Archive for the ‘Entrepreneurship Stories’ Category
Thursday, March 11, 2010 | Written by Lana Kravtsova
Posted under: Creativity and Ideation, Entrepreneurship Stories |
Tags: good business idea, good to great, hedgehog principle, Jim Collins, successful business idea |
2 Comments
Note: This is a guest post by Lana Kravtsova from Daring Clarity.
How do you know which idea, project, gig, client to give a green light to and which not even bother researching further? How do you get clear on which business model, product or service are really going to make you rich, happy and fulfilled and which are going to drain your energy and suck your time leaving your soul empty and hurting.
How do you stay on purpose and say “yes” only to the right opportunities. And if you’ve been in business for any time at all, you know that it’s not the lack of opportunities or ideas but an incredible amount of them that leaves us terrified and unsure what to do next.
There is one word that will solve all of the above problems for you.
Hedgehog.
I say this word to myself each time I have a new “why don’t we do this” moment and right there and then I know what I should do. I use it with my clients when we brainstorm for new ideas. I use it with my friends who ask for advice.
Works like magic each and every time.
Let me explain.
You probably heard about the book Good to Great by brilliant Jim Collins. There is a section in the book where he talks about Hedgehog Principle.
It’s simple. It’s genius. It’s one of the best tools I know for clarity.
It’s all about the hog.
If you have a hog, you win. If you don’t have a hog, you lose.
The hedgehog principle works for personal brands, service providers, product makers. It doesn’t matter if you are a solopreneur or big fortune 500 company. You don’t even have to run a business to use a hedgehog principle.
If you need to get clear on the right vocation for you, this is the tool to use.
The hog is the intersection of the three questions:
What are you passionate about?
What can you be the best in the world at?
What drives your economic engine?
I’ll show you how to use it using my personal example and Walgreens example.
1) I am deeply passionate about life that has meaning. I am also deeply passionate about creative freedom. I truly believe that one of the best ways to lead a meaningful and creatively free life is to choose a vocation that is aligned with your Authentic Self. So I help people to align their truth (Authentic Self) with what they do in the world. Meaning and creative freedom are the end results of that.
1) Walgreens is passionate about pharmacies. Plain and simple. That’s what they do.
How do you find what you are passionate about?
Ask yourself – what would I do if I were guaranteed to succeed? What would I do for free? What would I do if I knew for sure that all of my financial needs would be met? Write down your answers.
2) I can be the best in the world at sharing my knowledge and experience I gained on the way to my truth. In other words I am really good at teaching what I learned through personal experience, books I’ve read, seminars I’ve taken on the topic. I can share my knowledge through 1-1 coaching, workshops, blogging, creating products, speaking.
Note: I might be the best in the world at many other things. I am a great cook, a great dancer, I know tons of games to play with kids and much more. But all of that is not on purpose, see #1.
I might also want to be the best in world in many other areas, but that might not be realistic or, again, not on purpose.
2) Walgreens can be the best in the world at convenient drug stores. Not any drug stores but convenient drug stores.
Questions to ask here:
What am I really good at? When do I feel incredibly useful? What do I feel I was born to do? Again, write down your answers.
3) What drives my economic engine is packaging my knowledge in various different formats.
Profit per x is the focus here. My profit per X is profit per certain unit/format of my knowledge. It might be 1-1 coaching, workshops, ebooks or any other products or services I create. To go even further, the best format right now for me to focus on is 1-1 coaching (my highest paying product) and packaging my knowledge into something that will become a passive income – books, ebooks, membership programs etc.(makes the most sense long term).
3) Walgreens economic engine is driven by profit per customer visit. Not per store, not per company, not per customer but profit per customer visit.
Questions to ask:
What are the things you can do to make a living? What makes the most economic sense to do?
That’s Hedgehog. The key is to find the intersection of all three circles or questions.
If I come across an opportunity that is not aligned with my personal Hedgehog, I don’t bother even thinking about it.
So what is your hog? Need help in finding one? Visit me at my blog at http://daringclarity.com
Sunday, March 7, 2010 | Written by Jim Beach
Posted under: Entrepreneurship Stories |
Tags: entrepreneur book |
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TheEntrepreneurSchool founders Chris Hanks and Jim Beach, along with 
Global Atlanta reporter David Beasley, have been contracted by McGrawHill publishing company to write a book! The book will be titled “The Sure Thing” just like the classic 1985 movie about a guy that travels across the country to spend the night with a sure thing, Nicollette Sheridan. Of course, he falls in love with another girl during the drive and ends up with her instead, if I remember right.
Anyway, pretty aggressive and ballsy name for a business book, isn’t it?!!?? In today’s world, to call anything a sure thing is bold. But, for those of you that have been following along for awhile and know our philosophy, you know that we believe as taking as little risk as possible. If you are careful, you keep your day job, you start a business for under $1000, are you really risking that much? How much would it take to make your money back? Not much! In fact, we might call that business a sure thing.
As, I said, we need your help. If you are, or know of, an entrepreneur that started a business, any sort of business, this way please let us know. We want to tell your story and generate some publicity for you. Maybe the book will sell well and your story will get on “Oprah” and your sales will increase by 186%. Please send your story (super short is ok) and name to james.beach@att.net. We want to make you famous!!
Tags: entrepreneur book | Posted under Entrepreneurship Stories | No Comments
Saturday, February 20, 2010 | Written by Kristin Diver
Posted under: Entrepreneurship Stories, General Thoughts |
Tags: small business questions |
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I recently started working with a soon-to-be small business a couple weeks after they signed a lease for their perfect retail location. The building was old and had been vacant for years but had lots of potential. It was a huge space and the business owner had big dreams for how they would turn the building into everything they had ever wanted. They could see it, breath it, feel it, smell it. According to the landlord, all they needed to do was invest $20,000 to fix up the building a little. Small loan, should be no problem. It would be perfect, thus guaranteeing a sure thing for the success of the business.
Well….the reality is that construction costs add up really fast. So shockingly fast that money that has been painstakingly, lovingly, carefully saved for years to open a dream business evaporates within seconds. Especially when its an old historic building with special construction requirements, especially when it has been empty for years and plumbing and electrical fixtures are disintegrated, and oh yeah, especially when the landlord has forgotten the heating and air unit doesn’t work so the tenant is responsible for a new one. The result? Construction costs went from hopefully no more than $20,000 to more than $400,000! And that isn’t the cost of making the space ultra beautiful – that is just to bring it up to the required code so that the fire marshal approves them for opening.
If only I could have turned back the clock by a mere two weeks and given them this advice:
Error #1 - Use a commercial real estate attorney to review the lease
The landlord seemed like a nice guy, why he want to screw them over? Nice people just don’t do that…sure they do, especially when there is money involved. Yes, they went at it alone against the landlord. Thus they ended up in an agreement that they didn’t fully understand and resulted in committing to paying the landlord a lot of money even before the business opened. Had an attorney reviewed the lease, they would have said NO to a number of clauses and thrown a more balanced contact back at the landlord for further negotiation.
Error #2 – Insist on construction money
The landlord will be earning a living off you for years so putting in a little money into THEIR building to get the space ready for your needs is expected, especially in this market where there is empty commercial space everywhere. It is perfectly reasonable to ask for it and threaten to walk away it you don’t get it.
Error #3 – Get at least three construction estimates before signing anything
It is important to know exactly what you are getting into. Especially if the landlord refuses to provide all the funding for construction, you need to know how much money you’ll have to shell out to get it all going. Had they done this, they would have discovered before they signed the lease that the building required a lot more problems than it appeared, that the HVAC was not functional and that the true construction bill was 20 times higher than expected.
Error #4 – Do all the research before signing
There might be other complications with this space that you might not be aware of. It might be a historic building or your type of business might require special parking requirements or special permits from the city or. Make the phone calls, find out what you’ll need from all government agencies to operate in this space.
Error #5 – Walk away
Your job as a new small business is to get up and running, find your customers, serve them well and make money. If it not to fix an old cool building, that is the landlord’s job, after all, he owns the building. If the landlord expects you to pay mucho dinero for construction, it probably isn’t worth it. Remember, your dream is to open your business, not to open your business in THIS particular building.
Error #6 – Start small
Sometimes it is better to start small, grow turn into a really successful business and THEN justify the need to expand into a larger space that will fit your dream. You’ll have more options for financing because the business (and your management of it) has been proven.
Tags: small business questions | Posted under Entrepreneurship Stories, General Thoughts | No Comments
Saturday, January 30, 2010 | Written by Jim Beach
Posted under: Entrepreneurship Stories |
Tags: entrepreneur success story, entrepreneurship in angola |
1 Comment
Global Atlanta (click here) published an article today about Randy Pires and all his entrepreneurial efforts in Angola. Randy is the son of one of my good friends, so I have met him many times, and we go to dinner occassionally to talk about his businesses. Read the article in Global Atlanta to see how much a brave 25 year old can accomplish!
Tags: entrepreneur success story, entrepreneurship in angola | Posted under Entrepreneurship Stories | 1 Comment
Friday, January 29, 2010 | Written by Jim Beach
Posted under: Entrepreneurship Stories |
Tags: start-up successes, success story |
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I wanted to introduce another great Entrepreneur School success story. Craig and John started a really cool company recently. Craig is one of our corporate videographers and has listened to our shtick many times. He was already self-employed before we met him, so he has entrepreneurial roots and tendencies from the beginning.
Their new company is called Your Legacy Video, and they make TV show-like documentary videos about your loved ones. I love this idea. I make videos for my kids documenting big vacations, their first year of life, and things like that. They love them. My dad is currently taking all the old 8 mm videos from the 60s and 70s and making DVDs out of them. There is obviously a huge demand for products like Your Legacy
Video’s. They offer a true value-added service,
however. They do all the standard stuff like digitizing your videos and pictures. But they also interview the major family players, put together a script and storyline, add music, and edit the whole thing into a coherent TV quality video about your loved ones. Great, great stuff.
There are several reasons why The Entrepreneur School loves this company:
- it’s a trendy, cool product with a huge, growing demand,
- they are experts in this field already and are leveraging years of skills,
- they spent very little to create this new company,
- awesome website,
- they have been marketing creatively to a clear target audience,
- they seek and listen to advice about growing their company,
- and they have reduced risk to the point where they can’t fail!
Congrats and good luck to you two. Check out www.YourLegacyVideo.com
Tags: start-up successes, success story | Posted under Entrepreneurship Stories | No Comments
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 | Written by Jacob Dearolph
Posted under: Bootstrapping, Business Partners, Creativity and Ideation, Entrepreneurship Quotes, Entrepreneurship Stories, General Thoughts, The Entrepreneur School |
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1 Comment
We are currently at the University of Georgia with Jim and Chris. They are answering questions on entrepreneurship for a group of students. We are filming the Q&A series as it will be apart of The Entrepreneur School.
I’ve listed the questions below along with some highlights from the answers.
1. How was the transition from working for Coke to Entrepreneur?
2. How would you advise a student who is transitioning from Undergrad to either entrepreneurship or a grad degree?
3. If spending a great deal of money on a startup raises risk how do you start a business with little captial? Even as a student?
4. Should I work for an entreprneur or start slow and small on my own?
5. If I am only going to spend 5k-10k where would I spend the money?
6. How do I get the idea in the first place?
7. What are some necessary legal aspects of starting a business?
8. How do you choose a business partner and selection of equity for each?
9. Does bartering work for bootstrapping?
10. How do you determine what is a good deal with web programming?
11. Are there differences between what you are saying here for an independent contractor?
12. How does a web marketer or service business entrepreneur advertise itself?
13. When should you start paying yourself?
14. You’ve both started businesses where you were the originated the idea how did you bring in people who you could trust; instill the idea; etc…?
15. What are you 1 or 2 reasons for success or failure?
Monday, January 11, 2010 | Written by Jim Beach
Posted under: Entrepreneurship Stories |
Tags: entrepreneurial startups, ipod repair, success story |
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I wanted to share another Entrepreneur School success story with you. I have known Justin for 5 or 6 years, he has taken some classes from me, and we get dinner every once and awhile. He is a really good guy.
In the last six months, he has started an iPod repair business that is pretty cool. Justin buys bulk parts, broken technology, stuff from storage units, and any other stashes of iPod pieces. He was an engineering major of some sort, and has technology skills, but as far as I understand, he had no skills with iPods. Teaching himself through repeated practice, he has learned how to take iPods apart and fix them. He says there are only 10 or so things that go wrong with an iPod, and through practice, he has been able to learn to solve the various problems.
Now, the cool stuff. He still has his day job. He is making about $1,000 a month. He spends about 15 hours a week on the project. He is getting better and better at it and is able to fix the units faster and faster. He has a back inventory of about $15,000 of supplies (the broken units and various parts), so his supply chain is strong. He likes it and is having fun. He is fulfilling a growing need. Imagine filling an iPod with $2,500 of music and then dropping it in a pool or something!
He sells through an eBay store, which you can find at www.techrepairparts.com He is excited to accept your parts (cell phones, digital cameras, mp3 players, laptops, etc.) or to fix your iPod. You can reach him through the store or at techrepairparts@gmail.com
I love that he has listened to so many Entrepreneur School lessons. Do things you love. Reduce risk by keeping your day job. Build slowly as you gain skills. Sell through eBay to reduce costs. Great stuff and a great job by Justin.
Tags: entrepreneurial startups, ipod repair, success story | Posted under Entrepreneurship Stories | No Comments
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 | Written by Jim Beach
Posted under: Creativity and Ideation, Entrepreneurship Stories |
Tags: Chris Hanks, start up start young, UGA entrepreneurs |
1 Comment
http://www.ajc.com/business/start-ups-start-young-255579.html for the full article… highlights posted here….
Start ups start young
Until two years ago, Juan Calle and Adam Berlin were like many other University of Georgia students: rabid college football fans who sometimes followed their Bulldogs on road trips.
Then they changed. They became entrepreneurs.
With fellow student and partner Andrew Pizitz, the friends turned their fandom into a business, SEC Excursions. The company provides bus transportation, hotel lodging, and tailgate food and entertainment to groups of students traveling to away games in the Southeast.
“There were always these issues of, who’s going to drive to the game? Where are we going to stay?” said Calle, speaking of his own experience and that of many others. “We thought, why not provide a service to students where it’s all taken care of?”
The four trips they have operated so far have done well enough that the seniors plan to continue the business full time after graduation. They envision more trips involving more schools.
“There is no better time to be an entrepreneur, and I think students are recognizing that,” said Chris Hanks, director of the Terry College of Business Entrepreneurship Program at Georgia. AND THE ENTREPRENEUR SCHOOL FOUNDER!!!!!
“Students get that the economy has changed; they understand,” he said. “A lot of their parents have been laid off, so it’s a very real thing for them. And working in corporate America doesn’t hold the same appeal.”
Because high entry salaries and stock options are less common now, he added, “there is not a huge opportunity cost. It makes a decision to become an entrepreneur easier.”
Tags: Chris Hanks, start up start young, UGA entrepreneurs | Posted under Creativity and Ideation, Entrepreneurship Stories | 1 Comment
Monday, December 28, 2009 | Written by Jim Beach
Posted under: Entrepreneurship Stories, General Thoughts |
Tags: computer repair |
No Comments
Yesterday, my beautiful daughter Anna was playing one of her Christmas present games on my PC. My important pC. The one with all the data, files, docusments, and pictures on it. The PC I would die if I lost. And it went totally dead. Black screen. Dead.
She called me in and I knew enough to examine the PC. Don’t know what I was looking for, just like when I open the hood to a car and look at the engine. The PC was hot, really hot, and the power supply looked a little brown, like it had been burned by a spark. The power supply was dead.
So, I called my dorky computer friend, got some advice, went to MicroCenter today, bought a replacement, and installed it! The trick was to disconnect one cord and replace it immediately. And, it works!!! Unbelievable. The chances of that are the same as the chances of me landing a 747. I am happy and impressed with myself!!
Tags: computer repair | Posted under Entrepreneurship Stories, General Thoughts | No Comments
Saturday, December 26, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Bootstrapping, Entrepreneurship Stories |
Tags: creative solutions, dry erase boards, entrepreneur stories, ideapaint |
No Comments
Need some space to write down all of your business ideas? So did John Goscha when he was a Freshman at Babson College in Boston. John and two other friends, Jeff Avallon and Morgen Newman wanted to be able to write out all of their business plans on a white board big enough to cover a wall.
When the went to the store, they realized that most large white board solutions are extremely expensive. So, they went looking for a white board paint. When they couldn’t find any paint on the market, they decided to develop a paint themselves.
After 6 years of perfecting the paint solution, they released IdeaPaint. Since the launch, major players such as Comedy Central, the CIA, and MTV use the paint-on dry erase board for mapping out ideas, business plans, and show schedules.
For bootstrapping entrepreneurs, this dry erase board solution is much cheaper than purchasing a large board. At $4/sq ft., you could plaster your 5 sq ft wall for just $20 compared to similar solutions starting at $70. Just one quart of the paint covers 50 sq. ft. And you can purchase directly from their website – www.ideapaint.com/site/shop_work.html
Additionally, the paint is environmentally friendly and contains no formaldehyde. It is also very easy to remove with a little scuffing, priming and repainting.
Check out what founder Jeff Avallon had to say about the product:
“We not only were starting a business, but also a whole new product category. We’re trying to sell something different—a tool for innovation, a total dynamic environment, not just a dry-erase product.”
Click here to watch a recent feature in Forbes.
Tags: creative solutions, dry erase boards, entrepreneur stories, ideapaint | Posted under Bootstrapping, Entrepreneurship Stories | No Comments
