Be Different! In order to be successful in business online you have to be different, which you already are simply because you are reading this article. This article is a shout out to every wantpreneur, nepreneur and entrepreneur, letting them know that they can achieve their business goals by just being different.
By different, I mean changing the qualities in you that will not and can not lead to success and replacing them with ones that will.
Below is a list of qualities that you may want to work on.
Energy Passion Assertiveness Novelty Initiative Creativity Imagination Be a self starter Time Management Follow-through Be ready for anything Think positively Believe in yourself Ability to make decisions
By no means is this list exhaustive. If you are really serious about being your own boss, start with this reading list:
"Crossing the Chasm" By Geoffery A. Moore "It's a marketing classic for entrepreneurs, especially those first starting out. It's critically important that entrepreneurs know who their initial customers are and move onto bigger markets from there. This book offers both insight and information you can go and apply."
"e-Boys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work" By Randall E. Stross "This book follows a group of young venture capitalists during the dot-com era. It gives you a great account from '97 to '99, right as we were ramping up to the peak of the bubble by describing the actions and mindsets of venture capitalists."
"Instinct: Tapping Your Entrepreneurial DNA to Achieve Business Goals" By Thomas L. Harrison with Mary H. Frakes "It's a fun book and those who have a technical background will especially like it, because even though it's not a science book, the author uses the language of science as a basis for discussion. He writes about how to recognize your weaknesses and how to build a team around you that compensates for them."
"The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century" By Thomas L. Friedman "It's particularly important for those just starting out to understand the environment they're entering, and this book talks about how the environment has changed competition, making it more global for every company of every size. It says every company is a global company and you need to think about that when starting one."
"Innovation and Entrepreneurship" By Peter F. Drucker "Peter was one of the first to talk about the skills and mindset of an entrepreneur versus the traits. He talks about entrepreneurship in terms of learnable skills, which is important because at the end of the day, it's the skills that matter most."
"The Art of the Start: Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything" By Guy Kawasaki "This book gets down to the details about pitching a business plan to venture capitalists for the first time. It goes all the way from how long the presentation should be to how large the font size should be on the slide. And the author does it in a very humorous and tongue-in-cheek way."
StartupNation.com "StartupNation presents an uncomplicated process to help first- time entrepreneurs get started. It helps people get over the 'but I don't know where to start' hurdle."
kauffman.org "The Kauffman site is rich with entrepreneurial advice and research. The Kauffman Foundation has been and continues to be a strong supporter and advocate of entrepreneurship." (Kauffman.org is the online home of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, publisher of eVenturing.org (formerly entreworld.org), a business partner of StartupJournal.com.)
From a personal standpoint, I believe that the strongest entrepreneurial traits (for today) are belief in yourself and stubbornness with your dreams. I believe that no one should have to work for someone else if they don't have to. There is no reason why the US econmony would suffer if every person in the US started their own business. In fact the economy would prosper. Think about it or read up on it if you don't believe me.
My motto is: "Live your dream" (for today) (whatever that may be)
Your future business success will depend on your preparation and your capacity to learn, get started today!
Be Knowledge!
`For an entrepreneur, knowledge is what matters most' G. Srinivasan
Are entrepreneurs born or made? "Both" says , the inventor of VisiCalc and creator of four startups. "Sure, training, talent, and that most elusive component, good timing, are essential. But they are not enough. You need to have a true passion for what you're doing." Bricklin describes his formative experiences and lessons he's learned along the way: Know your true talent, don't wait to get started, be frugal, and recognize that you are not your business." Dan Bricklin
Be knowledgeable at working in many different capacities. This is a key trait of an entrepreneur, however, they must have the capabilities to go along with that knowledge.
Do you have the knowledge? If not you can get it. Do you have the capability? If not you can learn it if you want. Your only barriers are serious handicap, most of which can be gotten around and plain laziness. Out of the two, laziness is the killer.
Aren't you tired of working for someone else? Work for yourself instead, but in order to do that you must develop the knowledge and capabilities that are the best fit for you entrepreneurial vision.
In order to do that you need to know what your vision is. Not making a million dollars, NO! Making a million dollars at something you truly enjoy. That's what your really after, isn't it? Ask yourself these questions, take notes and expand on them later. Be brutally honest, there is no one to lie to but yourself.
1. Why do I want to start a business? 2. Why do I think I can start a business? 3.What do I truly enjoy? 4. Is there a business idea in that? 5. How simple or complicated is it? 6. What do I need to learn about what I want to do? 7. What capabilites do I need, physically, mentally, and yes, even emotionally? 8. Does this still seem like something I can do, if yes, what is my next step. If no, what is my next idea?
You should honestly answer these questions, take notes, do research, start a business plan. Learn all that you can possibly learn about you business idea without taking forever to do it. The point is to see where you are, where you want to be and how to get there. In order to do that you need a plan and a plan needs information...Knowledge!
Here are resources that I hope you find helpful in deciding on your future:
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resourc es/expert/strauss100605.mspx http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/05/08/how-to-start- business/ http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/plan/index.html Design For Your Success!
Do you know what the best way to design for your success is? Let me give you a hint. Planning!
Planning is a major factor that can determine the outcome of any goal, short term, long term, personal or financial. Planning can be your key to success but in order to plan you have to know how to plan. Let me give you some tips, whether you use them or not is up to you. I know that you are serious about your business succes so I know that you will use what you need from my tips to your advantage.
Planning is an important investment in the success of a project. Carrying out the process not only prepares you for what lies ahead, ensuring you have adequate resources and use them in the most effective way possible, but also can warn you that a plan is not worth pursuing. This is valuable information, however frustrating it may be!
That people can avoid planning either because organisational structures are poor or for personal reasons. Where a manager is highly experienced he may have enough prior knowledge to not to need to plan on a conscious level. He should not underestimate the value of his own experience by denying new managers the benefit of planning.
Good Planning takes place in a cycle, with evaluation following detailed planning. Where evaluation indicates a plan should not be followed, you can still return to take a different course with minimal loss. After a plan you assess the plan, and learn how to improve your planning and execution.
The planning cycle is shown below:
Spotting What Needs to be Done By spotting new ideas, SWOT Analysis, or responding to outside pressure.
Identifying the Aim of your Plan
By asking yourself how you want the future to be. Maybe prepare a vision or mission statement.
Exploring Options
Firstly evaluating a number of options by logical thinking, Brain Storming or research. Selecting options with e.g. Decision Trees.
Detailed Planning
By identifying key activities, prioritising and target setting, and by putting control mechanisms into place. The plan will be better if it is structured clearly, if you have won support for it, have considered transitional arrangements and have though about contingencies.
Plan Evaluation This allows you to work out the likelihood of your plan working before you try to implement it. Techniques such as cost/benefit analysis, PMI, Force Field Analysis, Cash Flow Forecasting and Risk Analysis can alert you to unsuspected considerations. Information learned can be fed back into the plan. Plan evaluation should also consider unquantifiable points such as ethics, effects on people, and the environment. Where a plan is not likely to work, it should either be adjusted, other options could be explored, or the plan could be scrapped.
Implementing Change
Once you have selected a plan, you will have to implement it. To do this you will need to monitor execution of the plan so that you can apply corrections if necessary. You may have to understand and overcome resistance to change.
Closing a Plan
Here the success or failure of the plan is acknowledged, and information is fed back into future planning.
For more detailed information on this particular planning process go to:
http://www.psy www.com/mtsite/planpage.html
Andrew Witherspoon is a writer and an Internet Marketer.
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