Why should You become an Entrepreneur?

There are so many reasons not to become an entrepreneur. I am not going to list them for you, because if you are not an entrepreneur already, I am convinced that you know all of them. So I will try to point out two important reasons to become an entrepreneur. Passion. Only if you are a really lucky man or woman, and you like something enough to love it, will you be able to dedicate your life...

Entrepreneurs - Top 10 Essential Entrepreneurial Traits

By Hilary Basile Are you intrigued by the possibility of being your own boss and starting a business but not sure you have the right qualifications to be an entrepreneur? What are the characteristics of an entrepreneur? Although there is no single perfect entrepreneurial profile, there are many characteristics that show up repeatedly in successful business owners.Following are the top 10...

A Profile of Steve Jobs - A Brief History of Steve Jobs and Apple

by Paul Suggett Born February 24th 1955, and passing away on October 5th, 2011, Steve Jobs was co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple Inc. His impact on the technology industry, entertainment, advertising and pop culture was vast, and he leaves behind an empire that is changing the way we all live and work. The Beginning of Apple It all started with three men - Steve Jobs, Steve...

BOOK REVIEW: The High-Performance Entrepreneur : Golden Rules For Success In Today’s World

Book Summary of The High-Performance Entrepreneur : Golden Rules For Success In Today’s World Highly readable, crisply written…inspirational reading for any new Indian entrepreneur’—Frontline Difficult though setting up a business is, becoming a high-performance entrepreneur is harder still. And yet, of the many thousands who try, there are those who go on to become successful; some even graduate...

TOP 10 BUSINESS PLAN MISTAKES

An  Excerpt from 'Entrepreneur's INSTANT STARTUP GUIDE' 1-MISUNDERSTANDING THE PURPOSE: IT’S THE PLANNING THAT MATTERS, NOT JUST THE DOCUMENT. Planning is a process of setting goals and establishing specific measures of progress, then tracking your progress and following up with course corrections. The plan itself is just the first step; it is reviewed and revised often. 2-DOING...

What is the Role of an Entrepreneur in Economic Development ?

What is the Role of an Entrepreneur in Economic Development ?by Chinmoy KumarThe entrepreneur who is a business leader looks for ideas and puts them into effect in fostering economic growth and development. Entrepreneurship is one of the most important input in the economic development of a country. The entrepreneur acts as a trigger head to give spark to economic activities by his entrepreneurial...

The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

by Chris Guillebeau In The $100 Startup, Chris Guillebeau shows you how to lead of life of adventure, meaning and purpose – and earn a good living. Still in his early thirties, Chris is on the verge of completing a tour of every country on earth – he’s already visited more than 175 nations – and yet he’s never held a “real job” or earned a regular paycheck. Rather, he has a special genius...

PROFILE: Chad Hurley's Success Story

Chad Hurley's Success StoryCo-Founder of Youtube "There is no old media. There is no new media. There is one media with one common purpose: to inform, move and inspire the world through information, art and entertainment. Together, we can find a solution that will benefit everyone in this ecosystem, from consumers to advertisers to the content owners alike." Nowadays, millions of people all around...

7 Steps for writing a Business Plan

Start with a ‘story’ - ‘See the film in your mind’ about your venture – what do you want to do, how large do you want it to be, what will make you happy, what are your aspirations, etc. Imagine it as a business a few years down. This gives you a good view of ‘what you want to aim for’ Work out rough milestones and goals: Your long-terms goals and aspirations should then be broken...

5 Ways to Set a New Company Up for Success

Starting your own business forces you to face your limitations, test out every idea in the real world and accept that sometimes what looked great on paper can be downright  difficult to execute. But if you can, you should try your hardest to land an early success. After all, doing so can help boost your credibility, encourage potential investors and give you some money to build other businesses...

9 Ways to Beef-Up Your Business Skills on the Cheap

MATTHEW TOREN In a perfect — albeit creepy — world, all entrepreneur-hopefuls wouldn’t need to mess with getting an MBA. Their business acumen would be engrained. That’s true to some degree. Some people can, as they say, sell ketchup popsicles to people wearing white gloves. But it’s hardly common knowledge to know how to manage employees or keep track of expenses or even devise a marketing...

How do we know that we are ready to launch a start up with a product or service?

There is a saying “If you have 10 hours to cut a tree, spend 8 hours sharpening the axe”.Similarly, launch when you know you have all the competencies and the resources required to run the business. I.e. when you have worked out your business plan, evaluated the business case, spoken to customers and are convinced that the value proposition makes sense to them, when you have tested...

by MATTHEW TOREN There’s a big difference between visitors and customers. The logic is simple: Would you rather your startup have 10,000 monthly visitors to its site with a 10 percent sales conversion or attract the attention of 100,000 visitors with only a few finally deciding to buy from you? This question, as simplistic as it is, remains a big source of frustration for many online entrepreneurs. They often invest a lot of time, energy and finances to drive traffic to their sites, only to find out these people are not even the ones they want to fish out in the first place. So how can you steer clear from the many traps of aimless traffic generation? Here are five tips: 1. Be a problem solver. You have to admit that at least part of business success has to do with the timeliness of your products or services. You must answer people’s needs. The key is settling into a business that has problems you really love to solve, with customers whose pressing needs you are very good at addressing. When you’re able to identify your niche, you don’t only go out there to earn, you have a unique passion and an offering that suits the needs of those people. 2. Get into your customers’ psyche. People buy not only because they need things, they often buy to satisfy something deeper in them. It’s often the feeling they associate with a product that they finally make the decision to buy. Everybody needs a pair of shoes, but not just any shoes can satisfy that need. This is when branding, reputation and customer service come into play. In fact, this is why there is marketing in the first place. Get into what excites and interests your target market. This is the only way you can tailor-fit your campaign to the people who would not think twice of paying for what you have to offer. 3. Where are your customers? In online marketing, determining how your market interacts with the Internet is very important. It gives you leads to “where” they are online. Online behavior can point you to what sites they frequent, the social-media networks they prefer, the news they’re more likely to read and so on. If you know where they are, you can be sure to focus on places you need to have a commanding presence. This assures you of a steady stream of traffic of ready-to-pay customers, and it prevents you from effectively barking up the wrong tree. We all know how costly and time consuming that can be. 4. Do you really know them? To really pinpoint who your target customer is, you’ll want to dig in deep… find out how they tick, if you will. The key is to learn about them, even change with them over time. So basically, this means you can’t just buy one customer list and operate off that in perpetuity. You’ll need to continuously find out about your target audience. Are they reading things you should be reading? Do they shop at stores you’ve never heard of? All of these puzzle pieces could fit together and help you identify the bigger customer picture, if you’re willing to spend time accumulating them. 5. Close in on the deal. Once you know your customers and understanding where they are and how they think, you can specifically design an online marketing campaign that appeals to those people who would love to pay for your products or services. By being a problem solver, you’re forced to know yourself and understand your brand’s strengths and weaknesses. But understanding who you want to engage with online really seals the success of your business. What customer-targeting strategies would you suggest fellow entrepreneurs follow? Let us know in the comments section below. (First published on :youngentrepreneur.com)

BY MICHELLE GOODMAN Nikhil Arora, 25, and Alejandro Velez, 24, didn't plan on being mushroom farmers. In 2009, during their last semester at the university  of California, Berkeley, Arora lined up a corporate consulting job and Velez nabbed one in investment banking. But a lecture on sustainability in a business ethics class changed all that. Their professor mentioned that he...

5 Tips for Targeting Your Ideal Start-Up Customer

by MATTHEW TOREN There’s a big difference between visitors and customers. The logic is simple: Would you rather your startup have 10,000 monthly visitors to its site with a 10 percent sales conversion or attract the attention of 100,000 visitors with only a few finally deciding to buy from you? This question, as simplistic as it is, remains a big source of frustration for many online...

How Social Entrepreneurs Who Need Money Can Get Noticed

by CATHERINE CLIFFORD Do good business owners seeking funding should target investors looking to put their money to work to make positive social or environmental change. But how to get on their radar? One new way to make your company known to these “social investors” is through a new online searchable database for social entrepreneurs. It’s called GIIRS, short for Global...

How to be Profitable From Month One

by  LOGAN KUGLER Scott Weiner is a self-described "Android nut" who has always upgraded to the latest and greatest smartphone. When he traded in his previous phone for the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus in late 2011, he loved everything about it. Except for one aspect. "The thing is as slippery as if it's got grease on it," says the web entrepreneur and former employment lawyer from...

4 Ways to Triumph Over Your Fears and Get Things Done

BY CHRISTOPHER HANN In her book Master Your Fears: How to Triumph Over Your Worries and Get On With Your Life, psychologist Linda Sapadin presents an action plan for addressing your fears, including the following key points that can be applied to the business world. Change how you think: Undertake an action you've been thinking about taking, without regard for the result. "For...

Top 5 Ways to Build Credibility for your Small Business

Be Yourself, Provide Value, and Help Others 1. Become an Expert in your Field The more you know about your business, the more your customers will trust and believe in your product or service. Learn the ins and outs of the business as much as you can and share your knowledge with customers. 2. Be Everywhere Sponsor events, donate to charities, and get your face seen around the community as...