Small business Archives - Diane Hamilton

Famous Entrepreneurs Provide Inspiration

There are plenty of examples of entrepreneurs who failed before they became successful. Some of them even explain that failure has taught them their most valuable lessons. While this may be true, many prospective entrepreneurs fear failure. One way to avoid problems is to learn from those who have experienced negative issues and still managed to succeed.

Entrepreneur.com recently published the article 10 Inspirational Leaders Who Turned Around Their Companies. In this article, author Stephanie Vozza explained, “From Apple’s Steve Jobs’ demanding personality to Marvel’s Isaac Perlmutter’s frugal methods, these sometimes-controversial CEOs weren’t always popular with employees, but they earned the respect of shareholders.”

For some unusual entrepreneurial examples, check out the VentureVillage article The Top Ten Startup Founder Blogs Every Entrepreneur Should Follow. These entrepreneurs offer a different perspective and update their blogs on a regular basis.

For more information for how to be a successful entrepreneur check out:

Have You Been Retargeted?

If you have ever shopped online for an item and then later noticed an ad for that exact item on another page, you have been retargeted. It may cause some problems for people who are trying to surprise others with something special. Consider the scenario of the man who has searched for engagement rings. If his future fiancé should suddenly have ads for rings show up all over their shared computer screen, the jig may be up!

To see what it is like to be retargeted, try going to the site: GreatCall. Once you are on that site, you will notice they sell a phone service. You might then decide to go to a site like Dictionary.com. Once you get to the dictionary site, you might notice that suddenly there is an ad for GreatCall.

Now take a look at the top right corner of that ad. There is a little sideways triangle that you can click that explains AdSense. “The AdChoices symbol appears on web pages and ads to let you know when information about your interests or demographics may have been collected or used to show you ads – what’s known as interest-based advertising. You can opt out of interest-based ads, as well interest-based advertising from other participating companies by visiting the aboutads.info choices page.” Click on the following link to find out how to manage your ad preferences.

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Top Business and Career Trends for 2013

Potential entrepreneurs often look for the next big idea. With changing technology, it is important to have foresight. It is not always necessary to be the first company to offer a product or idea. Facebook is an excellent example of this. Sometimes an idea can be improved upon or tweaked.

Once an entrepreneur comes up with an idea, they must create a feasibility study. After creating a viable plan, there are some unique ways entrepreneurs may obtain financing. Crowdfunding and microlending are just one of the latest trends. Check out the Top 7 Ways for Entrepreneurs to Obtain Funding.

Some experts have tried to predict the next big areas for innovation. There are even sites like Trendhunter that offer trend reports to help with predictions. For those interested in getting ahead of the game, check out some of the top articles on business and career trends for 2013:

The last article is an interesting one, because sometimes people look at trends as positive things. That may not always be true. An important point was made in that article. Bringing value to customers should be a primary goal.

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Top 7 Ways for Entrepreneurs to Obtain Funding

The good news is that entrepreneurs have more options for funding than in the past. According to Entrepreneur.com, access to capital is improving for small businesses. This may be a frightening time to begin an entrepreneurial venture. However, there are an increasing number of available financing options. The following list contains some of the most prevalent in the current market.

Banks – The number of people going to banks for loans is increasing. “According to a report this week on banks with more than $10 billion in assets, the overall volume of loan applications increased by 5.6 percent in September over August, reports Biz2Credit, an online credit marketplace in New York City that connects small and midsize businesses with lenders.”
SBA Loans – Entrepreneurs have also traditionally gone with loans from the Small Business Association. “In 2011… it backed $30.5 billion in 61,689 loans to small business.”
Angel Investors – “Angels invested $9.2 billion in 27,280 startups in the first two quarters of 2012, a 3.1 percent increase in dollars and a 3.7 percent increase in number of entrepreneurial ventures over the same time in 2011, according to a report this week from the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire.”
Venture Capitalists – “In 2012, venture capital firms have raised $16.2 billion, representing a 31 percent increase from the $12.4 billion raised in the first nine months of 2011, according to a report from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association released this week.”
Crowdfunding – There have been some unusual ways that entrepreneurs have managed to raise funds. Crowdfunding has been growing in popularity. Entrepreneurs can raise funds through networking on the internet. Supports fund other people’s ideas or interests.
Microlending – One of the top microlending sites is Kiva.org. Kiva is “a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.”
Pledging – Kickstarter is a unique site allows entrepreneurs to keep ownership and control over their work while tens of thousands of people pledge millions of dollars to help finance their creative ideas. The idea must reach its funding goal or no money changes hands. Entrepreneurs that receive their anticipated funds, can test concepts without risk.

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Boomer Entrepreneurs Can’t Retire

One of the things entrepreneurs plan for is the time that they will eventually sell their company. Currently many older business owners have found it difficult to reap the anticipated rewards of retirement. As the author of the Entrepreneur Exit Strategies for your Business pointed out, “it’s not enough to build a business worth a fortune; you have to make sure you have an exit strategy, a way to get the money back out.” If businesses were once very successful, the economy may have impacted their current worth. Even with what may once have been considered a strong exit strategy, plans may have been affected by the economic downturn.

Boomers trying to sell their businesses are receiving offers that are not enough to finance their retirement. In the Wall Street Journal article The Economy Stole My Retirement, it noted that one small business owner expected to sell for $2 million but recent losses from the recession has made that impossible. She now has seen offers as low as $250,000.

Business owners who had planned to travel and relax in their golden years are now spending 10-12 hours a day or more working to salvage companies. Some have no foreseeable chance of selling in the future. Many have put all of their money into their businesses and would have to live only on social security if they let the businesses fail.

While it is admirable to have high expectations for an entrepreneurial venture, it is the wise business owner who does not keep all of his or her eggs in one basket. Just as Enron employees learned the hard way, it is not a good idea to have all of your money invested in the company in which you work. If the company goes under, people not only lose their jobs but their life savings as well.

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Entrepreneurs Finding Unique Ways to Create Business Plans

Entrepreneurs are faced with many challenges when creating a new business. One of those challenges is to create a feasibility study and business plan. Entrepreneur.com had a very interesting article about how businesses could utilize some unique ways to help create a business plan. In the article Should You Create Your Business Plan on Pinterest, author Tim Berry created a sample Pinterest business plan based on a bicycle shop business. He used charts created by LivePlan.

Berry admits, “The images don’t really tie together, but if this were an actual business plan, they would.” The point is to show that a plan could be created with the help of a site like Pinterest. He explained, “The complete plan should be a collection of interrelated modules that lay out the goals of the business, the steps to achieve those goals, specific tasks and responsibilities, important milestones and dates, and basic metrics, including projected sales, costs, expenses, profits and cash flow. The business plan’s function is to help entrepreneurs manage better, optimize resources and steer the business into the future. Its form is supposed to follow function, so if you’re looking for a collection of visual images that summarize the plan, Pinterest is a perfectly reasonable platform to use.”

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Difference between Feasibility Study and Business Plan

Entrepreneurs face many challenges when creating a new venture. Although the business plan is one of the most well-known documents, the feasibility study may be just as important. Before the entrepreneur can seek funding, he or she must demonstrate that the idea is truly a good one.

Rochester.edu explained that a feasibility study, “can be defined as a controlled process for identifying problems and opportunities, determining objectives, describing situations, defining successful outcomes, and assessing the range of costs and benefits associated with several alternatives for solving a problem.”

In order to create a feasibility study, entrepreneurs need to define dimensions of business viability including: market viability, technical viability, business model viability, management model viability, economic and financial model viability, and exit strategy viability.

A good outline for a feasibility study includes:

Introduction
Product or Service
Technology
Market Environment
Competition
Industry
Business Model
Market and Sales Strategy
Production Operations Requirements
Management and Personnel Requirements
Regulations and Environmental Issues
Critical Risk Factors
Financial Predictions Including: Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, Break Even Analysis, and Capital Requirements
Conclusion

A feasibility study is not the same thing as a business plan. The feasibility study would be completed prior to the business plan. The feasibility study helps determine whether an idea or business is a viable option. The business plan is developed after the business opportunity is created. StrategicBusinessTeam.com explained, “A feasibility study is carried out with the aim of finding out the workability and profitability of a business venture. Before anything is invested in a new business venture, a feasibility study is carried out to know if the business venture is worth the time, effort and resources. A feasibility study is filled with calculations, analysis and estimated projections while a business plan is made up of mostly tactics and strategies to be implemented in other to grow the business.”

While it may seem the feasibility study is similar in many ways to the business plan, it is important to keep in mind that the feasibility study is developed prior to the venture. StrategicBusinessStream pointed out that “a feasibility study can readily be converted to a business plan.” It’s important to think of the business plan in terms of growth and sustainability and the feasibility study in terms of idea viability.

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Big Business Embracing Entrepreneurial Thinking

Wal-Mart recently inspired an unusual entrepreneurial competition. Inventors could submit product ideas, with the hope of having their product available on the stores’ shelves. Wal-Mart is not the first company to recognize the importance of fostering creativity in unusual ways. In college-level innovation and entrepreneurship courses, one of the things students learn is that organizations place a high value on entrepreneurial thinking.

Wal-Mart initially created the entrepreneurial contest to create buzz in social media. The popularity of the promotion led to some creative ideas by inventors who sought attention for their creations. The Wall Street Journal reported that the winner would have the opportunity to sell on Wal-Mart.com as well as in the physical stores.

The idea of organizations recognizing the importance of entrepreneurial talents is becoming more popular. Check out some of the following articles that demonstrate the value of entrepreneurship in the modern workplac

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Entrepreneurs: Funding Options from Kickstarter

Entrepreneurs often find that one of the hardest parts of realizing their dream is to obtain financing. Some have tried microlending sites like Kiva.org. Others have discovered a new lending platform called Kickstarter. The site’s tagline is “a new way to fund and follow creativity.”

Kickstarter describes its site as the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects. This unique site allows entrepreneurs to keep ownership and control over their work while tens of thousands of people pledge millions of dollars to help finance their creative ideas. The idea must reach its funding goal or no money changes hands. Entrepreneurs that receive their anticipated funds, can test concepts without risk.

Kickstarter’s Blog offers advice to those interested in creating a new project. The site allows for people to browse current ideas or to create their own. To begin a new project dedicated to film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and more, creators can check out Kickstarter school.

Once a project is listed on the site, it displays timeline and pledge information including: Percent Funded, Amount Pledged, Number of Days Left to Receive Funds. The picture displayed below demonstrates some examples listed on Kickstarter’s site. On the site’s curated page, it lists “projects curated by some of the world’s foremost creative communities.” The site also allows users to view projects by staff picks, most popular, recently launched, ending soon, small projects, most funded, as well as by category and location.

For additional help with the entrepreneurial process, check out the Top 30 Links for the Successful Entrepreneur.

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