming to a fair price that is agreeable to either party. Any item big or small or even a service has a priceless value until yourself and the buyer agree on a fair price or even trade. So realistically value can be created out of nothing but your time for any priced item or service the buyer spends on his product or service. For example, I have a buddy who traded web design for the repairs on his car to be fixed. No money changed hands yet his car was still able to be fixed. Personally I have even traded Disney Pins for Disneyland tickets!

Even the most inexperienced investor can become very successful with the smallest investment of time, money or a service. That small allotment of time, money or a service can be then traded for anything that you feel will make you a quick buck or even a longer term investment. So no matter how inexperienced you may feel as an investor just look at the risk and potential return and calculate whether the investment will be worth your time. If all it is is your time you are investing into an idea you mind as well see it through because even if you try and fail there is no way to succeed without first trying.

This brings me back to the main point it seems of my entire blog in which most people still have to be told daily. If you can not find a job then create one. Value can be created from completely nothing if you put the work in to sell yourself or product to any buyer who puts trust into the value of your product or service. Just like blogging people want good content for the best price. Previously I wrote about how people need to be entertained and free is a key ticket item when it comes to entertaining on the internet. People want something that will engage their senses and or fulfill their physical needs and desires. So if you can create a product or idea that fulfills a desire, need or engage peoples senses with your service then you are in the money so to speak. Being 21 I obviously play video games and not to quote Black Ops with the in the money quote but if you do just what the game has been designed to do then you are in the money physically. You have created a service that enthralls players or users and takes up their time. Anyone who has seen the movie “In Time” can recognize how realistic their major dilemma has been. Never have enough time. Today as a society we recognize that we are always busy with one thing or another and have the excuse that we don’t have enough time to get things done. Well I call the BS card on that notion. You are only as busy as you keep yourself and if you say you don’t have time, make time. Some things in life are more important than saving up for that new Xbox game or controller.

The truest most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who view their TIME as an investment. Like for example, the time it takes to volunteer for $100 owed to the Pierce County Court is 11 hours community service. Thus you are working 11 hours at close to $9 per hour. Now don’t get me wrong $9 an hour is fair but not enough to do much with. Not too mention the type or hard labor you would be doing at close to minimum wage. Now I don’t know about all of you guys but I sure wouldn’t want to work hard labor for only $9 an hour. I would find the same hard labor job on my own time, make the going rate of $13-15 per hour and then just pay the $100 ticket and have between $43-65 left over at the end of the day from the same 11 hours and be able to afford a meal and gas it took to get there in a work environment full of people who don’t dread being at their job. Not to mention that 11 hours of work at a hard labor job would also mean you are associating with a completely different crowd with which if manipulated correctly can be a great networking opportunity as well. In the end it is better to just take a court fee like a band aid and clean up your act. The main idea though is to never see an obstacle as really an obstacle at all. Just see a bill as a task and finances as a goal. You will either reach your future goals or you won’t. You will only reach your goals if you apply yourself and if you don’t apply yourself then you are relying on someone else and no one likes a sponge. Unless he lives in a pineapple under the sea, because we all like that guy!

What did you think of this article? Don’t be afraid, I am too optimistic to let any comment sway my day so leave one anyway!

Understanding the World Around You!

What possibly could understanding the world around you have anything to do with Entrepreneur Life 101?

Recently a comment was posted on my blog about the business world around us and its ever so changing effects on society. We live in an internet crazed society that still has yet to distinguish the real problems going on in the world. How can that be? (PR) That’s how. Public Relations. Fortune 500 companies pay off and sort out every type of bad word spoken about them in the news or online via hired employees and entire teams of people keeping negative chatter to a bare minimum.

I am definitely not here to bash or talk down upon any fortune 500 company but I would like to make the facts known to the public through my blog. Here are the facts:

1. No business should be large enough to not be able to fail.
2. The same companies who drive down prices also drive out small businesses.
3. Not all low prices carry out throughout the store.
4. Even after a large retail store has been built the business doesn’t always stick around. Which leaves you with a small town with small business owners out of work and if the large retailer leaves you are left with an empty town.
5. Low priced food comes at a high cost to a community.
6. Small businesses employ more than half of all Americans (sba.gov)
7. Small businesses hire about 43% high tech workers(Web designers, Scientists, Engineers ect)

I am by no means against big business but I do want you to know the facts before you make a purchase or decision to incorporate or become a larger business. Just from the facts alone we see that small business is good business if it is employing people, creating new jobs and supporting American families.

If you decide to start your own business remember your grass roots per say and keep things simple and humble. The more simple your product or design meets your customers needs the more sales you are bound to receive. If you are humble with your business people will also be able to tell that you care about your customers and employees by off

Will entrepreneurs will bring us out of recession??

By: Skyler Johnstone

I recently received this as a comment on one of my articles and it got me thinking. Are entrepreneurs really what will bring us out of recession? Well let’s look at what an entrepreneur does with his or her time. Most entrepreneurs create a niche they feel will make them money and then make it happen by either borrowing money or investing their own. The local mom an pop shop invests into it’s ideas, spends money on advertising their idea, hires someone to design or create the product and then they instantly try selling their product. If there product is successful they will then hire people to build or renovate a property and open a store front.

I am sure you noticed it too. The local mom and pop store’s idea has done nothing but hire people and provide them with a job. All-be-it a temporary job, it is still a paying position that the local mom and pop shop has created with their idea and minimal funding. The mom and pop shop have created work for an extended time now and now with a successful business, you guessed it, it is now time to hire employees for their storefront to man the hours they can not handle.

Even if the couple fails they are entrepreneurs and will just think of the next idea and start facilitating that idea almost immediately. Case-in-point they will try and try again which not only means that they are providing work for a few people or companies at a time and thus are one of the largest active contributors into our not so thriving economy, but with more entrepreneurs we all could actually make a difference.

The question I will turn over to you the reader. Besides the multilevel management schemes and pyramids out there, it seems to me that a true entrepreneur can make a difference in supporting a thriving economy, what do you think? Will entrepreneurs around the country bring us out of recession? 

I enjoy reading all of your comments I just wish there were more of them grrr how to solve this problem??? Share with your friends already so they can comment too!

The importance of Marketing, and why you should care!

By: Skyler Johnstone

First of all thank you for taking your time to read my blog it means a lot! So, what is marketing? Well it is not what the definition says online that’s for sure. They describe marketing as the act of buying or selling, which is not correct. It may be in some ways, but for all intensive purposes we will say it is not. Marketing is the process of searching for and finding out the needs and wants of your customers. To do marketing research means to supply a product to a group of people and then ask them what they think of it. In the real world even if you are a window cleaner like I have been, just by asking their opinion on your work you are subconsciously marketing. By getting their response you are able to take that market research and adjust your business edge and hopefully get better at what you do adjust your product appropriately to meet those needs.

Most importantly, marketing is not used to look after what you as the seller are looking for but cares for what is important to your clients and potential clients. Many millions if not billions of dollars are spent on marketing every year because it really is what gives a company a competitive edge over their competitors. Marketing research provides you with new ideas, products, thoughts, comments and concerns of the product or service you are deciding to offer. For example, for those of you who ever paid attention in school and had to study for a test, how useful would have the highlighter with the post-it notes been to you? Think about it, they way 3M was able to find out the needs of students was to talk with them and see what their needs are as a student. For most students, they make sure the laptop is fully charged, the fridge is full of hot pockets and the highlighters are full of ink because without the basic essentials it is difficult to study and retain that information. With marketing even if 99 out 100 ideas fail it only takes ONE GOOD IDEA TO BE SUCCESSFUL!!

As a test of this theory, Quick! Take a look around in the room you are in, look for something small (no not your co-workers brain). Now think of the person who designed that small object, for me it is a bread tie because I just finished up breakfast. The man who invented the bread tie was George Hinson in 1923, he was a millionaire for the simplest of ideas. The only reason I knew that, by the way, is because I just looked it up. Now are you starting to grasp the concept though? It only takes one good idea to be very successful and as good ole George has displayed for us it is not that difficult to create something that will make you plenty of money to be content. So where does marketing stand with your idea? Well marketing has a proven way of almost always being right. Let me explain, when asking customers what they need or want, you obviously want to listen but don’t just take their word for it. Continue on asking all the way after you are starting to turn a profit on your idea or service to grow and adapt to the ever so changing needs of your customers. With the internet it can be a very slippery slope if you do not keep up with the newest technology and social media and social networks. You can date yourself and more importantly lose out on all of those precious impressions that are just waiting for you to catch up with and acquire.

Lastly, Social Media, Social Networks, Social Networking, Social Media/Network Advertising and Globalization! Who? Where and What are all of these things? Like it or not social networks are now a part of our everyday lives with billions of people logging on to their social network of choice and spending nearly an increasing exponential amount of time on those sites. People are downloading applications on their phones even to stay connected with what their friends around the world are saying on their pages. Well not to dive too terribly deep into the social media aspect of the internet, we still can not deny that advertising dollars can be well spent on a social networks page. BUT! Me being who I am, a money-saving-specialist, I say look for the alternative routes as well! For example this page, I have created this word press account and linked it to my twitter account #el101skyler and my Facebook page that can be found by searching Entrepreneur Life 101 or clicking here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Entreprener-Life-101/245002922248829 and even my Google+ account and email entrepreneurlife101skyler@gmail.com

Create many separate accounts like this for your own blog or business as well because when people search your name or email they will find your product or service simultaneously. Not to mention, THEY ARE FREE!!!!!! Free advertising is available like Facebook Pages and blogs, all you have to do is spend 10-20 minutes of your time and you are off and running!!! Did I mention they were free? So to summarize, if you are looking to be a millionaire, don’t stop dreaming because anything is possible if you do your market research and find the needs and wants of your customers if you are quick about it and get off your ass and take action you might be the one who fills that need or want and become very successful. Just remember that if you do read this blog and become successful don’t forget to take dear old Skyler out to lunch at least!

The only way more people will know about my blog is if you tell them about it…So click follow and share already, what are you waiting for?

Entrepreneur Life 101 has moved, please visit Entrepreneurlife101.org for current posts. Thanks!

DJ Skreebz designed this logo! Thank you!

 

 

Entrepreneur Life 101 has moved, please visit Entrepreneurlife101.org for current posts. Thanks!

 

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!!!