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Successful Women Entrepreneurs Today In A Competitive World

The successful female operated businesses know the meaning of a true business owner, “One who carries out to conduct a business assuming complete control and danger,” is not gender specific, it is not surprising that most entrepreneurs are men.

Lots of women merely do not have the time to start a company due to the fact that women tend to undertake the greater share of raising kids and keeping the house together!

I had the chance to interview a few who attended the woman’s conference and take a close take a look at the issues that successful women entrepreneurs deal with.

At a current international women entrepreneur’s conference in Glasgow, the Bank of Scotland presented a few of its research studies.

In accordance with the bank, even successful women entrepreneurs tend to: under-capitalize their organizations at startup; have a disinclination to use financial obligation financing and to be more danger averse than their male equivalents,

And they utilize a greater percentage of their individual savings within their service, both at startup and advancement.

They are less aggressive than guys about their understanding and understanding of financial products and services, all which can influence on funding and growing their businesses.

This might be exacerbated by the banks’ historic hesitation to treat their women in business clients in the very same manner as male customers.

Females owned businesses have the tendency to be more service oriented.

Yes, and therefore have less equity than male owned services– another factor banks can be hesitant.

Financing is vital to all commerce and of course the female owned businesses, and possibly managing money is most crucial amongst small businesses, whether at the start or when expanding.

The struggle to keep appropriate cash and financial freedom alive is consistent among business owners.

Is it any surprise then, that monetary concern is the most widespread cause of stress and insomnia!

With female owned businesses producing over thirty nine percent of new start-ups, and just over a third of self-employed proprietorships in Canada owned or led by females, female entrepreneurs have increased by just over more two hundred per cent in the last twenty years.

As an outcome, more black female business entrepreneurs are seeking more opportunities to grow their network and boost their support systems.

The Women Entrepreneurs of North America in Canada was established in Toronto in 1992, as a support, opportunity and resource network for female entrepreneurs.

I found that WEC promotes and fosters the young women entrepreneurs, too, in Canada and assists them to accomplish and define success on their own terms.

It’s important to help promote the interests of successful women entrepreneurs and women in business getting started, and business owners in the larger service neighborhood.

It assists in the transfer of appropriate knowledge that is appropriate to WEC members; and partners with companies both in Canada and abroad, such as the National Association of Women Business Owners in the USA.

And the global groups like Femmes Chefs d’Enterprises Mondiales and the Italian Associazione Imprenditrici e Donne Dirigenti D’Azienda, to bring finest chances, resources and practices to its members here.

This is an organization where women can fulfill their life dreams and blend with other female owned businesses, who deal with similar issues in starting, running, and growing their services.

WEC is a resource that offers a unified voice to federal government and the public, pressing the issues of women in business to a right-minded leading edge.

It is suggested that increased young women entrepreneurs research and study to produce more chances for black female business owners, while bringing exactly what is learnt about women’s organizations updated.

And relating to maternity leave– as female owned businesses are working to do the exact same benefits as for their staff members as they ‘d like to be treated.

There’s the “what might be done” to level the playing field and extend that advantage to all as, for example, it is in Finland?

It’s like the Course in Miracles teaches, “True extension of Self and one’s true free will brings on an awakening worldwide.

There are many organizations that help female owned businesses to interact a confident and refreshingly positive message about the future potential customers for females, and it is gratifying that the message is being heard.

I urge any woman in business, especially young women entrepreneurs to discover more about self-confidence as an entreprneur.

This takes us to wonderful tips for female owned businesses, and encouraging young women entrepreneurs.

Many aspiring female owned businesses, business supervisors and other professionals typically forget that they really have 2 tasks– the very first is to do exactly what they make money for (and do it much better than males).

The other is to proactively handle their profession path and do exactly what is required to guarantee their upward mobility isn’t really based on others– particularly those who notoriously subscribe to the “Old Boys Club” mentality who might or may not be working in her benefit.

The following “secrets”, amassed through my substantial background as both a business entrepreneur and organization experts lending me advice, will help female professionals better handle their success course:

Understand the “circle of successful women entrepreneurs”

A typical piece of suggestions provided to female owned businesses is for them to spend a good deal of time being familiar with, and working side-by-side, with their personnel to make sure each employee has what (s) he needs to be productive.

While that concept is well intentioned, it’s does not offer maximum advantage to all included.

Rather, it is more vital that female managers hang around helping their employer look proficient at every opportunity.

When (s) he understands that you have the ability to assist her/him prosper, you and your group will get more time, attention and resources assisting in optimum productivity.

Many female owned businesses cite male stereotyping and prejudgments of female “appropriate” roles and abilities as a leading barrier to their development.

It’s crucial for women to assess where a male employer stands relative to female specialists.

Previously I discussed women’s insecurity issues can be healed fast and to be a confident woman.

This can be done by analyzing his promotion track record of males vs. females, his balance, or lack, of interactions with female vs. male staffers, and if his interactions with female staffers is strictly expert rather than just inane or flirty little talk exclusively about her household.

How we sound (i.e., one’s unique attributes of the voice such as pitch, volume, and tone) play a crucial role in how females are viewed.

In addition, lots of women tend to mention their opinions, objections or recommendations as a question as opposed to affirmatively and confidently making their point as a declaration.

In a work context, females should command the flooring lest their fantastic ideas fall by the wayside.

Since numerous of us still associate one’s temperament, speaking and appearance capability with their general ability, this stays a powerful challenge for those women who have other or physical stereotype-based characteristics that are tough.

But as humans like the Course in Miracles teaches us, “The ego is aware on how to creep in the back door on us and begin projecting judgment based on fear and self-doubt.”

That said, it might be impossible to change, such as height or weight, blonde hair color, or merely a high pitched voice.

This subjectivity is even worse for young women entrepreneurs as society is generally more able to accept males with what’s considered to be shortfalls more than ladies.

Regardless of these barriers, condition yourself to bring yourself with best posture, speak and gesture in a reliable and confident way, and wear clothes that imparts your female owned businesses success.

To actually stand out from the others and get the crucial promotion, young women entrepreneurs from off site, or in house women execs, ought to guarantee they are in the workplace whenever her employer is in the office.

If (s) he has actually decided that it’s essential to be there after hours, on weekends, or early in the morning, it is entirely to your advantage to be there at the very same time.

Even in this day in age of so-called gender equality, females need to take benefit of all chances to differentiate themselves in the work environment.

It is essential that those who are in the position to benefit a woman’s career in any method know who she is and exactly what she has accomplished.

Effective service people understand the importance of letting others understand about their successes, and go about it in the suitable method.

Ladies need to not wait to get discovered while they toil away at the job at hand, but rather develop the ability of how to tactically talk about her achievements in the work environment.

Far too numerous employees throughout our world are bored and disinterested, which is adversely affecting their performance and creativity.

It’s time for the globe’s corporate leaders to re-engage and invest more time acting as leaders rather than bureaucrats.

The female owned businesses need to exploit this innate capability whenever possible, since such right-minded management ensures that everybody is focused on, and vested in, getting to the goal lines.

(I always suggest searching the web for related information that is a discussion on being a self-assured woman today filled with female confidence. A good conversation might be, should you have a life coach, yes or no?)

To your success in life!

First Step to Successful Entrepreneurship: 12 Ways to Cut Off High Business Startup Loans

When it comes to startups, the common problem that most entrepreneurs face today is the money to start a business. Being an entrepreneur is not easy, you have to take risks and move forward with optimism psychology. You need to think of ways by which you can obtain maximum output with minimum input. Well, that’s the basic rule of the business and widely followed by entrepreneurs all over the world. You need to be creative in what you do and innovative in your decisions. Few opt for business start up loans while few look for different alternatives. Bright ideas make a better future and some good initiatives can lead a foundation for you to become a successful entrepreneur. If money is scarce, that does not mean that you put your dream on hold, you always have better options to look forward. So, here are some creative ways to finance your business.

Steps to a Better future

• Sell your product to raise money – Well if you resale your product and find a suitable buyer, then you can raise funds for your business in an effective manner. No doubt there are many successful entrepreneurs all around the globes who started this way and once they complete their target, they expand their business with funds they collect.

• Support from family and friends – It is the traditional way and the most effective way in this contemporary world. You can convince your friends and family to invest or provide small business startup loan which may help you to implement your ideas better without any pressure. This way is much better than taking loans from any other alternative.

• Double Dipping – You can always start a side business to raise funds for your business startup. In this way you will not be under any kind of debt and burden and thus it is the safest way to start the business.

• Selling stuff – Well, sometimes it’s hard to sell out your stuff, but as Jarod Kintz said “Instead of burning the midnight oil, you should try to sell it”. Sometimes you have to compromise to achieve success. You can make good money out of it.

• Credit card – You can use a credit card to finance your money. This is an easy way, but it involves risk. If something goes wrong, then the interest rate goes up at a very high rate.

• Angel investors – It is one of the recommended methods and many leading companies like Google and Yahoo have used it. Angel investors give you the required amount to start up the business. You get a friendly environment and moreover a better and quicker way to deal with business.

• Microloans – You can lookout for various firms providing small loans for the young entrepreneurs. These firms are generally better than taking business startup loan from a bank.

• Get new order and deliver – There are a number of entrepreneurs who receive the order from the customer, but they are not able to supply due to lack of money for the production. There are some companies who provide loan in this scenario. With this you will be able to raise funds for your startup in a better way.

• Real estate – This is one investment which provides greater output if done after a research. Before investing your money, always do a little work to find out the current rates etc and do the right thing. With this you can raise money successfully without complications.

• Cut out liabilities – Well, it’s another creative way to earn good money. For example, you can rent your home for some time and raise a good amount of money by doing that. Many entrepreneurs have employed this way and were successful to earn enough money to start their business.

• Crowdfunding – It is a very popular way among entrepreneurs. In this you can make a good use of internet by finding people having similar thoughts on investing with small amounts. Collectively, these small amounts on adding up will provide you with a better alternative to startup your business.

• Financing by vendors – This is very helpful to obtain the material to sell your product. The manufacturers do not take any payment from you till your product is sold. In this way you get a better extension to sell your goods much efficiently.

After reading these 12 ideas, you must be very confident about your startup. But remember that things aren’t that easy as they seems. You need to work harder to achieve the best out of it. Moreover, just by visualizing ideas in your mind you won’t be able to implement them practically. You must be able to adapt according to the situations and work practically to achieve the requisite aim. Risk is always involved for young entrepreneurs, but that does not mean that you can’t do it. Overcome your fear and be creative and innovative and always ask yourself that do I have what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur?

How To Become Successful In A Catering Business

Being into a business, small scale or large scale, also means getting into something wherein you need to gamble some important things. This already includes gambling your money for something that you would like to grow and become successful. Of course, you cannot start without having a budget for your business. Every business has the possibilities of becoming a success or a failure. To make your success rate higher, here are a few tips that you might want to consider on how to make a catering business successful.

Characteristics: Having characteristics of a good caterer is very important in becoming successful in a catering business. First off, you need to have the willingness to succeed in the field. You also need to have a lot of patience. Being flexible is also needed in this kind of business. You must also be willing to do sacrifices as you will need it most of the time. You should also know how to have a good relationship with other people. These are all very important factors on how to become successful in a catering business.

Knowledge: Having a broad knowledge about the business is very important. This includes knowing a lot of dishes and menus, having ideas about food preparations and presentations, and knowing how to provide satisfactory services to your customers. This is what most failed caterers miss; proper knowledge. They directly jump into starting the business without first having wide knowledge about it. If you really want to become a successful caterer, you should always keep this in mind.

Effort: Being into a business also means having to exert some effort more than the usual. If you really are eager to know how to make your catering business successful, then you should exert extra effort. This is in terms of doing further research, doing further tasks, and looking for ways to enhance your knowledge and skills. This is already a part of the sacrifices that you need to take, but doing all of these will surely result to providing your customers with satisfaction that is more than what they are just expecting from your service.

Proper Management: Proper management and planning are very important factors that a caterer should consider when wanting to know how to make a catering business successful. Through proper planning and management, everything will be under control. Along with proper management also comes proper time management, which is very important for any kind of business that provides services to other people.

Top Ten Factors in Running a Successful Construction Contractor Business

It is not easy running a construction business. There are many pitfalls and ways to lose money but if you follow some basic steps you can not only make a living but become very wealthy. Many successful construction contractors have learned there are certain things you absolutely must do right all the time and certain skills you must have or acquire in order to make it in this very competitive industry. In this article I will summarize what it takes to be a successful construction contractor in their order of importance.

Most Important Factor: Hands On Experience

Do not even think about starting a construction contractor business unless you have at least five years of broad (meaning general, not specialized) construction experience. The only exception to this is if you intend on specializing in one area and one area only. We call this a niche. Niche’s can be very profitable, but they can also go away, change or be replaced by technology, new products, changes in the industry or societal changes. The best chance for success in the general contractor business is to gain experience doing everything. This general experience has many benefits. It gives you the ability to identify and hire competent individuals, fire incompetent ones, evaluate good work product and identify poor work product. Probably the most important thing it gives you is the ability to transition from being a technician to being a manager. The best experience comes from small to mid-sized construction companies that require you to be a jack of all trades. Larger companies have a tendency to pigeonhole you into niches. That is fine if your business model is a niche, but if you start a general contractor construction business with skills in only a few niche areas, you will fail unless you hire to your weaknesses.

Second Most Important Factor: Outstanding Accounting System

If you do not have a sound accounting system your construction business will eventually fail. This CPA has witnessed this too many times than I care to recount. Sound accounting systems allow you to evaluate whether or not you make a profit on a job by job basis. Going with gut instinct is dangerous and fraught with risk. A sound accounting system helps you identify those things you do right on each job as well as the mistakes you’ve made. Numbers don’t lie. Unfortunately, my experience has shown me that most construction contractors pay little attention to their system of accounting. There is a fear that proper accounting will set the business owner up for higher taxes. Thus, cash received on a job and cash disbursed go unreported in an effort to avoid tax. What a mistake. I don’t care how great your gut feeling is on each job, if you don’t have an accounting of every penny on each job, you can rest assured you are flying blind and losing money on each job. You will go out of business and your family life will suffer. If you decide to start your own business you need to act like a professional business owner and that means creating a sound accounting system. Failed accounting systems lead to litigation, failure and bankruptcy.

Third Most Important Factor: Effective Management

When you have hands on experience in the industry, forged by many years (at least five years) of working in every facet of the construction business, you are better able to make the transition from technician to manager. Effective management requires that you have sound procedures on many aspects of your business. Well-defined work product processes, along with accompanying task-specific checklists, allows you to drill your workers on every aspect of a task within a job. You should have a work product process with accompanying checklists for just about every major task within a job. This eliminates human error and allows you to make corrections before the task is officially completed. It is a construction company owners #1 management tool. You must develop a process for each job and each task. This process must be in writing and stored in a binder for each job, along with the task checklist. The task checklist should be calendarized. Your jobs binder should include the following:

Tab #1 – A copy of the signed contract and any change orders.

Tab #2 – Budget for the job. Budget for each change order.

Tab #3 – Accounting for income and expenses. The income portion would include the contract bid price, monies received either as deposits or as the stages of the project are completed and monies received for change orders.

Tab #4 – Task List Summary.

Tab #5 – Task #1 Process Summary and Checklist.

Tab #6 – Task #2 Process Summary and Checklist.

etc.

Last Tab – Customer sign off letter on completed work along with standard testimonial letter signed by customer, listing customer’s name and contact information along with permission to use the testimonial in marketing and as a reference for prospective customers. You will transfer copies of each testimonial letter to a separate binder that you will take with you to each prospect. This testimonial binder may be the only thing separating you from your competition. It gives assurance to prospects that you take customer satisfaction very seriously and may be the difference maker. It allows prospects an opportunity to reach out to previous customers in order to obtain references. It also shows the prospect your company is very organized and well run. Lastly, have a picture of the before and after on each job in this binder.

Fourth Most Important Factor: Strong Business Partnerships

A stable of competent subcontractors who have many years of experience working together is crucial to the success of a job. Each job is a team effort and having a strong network of competent individuals/businesses available to you for each job, and who understand your businesses processes, will make each job run much more efficiently. Efficiency and competency = profit on each job.

Fifth Most Important Factor: Project Bidding Process

You can be the most skilled, best managed construction company, with a stable of talented subcontractors and still go out of business if you do not have a strong process in place on bidding for each job. You can lose your shirt if you underbid a job. How does this happen? The most common cause of underbidding is not doing your homework and relying on your gut or unverified estimates rather than a fail safe process of checking and double checking each cost within each task. The devil in any construction job is in the details. The bidding process is very much like your business plan for each job. It must identify every task, every cost and each cost must be checked and double checked before bidding on the job. Where many construction contractors go wrong is in estimating the cost of tasks incorrectly. These incorrect estimates are caused by flawed assumptions on the tasks and the associated costs, which is the result of not accurately verifying and then re-verifying every task and every cost. It is a painstaking process but you must get the bid right. Your assumptions on each task must be vetted not once but at least twice. You know the rule: measure twice cut once. This adage is particularly true in the bidding process.

Sixth Most Important Factor: Marketing

Everyone in the construction business understands the importance of referrals. Most of your prospective customers come by way of referral. But referrals are not enough. What should be part of your marketing tool belt?

1. You should have an active web site that includes customer testimonials front and center.

2. You should join a networking group.

3. You should join a civic organization.

4. You should provide valuable assistance to local community non-profit groups (one or two will suffice nicely).

5. You should have a regular process of bidding jobs that are not referral-based

6. You should have a process for direct mailings very week.

7. You should have business cards, stationary, job site signs.

8. You should advertise in the yellow pages or local newspapers.

9. Customer Testimonial Binder (referenced above).

10. You should have brochures.

Seventh Most Important Factor: Stay Current With Technology and Replace Old Equipment/Tools

You must upgrade your equipment and tools to stay current with technological changes. This will not only improve efficiency but also the quality of each job. You must also replace old equipment and tools in order to get each job completed efficiently and on time. You will know when it is time for new equipment and tools when the old equipment and tools begin breaking down at a rate that causes recurring delays. When equipment/tools breakdown it can cause cost overruns and result in late completions. No matter how good the quality of your work is, missing completion dates harms your reputation.

Eighth Most Important Factor: Hire To Your Weaknesses

No matter how much experience you have and how skilled you may be there are certain things each one of us does well and certain things we do badly. More often than not, the things we do well are the things we enjoy doing and the things we do badly are the things we hate doing. A skilled business owner will hire people who do have strengths in areas the business owner has weaknesses. As an example, one of my clients nearly went out of business because he did not like having to make calls to collect receivables. My advise to him? Hire someone who is expert in collections. He took me up on my advise and eventually, his collections expert, became his partner. His business is thriving now. Hire to your weakness and watch your business boom.

Ninth Most Important Factor: Document Mistakes and Failures

This should be incorporated into your Job Process/Task List Binder. You must learn from your mistakes. Mistakes should not be considered anything other than an experience learned. Document those bad experiences and incorporate them into your job process and task list binder so as to never repeat them again.

Tenth Most Important Factor: Change Orders

Most contracts include language regarding change orders. Change orders are caused by many factors, which is beyond the scope of this article, but let me be clear in saying that you must cost out every change order as if you were costing out the job. You must then process the change order (list each task and assign a date of completion for each task) and attach a task checklist for each new task resulting from the change order. Lastly, you must get the customer to understand and sign off on the change order or you will not collect your full price for the job. Many construction contractors unfortunately do a poor job in addressing change orders. They are reluctant to highlight it with the customer and gloss over it in an effort to avoid confrontation. The reason? The reality of change orders are not addressed up front when you are bidding on the job. Customers only see the price you gave them and that is in the contract. You must address the reality of a change order occurring at the outset of the bidding process and before the contract is signed. If a customer understands from the very beginning that change orders do occur often and that a change order will increase the price of the job, you will be less shy about confronting the customer when it does occur.

Top 5 Successful Women Entrepreneurs In India

Women in India have come a long way from being just ‘homemakers’. The world now sees them with a different eye and a new respect. Women entrepreneurship in India has come a long way from women working only part time.

Successful women entrepreneurs in India have made their presence felt in every field be it the world of politics, music, fashion, movies and entertainment or business. Hindu scriptures defines women as the embodiment of ‘Shakti’ and she lives up to image every time, whether it is problem solving at home or running a successful business.

Here we have listed 5 of the most successful women entrepreneurs in India who continue to inspire us with their versatile abilities, persuasiveness, problem solving abilities, willingness to take chances and risks and the ability to motivate people around them.

Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw: Also known as the ‘Biotech Queen’ of India, Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is listed in the Forbes magazine as 50 most powerful women in International Business. Starting with a capital of just Rs.10,000 with her garage as her office, she made her first product in the year 1978. Her company Biocon has since then touched new height in the field of biotechnology. An active social activist she is a true role model for aspiring entrepreneurs in India

Indira Krishnamurthy Nooyi: No list of successful women entrepreneurs in India is complete without the mention of Indira Nooyi, the CFO and president of PepsiCo. Her ability to make quick decision and tenacity to follow up has enabled her to make PepsiCo one of the biggest brands in the market today. Indira Nooyi is listed as the fourth most powerful women in the world by Forbes Magazine.

Ekta Kapoor: We all have a love hate relationship with the famous “saas-bahu” serials on the Television but we cannot at any level ignore them. This bubbly and extremely professional creative director of Balaji Television has won the hearts of millions of Indian women. She is one of the most dynamic and successful women entrepreneurs in the Indian television industry. Also known as the ‘Queen of Indian Television Industry’ she started her career in with the sit-com Hum Panch. According to her the reason of her success is to be closely involved with all the aspects of the serial including picking up the artists herself.

Neelam Dhawan: When we are discussing the successful women entrepreneurs in India we cannot leave the leading name in the IT sector out of it. Neelam Dhawan, Managing director of Microsoft India, has carved a special niche for herself in the IT industry. She looks after the company’s sales and marketing division of the country in India.

Shahnaz Hussain: She is a part of this list of one of the top women entrepreneurs in India because she started form nothing and has made her company, Shahnaz Hussain Herbals a $100 million enterprise. She broke the traditional advertising myths and the popularity of her company is solely due to mouth-to-mouth publicity only. Shahanz was awarded the Padma Shri by the Govt. of India in 2006.

Successful Business Strategies for Garment Importer and Exporters

Whether you are a garment importer or exporter, while operating in the international market platform you need to be extremely careful about each and every move of yours. Achieving success as a garment importer or exporter requires maintaining good quality of garments, timely delivery, and several other factors to be considered.

Especially the garment exporters India who are exporting goods like garments, apparels, accessories, textile, etc to other foreign countries must plan out long term and short term strategy planning for overall success. In order to succeed in the country’s textile and garment sector scenario, the garment exporters India need to plan their micro – level strategies intelligently for an entirely win-win situation. Everything starting from quality of the product to providing different varieties to development of latest designs to product warranty to time management to generation of new business leads should be taken care of effectively. These are some of the things to be considered for leading the trade.

Providing quality goods.

No matter which trade you are involved in, but the guarantee of success comes with quality assurance. If you have established maximum quality control at each and every stage of weaving, processing, garmenting and finishing of the garments, then your final product is bound to attract the buyers. Strict quality inspections ensure that your company builds a strong brand reputation.

Providing different varieties

In order to ensure interest of the buyers and having an edge over competitiveness, it is important to present product diversification in the garments to be exported. The garment exporters India should try to add the element of newness to their collection by introducing range of garment collection season-wise like spring-summer collection, autumn-winter collection, etc. They should also try to add new variants to their collection in terms of segmenting the garments like nightwear, evening wear, corporate clothing, lingerie, casual wear, etc.

Timely deliveries

One of the most important things that add to the reputation of the garment exporters India is their punctual services. Hence it is most important for every trader to ensure that his final products are delivered on time. Despite manufacturing the final products on time sometimes a consignment gets delayed due to unknown reasons like ingressives and lazy attitude of the middleman involved, delay from the shipping agencies, problems at customs clearance, etc.

Though there are many ups and downs in the business cycle of the garment importer and importers, but with a little help from the leading database companies like Infodrive India, you can succeed in this global trade. The company provides a comprehensive list of shipping companies, brokers, import export policies and the countries guidelines in regards to the trade.

Entrepreneur Tests – A Tool For Successful Enterprise Ownership

Introduction

You think you might be an entrepreneur. And you want to take a screening test to find out. Testing is a valuable tool which he support your focus on entrepreneurial strengths and weakness. However, this is not the complete picture. Your skills, education, and experience also provide additional tools that will help you, should you decide to start your own business. The initial step in starting ones’ own enterprise is to sincerely analyze if you’ve got the right stuff to pull it off.

The Procedure

As a first step, decide if you are suited for entrepreneurship by taking a career preference test called the Combined Strong/MBTI Entrepreneur Test. The test is self-administered online. People who are self-motivated will find this action appealing irrespective of receiving help in interpreting the results. Taking a self-administered test is evidence in of itself that you are a self-starter.

Entrepreneurial Traits

Numerous studies have established the traits of small enterprise operators over time. Studies examine traits and attributes that appear to target characteristics that typically manifest in effective owner-managers. Testing takes into consideration those qualities that appear to differentiate the business owner that starts up an enterprise from the one that works for other people.

There are many key attributes of effective entrepreneurs. Although every successful entrepreneur would not necessarily possess all the attributes, it’s likely that most of them are intrinsic in the successful business owner.

In business, the dedicated entrepreneur typically presents a sophisticated skill-set of abilities that sets him apart from ordinary managers. These one-of-a-kind attributes lead him to accomplish more than non- management personnel, and he is therefore able to find a way to do the things that must be done to keep the enterprise afloat.

Can the entrepreneur make judgments swiftly and routinely? Can he make rational choices as well as intuitive judgments in accordance with the circumstances at hand? A ‘yes’ to these questions means the individual possesses the essential entrepreneur attribute of decisiveness.

Is the business owner trustworthy? Can he effortlessly relate to others? If the reply to these questions is ‘yes’, then another essential entrepreneurial quality exists for the reason that each business transaction requires genuine interest in the needs of potential customers as a prerequisite to persuading them to buy.

How exactly does the individual respond to problems? An entrepreneur needs to have the capacity to identify difficulties early on, then to fully investigate them and apply remedies.

The Business Enterprise Plan

A strategic business plan is the vehicle through which one conducts market research. Decide which personnel to involve in the sale of your product, and validate your revenue and expense financial forecasts. It is the means by which you will lay a durable foundation to build a profitable enterprise.

Candid Talk

Start your enterprise by retaining only those personnel that are absolutely necessary to maintain basic operations. Later, you can recruit additional qualified people when the budget allows. Setting up an enterprise is superficially easy, often driven by the vision and enthusiasm of the founder. As the saying goes, “the devil is in the details”. A the details extend indefinitely into the future.

The formative years of business launch is often hard on loved ones life. The stress of resistance from a significant other is always challenging when balancing against the requirements of establishing a business. There may also be financial hardships during the formative years to profitability, which often can take months or even years to achieve. You may need to adapt to a reduced standard of living or put family resources in jeopardy.

If you do not take pleasure in promoting your product or service, failure is a definite unwelcome option. I say this because starting a business takes determination, more determination than perhaps anything else in life. You must have a burning need to succeed and make the business enterprise work regardless of unforseen circumstances.

Count on facing hurdles. Friends and family may advise you that your plan won’t work. But don’t let negativity get in your way. Surround yourself with positive people who will support you in your efforts.

Most small enterprise failures are caused by insufficient preparation. It’s impossible to get rid of all of the risks associated with starting a small business. However, it is possible to enhance your chances of success with good planning and preparation.

Tips

The enterprise owner is usually first on the scene in the morning and last out the door at night. Operating a business can wear you down. Be ready to log extended time on the job to achieve the rewards of entrepreneurship. Some business owners feel burned out by having to shoulder the many obligations. Strong commitment to make the business enterprise be successful will assist you to make it through slow-downs, in addition to times of burnout.

You need faith along with a desire to achieve success against all odds. Becoming a successful entrepreneur is so much more than simply waxing euphoric over lots of plans or projecting a sharp business acumen. It’s about determination, ego strength and just plain tenacity. You will need self-confidence as well as a burning desire to make it no matter what obstacles present themselves. It’s essential to work tirelessly in order to nurture start-up organization and have the stamina to keep working until the business takes on a life of its own. Then, it’s essential to stay connected to daily operations.

When you have identified your individual skills and education, concentrate on your enterprise know-how. Focus on specific business information instead of general life experience. Then, judge your decision-making abilities.

After you open your doors, you’re in charge. Decisions need to be made according to what you believe. Not every one of these choices must be made immediately, but many will require immediate attention. If your standard response to problems is to give problem resolving duties to another individual, then you will likely have difficulties with operating a business.

Values and Balance

In a sense, a true entrepreneur is living a balanced life because he is living his passion.

Perhaps you’ve decided it’s time for you to make that jump. Prior to doing so, it’s a smart idea to determine if your persona and pursuits are similar to current business owners.

What various levels of commitment do we put on our business, financial, family, social and spiritual lives? This is a value decision all entrepreneurially-minded individuals should make. The first step in your assessment is to make an honest appraisal of your personal skills and education.

Reflect on your life experiences. Write down two situations where you solved a problem. Then take note of two situations where the decisions you made didn’t work so well. You’ll want to record everything you discovered from these scenarios. Use these examples of positive and negative outcomes to craft a philosophic statement about your pending business start-up.

The academic community promotes the validity of acquiring entrepreneurial skills through book learning.

Others say that you simply can’t train a person to effectively function in the real world; that interpersonal skills, marketing, advertising and basic management techniques can be cultivated. Some believe that entrepreneurs start life with a skills-set potential. Others say that people are molded by early life experiences as well as interaction with mentors.

The Truth about Business Failure

At one time, all an aspiring entrepreneur needed to make a reputation for himself was investment capital along with a unique concept or invention. Times have changed. Entrepreneurs must have the right stuff to tackle the already bloated corporate environment, and it also requires a greater charismatic voice to drown out the competition.

With that said, the failure rate of start-ups is not as conventional wisdom says it is. We have all heard that the majority of enterprises fail in the first five years. But an in-depth study in 1993 by the New Jersey Institute of Technology suggests those figures are a myth.

The analysis shows that 18% of new organizations fail in the first 8 years of business, while54% make it through more than 8 years with their original proprietors or with a change in ownership. The 28% remaining businesses voluntarily end operations without loss to owners or investors.

Conclusion

After completing the Entrepreneur Test, it is likely you will get a far better understanding of how you match up against other entrepreneurs. But testing isn’t the whole picture. Your talent, education, and expertise also assist you.

For many individuals, starting an enterprise is the fulfillment of achieving a lifetime aspiration. But disregarding small details in the formative stages can derail successful implementation of that dream.

Last, but unquestionably not least, effective entrepreneurs need to be ready to work very hard and invest many long months and years building up reputation and good will. At the end of the day, customers conduct business with an owner who is honest and trustworthy.

Starting Up a Successful Home Business

How easy is it to make money online and set up a home business?

Most people advertise home businesses to us, but the problem is, this is a big market full of scams, so how do we go about starting up a home business that only requires a few hours work a week, with little investment and a good return rate, it’s possible with the amount of people on the internet, but how do we go about it the correct way?

I looked into the home business market, I had been researching for a long time on how to make money online with home businesses, however my results were usually the same, I met individuals who lacked honesty, didn’t help me enough, and really only seemed to care about receiving my money, not if I actually succeeded at this.

My goal was to find an experienced individual who could help me set up a home business.

I managed to come across a few individuals who did actually help me, and deliver the goods they advertised, they proposed honest home business opportunities that did make money, I found this out after researching online for a long time and talking to other people who were also starting up home businesses.

One Honest Home Business Opportunity [http://www.ultimatewealthtoday.info] I found was a system run by an individual of the name of Mark Warren. Mark Warren was an experienced internet marketer and entrepreneur who was offering a service that set up a website for you to market products and receive commissions. This was a home based business opportunity he set up for you, that made money, and there were actually a lot of customers saying this system worked well for them, this was pleasing as I had struggled so long to find an opportunity that did actually work.

My conclusion is: The key to starting up a successful home business is knowing where to start, and being strict about how much time you wish to put into it every day. Most home business opportunities will take a few hours a day in order to work to the best of their ability, if you follow the steps of someone who is experienced and you are determined, it is possible to succeed.

Good Luck

How to Be a Successful Entrepreneur – Making Decisions, Part 1 of 6

Be Kind! New Clutch Driver at the Wheel!

I saw this hand written message on the cab window of a pickup truck the other day. I flashed back instantly to stalling on a hill, in an intersection, on Martha’s Vineyard, with some guy screaming out the window at me, “Why don’t you learn how to drive!” and thinking that is exactly what I was trying to do!

Getting your entrepreneurial feet under you is kind of like learning to drive a standard when you’ve always driven an automatic. Jamie, how do I start a business? What do I do? I’m new to this and it all seems too much! Can you walk me through it step by step?

Yes! Just like learning to drive a standard, there are certain tricks to getting the hang of it as well as some very definite things not to do. But once you know how, you’ll get kind of attached to your new skill and you’ll never look back!

Let’s break down the steps to get started. Employ common sense. Approach the process rationally with your endpoint in mind. It’s almost like a 6th grade English writing assignment – can you answer Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How? Once you can, you’re on your way! See how simple that is?

Here’s an outline of what we’re going to go through. To start a business, take the following steps:

Make Decisions
Take Action
Fail Frequently
Listen Intently

If this is not a list you were expecting, let me tell you how to use these steps to get from where you are now to where you want to be – in a situation where you have a “business”.

Let’s dissect Making Decisions. First, don’t skip the obvious first few steps. I get that you can’t find a job or maybe you’re sick of your boss or maybe you’re ready to find meaning and have what you do make a difference. But what exactly is an entrepreneur?

Are you an entrepreneur?

What are the attributes of an entrepreneur? You are an entrepreneur if you are someone who is

comfortable working independently, alone, creating your own parameters, defining your own goals, working without someone watching over your shoulder, driving towards self-imposed deadlines

comfortable networking, asking for help, sharing your questions and concerns with others, receptive to feedback, able to set work down and celebrate creativity and people

doggedly determined, able to push in the face of setbacks, energetic and optimistic, rigid in devotion to high standards and high expectations

willing to let go, walk away, redirect, respond objectively to information that tells you you’re on the wrong path, flexible and comfortable with constant flux

a numbers person, constantly watching metrics

a people person, in tune with your market, capable of creating a great team

In summary, an entrepreneur is a complicated person with totally conflicting attributes! Is that you? Do you really want to be an entrepreneur? Before you get intimidated, not sure if you’re crazy enough to go down this route, think about things you have done before that you’ve really loved…

Have you ever lost yourself in a project or activity, whether it’s gardening, cooking or baking, playing sports, reading about a new subject, volunteering on a project, traveling to a new place? If yes, you know that when you’re in that zone you are not thinking that you might not have what it takes.

Have you had a party, helped in a child’s classroom, been on a committee, organized a reunion or family get together or church social or golf outing, or in some other fashion, rounded up people around a common theme? If yes, you’ve got the people part down.

If you haven’t pushed for yourself, have you been stubborn on behalf of someone else? Maybe a child having a hard time on a team or in a class, a spouse that was having trouble with family or at work, a buddy going through a rough time, an elderly parent that needed some care or assistance? If you have been involved in any of these situations, you have demonstrated perseverance and determination!

By now, you’ve got the idea. Entrepreneurial skills are ones we use every day in regular life. In fact, I believe the more you can use these skills with conscious awareness, the more you can develop them, the more successful you can be in any endeavor, whether you’re generating revenue from these behaviors or not!

Do’s and Don’ts!

It’s not an all or nothing label. There’s no such thing as you are or aren’t an entrepreneur. You can get quite creative at home or within your department at work and employ entrepreneurial attributes. Do this intentionally and you’ll grow your entrepreneurial muscles to the point you might be curious to try them on larger projects.

Do keep learning, reading, studying, talking to people, asking questions

Do understand that ONE key behavior separates entrepreneurs from want to be’s; entrepreneurs TAKE ACTION, they EXECUTE, they IMPLEMENT. At some point, sooner rather than later, they stop talking, studying, and planning and they DO SOMETHING!

Making money as an entrepreneur is 100% dependent on the urgent needs and desires of THE MARKET! There are plenty of ideas, plenty of gadgets, apps, and software, and it doesn’t matter how much in love you are with your technology or service. If you are not solving a problem the market wants solved, nobody will buy what you are trying to sell. And if nobody buys it, well – I think you can figure out what results in that situation.

Make sure you don’t quit your day job until you have sales. Make sure you don’t spend all your retirement savings without first having solid proof (sales, contracts, orders) the market wants what you’ve got. Hint: don’t get confused – hunches and good feelings are not proof that your business concept is viable!

ACTION ITEMS:

Review the list of attributes of an entrepreneur and write down things about yourself and your activities that intersect with these attributes.

Start thinking about things you want to do and what entrepreneurial muscles you are going to work on developing.

Successful Small Business Companies Share Their Strategies

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to start your own business? Would your life change? Would you be following your passion?

Small business start ups can help you to take back control of your financial future. Creating a small business could be just the answer for your financial problems. Having your small business become successful is not beyond your reach. There are people doing it all the time.

Backcountry.com, a strong, successful company based in Utah, began in 1996 by two-time Olympic Nordic ski jumper Jim Holland, and writer-entrepreneur John Bresee.

They started their business in their garage, with $2,000, a website and no inventory. Now the company sells premium outdoor gear online and has become a major player in the outdoor gear niche. Today they have over 700 employees and sell products from over 1,000 different brands.

Jill Layfield, the new CEO of Backcountry.com reports that growth in their business has gone from a high of 3,000 orders in a day to new high of 40,000 orders in a day. Her advice to business startups is to stay hungry and stay nimble.

Starting a new business is not without struggles, challenges and hurdles. Amy Cosper, editor in chief for Entrepreneur.com says that the biggest mistake small business start ups make is not financially planning properly. Funding the startup business is one of the biggest hurdles you will have. Credit lines are disappearing. Banks are not loaning money. However, if you do have a good business plan and can communicate it effectively, the money is there and you can find it.

The second mistake is not having a clear picture of what your business really is. “If you cannot tell me your business idea in two sentences or less, you really have to rethink it.”

Cosper’s best advice is to really know the market you are going into and understand the competitive landscape and the financial modeling. “The biggest pieces of advice I have to give you is to never take no for an answer and follow your gut. It’s more gut than it is spreadsheet.”

Entrepreneurs need to realize that there really is no ceiling on the amount of money they can make. Income ceilings exist in salaried jobs, but entrepreneurial risk takers enjoy the sweetness of life without the politics of others “opinions” about your job performance.