The Margin Manifesto: 11 Tenets for Reaching (or Doubling) Profitability in 3 Months
This post is courtesy of Tim Ferriss, the mastermind behind the rave success ‘The Four Hour Work Week‘. It is focused on the essentials from his study of high growth and high profit businesses and the 11 tenets they follow to achieve their success.
Go read it here and print it out for future reference. It’s that good!
Anthropologists and Entrepreneurs
Teaching Entrepreneurship in a University setting is a mixed bag because on the one hand there exists the ‘Ivory Tower’ of theoretical study and high esteem of knowledge and creativity without the real world ‘rubber meets the road’ results focused implementation that is the trademark of successful entrepreneurship. On the other hand, there are some very forward thinking practices that unfold that the ‘real world’ should take note of. One such practice is the combination of three disciplines to bring a concept to market. Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Anthropology. Read the rest of this entry »
Entrepreneurial Business Models
Since I started teaching a class to Entrepreneurship students at Fresno State on Business Plan Writing I’ve found that there are only 3 business models from a strategic perspective worth pursuing. There are 2 other business models that aren’t worth pursuing at all, but is where most business owners fall into because it is so easy to. The business models are Category Creators, Niche Perfectors and Category Killers. I learned about these categories in the book ‘Blueprint To A Billion‘ by David Thomson that goes over businesses that have gone public since 1983 (386) that have achieved $1 Billion in annual sales. He found that all of these ‘Blueprint Companies’ Read the rest of this entry »
A Brilliant Collaboration Tool
I just stumbled upon a very simple yet insanely effective collaboration tool for writing a document with a partner or in a team setting. The best part is that it’s FREE! It is called Writeboard and can be viewed at www.writeboard.com. It’s a shareable, web-based text document that let’s you save every edit, roll back to any version, and easily compare changes. It’s so much more efficient and thorough than emailing a word document back and forth. It’s password protected and you can invite others to contribute via email from the site directly. Read the rest of this entry »
The Power of the Mastermind
The single most powerful tool in my opinion for any entrepreneur looking to expand their business and achieve the growth they desire is the Mastermind Group. The “Mastermind Concept” is widely credited to Napoleon Hill, author of the all time bestselling success book, ‘Think And Grow Rich.’ In it he chronicles the common ideas and success strategies of several hundred great achievers of Hill’s time, including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison. Read the rest of this entry »
After Five Years As An Entrepreneur
The five things I would have done differently.
Since graduating with an MBA in Entrepeneurship in 2003 I have started two businesses, a handheld software company that failed to launch and the other going through major overhaul right now due to our industry, mortgage financing, being transformed through legislation and the start of a significant recession. I have dabbled with nearly a dozen other startups in this timeframe as well, some my own, and others brought to me through my network. Also, along the way I’ve spent a considerable amount of time and money studying and being mentored by many guru’s on how to grow my businesses. I estimate, conservatively, that this number is in the $75k range for just the registration fees, books, cd’s, monthly coaching, etc., not including travel and hotel expenses to attend them. Read the rest of this entry »
What Is Your Average?
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
That quote is from the great author and self-made millionaire, Jim Rohn. When I first read it four years ago, I remember thinking about the people that I spend the most time with, particularly in my business life. I also started making mental notes about who I felt was a positive influence and who tended to be a negative influence. Have you ever had a friend rain all over your idea or tell you that you couldn’t do something? Or, have you ever been at a networking event and felt that, for once, you were the smartest one there? In both cases, I want to encourage you to take a fresh look at who you are spending the most time with and, specifically, consider whether or not you feel challenged, supported, encouraged, and refreshed as a result. Read the rest of this entry »
Never Eat Alone
I just recently finished a phenomenal book titled ‘Never Eat Alone’ that was on Networking, not the computer type, rather the social type. It was written by Keith Ferrazzi who holds the title as the youngest CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) for a Fortune 500 company when he worked for Starwood (aka Westin and those truly Heavenly Beds) The book has hit ‘Manual Status’ for me and is right next to ‘The E-Myth’ and ‘Think and Grow Rich’ due to it’s massive amounts of actionable material that one can refer to and attempt to perfect for the rest of their career. Read the rest of this entry »
A Mind Like Water
Unfortunately, there are many people I know, especially business owners, that may think this is an urban legend and completely impossible, but I’m living proof that it is possible. My inbox has absolutley no messages in it and my desk only has one tiny pile (<1″) on it and that will be disappearing very soon. Everything I need is filed and stored in it’s proper place. Read the rest of this entry »
LinkedIn vs. Plaxo
I just came across a great post about the two online contact record/networking tools, LinkedIn and Plaxo. After reading it, my choice is obvious… LinkedIn is more powerful. You can read it below:
LinkedIn vs. Plaxo: Is LinkedIn winning? by ZDNet’s David Berlind — Are you using LinkedIn, Plaxo, Orkut, or one of the umpteen contact management or Six-Degrees of Kevin Bacon-like business card exchanges? If there’s someone you need an introduction to through someone else you know, chances are pretty good that you know the right people to make that introduction happen. Provided everyone keys their information into [...]