Now is the Time
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: General Thoughts, The Entrepreneur School |
Tags: now is the time, start a business today, time is money |
1 Comment
You hear people say it all the time. If I just had an extra hour in the day, I could do so much. I could start a business, exercise more, or prepare home-cooked meals. Just one hour a day.
Well, according to a new survey highlighted in this morning’s Wall Street Journal researching time management as unemployment rises, Americans are not using extra time wisely. In a survey questioning people who now have more time due to unemployment or fewer working hours, the extra time these people now had did not translate into more productive hours. Instead, the time was filled with TV wa
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KISS: Keep it Simple Stupid
Monday, June 21, 2010 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: General Thoughts |
Tags: giorgio vasari, giotto, keep it simple stupid, kiss, pope benedict ix, st. peter's rome, the lives of the artists |
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There is a great story of an artist named Giotto that takes place just before the blossoming of the Italian Renaissance. Giorgio Vasari, in his book “The Lives of the Artists,” writes about a particular instance where Giotto showed his greatness in the most simplistic manner imaginable.
The story goes like this – the pope at that time, Pope Benedict IX, was seeking artists to adorn the walls of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy. The pope sent courtiers around Italy to collect the best paintings from the top artists. These paintings were to be presented to the po
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The Entrepreneur’s Path
Sunday, June 20, 2010 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: General Thoughts |
Tags: small business startup, what to expect as an entrepreneur |
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Below is a link to an article from this morning’s NY Times about making the shift from employee to self-employed. Phyllis Korkki covers topics of what to expect in making the switch and to be aware that 50% or more of new businesses fail. She pulls a quote from Professor Sahlman of Harvard:
“Once they taste having more control over their lives, they almost never go back.”
Click here to read the full article.
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Time Management
Thursday, June 17, 2010 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: General Thoughts |
Tags: time management, time management tools |
1 Comment
As a small business owner, one of your biggest challenges will be effectively managing your time. Work will continue to pile up. So how do you choose which projects to focus on?
One technique that really helped me out was creating a very simple spreadsheet with the following items going across:
Projects – Total Project Income – Hours Spent on Project
Then, have another column where you divide Total project income by the amount of hours spent on the project.
List all of your current projects and even break them up by project tasks if possible.
This is a very simple exercise and
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Boostrapping Real Estate Development
Tuesday, June 15, 2010 | Written by Jacob Dearolph
Posted under: Bootstrapping, Business Ownership, The Entrepreneur School |
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I just finished a series of Real Estate Development classes from the Urban Land Institute. The Urban Land Institute offers 2 certificates : 1. Real Estate Development & 2. Real Estate Development and Finance.
So I’m focusing on Development and Finance. Two years ago I took 2 of the 4 needed classes in LA and the experience was wonderful. I flew out with my wife to a classy hotel and spent 10 days learning about one of my passions and spending time with colleagues from all walks and places. Quick note – 2 years ago I was employed with a boutique developer/finance firm.
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If You Build it, They Will Come
Tuesday, June 15, 2010 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: General Thoughts, Marketing |
Tags: Facebook, kevin costner, Marketing, small business marketing, twitter |
2 Comments
In the movie Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner hears a voice that tells him ‘if he builds it, they will come.’ It refers to a baseball field, and them refers to deceased baseball players. It all works out pretty well in that Kevin Costner builds it and people do actually come.
If only this were true for your company’s website. I work with so many clients that build an amazing web presence and very few people end of visiting the site. One problem is a lack of marketing, both viral and paid. But another one is the fact that you are competing for users time, which is dwin
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Book Review: The Big Short
Monday, June 7, 2010 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Economics, Financial Concerns, General Thoughts |
Tags: cdo, credit default swaps, michael lewis, the big short, wall st |
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I just finished reading “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine” by Michael Lewis. Michael Lewis is also the author of “Liar’s Poker,” which described his 3 years working on Wall Street, advising investors on major investments when he said he had no idea what was going on. In fact, not many people he worked with knew what was going on. Mr. Lewis is also the author of the recent Hollywood hit, “The Blind Side.” In all, he has written 10 books.
In “The Big Short,” Mr. Lewis follows a handful of investors who saw the financial crisis c
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Learn economics through rap
Sunday, June 6, 2010 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Economics, Humor |
Tags: economic rap, economics 101, f.a. hayek, john maynard keynes |
No Comments
If you’ve heard the names John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek and have no idea what they taught, here is an witty rap about the economic policies that each person produced:
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Value Proposition Part I
Friday, June 4, 2010 | Written by christopherhanks
Posted under: Business Ownership, Entreprneurship Training |
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I’ll be doing a blog series on the need for a value proposition. I’ll have 3 or 4 blogs on it. A more in depth look at it can be found in the online lectures at The Entrepreneur School and/or or new book coming out soon.
A value proposition forms an important piece of the foundation for your business. It is the cornerstone upon which you will build the business. What is it exactly? It seems like something you would read about in a dry text book on entrepreneurship – something you would almost discard as just another vapid piece of business jargon. This is a mistake and one that
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Small Business Marketing
Thursday, June 3, 2010 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Marketing |
Tags: brand marketing, Marketing, small business marketing |
3 Comments
I’m currently working for a company and we are having a slow time building a solid client base. Those of us in the company are getting a little perturbed. We have a great product but no one is knocking down the door to come and get it.
I think all entrepreneurs have some sort of false hopes of building something and having people come in flocks. The reality is that building a client base takes a lot of hard work. It also takes a lot of marketing.
I was in Texas a few weeks ago and had a conversation with an entrepreneur in the oil industry. The main was a brilliant scientist an
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PCI Compliance
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Website Design |
Tags: pci compliance, taking credit cards online, website security |
1 Comment
What is PCI Compliance?
First off, PCI stands for Payment Card Industry and PCI is usually followed by DDS which stands for Data Security Standard.
Basically, if you have a website and you take credit cards in any form or fashion, you must be PCI compliant. If not, they will come after you, fine you, and probably eventually take down your site if you don’t comply.
I have worked on two websites needing PCI compliance. One was a very easy process. The second has been a more difficult process.
The easiest way to pass the PCI compliance test is to have all credit card data collected on
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Entrepreneurship?
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Bootstrapping, General Thoughts, Total Entrepreneurial Activity |
Tags: kaufmann foundation, opportunity vs necessity entrepreneurship, robert reich, self-employment |
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Robert Reich makes an interesting distinction in his op-ed in this morning’s NY Times. He asks if we are seeing a rise in entrepreneurship or a rise in self-employment. The question really comes down to whether or not we are seeing a rise in Opportunity or Necessity entrepreneurship. Typically, in wealthy countries, the majority of entrepreneurs start a business because of opportunity. The opposite is true in poor countries. Someone needs to start a business.
Mr. Reich references the Kaufmann Foundation’s recent numbers showing a sizable increase in USA entrepreneurial ac
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Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, Politics, and Oil Spills
Sunday, May 30, 2010 | Written by Jim Beach
Posted under: Entrepreneurship Quotes |
Tags: atlas shurgged, Ayn Rand, oil spill, politics of oil spill |
1 Comment
From the Ayn Rand Center,
That’s the politician’s answer to every intractable problem: give orders, issue threats, and wait for obedience. But the creative human mind cannot take orders like that. Notice I didn’t say, “refuses to take orders.” I said, “cannot take orders.”
By that I mean, the task of plugging a leak 5,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico is an engineering feat. BP’s acknowledged role in causing the leak does not alter the fact that careful study, creative thought, and the exacting deployment of technical and mechanic
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