Entrepreneurs

It’s the one where Rob’s parents are visiting and he picks up a dog turd! He then pretends to be smoking a cigar with it and his mom is almost puking. It’s gross but really funny. It was on the episode also that shows the season’s highlights. Anyone else think Rob is just too funny? I love how he is such a successful entrepreneur and of course, skateboarder but he can also be so witty or just plain immature but hilarious!

you can find entire episodes on mtv.com go to shows and you will see Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory. I love this show it is so wild and crazy. You can also see bonus clips which are hilarious.

I have been working with the current owner of a small company over the last few months with intentions on purchasing it on Jan 1, 2009.

The business distributes, direct sells and installs wood furnaces, solar panels, wind turbines, passive solar and radiant floor heating, with two new products slated for introduction next year. Dealer network of 6 active, 6 non-active, with open potential to develop dealers throughout the west.

At first, the owner wanted to be involved for 5 years and finance half of it, Now he wants all cash up front and only wants to be involved for 6 months.

Last years sales were $680,000 with net profit in the $300,000 range.
Next year he is estimating sales of $230,000 due to the economy and the depressed price of oil and energy. Gross profits will be in the $75,000 range.
The company does not have auditable financials, he does not have to sell the business.

Sales price is $400,000 with $200,000 in good will, $150,000 in marketable inventory and $50,000 in assets.

Financing would be $400,000 @ 8% over 7 years, first two years interest only payments required, with $50,000 extra cash as working capitol.

New owner has business management experience, strong interest in entering the alternative energy market and a small network of entrepreneurs for advice.

So the question is:
With energy prices, the economy depressed and credit hard to come by, would purchasing this business (on credit) be a good investment?

Thanks for the answer Getalife.

After additional analysis and advice, an offer would be $225,000, max bid at $250,000.

Absolutely not. The existing owner is looking for an easy way to cash out and walk away. YOU are stuck with an overly burdened operation that will be struggling to dig out of debt for the next 5+ years. With that kind of investment and your experience, why can’t you start your own and COMPETE against him? I never buy a business unless it’s valued fairly and the owner will carry at least half for a long term. This guy doesn’t even have credibly audited financial statements so how do you know what you’re really getting? You don’t. Take your money, sign up your own dealers and beat him at his own game. If you’re successful, you’ll be buying up HIS operation for pennies on the dollar in a couple years. If not, you learned your first lesson as an entrepreneur. Win-win for you.

Self-Control
Entrepreneurs do not function well in structured organizations and do not like someone having authority over them. Most believe they can do the job better than anyone else and will strive for maximum responsibility and accountability. They enjoy creating business strategies and thrive on the process of achieving their goals. Once they achieve a goal, they quickly replace it with a greater goal. They strive to exert whatever influence they can over future events.

In large, structured organizations, entrepreneurs are easy to recognize by the statements they make: "If they wanted that job done right, they should have given it to me." A dominant characteristic of entrepreneurs is their belief that they are smarter than their peers and superiors. They have a compelling need to do their own thing in their own way. They need the freedom to choose and to act according to their own perception of what actions will result in success.

Self-Confidence
Entrepreneurs are self-confident when they are in control of what they’re doing and working alone. They tackle problems immediately with confidence and are persistent in their pursuit of their objectives. Most are at their best in the face of adversity, since they thrive on their own self-confidence.

Sense of Urgency
Entrepreneurs have a never-ending sense of urgency to develop their ideas. Inactivity makes them impatient, tense, and uneasy. They thrive on activity and are not likely to be found sitting on a bank fishing unless the fish are biting. When they are in the entrepreneurial mode, they are more likely to be found getting things done instead of fishing.

Entrepreneurs prefer individual sports, such as golf, skiing, or tennis, over team sports. They prefer games in which their own brawn and brain directly influence the outcome and pace of the game. They have drive and high energy levels, they are achievement-oriented, and they are tireless in the pursuit of their goals.

Comprehensive Awareness
Successful entrepreneurs can comprehend complex situations that may include planning, making strategic decisions, and working on multiple business ideas simultaneously. They are farsighted and aware of important details, and they will continuously review all possibilities to achieve their business objectives. At the same time, they devote their energy to completing the tasks immediately before them.

Accounting reports illustrate this characteristic. Accountants spend hours balancing the accounts and closing them out. For them, the achievement is to have balanced books. The entrepreneur only wants to know the magnitude of the numbers and their significance for the operation of the business.

Realism
Entrepreneurs accept things as they are and deal with them accordingly. They may or may not be idealistic, but they are seldom unrealistic. They will change their direction when they see that change will improve their prospects for achieving their goals. They want to know the status of a given situation at all times. News interests them if it is timely, and factual, and provides them with information they need. They will verify any information they receive before they use it in making a decision. Entrepreneurs say what they mean and assume that everyone else does too. They tend to be too trusting and may not be sufficiently suspicious in their business dealings with other people.

Conceptual Ability
Entrepreneurs possess the ability to identify relationships quickly in the midst of complex situations. They identify problems and begin working on their solution faster than other people. They are not troubled by ambiguity and uncertainty because they are used to solving problems. Entrepreneurs are natural leaders and are usually the first to identify a problem to be overcome. If it is pointed out to them that their solution to a problem will not work for some valid reason, they will quickly identify an alternative problem-solving approach.

Status Requirements
Entrepreneurs find satisfaction in symbols of success that are external to themselves. They like the business they have built to be praised, but they are often embarrassed by praise directed at them personally. Their egos do not prevent them from seeking facts, data, and guidance. When they need help, they will not hesitate to admit it especially in areas that are outside of their expertise. During tough business periods, entrepreneurs will concentrate their resources and energies on essential business operations. They want to be where the action is and will not stay in the office for extended periods of time.

Symbols of achievement such as position have little relevance to them. Successful entrepreneurs find their satisfaction of status needs in the performance of their business, not in the appearance they present to their peers and to the public. They will postpone acquiring status items like a luxury car until they are certain that their business is stable.

Interpersonal Relationships
Entrepreneurs are more concerned with people’s accomplishments than with their feelings. They generally avoid becoming personally involved and will not hesitate to sever relationships that could hinder the progress of their business. During the business-building period, when resources are scarce, they seldom devote time to dealing with satisfying people’s feelings beyond what is essential to achieving their goals.

Their lack of sensitivity to people’s feelings can cause turmoil and turnover in their organization. Entrepreneurs are impatient and drive themselves and everyone around them. They don’t have the tolerance or empathy necessary for team building unless it’s their team, and they will delegate very few key decisions.

As the business grows and assumes an organizational structure, entrepreneurs go through a classic management crisis. For many of them, their need for control makes it difficult for them to delegate authority in the way that a structured organization demands. Their strong direct approach induces them to seek information directly from its source, bypassing the structured chains of authority and responsibility. Their moderate interpersonal skills, which were adequate during the start-up phases, will cause them problems as they try to adjust to the structured or corporate organization. Entrepreneurs with good interpersonal skills will be able to adjust and survive as their organization grows and becomes more structured. The rest won’t make it.

Emotional Stability
Entrepreneurs have a considerable amount of self-control and can handle business pressures. They are comfortable in stress situations and are challenged rather than discouraged by setbacks or failures. Entrepreneurs are uncomfortable when things are going well. They’ll frequently find some new activity on which to vent their pent-up energy. They are not content to leave well enough alone. Entrepreneurs tend to handle people problems with action plans without empathy. Their moderate interpersonal skills are often inadequate to provide for stable relationships. However, the divorce rate among entrepreneurs is about average.

Tell me the definitions of the entrepreneurs in your own words and why or how this term is important in Global Studies.

Entrepreneurs are people who have started a business. It is crucial to have them for many reasons…supply and demand, jobs…things like that.

He is described as a serial entrepreneur, being a part of a number of ventures in India. The most famous of his undertakings was a portal which was very heavily publicized at the height of the dot com boom. He holds an engineering degree from NIT Nagpur and a management degree as well. Who?

Sabeer Bhatia

1. what is your name?
2. what is your company called?
3. why did you decide to start your business?
4. was there a particular incident that led to your decision to start a business?
5. what persons influenced you as you developed your business?
6. how did you decide to start this particular type of business? where and how did you develop the expertise or the idea for this particular business?
7. what is your educational background?
8. what educational experiences helped you need to be more successful?
9. where and how did you learn the skills you needed to become successful?
10. where and how did you earn the skills you needed to become successful?
11. what personal characteristics do you possess that contribute most to your success?
12. what personal characteristics that you do not now possess would enable you to be more successful, productive, and/or efficient?
13. what are the personal advantages to you of owning your own business?
14. what is the most exciting aspect of owning your own business?
15. what barriers did you overcome in starting your business?
16. do the advantages of owning your own business outweigh the disadvantages? please explain.
17. what non-financial goals did you want to get out of being an entrepreneur?
18. what suggestion or advice do you have for beginning entrepreneurs?

1. My name is Victoria
2. I am an accountant and my company name (dba) is Checks & Balances.
3. I started my business as a way to continue working after I had my daughter.
4. Besides the birth of my daughter, I was working for a private company and for an accounting firm. My principles and values did not coincide with the private company and the work I was doing for small businesses within the accounting firm was being overcharged to the small business owner in retainer fees. I felt I could provide some of those services for a better price and more personalized service.
5. The head CPA that worked with me for the private company highly valued my work and encouraged me to step out on my own.
6. I went on maternity leave and worked as an outside contractor for 6 months for the private company I had been employed by prior to my maternity leave. I also worked with a couple of small businesses that required a limited amount of accountant time to do specific tasks.
My expertise was on the job experience from both the private company and the accounting firm.
7. Upon entering college, I majored in secondary education. In my 3rd year (2nd semester) I changed my major to accounting and business management and completed my schooling.
8. Frankly, my educational experiences were more book learning than true practice. I was chomping at the bit to "do it for real" rather than use sample company data.
9. The skills that I have learned to become ’successful’ (a relative term, by the way) were observation, asking questions, taking constructive criticism and generally becoming technically accurate and knowledgeable.
10. I earned additional skills by being willing to give of my time to a new client, to learn a new industry and then once very knowledgeable, charge fair but reasonable rates. This led to many referrals and I have rarely had to advertise to have a full client load.
11. The most commented personal characteristic I have heard as both compliments and complaints is that I am honest, straight-forward and truthful. I am friendly and open and have considered many of the clients I have worked with in the past 30 years to be extended family. I have given them 110% of my efforts and consideration for their business.
12. I think what drove me in the beginning was the "fire" to have a successful business and the "drive" to learn as much as I could. My original idea evolved as I began working more and obtained more clients. I tried new ideas and new directions to see if it would make my business more successful. I shelved ideas that didn’t work and provided the services that my clients wanted most.
13. My greatest personal advantage was making my own schedule to be available for events in my daughter’s life as well as making my business a success.
14. The most exciting aspect of my business was to watch the success of my clients’ own growing business continue to grow and flourish. A client’s success was my success.
15. My barriers were the balancing act of family and career. Credibility as a female in a typically (at the time) male career field. And in 1995, relocation from New York to New Mexico had me starting my business over again a second time.
16. Yes, the advantages have outweighed the disadvantages as I look back over a 30 year career. I believe I have been a successful individual as a mother and at having a career.
17. My non-financial goals were to be involved with the community issues that interested me. PTA was a large part of my life while my daughter was in school and my skills as an accountant and business manager assisted me in my endeavors. I was also a member of a professional women in business group that allowed me to share, learn and mentor others.
18. My advice: Be confident in yourself, know your skill and industry, always look ahead and shrug off the bad or disappointing days, think positive but practical. Smile and enjoy what you choose to do. Do your homework and know your market. Keep lists to follow up. Stay current with your knowledge. GOOD LUCK!

Should I keep plowing through the process of starting a business or should I take a couple month break to travel, unwind, and maybe get some different perspectives? I’m a younger entrepreneur that has had success in the past. I’d like to make something else work out but I think the economy being in rough shape has dampered my motivation. Any advice?

i think you should think positive thoughts and concentrate on them. Think about the opportunities you could gain from this economy and the success in the long run. Also you know when you stay in the same country and continue with the same routine for too long , your vision starts to get limited, as in you live in a box and dont get a feel of whats really out there. You continue to think of the same thoughts etc… so i think if you travel for a bit , go to a total diff country and not a similar city to urs , you will start to think further and new ideas will pour in. so ye i would suggest travelling and then come back and get ready to work hard.

what helps me is that travelling as i start thinking about new things instead of the same things. i also think about the things i want to achieve in the future and what i want to become , basically personal fulfilment…

i hope this helped…..i kno im a bit vague.. but i hope u got the idea..:)
goodluck

I am a lesbian trying to start my own business. I know ther are grants out there for women entrepreneurs, but i am not having success in finding any.

You are not having success in finding any because there aren’t any.

It is hard to find grants to start a business. Unlike the myths that some perpetuate, federal government and even private foundations hardly give grant money for a for-profit business. And yes, grants mean PAPERWORK – lots and lots of it, that is why a cottage industry of grant writers was born.

Nonetheless, you can go to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) http://www.cfda.gov and Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov – these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. Browse through the listings and see if you can find any grant that would support a for-profit venture.

Even if you buy books on "how to get grants" or list that supposedly has information on grants — all of them are mere rehash of what CFDA has, albeit packaged differently. But still the info is the same – hardly any grants for starting a for profit business.

Even SBA does NOT give out grants. From the SBA website http://www.sba.gov/expanding/grants.html…

"The U.S. Small Business Administration does not offer grants to start or expand small businesses, although it does offer a wide variety of loan programs. (See http://www.sba.gov/financing for more information) While SBA does offer some grant programs, these are generally designed to expand and enhance organizations that provide small business management, technical, or financial assistance. These grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments."

Most of the federal grants are given to specific target groups with specific requirements (e.g. minority business owners involved in transportation related contracts emanating from DOT – Grant#20.905 Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Short Term Lending Program

Grants are also often given to non profit groups or organizations involved in training or other similar activities (grant 59.043 Women’s Business Ownership Assistance that are given to those who will create women’s business center that will train women entrepreneurs

For private grants, you may want to check the Foundation Center’s Foundation Grants for Individuals Online. It’s a subscription based website ($9.95 per month) but their opening blurb only says that the database is ideal for "students, artists, academic researchers, libraries and financial aid offices." Entrepreneurs are apparently not one of them, so I take it they also don’t have listings of private foundations who give grants to would-be entrepreneurs.

I’m 19 years old and I moved out of my parents house and across the country on my own right out of high school. I would say I am a computer expert, I understand hardware/software/networking etc. I started learning all of this stuff on my own around the age of seven.

Now, I run my own freelance Web Developing company. I program and build some pretty complex websites. I feel like I am growing up way too fast and I want to slow down and maybe not worry about as many things as I do. I would love to go to school (because it was completely out of the question when I began this journey) but only a good respected school, because otherwise my own business experience is more worthwhile. My question is, I know that many kids my age, even in college aren’t as "active" as I am. Are there any good colleges that look for this type of thing, or would even help that person to get through school?

A perfect degree for you may be a BSIT in Industrial Technology (not BSIT-Information Technology).

BSIT-Industrial Technology degrees are half Technology and Half Business Management. In your case, that might be Half Computer Tech, and half Business Management.

BSIT (of this kind) are accredited by NAIT. One of the best programs in Computer Technology is offered by San Jose State, in California.

I have a business where I make something like $100/hr, but it’s just part time, so I’m just getting by. I’m not pushing to expand. I’m being indecisive, procrastinating and thinking too much about what direction to go.

Any tips on how to be more self motivated? I’m not that materialistic, so things or status will only motivate me to a point.

What motivates you? I’ve been bothered lately by my not living up to my potential. Do I need to focus more on the parts of my biz that I really like to do or am best at and let others do the rest?
Thanks Randall. I doubt I’ll get more answers. I have though about volunteering before and some of the ideas from the story. Just enough is not enough for me mentally at least. I realized the thrill is gone, because I have figured out how to do something very difficult. Now I will be like the fisherman, but spend not much more time working and expand at the same time, by hiring people to do the boring and easy stuff. Then I will work on an internet marketing site related to my industry to for the thrill factor.

Given you’ve been bothered by not living up to your potential, I would say you still have plenty of room to grow. If you have been questioning the purpose and direction of your life, try some community/volunteer work. Seeing people help each other is very motivational. But that goes to say that everything where good is seen is motivating.

Be glad that you are earning $100 per hour part time. There are many people that would die for your position. Imagine if you made that into a full time gig. You’d be knee deep in cash. And if it were to be more money than you need, perhaps give $100 back to help those who truly need and deserve it. Your life will be enriched while others benefit too.

This story may also give you some good perspective.
The Mexican Fisherman

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, "only a little while."

The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked, "but what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

"But what then?"

The American laughed and said that’s the best part. "When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."

"Millions.. Then what?"

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."