Business Advice From A Sophomore Entrepreneur

Are you like me? Do you dream of starting a successful business? A business that will bring you wealth, allow you to leave the rat race and work for yourself, and bring out your creativity and entrepreneurial talents? Of course you do, that’s part of the American dream.

Well, it was just over a year now that I had started my first business, trade-pals.com, a sales leads generation website for business professionals. So, now I am a sophomore entrepreneur. Looking back, I realize that I have made mistakes but I also have learned a lot. So, I want to take the time to share some of the things that I have learned over the course of the last year. This is random business advice from a sophomore entrepreneur, me!

1. Don’t start a business with friends. For people that seek business partners, for whatever reason, it is not a good idea to start a business with friends. This must be one of the most widely given advice, but does anybody ever follow it? I sure didn’t. It is not until you actually start a business with friends that you realize that your friends are not the ideal partners. When things go wrong, you cannot fire your friends. Actually, you can; but they won’t be your friends anymore.

2. Business networking groups are useless. Think about the concept of business networking; it is set up as a system to allow salespeople the opportunity to network with business professionals to gain contacts and get business referrals. So, naturally, salespeople flock to these types of events. So, if business networking groups consist of all salespeople, it is just a bunch of salespeople trying to sell to other salespeople. Salespeople don’t buy, they sell. Buyers don’t need to network because all they have to do is flip through the yellow pages to find someone to buy from. Salespeople would probably have better success at cold calling and I, by no means, advocate cold calling.

3. An entrepreneur is not a manager. A manager manages something that an entrepreneur creates. So there would be no managers without successful entrepreneurs. Yet, it seems that managers have big egos and entrepreneurs are humble. Managers crave status and tend to live above their means to try to portray their superiority.

4. Consumers no longer pay attention to traditional advertising. They see so much advertising every day that they, now, just tune it out. Small business owners need to find other creative ways to reach their target market. Guerrilla Marketing is the solution. Guerrilla Marketing is a series of books by Jay Conrad Levinson that teaches people low cost ways to create buzz and get exposure for their business. The books are a must read for current business owners and anybody thinking of starting a business.

So there you have it, my advice for my fellow entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs. Maybe next year I can speak as a veteran entrepreneur and offer a lot more useful business advice.

Tino Buntic is a sophomore entrepreneur. He created trade-pals.com, a sales leads generation website just over a year ago.

Starting Your Own Business Keep These Things in Mind!

Have you ever met someone who hears you have your own business, and immediately they launch into what they dream being a business owner is? Sleeping in, watching Springer, getting a tan, Shopping….. If only!

Starting your own business Requires:



1. Guts. Everyone thinks of starting his or her own business one day. It takes guts to walk away from your “day job” into the uncertain waters ahead.

2. Being open to learning. Since I have started my business, I’ve learned more about marketing than I ever thought I’d need to know. Marketing is so much more than printing up brochures or placing an ad in the newspaper.

3. Dedication. Yes, it’s so much easier to wake up and decide you don’t feel like working today, stay in your jammies and watch TV. But in order to succeed in business, you need to be dedicated to your business. You have to work at it every day. Most of the time longer hours than you ever worked at your “day job.”

4. Passion. When you talk to truly successful people about what keeps them going, what encourages them, why they do what they do, it all boils down to passion. Running a business will take alot out of you. In order to keep going and not give up, you must have passion for what you do. If you’re doing something because someone else wants you to do it or for the money, it will get old real quick. If you don’t truly enjoy what you’re doing, you will never achieve the level of success that is attainable.

5. Desire to help people. Yes, everyone wants to make money. But in order to make your business a success, you must feel a need to help people. When you’re doing something because you want others to succeed, it makes you work that much harder, gives you that extra push, and makes you connect more to your customers. Customers are savvy. They can smell a line of bull a mile away. But if you honestly want to help people, it will show through and that is what draws people to you and your business.

6. Confidence. When you’re a business owner, you’re the face of your company. You need to have the self confidence and ability to talk to people about who you are and what you do. Most businesses rely, to some degree, on networking. If you lack confidence, it’s agonizingly hard to thrust yourself out there and make yourself be seen. Especially if you really don’t want to be seen.

7. The Ability to delegate. When you own a business, you are responsible for everything. Not only sales, but also marketing, accounting, customer service, shipping, administrative, PR, and IT. It’s way too easy to get buried underneath all the responsibilities and feel that because it’s your business, you must do it all. You don’t have to! Delegate! Work with a Virtual Assistant. A virtual assistant can take over the administrative and bookkeeping duties, can help you with marketing campaigns, and even help you bounce around ideas on where you should go or what you should do. Unlike an employee who is only there for the paycheck, a VA wants to see you succeed.

Being a business owner is one of the best opportunities you'll ever get. When you're ready to take advantage of it, know what you're getting yourself into and it will go so much smoother.

Visit www.ExecAdminSolutions.com for more ideas on running a more successful business. Sign up for our free monthly newsletter. Jennifer Irving is owner of Executive Administrative Solutions, and provides executive-level virtual office assistance to business owners who are overwhelmed, overworked, or just plain tired.

Entrepreneurs Are Ordinary People With An Idea

Can you see yourself running a small business? If so you can be helped here. Are you a person who can be a small business owner, if so you are an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are ordinary people with an idea that will be sold as a product or service to another ordinary person like you and I.

You can be a small business owner from your own home with benefits. Being able to work from your office, your basement or even your garage. This is something that millions of people would love to be....their own BOSS. Small business need to have some organization in order to get it off on the right foot. There needs to be a demand, a product and a customer. Small Business owner's can use some of their home expenses as a tax benefit. This will give you more money to work with when it comes to the business.

You will be able to have more time with your family when you have a small business in your home. Working at home can be good if you are making time for your business. This can be a challenge when you have children, you need to make time for your family and your business.

Ken and Deidre Bissonette are successful authors and publishers of Small Business Information. http://www.business-finance-loan-credit.com/entrepreneur.html