Micro Entrepreneurs

 By Alexander Gordon

Micro entrepreneurs are the owners of small businesses that have fewer than five employees and have startup costs of less than $35,000 and annual revenue of less than $100,000.

There are nearly 21.5 million micro entrepreneurs in the U.S. Examples of micro entrepreneurs are owners of bakeries, beauty parlors, child care facilities, repair shops, arts and crafts shops, painting businesses, contracting businesses, family-owned shops, auto body shops, small-scale restaurants, and small-inventory trading businesses.

Micro entrepreneurs face many hurdles in getting startup financing, and they sometimes lack the skills necessary to manage the financial aspect of their business.
As a result, many micro entrepreneurs cannot grow and develop their business beyond a micro enterprise. Various micro enterprise development programs have helped micro entrepreneurs achieve great success and growth.

These micro enterprise development programs have immensely helped micro entrepreneurs who lack collateral needed to secure a loan or those who have low or no credit by providing them with training, support, help in developing a solid business plan, and assistance in building their businesses.
Successful micro entrepreneurs have contributed much to society by creating wealth, economic assets, and jobs.

How To Become A Micro Entrepreneur
It is essential to study the market thoroughly and understand that market's customers before deciding on the type and kind of product or service to be offered.

Here are some suggestions:
Work out a sound business plan by doing extensive research and seeking help from the various micro enterprise development programs.
Make arrangements for the startup capital by using savings, opting for a micro loan program, or applying for a grant.

Do extensive market research, get the necessary training and skills required, and learn how to use technology to help run your business easily.
Study the competition and analyze how you can better them.
Get a good retail space to run your business as well as decide on the price, making sure it is right and has a profit margin; decide how to utilize the profit, whether you want to save it or reinvest and expand your micro business.

Make sure that the quality of the product is never compromised and that your customers are happy, ensuring customer retention.
Assistance for Micro Entrepreneurs
Micro entrepreneurs in the U.S. are in need of training and skill development workshops as well as help in utilizing technology to help run their business.

Some micro entrepreneurs need access to easily available funds for startup and growth. In order to encourage more people to become micro entrepreneurs, state, federal, and private sectors should make available ample funding for such enterprises.

With a little effort, you can find firms that sell their services as well as products to help run successful businesses. You can even seek professional help to arrange business credit for micro enterprises.

mportant Things Entrepreneurs

Important Things Entrepreneurs Should Know While Setting Up Their Business

 By Phong Nguyen

From winning $2,600 to start a small business venture with a college friend during my freshman year, to starting other small ventures during my last 3 years of college, I learned many fundamentals of business success, which have helped me succeed in my current business.
Here are 6 tips that will help entrepreneurs set up their businesses strategically, and intelligently, to stay ahead in today's fast changing environment. Let's get started:

First is "Find a Niche."
Most of us are not geniuses like Bill Gates of Microsoft or Laurence "Larry" Page of Google. But you don't need to develop an earth-shattering idea to be successful.
As an entrepreneur, you should look for a business "niche," preferably something you're passionate about, because your passion will provide the energy to help you push for success.
You'll also want to stay up on the latest market trends to make sure you take advantage of new technologies that are changing the way people do business today.

By staying up-to-date with new technologies and market trends while carefully thinking of how your business model should adapt and change, 3-5 years into the future, you will have a better chance of success.
One good example of a good business "niche" is Minimal Company, who (in 2010) took Apple's iPod Nano and transformed them into the world's coolest multi-touch watches - Tiktok and Lunatik.

Second is "Assess Your Competition."
Although you have identified a "niche" in the market, you may find that other people are working on something similar.
This will help you (depending on the type of business, your competitor's location, pricing, and more) to plan out your competitive business strategy accordingly.
If you're going to leapfrog your competitors, it is very important to learn as much as you can about your competition and industry while staying innovative in your thinking and work processes.
Also, you should search for a good domain name for your business website, and register it before your competitors do.

Third is "Check Your Resources."
You should re-assess all your capital. This includes things like time, skill, and financial resources. Answer questions like:
How many hours a day or week do you and/or your partners have available to invest in the business? What skill sets do you and/or your partners have that are unique to your business?
How much of your desired budget do you have available? Answering these questions will help you better plan your business approach.

Fourth is "Set Goals."

 Setting up realistic goals and clear ways to reach them and measure your results are very important to any business.
You'll want to set up a realistic time-frame to achieve your goals. For example: How long should it take for you to complete a business plan, setup your business website, raise enough money, and generate enough revenue to reach your quarterly goals, etc.?
With solid action plans delegated to team members who clearly understand their tasks and what the company expects from them, your business will have a more efficient work flow and a chance at better results.

Fifth is "Open, Ongoing Communication."
Regularly follow up with your team members to see how they are doing. If you work by yourself, keep a check-list of numbered priorities, and review them often.
This will help you stay updated on your business operation, and it assures your team members that you will follow up with them on what they're working on.
It also holds them accountable for expectations and results. This will also help you stay on track if you work in a different location than your employees do.

Sixth is "Try On Your Competitors' Shoes."
When brainstorming a new marketing strategy, try to place yourself in your competitors' shoes and predict how they might react to it.
This will provide insights to help you better design your business strategy. You'll want to keep checking the pulse of your competition and never underestimate them, no matter how big or successful your business becomes. Personally,
I think your business begins to lose ground the moment you underestimate your competition, or begin to think you know everything about your industry.
 This is a mistake many businesses, big and small, often make. It can lead to dangerous errors like overlooking rapid changes in technologies or market trends.

These are six important tips that will help you, as an entrepreneur, to setup and run your business effectively and intelligently.
In today's fast-changing environment, which is heading more and more toward web-based communication and business e-commerce, entrepreneurs should pay close attention to the new mobile technologies that are coming out and the ways consumers respond to them.

 

Effortless Entrepreneur

Effortless Entrepreneur - Book Review

 By Dr. Steven J. Lynne

By: Nick Friedman & Omar Soliman (2010)
ISBN 978-0-307-58799-2
Book Price: $17.00

Multimillion-dollar franchise

Nick Friedman and Omar Soliman are founders of, "College Hunks Hauling Junk." This company has become a multimillion-dollar franchise and the nation's premier junk removal service.
Nick and Omar have been named among the Top 30 Under 30 Entrepreneurs in America by Inc., and have been profiled in the New York Times.

Entrepreneurial success

Nick and Omar supply readers with 13 chapters leading to entrepreneurial success. They discuss the following topics; the making of an entrepreneur (Ch. 3); creating your business foundation (Ch. 4); building staff and client loyalty (Ch. 7); optimizing your ability to make the sale (Ch. 10); working smarter and playing harder (Ch. 13), etc.

Passionate pursuit of business dreams

Nick Friedman and Omar Soliman relate their journey with passion and energy. This book conveys more than a love for building a business; it also exhibits practical steps along the journey.
Nick and Omar relay, "As we expanded and built systems that allowed our company to function more effectively, we discovered that we could spend less and less time doing the everyday grunt work...
and more time doing the things we really enjoyed... "

The crux of this book shows how anyone can convert a common serviced industry into a wealthy enterprise. The authors state, "... now we're trash men. Of course, by trash men we mean we're Gen Y entrepreneurs in our mid-twenties who understand that trash is cash and transformed a summer gig into a multimillion dollar business."

Nick and Omar use challenging words to arrest readers from inactivity saying, "To succeed as an entrepreneur, be prepared to act on your ideas.
Otherwise, you're just another dreamer who wishes and longs and prays to have a business but never gets further than sneezing... people who turn ideas into reality make the difference... "

Vision motivates! Friedman and Soliman express this key to success through practical examples as they share, "... the more passionate you are about achieving goals, the greater your chance for growth.
Our vision was clear when we started... we didn't blink twice at spending $13,000 to buy our 1-800-Junk-USA phone number... "

Shift into entrepreneurial breakthrough

Nick Friedman and Omar Soliman energize readers to shift into Entrepreneurial breakthrough in business.

Online Business Plan

Online Business Plan - Lesson 1 for Online Business Entrepreneurs

 By Yasmine I Sander

Starting up an online business is very easy to do: all you need is a domain name, hosting, a webdesign or a WordPress blog, an autoresponder and some cash for advertising.

The topic or niche you choose depends on your passion that you would like to share with the world. As soon as you chose your niche for your online business, you need to decide which one of the many available business models - and there are as many models around as Internet & Affiliate Marketers you would like to use.

This initial challenge will keep you busy for quite some time - I even dare to say that your first 6 to 9 months will belong to this first phase of your online business plan. And you have to consider this learning phase in your plan.

The next phase will be to focus on creating good and valuable content. Content is everything you leave on the Internet. It ranges from blog posts to tweets, shares, articles and products.
During your second phase you should endeavor to find your own little spot within your chosen niche. Just imagine that you should develop yourself into the Go-To-Guy (or Girl) for 1 particular question within your topic.

The third phase will actually be already part of running your online business. So your Business Plan for your online adventure is divided into 3 parts:

1. Choose niche and initial set up plus learning the rules of Internet Marketing
2. Create good and valuable content and share it around
3. find your final place within your Niche and establish yourself as the Go-To-Person.

In contrast to Business Plans for brick-and-mortar businesses, the plan for your online business is slightly different. You don't have to define your 5 year strategy, don't define your business processes and all the human-, technical- and product development resources you will need.

You could define all this right from the start but I dare say that this procedure would be a complete overkill for your online business idea and robbed you right away of your motivation that you will need for your first 6 to 9 months.

Instead of writing a 'commonly known' business plan for your online business, choose to focus on planning your marketing campaigns: Return on Investments and Break-Even Calculations are your focal points of interest while running your Online Business.

Planning your Online Journey this way allows you to stay flexible to different ways of doing business online, but creates a stable management tool to secure your financial success.

I personally choose to do it like this with my online business model. I wrote and executed 4 different brick-and-mortar Business Plans for 4 different companies in 4 different markets.
This successful but challenging experience allows me to suggest this path to all Newcomers to the Online World as well as advice Intermediate Internet & Affiliate Marketers to add this workable management tool to their knowledge box.

The 5 Qualities Your Entrepreneurs

The 5 Qualities You Can Easily Emulate in Successful Entrepreneurs

 By Sule Yesufu

Consider this scenario. You are in business like your next-door-neighbor. She is making it while you are not. You notice that she is doing very many things in her business you will like to do but can not.
Have you ever wondered what could be wrong with you and your business? Why even in very hard times, some businesses are making it while others are not?
Well, I have good news for you. Your business can be like others making it if you are able to emulate the qualities these other entrepreneurs possess.
Among all these qualities, in my opinion, the most important and easy to emulate are readily the following 5 qualities.

01. Ability to control and direct your mind.
 If you are unable to control your mind, you can hardly control any other thing. Control starts with the mind. The mind is readily the source of all the marvels and every wonderful man-made thing which exists in the world today.

Our dreams manifest into reality when we put our minds into our desires. People who are able to take control of their minds are usually able to accomplish many things they want the way they want them.
These are people who are not easily deterred by any obstacles which may come their way. They usually have an uncanny ability to believe in themselves.

They also believe in their dreams and are able to strive on diligently till they achieve the dreams. That is largely why they succeed and it can be emulated.

02. Ability to focus on and to use your strength.
 The first capital any entrepreneur draws from is her individual strength which varies from person to person. Entrepreneurs who are leaders in their various fields always follow their strengths.

They know how to work on their strengths by making them even better on daily basis. To be a successful entrepreneur, you must learn how to identify your strength and to build your business around it.
That is largely where you can derive your competitive advantage from and it can be emulated.

03. Ability to set attainable goals.
Many successful entrepreneurs know how to set goals and how to attain such goals. They know how to set clear and attaining goals even with set time frames.
That way, they are always mindful of what they want, when they want it and how they want it. That is why they constantly work in the direction of attaining their set goals.
Without set goals, many people usually drift aimlessly and at the end of the day achieve nothing.

04. Tenacious focus on and relentless pursuit of set goals.
Many successful entrepreneurs are always obsessed about their goals. Once the goals are set, their entire business life starts to revolve around those goals.
Failure is usually not an option for them. The thought of achieving set goals and reaching the desired destination serves as the tonic which spurs them on till the goals are achieved.

They always focus on only one thing and that is to relentlessly pursue their goals until they achieve them. Relentless pursuit of set goals combined with everyday iron-discipline assures success.
All these can be emulated by others who also want to succeed.

05. A knack for continuous learning.
I have heard it said that leaders are learners. No business leader can remain so for any appreciable length of time without active research and learning about the business she is involved in.
It is the ability to stay ahead competitors which makes her a business leader in the first place. People who find themselves in trouble in business or who are not making it as expected are generally those who do not know how to handle difficult situations they must as of necessity come across in their business life.

Many business people run into problems largely because they do not feed their minds with new knowledge continuously. Many do not even try to learn new concepts by exposing themselves to unknown territories of learning. Those who get to make it usually do simple and unique things to gain knowledge.

They know how to follow and emulate role models. They routinely visit trade exhibitions. They read business books and attend as many training programs as convenient for them.
Those who can afford it even have business coaches who guide them and expose them to new trends in their businesses. Many successful business people are great observers who always manage to find ways to implement new ideas in their businesses.
That is largely why they succeed and remain competitive.

These 5 qualities are simple and can easily be emulated by any entrepreneur who wants to succeed like another. The key is to resolve that you want to do it and the rest is easy. You too can if you sincerely resolve that you can. Everything else simply flows from there.

Sule Yesufu, a Certified Speaking Professional, has been a Strategic Partner in S D Y Management Consult, a firm of Investment, Small Business and Entrepreneurial Consultants since 1999.
He is a Published Author and a Newspaper Columnist. An expert in Small Business and Personal

Development, he focuses on communicating his ideas and thoughts mostly through his Training Seminars and popular free blog.
He offers useful tips on Self-Improvement, Personal Finance, Entrepreneurship, Current News, Politics and Business in Nigeria, the most populous and vibrant country in Africa.