Eight Misunderstood Cliches For The New Entrepreneur

Like all things in life, there are tested concepts and those that, well, may be a bit misunderstood.

We start learning this from childhood where we very quickly are taught that what Mom and Dad say is usually something you can count on but what you’re told by friends, is not always something you can take to the bank.

The same goes for cliches. Everyday we face tons of cliches covering a wide range of topics. Cliches by their very nature usually have some degree of truth contained within their day to day usage. However, cliches can kill you when you are starting a new business or trying to take your existing business to the next level. Let me explain:

Cliche #1: Success Is Just Around the Corner – Now on face value that is most likely true. The problem when starting a new business is that most people just never turn the corner. They stop just short and never see the value on the other side. This is typically due to the fact that the cliche doesn’t really tell you how many corners you need to turn before you find the all evasive “success”. I can tell you from experience that it is rarely just one corner…if that was true everyone would be a millionaire or better. The old story about Edison tried thousands of times before he finally got the light bulb correct. If he stopped short on the 999th corner, well we would all be in the dark.

Cliche #2: Overnight Success – We all know someone who was an ‘overnight success’. All of a sudden they’re flowing in dough. Well, there is no such thing as an overnight success unless maybe you just won the lottery and even there, typically it’s never on the first ticket. If you relax and just ponder what is going on, wondering how others became overnight successes, it is certain you will never have the opportunity to be one. The only answer to overnight success is hard work and long ‘overnights’.

Cliche #3: Once in a Lifetime Opportunity – In each of our lives there are many ‘once in a lifetime opportunities’. The only problem is that we never see them. We’re so busy with day to day activity that we let these opportunities pass by constantly. How often have you said to yourself, “If I’d only done…..”. Well, now is the time to do it!

Cliche #4: Look Before You Leap – Now this is a real killer. One of the differences between the truly successful and the not so successful is that the truly successful look a lot less often and for much less time. They review quickly, make decisions and take action. Failure is taken as only a form of education and not personally. If they fail, they just move on to the next event.

Cliche #5: Time Waits for No Man – Well, this is really true but, unfortunately, all too often is overlooked. We tend not to realize that time is finite. There is just so much of it. Sitting back and waiting for success to come to you is as foolish as spending a week in Vegas counting on going home with more in your pocket than you came with.

Cliche #6 – Success is a Journey and not a Destination – Well, this can truly be a killer. One of the most important things any new business owner can do is set goals. Now,each time you reach your goal, you have been successful. Not admitting that and giving yourself a ‘high five’ can be a real downer. You need to cherish success at all times. Kids do it in school, we do it as parents but we don’t allow ourselves to do that as business men and women. Now, once that goal is achieved, set a new one!

Cliche #7: Money Can’t Buy You Happiness – But it sure can make the sadness a lot more tolerable! Of course, money is not everything but one of our goals as business people is to cash in. One of the parameters we go by is financial. To deny that is not very realistic. When evaluating a new business, we need to be sure that there is a strong possibility of success.

Cliche #8: Opportunity is Knocking – Well, this one is great if you’re listening but how often do we turn a ‘deaf ear’ to opportunity. We use just about every excuse possible to avoid a challenge, to stop taking action for fear of failure etc. Opportunity knocks, but unfortunately for some, not loudly enough.

Now I could go on and list several others but the truth of the matter is you’ve got to ‘take the bull by the horns’, ‘grab the golden ring’ and most, importantly, in doing so take action. Nothing can possibly happen without action. If you’re sitting on the fence waiting for success to come to you, you’ll get nothing but splinters!

Rounds Of Business Funding From Seed Financing To The Ipo

Fund-raising has never been an easy task. However, many entrepreneurs rely on the possibility of attracting venture or angel financing at the very early stage to get the projects off the ground. But is that a realistic assumption to be put into a business plan? What is the likelihood of conducting the first two or three years of coding (for tech start-ups) or R&D (for any other innovative projects) at the investors cost? Let’s outline typical stages in a successful company’s financing. We’ll start with the first and finish with the last. Although there are rare exceptions to this sequence, in most cases it looks like this.

1. Seed Round.

This is the starting point of any business: you only have your idea and the first rough profitability estimations. Every entrepreneur at this stage recognizes the Idea as his/her top value asset. And this is natural as the Idea will be providing the guiding light and most of the motivation before actual sales take place. Every book of Entrepreneurship advises you to think big at this stage. Even if all you do is opening a bakery at the corner, you should be aiming at changing this world for good. But it usually takes a year or two of hard work and bitter frustration before there is something at your disposal that can be sold. And chances are that the world will disapprove your Big Idea and youll have to start it all over.

So what kind of investment are you possibly able to attract at this stage? The answer is the “3Fs”, otherwise known as Family, Friends, and Fools. You should be prepared to invest your own capital (including the money you make with your day job) and search for business partners among the people you know. If you are lucky, you will make great team that contributes all the knowledge, skills, resources and (yes!) capital to turn the Idea into actual business.
The seed round is important not only because this is how you raise your initial capital. You also validate your idea and make serious correction to the business plan. You start understanding the needs of your target customers and learn how your future project or service will change their lives for better.

1a. Crowd Financing.

This is a relatively new and by all means trending way to succeed at the seed stage. There are multiple web-based services that aim at connecting entrepreneurs and investors. Most of them charge either membership fees or success fees, but there are websites that you can use for free. I will review most popular and/or most interesting business matching sites in one of the upcoming articles.

2. Angel Round.

The launch and the first sales are the critical landmark to prove your business concept. When there are people out there willing to pay for your product or service, you know you are on the right way. Now you have a tangible proof of what has been the Idea. Your team matures and is getting ready to face new business challenge and open new market horizons So you need additional funding (more often than not its volume exceeds initial capital) and start introducing your business to might-be angel investors in a solid and confident way as you present not some projected but real sales numbers.

3. Venture Capital Round.

When your business is growing, possible revenues are running long before the market average and the potential for an IPO or acquisition is more than decent, VCs step in. Dont think about venture firms as ambivalent money sacks they are searching for potential market break-through businesses actively as investing at, lets say, 10X, 20X, 50X IRR is their business specialization. Usually you start negotiating in a few years before an actual IPO or acquisition might take place. As the cooperation proceeds, VCs assist and consult you in preparing your company for this important step. Often this preparation includes replacing management with C-level officers who are known to and respected by your industry and/or Wall Street.

4. The IPO or Acquisition.

This is the big pay-off at the end of years of hard work. It means liquid stock are selling at, hopefully, high P/E multiple or your business is acquired by a large strategic player from Fortune 1000 list. Of course this is not the only possible exit scenario as you might choose not to exit the game. Your business might become your lifetime passion and you might be one of those brilliant start up entrepreneurs who are also the best CEO of their companies.

Business development and financing is an interconnected process. And in order to succeed you should follow the inner logic of the process and apply the funding strategies which are adequate to your current position.

Top 3 Trailblazer Entrepreneur ‘secrets’ To Managing Your Time

Do you have difficulty finding time for everything? Are you often tired at the end of the day from trying to fit everything in?

It’s overwhelming…and common. You’re going from one thing to the next and you never seem to get everything off of your to-do list. This happens all the time and is one of the most common complaints from entrepreneurs, especially if you’re just starting out your business.

You’ve probably taken multiple courses, attended seminars, and hired coaches to help you with your business…or health…or relationships…or finances, so that you can feel like you’re more in control over these particular areas of your life that are important to you…and make time for them.

But what it really comes down to is how you use your time to have all that you want. Of course you need the help, knowledge, and tools, but first you need the time management know-how to be able to use those resources, otherwise, you will have no time to have the healthier and wealthier business and life that you want, desire and deserve.

As an entrepreneur, the way that you use your time really does determine how successful you arepersonally and professionally. That’s why it is so important to be crystal clear about what you really want, what your priorities are, and how you’re going to accomplish what you wantwhether you do it yourself or hire someone else to do it.

The goal of this article is to share 3 ‘secrets’ to managing your time better, so that you are more productive, more satisfied, and have ample time to include all that you want in your day or week.

1. Know what should dedicate your time to and what should not: One of the most important first steps is to know what you really want; think of one specific thing at a time. Think about what you want to happen or what you want to have in the next 30 or 90 days.

Then with this one goal in mind, think of what needs to happenwhat tasks need to be donefor you to get it accomplished. Remember that you don’t have to do every task yourself; think about who you will need to help you; it could be a partner or a VA or even a neighbor or friend.

2. Understand how much your time is really worth: One of the biggest blocks for many entrepreneurs is thinking that they will save more time and money doing every task themselves. This may be true in some cases, but in most, entrepreneurs save more than twice as much time and money concentrating on those tasks that they are passionate about, good at, and that will generate money, by delegating the other detailed tasks.

So, a useful exercise to determining whether to get help with the growth of your business or not is to determine how much your time is really worth. So, how much is your time worth?

Give yourself a general hourly rate as a basis. Knowing how much your time is really worth and how much time you spend on all of your tasks on your to-do list, you’ll be clearer about what you want and need to delegate to grow your business the fastest.

3. Don’t keep everything bottled up in your mindwrite it out: People have different ways of making lists that work best for them, but no matter what kind of list works best for you, it’s important to get all the things out of your mind and onto paper.

Because then you are able to fully see what seems to be important to you (it’s on your mind after all). Once you see where you want and need your time to go, you’re able to then make a plan to either schedule out each task, delegate to someone else, or eliminate it if it is not going to really get you to where you want to be.

There are of course many other time management ‘secrets’ to creating a business and life that you truly enjoy and honors your lifestyle, but starting out with these 3 ‘secrets’ will help you start getting clear on how to best use your time.

How To Become An Entrepreneur— Not A Salesman

Are You An Entrepreneur Or A Salesman?

What I mean by this, everyday, I open my PC and see my screen filled with nonsensical garbage, to put it politely…These wannabies coming online are only thinking of themselves. A true lack of discipline or just not caring about the customer.

True Entrepreneurs provide the customers with satisfaction in meeting their need in a niche. But today it seems like everyone coming online have only one thing in mind—“Get Rich Quick” with no regard to the customers who are the bloodline of their business.

Here’s an example of a true Entrepreneur— Donald Trump see’s A prosperous venture and he begins his quest by promoting his idea to potential clients who will not only become a partner but will also fund this project. This Business is called leveraging and is very effective if utilized properly— In the end— everyone is happy and satisfied…The customer gets what they want and the business partners make HUGE earning from their funding strategies and Donald Trump becomes another billionaire.

An Entrepreneur sees a need that needs to be met and he meets it. There reward is a satisfied customer and a new friend. Business is established by your social ability to sell yourself not a niche. Sell yourself and your customers will take care of you forever.

Who would you rather do business with, someone who is always trying to stick a product in your face or someone who is giving you good content? I would venture to say the later.

Give your subscriber a free offer in the niche you are promoting and they will see you are trying to meet their need and sometimes they will let you know what they are in the market for. Once you gain their confidence and trust they will buy anything you promote because they trust you. That’s the difference between an Entrepreneur and a salesmen.

Remember, Marketing is a Business not a Casino…There’s no jackpots— just you!

Entrepreneur Workshop- The Incubation Cell

If you dream of seeing your dream business ideas being changed to reality then you need to invest your time and energy in an entrepreneur workshop. In an entrepreneur workshop you will be given aid to implement your business strategies. Opportunities will be created for you to start your online business.

This workshop is like an incubation cell where budding or future entrepreneurs are nourished and guided for a certain period of time till they get the confidence to perform and get started smoothly with their ideas.

In their classrooms day/night dome camera observes you day and night and like a responsible reconnoiter they take note of your requirements. There would be many like you in this cell so naturally everyones requirements can not be same. Each has to be given special attention, as these workshops deeply believe in your caliber and your most cherished dreams.

Here you will find out the keys to become a successful entrepreneur. You need to have some specific goals regarding money and finance. For this you definitely need special skills and should be aware about the application of business tools. There is a significant gap between your current status and the position where you want to see yourself after some time as a successful business entrepreneur.

This workshop actually aims at bridging those gaps for you. You will receive step by step guidance in all the business aspects during this period. They will make you capable so that you can sit facing your computer and start implementing your plans without any difficulty.

The business of an entrepreneur workshop runs by making your business turn into reality. You might type anything on the net browser, and receive tremendous comments about how to make money in various fields of business, be it online business, business of imports and exports while sitting at home and many more. But it is difficult to get a guide where people will instruct you to properly to develop your own business successfully.

Actually, the relevant question is why any one should else be interested in your dreams? But these workshops are quite different, they will give you case studies, take you for visits and field work from where you will get an idea about how to get started with your own business plans. With these experiences you will naturally grow a business acumen, which is quite general and on the other hand quite worth implementing in your unique plans.

You need to save yourself from the fake institutions which can drain your money and at the same time not offer you with any thing significant. It is easy to fall victim to such e-business scams. So find out properly before you go for such an opportunity.