What Is an Entrepreneur?
The conventional definition of “entrepreneur” goes something like this: “A person who innovates while taking a risk in developing a product, service, or business.”  Another definition, a bit less precise but equally effective: “Someone who identifies an opportunity and creates a means to pursue it.”  Either way you look at it, the concept of entrepreneurship encompasses several traits.  Entrepreneurs want to create something of their own to bolster their feeling of personal achievement, and they do so with the knowledge that risk can sometimes equal failure.  For the new entrepreneur, he or she should concentrate on minimizing risk while maximizing opportunity.  How is this done?  The best way for new entrepreneurs to succeed is by following the life lessons laid out by those who have gone before.

Are You a New Business Entrepreneur?
Running your own business imparts great responsibility.  You will have employees who rely on you to provide a stable work environment.  You will have customers who expect you to deliver exactly as promised.  Suppliers want to be paid on time, and investors look to you as a source of profit for the money they have put into your company.  The successful entrepreneur takes calculated risks, not crazy ones.  By following the fifteen lessons below, you will have a leg up on the competition.

Fifteen Dynamic New Entrepreneur Ideas

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Let the Buyer (ALWAYS) Beware
As a proper thinking entrepreneur, you have decided that the pizza place that’s been on the corner of your street for 15 years – and is now for sale by its original owner – would be the perfect business to buy.  You have some cash on hand, you know that the owner is willing to provide a loan for the balance (at a below market rate), and you have worked your way up through the fast food jungle from counterperson to assistant manager. All the stars appear to be properly aligned, so what could possibly go wrong?  Well, let’s think about the asking price for a minute.  Pay too much and you may find that it will take a lot longer to reach profitability.  Pay too little and…well, that almost never happens, does it?  How do you value an existing business for sale?

How to Value a Business For Sale
Any existing business has some intrinsic value, even if it’s on its last legs.  Maybe the equipment can be pawned or resold, or perhaps the brand name still pulls in a few customers.  There are many ways to calculate the fair value of an existing business – successful or otherwise – but it rarely makes sense to take the owner’s word for it.  At the very least you will want to apply your own metrics to the process.  It usually makes good fiscal sense to get a business valuation done by a professional or, at the very least, by a trusted yet disinterested third party.  Sad to say, there are literally dozens of methods that people use to determine the value of existing businesses for sale.  Not all of them will apply to the company your eye is on, but there are some basic rules worth following.

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Is Owning a Business in Your Future?
At one time or another, nearly every employee dreams of owning a business.  Perhaps you’re tired of all your hard work ending up helping someone else achieve his or her entrepreneurial success, or you may fear for losing your job in a weakened economy.  Whatever your motivation, the compulsion to own a business is strong in many of us.  But the risk involved in turning that dream into reality has, all too often, acted to derail even the best-laid plans.

How to Own a Business
Every prospective business owner is forced to wrestle with many different kinds of questions.  Concerns about money certainly lead the pack, but knowing what kind of business best suits you is even more important.  The best place to start is by examining the reasons why you want to own a small business.  Here are some benefits to ponder:

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Look Out – Businesses For Sale!
Thanks to the Internet and its worldwide audience, information on anything imaginable (and hardly believable) is only a few clicks away.  If you are an entrepreneur on the lookout for a new business opportunity, scanning the Web can prove worthwhile.  It can also be an immense waste of time, since search engines tend to force you to look at as many as a thousand tangentially related pages before you find something of value.  There are better sources and more sensible ways to uncover new business opportunities, especially those that offer greater local appeal.

How to Find Business Opportunities in Your Locale
There are no fewer than six major sources of information for finding a new business opportunity that suits your interests, your particular financial situation and your location.  While it helps to have at least some glimmer of an idea as to the type of industry you’d like to explore – more on that below – it’s not a deal-killer if you’re just starting out and haven’t a clue.  Believe it or not, the more you read and the more you learn about a particular field, the easier it is to accept or reject operating in that area.  Here are those six broad categories:

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Are There Cheap Franchise Opportunities Out There?
There are three aspects to coming up with the kind of money it takes to buy a franchise – coughing up the initial franchise fee, finding a place from which to do business, and paying for supplies and inventory.  Cheap franchises are an especially hot commodity in a down economy.  But don’t be fooled by a low price tag.  The cost of entry for an inexpensive franchise is only one element of potential success.  There are definitely cheap franchises out there, so let’s do a little exploring.

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Brands and marketers are rapidly leaving the orbit of “paid media” dominance and entering the gravitational pull of the age of “earned” and “social media.” But, first, a definition, compliments of Wikipedia:
Earned media (free media) refers to favorable publicity garnered via efforts other than advertising, as opposed to paid media, which refers to publicity gained through advertising. Earned media often refers specifically to publicity gained through editorial influence, whereas social media refers to publicity gained through grassroots action, particularly on the Internet.

Brands that want to generate “coverage” in a world where professional and consumer-generated media live side-by-side, they either must “earn” it (PR) or stimulate a conversation (social) based on action, in-action or mis-actions (mistakes). Traditionally, earned media coverage was largely facilitated through public relations campaigns – professional editors assigned stories to journalists who wrote about something “newsworthy.”

While that process is still at work in an ever-expanding media universe, today products and (customer) services that delight consumers by exceeding, or failing, to exceed their expectations earn voluminous word-of-mouth (social media) coverage from armies of bloggers, tweeters, and Facebookers, who magnify the brand message virally.

While earned media has been around since the first campfires, the Internet and social media networks make it much easier to earn media for a brand, product, or oneself. But earning digital media doesn’t mean it’s free. Instead of paying for media placements (advertising), marketers pay for the time and resources of people who will investigate what’s being said about your brand and then engage on your behalf. These can be employees, contractors, agencies, etc.

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“Hey, come take a look at this storm system. It’s enormous.” – Hideki, Japanese astronaut, The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

Lots of people missed the big news of the Beijing Olympics.  It wasn’t that Mark Phelps won 8 gold medals.  It wasn’t that the U.S. edged out China on the total number of medals.  It wasn’t the hundreds of personal tragedies and triumphs.  Some of the competitors undoubtedly felt like Laura Chapman … “I know you always thought I took the competition too seriously … you were right. It was all for nothing.”  The big news was that nothing happened.  Sure The Chinese government and China’s CCTV was afraid.  NBC was afraid.  AT&T was afraid.  BBC was afraid.  Microsoft was afraid (they had a lot riding on Silverlight’s success).  Limelight and Akamai were afraid.  Afraid the video pipes of the world would collapse. 

Didn’t happen!

The estimated 1.3 billion worldwide Internet users were more than four times the number of potential users that tried to access Mark Cuban’s broadcast.com “airing” of Victoria’s Secret show a decade ago. 

The Games Begin

This online video challenge streamed more than 2200 hours of live competition in 25 sports.  More than 112 video streams were often available at one time.  All told 336 streams could have been sent out simultaneously.  The content was available to 77 countries.  The great thing was online viewers around the globe didn’t have to watch NBC’s version of the Olympics.  Use your search engine, type in Beijing (or 2008) Olympics + country name and BAM!

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“Well, that’s right, Professor Frederickson, and that all matter is made up of not only density but of empty space, and if we can proportionally reduce the amount of empty space in any given object, we can, thereby, shrink the object.” – Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis), Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989)

We always enjoy the Intel Developers Forum (IDF) because 98 percent of the time the demos work.  When they don’t work, you’re pretty sure no one will get sent to the Bering Seas to work on The Deadliest Catch series.  No sweat this year!  Craig Barrett, Intel’s chairman, wanted everyone to know that the company was just flush with fresh ideas (see photo) so he waved around and talked an itty-bitty something you couldn’t really see.  Heck could have been one of his new fishing lures … who’d know?  Of course Paul Otellini, Intel Prez, had to show off their huge silicon platters with a gazillion chips on it.  To hear him talk you’d think that everything we use everyday would be useless without his chips.  Look around … he may be right.  For him it was all about performance, raw speed.  Obviously if you need an excuse to upgrade your devices every six months it is all about speed, performance!  Glad the wife wasn’t there.  She would have been so ticked about her new, barely used, now outdated Dell notebook.

Notebooks Still Cool

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“We got Hurricane Grace moving north off the Atlantic seaboard. Huge… getting massive. Two, this low south of Sable Island, ready to explode. Look at this. Three, a fresh cold front swooping down from Canada. But it’s caught a ride on the jet stream… and is motoring hell-bent towards the Atlantic.” – TV Meteorologist, The Perfect Storm (Warner Bros, 2000)

You’ve got your office wired / wireless network, your home network, your multimedia notebook system, your TV and PVR, your MP3 (ok iPod) player, got your digital camera / camcorder, got your everything smartphone.  Life is pretty good!  Why do you feel a little uneasy then?  Why are IT people sweating more bullets than a bank officer?  Maybe it’s too much of a good thing.  Phone, camera, computer, software, content development folks are packing more power, more features, more capabilities into their products at ridiculously low prices.

Internet connectivity now spans the globe.  Broadband service is found in more and more homes.

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“Law I:  A robot may not harm a human or, by inaction, allow a human being to come to harm … Law II:  A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law … Law III:  A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection” – I, Robot (2004)

Admit it … working with / updating / using a computer is fun! 

• Buy the system, hardware alone is just an expensive boat anchor and it’s out of date before you get home Install the OS and it comes alive … kinda.  At least it will wink at you
• Upgrade HW (new graphics, video, audio card; more RAM; bigger / faster drive) a more expensive anchor that winks at you
• Install applications from different people each works on its own – maybe, kinda
• Update the software, firmware; making them play nicely together is … fun.  A real way to keep your mind active

When you’re finally got everything “humming,” you find the system has taken on a mind of its own.  It does what you would like it to do but it does it … its way.  Try and correct it and the system will say (in its own way) … “You are making a mistake. My logic is undeniable.”

The industry is well on its way in knocking out its second billion computers (desktop, sever, notebook).  

Growing Network

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“I’ve been there myself. The fear, the adrenaline, you find yourself imagining things, impossible things, crazy things, insane things … takes years to get over it.” – Dr. Peter Silberman – Terminator 3:  Rise of the Machines (2003)

Maybe because our kids attended the same high school as Jobs and Woz they can’t imagine things as barbaric as communications using dial-up modems.  They laugh when they see the photos of the Motorola brick.  The idea that they would have to search out a pay phone or wait to call someone until they can use the home phone seems … ridiculous.  Especially when they have their flip and slider phone in their pocket.  The cellphone for millions has gone beyond being trendy.  It is a necessity – a means of staying in touch with friends and family, added safety and security.  Growth came rapidly because people could stay in touch on the go:

• 33 mln mobile phones sold in the US in Q2 2007
• 70% of teens 12 to 14 have a cell phone
• 34% of US households to use only mobile services by 2011
• Mobile subscriber churn is at 2.5% a month
• 25% of young Americans do not have a landline
• Men spend 458 minutes a month on wireless, women – 453 minutes
• 63% of users feel their phones are very personal to them
• 44% say the phones have strengthened their personal relationships

Of course a lot of folks wanted more.  Heck … they wanted it all.

Naturally a lot of companies as well as service and content providers were all too willing to give consumers what they wanted.  Conventional wisdom engineers were determined to pack every feature, every capability and every service into the small devices … regardless of the cost to useability, financial outlay.  Their research showed folks were ready for it … all:

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“My idea, Plissken. Something we’ve been fooling around with… The capsules are already starting to dissolve … In 22 hours, they’ll be dissolved down to the cores. I estimate that you’ll be dead in 10 to 20 seconds from internal bleeding …” - Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleve), Escape from New York (1981)

It’s all solved and everyone should be happy.  We have a single next generation disc format.  The CE/PC industry is ready to deliver the 2 ft and 10 ft entertainment experience.  Even Tellywood is happy.  Won’t it be fun?  Sorry … it won’t be that easy.

The MPAA and AACS are still working on their fantastic content protection scheme.  We’d be worried talking about it but their gumshoe (Anthony Pillicano) is on trial for racketeering Hollywood style so he’s a “little” preoccupied.  But there’s a little difference between what consumers want/expect, what indie producers would like to have and what Hollywood wants to give all of the rest of us.  What consumers want (and are getting from other entertainment segments) is the ability to buy their content … once!  Then enjoy their movies when they want, where they want, how they want, on what they want.  That’s called “managed copy” in the trade so you can buy it once and use it on any device you want.  You know like folks want to do today.  On their TV … on their desktop … on their laptop … on their portable player … on their iPod/MP3 player … on their phone … cool!  But when you look at what Tellywood wants to do you have to mumble as Snake (Kurt Russell) did …  “No human compassion.”

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“This show as prerecorded earlier, because it didn’t make much sense to prerecord it later.” – Gary Owens, announcer – Rowan & Martin Laugh-In (’68-’73)

The writers’ strike was all about giving their members a “fairer” proportion of the growing volume of online content.  Since it appeared to be a prolonged affair Tellywood focused a lot of attention and money on indie films at Sundance.  At the same time more than a few analysts wondered aloud if there might be a mass migration from TV to online videos and folks would be less than enthused in returning to the family room set.

On a recent dive trip to Kona we met a couple who said they were part of the second wave of hippies to Santa Fe and were writers / artists / videographers.  We asked if they had shown the work at any of the growing number of film festivals around the globe.  The videographer part of the duo said no but he had been turned down by a lot of them.   Then he added that in the past few months he had had a lot of interest in his work from both Tellywood and online outlets.  In fact five had been sold … two to Tellywood, three to online firms.  It made us wonder or as Laugh-In’s Arte Johnson would say, “Veerrry eenteresting…”

In markets such as the U.S., homes have more TV sets and DVD players than broadband access.  It may be growing but if it weren’t for our wireless card in Kona we’d have been stuck with dial-up (don’t even ask!). 

Screen Differences

A number of folks like to say convergence is taking place and soon we’ll be three-screen households.  Maybe yours but not ours!  They’re different.  They’re viewed differently.

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When the full content of the deal in its entirety is fully explored and strongly considered … price, financing terms and conditions, taxes, debts, real estate, sellers goals, and the qualifications / resumes of all parties involved are all factors that should be fully considered in a well thought out deal.

“If I could get $X for my business I would sell it today.”
“I need to get $X to sell my business.”
“I know my business is worth $X.”

The above are comment statements and feelings business owners share in the consideration of the sale of their business.  But no business operates within a vacuum and many factors affect the business outside of the business including the rest of the industry, and local, regional and worldwide business climates.   What sort of a return should one get on a business purchase is somewhat relative to what one can achieve in other investments.  If one can expect a double digit return on a conservative investment, this may drive up what one may expect from a riskier investment in a business.  But as investment returns on fairly conservative investments go down, interest in business acquisition may go up, and expected / projected returns reduced.  The price of your business is not determined in a vacuum as well.  The terms of the sale, the other party or parties involved with the sale, financing and terms, and the timing of the sale are a few of the important factors (outside of price) that can greatly affect the success of a sale.

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I was with a business contact of mine the other day and mentioned a project that we were working on for a client of ours. To my surprise he said to me, “I didn’t know you did that!”  That made me think. Just because YOU know what you do, does that mean other people do?  Remember, people will have probably seen you wearing different hats and may not necessarily associate you with EVERYTHING that you do.  That’s why it’s so important to just remind your contacts occasionally about what you’re doing. You may think that they know about the latest product or service that you’ve introduced recently, but how will they know unless you have taken the time and trouble to tell them?

The contact I was talking to knew that we did the marketing workshops and produced various products like the CD, but he didn’t realise that we also DO marketing for small businesses and can also do the marketing for them too. Here’s just an example of what we’ve done for our clients:

• Make calls to potential companies on behalf of your business or follow up by phone on a letter that you’ve sent out.
• Organise workshops and find attendees to come on your courses.
• Internet marketing to increase your presence on Google.
• Create and sent out email newsletters on a monthly basis.
• Email marketing campaigns.
• Create and send out press releases, tips sheets and articles to the press.
• Design adverts, leaflets, brochures and websites.
• And many, many more …

We’re happy to do just one of the activities mentioned above, but we can also implement a combination of marketing ideas too.

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The Risky Economy
A job search under any circumstances is no treat – rewriting your resume at least a dozen times, job searching on the Internet day after day, and landing maybe two interviews for every hundred openings you dig up – but in a shaky economy it can be downright brutal.  Business revenue declines, which causes companies to cut payroll, and then the lack of personnel drives frustrated customers away.  It’s a vicious cycle.  But why get trapped in that rat race if you don’t have to?

Starting a Business Trumps Job Searching
Looking for jobs can be a very shortsighted process.  Long gone are the days when people worked at the same company for decades and retired with a nice pension.  Since at least the 1980s, most professionals change jobs every three to four years, and it’s usually the employer’s choice rather than the worker’s.  Starting a business can be a scary proposition – especially if you come to the process with a lot of unanswered questions in your mind – but a job search can take up just as much time, effort and even capital.  Besides, here is all you’re left with at the end of that road – just another job that you might hold for five years, after which it’s the same process all over again, except you’re now five years older!

Four Reasons to Drop Job Searching for Entrepreneurship
If you have reached the stage in your career where you’re earning a comfortable living as an executive or someone with skills honed over many years in business, there are many strikes against you on the job search front.  Here are four reasons why starting a business may better serve your long-term financial goals:

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Personalities and Entrepreneurship
As any business owner knows, it takes a certain type of person to operate a successful business.  But did you know that experts have identified as many as nine different kinds of personalities that apply to entrepreneurship?  By looking at any list of entrepreneurs – business owners who have built successful companies from scratch – you can match at least one of the following traits to each of them.

Nine Types of Entrepreneurs
By knowing which kind of an entrepreneur you are, you will find greater success by knowing what kind of business you should operate.

1. The Developer
Your intention to run your own company involves using it as a means for improving the planet, helping humanity, or simply making life easier for the general populace.  This field runs the gamut from healthcare to creating new personal products (healthier food or a soothing body spray), and it is your belief that morally upstanding companies will reap great rewards for working on worthwhile causes.

2. The Advisor
By offering a high level of customer service in the form of outstanding assistance and advice, no matter what kind of product or service you sell, you will satisfy people’s need and build a great company.  Any business founded by this type of personality invariably ends up as a customer-focused enterprise.

3. The Magnetic Personality
Individuals with immense levels of high energy and charisma have the ability to attract equally committed workers who help them build important businesses.  Although there is a “workaholic” element to this type that can be detrimental if left unchecked, some of the world’s greatest companies have been founded by superstar entrepreneurs.

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Cashing In on a Business Start Up
More people than ever are deciding to start their own businesses, so why should you be any different?  Whether you choose to acquire an existing company, start one from scratch, or purchase a franchise, there are a number of costs associated with buying a business.  Knowing what they are and calculating in advance how much you’ll need for each item will save you tons of time, headaches, and even money down the road.

Primary Business Start Up Costs
Different small business start-ups will have all sorts of different start up costs.  For example, retail businesses need storefront locations and the people to run them during business hours.  Work from home businesses need none of that, but you will instead incur costs to remodel and stock the spot in your home from which business will be conducted – as well as investing in a secure lock to keep out the kids while you’re trying to close a big sale.  The business cost start up variables you will most likely encounter – no matter what kind of business you choose to own – include the following:

• Fees to professionals – Any owner of a new business requires the services of an attorney to draw up articles of incorporation or other company-forming materials, plus an accountant to keep the books straight and the I.R.S.

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A “Take It Or Leave It” Culture?
Companies that franchise their retail operations have a set way of doing business.  In many cases they have created a successful franchising system over the course of many years, and in dealings with hundreds if not thousands of franchisees.  Let’s say that you want to buy a franchise.  There are certain documents that the parent company must provide, including a highly detailed listing of how much you pay in franchisee fees and royalties, and exactly what you will receive for those payments.  In preparation for buying a franchise, your biggest question may well be, “What can I negotiate, if anything?”  The corporation may want you to assume there is no wiggle room, but that is not always the case.

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Equal Protection Under the Law
Laws are generally in place within a society to provide protection for the citizenry.  There are many areas of law, with criminal and civil as the two main categories.  However, there exist many subdivisions and specialties within each class, and legal experts in one discipline may not know a great deal about some other discipline.  Franchise law has evolved over the years to protect franchise buyers and ensure that rules and regulations throughout the industry are fair and open.  A franchise law firm generally finds its clients within two distinct groups – individuals who are interested in buying a franchise, and companies that wish to start a franchise operation.  There is even an area known as franchise investment law, where some states require franchises to be registered before they can be bought or sold.  A competent franchise law attorney is a valuable commodity for any party involved in franchising.  He or she should be well informed on new franchise law developments as well as existing case law.

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