Category: Entrepreneurs

As the recession continues to loom and as unemployment rises, we have seen an increased interest in executives wanting to start their own businesses. They want to transition from executive to entrepreneur.
You may be interested in becoming an entrepreneur because you lost your job, or because you have a great idea, or because you cannot find a job you are interested in.
Regardless of the reason, however, you will find there is more information available today concerning starting a business than the average human being can consume in a lifetime. Standard advice includes:
o Prepare a solid business plan
o Have cash for at least six months
o Work with a good accountant and attorney
o Understand your market
o Know your competition
o Have a marketable product or service
This is good advice indeed. But in our experience, business startup success or failure involves more than adhering to these maxims. Here are the things you need to pay attention to in order to avoid sabotaging your business success.
10 Mistakes That Will Hurt Your Chances of Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur Mistake #1: Letting fear immobilize you. We believe the number 1 issue that affects the success of a new business is fear of failure, fear of success, fear of criticism, fear of feeling unappreciated and fear of thinking no one will like your product, your service or you. Understand that fear can immobilize you. Learn to recognize it and deal with it.
Entrepreneur Mistake #2: Failure to develop real relationships. Nothing happens until a relationship is formed. No meeting, no sales opportunity, no business. Take the time to build a relationship, and then you are ready to sell.
Entrepreneur Mistake #3: Failure to respond quickly. The quicker you respond, the more responsive you appear. E-mails not returned in days, voice messages ignored, and proposals or sales agreements delayed show that you don’t care about your prospect’s business. Forget the absurd advice that a quick response makes you look eager or desperate for the business. It makes you look – responsive.
Entrepreneur Mistake #4: Becoming a pusher. Nobody likes a pusher. So when your buyer says “yes” – stop selling. And don’t up-sell, which is getting the buyer to buy more than they need. It’s great for short-term profits and terrible for a long-term relationship.
Entrepreneur Mistake #5: Quitting at no. Nobody likes rejection, but sometimes we see it when it’s not there. No is often an initial response to someone the buyer doesn’t know, not a conclusion. Or, it can come from a gatekeeper whose job it is to say no.
Entrepreneur Mistake #6: Getting stuck in perfection. There is no such thing as the perfect proposal, the perfect letter and the perfect response. Good is often good enough unless you are dealing with life and death situations, which most of us are not. The extra 20 percent you put into your product, service, response is neither recognized nor appreciated by the recipient. But the fact that it took you too long to respond is recognized and not in a good way.
Entrepreneur Mistake #7: Wearing your personal beliefs on your sleeve. No one cares about your opinions when you are in a sales situation. Your political, social, sports beliefs should stay with you.
Entrepreneur Mistake #8: Lack of focus. When you are not focused on your employees, clients and prospects it looks like you are not interested or that you are overwhelmed. When there is a lack of focus in your organization, it looks like a version of the fad of the month which quickly blows morale as staff struggles to juggle changing priorities and new initiatives.
Entrepreneur Mistake #9: No executive presence. Executive presence is not about just looking the part. Executive presence is about being the part. It’s about managing your image thoughtfully and not artificially. Like it or not, tired, overweight, out of shape and sloppy people who aren’t aware of current events and haven’t read a book since high school or college present a very different image than people who take care of themselves and are intellectually curious.
Entrepreneur Mistake #10: Not showing gratitude. Becoming a success in your business never happens by yourself. Along the way there are people who share their advice, help you through the tough times, perhaps give you an introduction. Don’t forget them when you become successful. Gratitude has a return.
These are very difficult economic times. Starting a new business can be exhilarating and very rewarding – personally and professionally. Yes you need a solid business plan, financing and a marketable product or service with a strong and compelling value proposition. But you need more. And, you need to start eliminating sabotaging behaviors that will kill your transition from executive to entrepreneur right now.
About the Author:
Management Consultants and Business Performance Improvement Specialists Tony Kubica and Sara Laforest have 50+ years of combined experience in helping budding entrepreneurs accelerate their business growth in record times. Now, they unveil the common, subtle and self-destructive actions that will hurt your business performance. Get their free special report: “Self-Sabotage in Business” now: http://www.kubicalaforestconsulting.com/resources.php

Article Contributed by Cody “the Retire Before 25 Guy” Miller
If you’re like most young entrepreneurs, if you’re like me, you’ve chased some people around before. You like what you have to offer and you believe in working for yourself, so naturally you want others, especially family and friends to feel the same way.
Well, stop.
Amateurs “sell”, Pros “sort”. Amateurs try and convince people of why they ought to purchase their products, invest in their company or start up with them, while professionals walk right by.
Why do pros sort? Sorting is much easier than selling. I don’t have to convince anyone of anything. I simply share the information with them if they’re “open for more information”. Practice that phrase, “Are you open for more information?” If they are, give them some, not too much but just enough to satisfy them. If they aren’t interested, Rejoice! You’re one person closer to someone who is interested. Move on and stop bugging the same people time and time again.
Some of you know exactly what I’m talking about, you’ve stalked people around like Godzilla, you’re the person they pretend not to be home for! Knock it off! Most of the people you’re trying to convince to do something wouldn’t be any good as an entrepreneur (or they wouldn’t enjoy your product) anyway. So leave them alone and start looking for people who are interested.
The reality is, out there, somewhere, there is someone who is looking for exactly what you have to offer. Your job is to find them and give them more information. That is, if they are open for more information.
Marketing is a numbers game. Expose as many people as possible to your business and sooner or later someone will be interested – it’s the law of averages and it works, every time. It’s all a matter of “sooner or later”. Just keep going, keep working, keep promoting and keep believing.
Everyone has a number. This is not a magic number but a very practical number. You see, everyone has an exact number of people that they need to talk to in order to reach their income goals. For you it may be 1,000 people, for some it may be 1,000,000. It all depends on how big you dream and… chance. Yep, dumb luck. No one knows what their number is until after the fact. So keep count and let me know what your number is once you’ve achieved your dreams.
About the Author
Cody blogs at RetireBefore25.com, a site that provides tips, resources and ideas for aspiring young entrepreneurs. Cody may also be reached at:cody@retirebefore25.com

Article Contributed by Michele DeKinder-Smith
Over the past 20 years, the number of businesses owned by women has grown by more than 42%. In fact, in 2008, women-owned firms accounted for more than 1.9 trillion dollars in sales.
But while more and more women are eager to become small business owners, they’re also still facing more challenges than men. Businesses owned by women are nearly 50% less likely to reach the million dollar mark—and often produce less return on investment for hours worked.
A new study by Michele DeKinder-Smith, market research professional and founder of the website www.janeoutofthebox.com, has recently released a study that reveals five different types of female entrepreneurs. Each personality type has a different approach to business, along with different strengths and challenges.
Success can be defined in many ways and it’s clear that each of the five types have their own definition of success. Taken overall, if we consider business revenue and personal satisfaction with work/life balance, one might say that the type that is most conventionally successful is the type known as “Jane Dough”.
Why should we pay attention to Jane Dough? Comprising 18% of all female entrepreneurs, she’s five times as likely to hit the million dollar mark as the average female entrepreneur. She’s also one of the groups most satisfied with her work/life balance. So, if growing a large business while working reasonable hours is important to a business owner, she can learn from Jane Dough’s characteristics, behaviors and decisions.
Here are some of the traits that tend to make Jane Dough so successful.
1) Focus on growth
Running a business is filled with a ton of minor details, every day of every year. But Jane Dough has learned how to personally stay focused on the big picture: growing her business. This means getting past the details, the billable hours and the overdue invoices—and paying attention to the process of getting (and handling!) more business, in less time.
2) Building teams and systems
Jane Dough knows there’s only so much a woman can do by herself. Because business growth is an important goal, she’s learned how to build a team and delegate responsibility. This means using systems that create leverage and prevent her from falling victim to the ‘dollars for hours’ trap.
3) Prioritization
Along with a focus on growth and systems, Jane Dough tends to prioritize those activities that will make her the most amount of money with the least amount of personal time expended.
4) Looking ahead
How does Jane Dough stay so focused on exactly what she needs to do to grow a successful business? Well, many of these women started their companies with a big vision and/or they are intentionally building a business they can later sell or pass on to their children. These big, longer-term priorities help her stay consistently focused on the big picture.
5) Putting in the hours—but leaving work at work
Jane Dough is the type of entrepreneur who’s willing to put in the hours it takes to make her business successful. However, unlike some other types of female entrepreneurs, for whom business can be intensely personal, Jane Dough understands that work is work and that tomorrow is another day. Because she’s supported herself with systems that give her the flexibility to problem-solve when she needs to, she feels confident that she can and will be able to manage things during the hours she has designated for work. Yes, she might check her email in the evening after she’s home, but she’s not going to consistently find herself spending her personal time as a slave to demanding customers. Her ability to mentally keep work and personal life reasonably separated and her perspective and confidence that she can solve any problems tomorrow contributes to her higher-than-average work/life balance.
6) Confidence in marketing and selling
While many women in business express concerns about their ability to successfully market their business for profitability, Jane Dough is highly confident in selling both herself and her business. This confidence (which can be learned!) is a major factor in her financial success.
7) Perspective
When the going gets tough, Jane Dough stays focused, and doesn’t let doubt creep in. She tends to view challenges and setbacks objectively rather than personally, and keeps focused on her big picture goals. Jane Dough loves her business and she keeps it in perspective, as well.
About the Author:
Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane out of the Box, an online resource dedicated to the women entrepreneur community. Discover more incredibly useful information for running a small business by taking the FREE Jane Types Assessment at Jane out of the Box. Offering networking and marketing opportunities, key resources and mentorship from successful women in business, Jane Out of the Box is online at www.janeoutofthebox.com.

Article Contributed by Michele DeKinder-Smith
Launching a product can mean lots of things to a business. It can mean branching out and snagging a new buyer in a different market. It can also mean creating residual income for a service-based business. And it may be just the thing needed to turn a struggling business into a cash cow. This article examines things three of the five specific types of female entrepreneurs (also known as “Janes”) should keep in mind as they plan for (and launch) new products.
Go Jane Go
She is passionate about her work, and has no problem marketing and selling herself, so she has plenty of clients—but she’s struggling to keep up with demand. She may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she’s eager to make an impact on the world and may really struggle saying “no”. Because she wants to “say yes” to so many opportunities, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week. During the worst of times, Go Jane Go may tend to run herself ragged or feel guilty about all the things on her “to do list” that aren’t getting done quickly enough to satisfy her exacting demands.
If you’re the Go Jane Go type, you should think long and hard before deciding to develop a new product or service right now. Yes, you may have come up with something truly innovative that will help the market you serve. But remember that not everything needs to be done at once. Sometimes, when you have a great idea, you don’t need to say “no” – but you DO need to say “not right now”.
Create a special file for yourself to house all your fantastic ideas. Before allowing yourself to put another item on the “active projects” list, first require of yourself the discipline to make room for it! This is especially important if you are feeling like your plate is too full already.
When you truly feel ready to commit to the new product or service launch, several things can make it easier for you to experience success without frustration:
1. Find something you are doing now that you can remove from your list or delegate to someone else. This will give you time to work on the new project. Alternatively, hire someone (even part-time, virtually) to design and implement the new product for you, under your direction.
2. Estimate how many hours of your personal time the new project will take. Then triple your estimate. (As a Go Jane Go, you’re excellent at what you do–but you may not realize just how much effort you’re putting into tasks. To preserve your sanity, you need to give yourself plenty of cushion for the inevitable unexpected events.)
3. Don’t just put it on your list–actually put each step on your calendar. This way, you are assured of reasonable timelines, rather than falling behind and feeling like you have to do a major crunch at the end.
Merry Jane
This entrepreneur is usually building a part-time or “flexible time” business that gives her a creative outlet (whether she’s an ad agency consultant or an artist) that she can manage within specific constraints around her schedule. She may have a day job, or need to be fully present for family or other pursuits. She realizes she could make more money by working longer hours, but she’s happy with the tradeoff she has made because her business gives her tremendous freedom to work how and when she wants, around her other commitments.
As a Merry Jane, when you come up with a new product or service idea that you are considering launching for your business, you want to make sure it really makes the most of your time. Before you begin, make sure you put in a step to research your market’s interest in the product first. A simple way to do this is to reach out to some of your current customers today to find out if they are interested in the overall business idea. Using your blog, you can ask provocative questions about the topic and see if it generates response. You can also send out a quick survey or even call some of your most trusted customers on the phone. Choose the method based on the size and type of customers you have.
By putting this step in place, you can feel confident the new idea is worth the investment of your time to develop. And, by reaching out to your customers first, you will likely gather information that will help you refine and strengthen the idea even further, ensuring yourself a successful launch.
Accidental Jane
She is a successful, confident business owner who never actually set out to start a business. Instead, she may have decided to start a business due to frustration with her job or a layoff and decided to use her business and personal contacts to strike out on her own. Or, she may have created something that served her own unmet needs and later found other customers with the same need, giving birth to a business. Accidental Jane enjoys what she does and is creating a satisfactory level of income.
If you’re an Accidental Jane, you love where your business is right now, so you may feel uncertain about whether to launch your new product idea or not. The key to making this decision lies in visualizing the various scenarios that could play out if you did decide to launch it. By creating a “pros and cons” list for each of the scenarios, you can determine which path is most likely to create results you desire. Below are some probing questions to ask yourself about your new product idea before taking the additional steps to create it:
* Will doing this be something I really enjoy? Will it give me “job satisfaction”?
* How much time will it take to create this new product the right way? Am I willing to add that many more hours to my plate? Are there things I can give up to make room for it, without diminishing my income or happiness?
* What if this new product really takes off? If there’s more demand that I can serve right now, what will I do? Will I feel comfortable hiring people to help me? Will I feel comfortable letting go of other work I’m doing today to make room for it? If it really took off, how would it change the financials of my business and how I spend my time?
* If this new product doesn’t work out, how will I feel? Will I be willing to invest additional time required to fix it or market it to make sure it works? Will I feel like a failure or do I see this as an important opportunity for personal growth, even if it fails?
Since Accidental Jane is generally happy with the way things are right now, using these questions as filters to determine whether or not to launch a new product will help her make sure she doesn’t “accidentally” create results that take away some of her joy or income.
Even though all three Janes– Go Jane Go, Merry Jane and Accidental Jane– have distinct ways of doing business, each can benefit from the launch of successful new products and services. The key to doing so lies in appreciating herself and her own business needs, and pursuing new opportunities in a way that will really serve the life she wants to live.
About the Author:
Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane out of the Box, an online resource dedicated to the women entrepreneur community. Discover more incredibly useful information for running a small business by taking the FREE Jane Types Assessment at Jane out of the Box. Offering networking and marketing opportunities, key resources and mentorship from successful women in business, Jane Out of the Box is online at www.janeoutofthebox.com.

No matter how a female entrepreneur runs her business, it’s possible that at some point, the relationship between her and a client will come to an end. Although most successful women will agree that they want to end things amicably, severing the working relationship may be tougher for some than for others.
A new study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on women entrepreneurs, recently revealed there are five distinct types of women in business. Each of these five types has a unique approach to running a business—and as a consequence, each of them has a unique combination of characteristics that impact how she reacts to different situations. This article profiles three of the Jane “types” and the different ways they may handle firing a client – which can be difficult on many levels.
Jane Dough is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business and makes good money. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, which may be why she’s five times more likely than the average female business owner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and may be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is estimated that 18% of women fall in the category of Jane Dough.
For Jane Dough, business is business. If a relationship isn’t working out, Jane Dough will end it – quickly and painlessly (for her). Because she is so clear in her priorities, if the results of a particular relationship aren’t lining up the way she wants them to, she’ll cut it off.
If you’re a Jane Dough, firing a “difficult” client won’t be personal. You won’t be upset about it, because you’d only fire a client if it wasn’t benefiting your business. You might even see the potential for staying friends with the client afterwards, because you’re very good at separating your business and personal lives.
Before you cut the cord, though, Jane Dough, make sure you really think about why the relationship isn’t working out. Perhaps the problem isn’t the client – there could be a flaw (big or small) in your system that makes it difficult for your business to serve him or her. Or perhaps you’ve been moving too fast to give this client the proper amount of attention and his or her need for higher levels of service is the problem. In this case, instead of firing the client, you might have an opportunity to upsell the client into a higher tier of service! You’re great at trusting the system you’ve created and the team you’ve put together. But when you’ve got a difficult client, and particularly if you have several, it’s worthwhile to take a closer look at what might be your company’s contribution to the dysfunction. After doing so, if you decide that, in fact, the problem is only on the client’s side of the equation, challenge yourself to be kind when you deliver the news. Not everyone is as direct as you are – and delivering bad news with grace can potentially turn a difficult situation into a positive experience of mutual understanding. Done well, “firing a client” can actually increase the client’s respect for you and your company.
Accidental Jane is a successful, confident business owner who never actually set out to start a business. Instead, she may have decided to start a business due to frustration with her job or a layoff and decided to use her business and personal contacts to strike out on her own. Or, she may have started making something that served her own unmet needs and found other customers with the same need, giving birth to a business. Accidental Jane enjoys what she does and is creating a satisfactory level of income.
As an Accidental Jane, you want to be in control of your own destiny, right? You are also a big believer in the importance of relationships in business. When you have a difficult client, you will take the time to think about the situation from multiple angles, considering whether the situation can be repaired, how it might be fixed, and the effort it will require to do so.
When the scenario is simply a poor fit or when the client is abusive, you will have no difficulty setting boundaries with them, establishing consequences, and ultimately parting ways. But when the client is a longer-term relationship that was successful in the past, letting the client go may be more difficult for you. This may happen in Accidental Jane’s relationships when demands for her services increase and she no longer has as much time available to serve a long-standing customer. Similarly, she may, out of loyalty, be offering better pricing to those who “gave her a chance” when she started. As her business increases and she raises her rates, she may find this good relationship no longer lucrative.
When this happens, be willing to have a candid conversation with your customer about what your business needs. When you outline what you need in order for the relationship to be a win/win, your client has the option to choose to meet your needs or not. If they are unable to do so, it is easier to part on amicable terms because they get to be a party to the decision.
Tenacity Jane is an entrepreneur with an undeniable passion for her business, but who tends to be struggling with cash flow. As a result, she’s working longer hours, and making less money than she’d like. Nevertheless, Tenacity Jane is determined to make her business a success. At 31% of women business owners, Tenacity Janes are the largest single Jane type.
As her name implies, Tenacity Jane doesn’t want to give up. She may postpone firing a difficult client. She may worry about letting go of the revenue the customer represents and be concerned about whether or not she’ll be able to replace that client. She may try a variety of different tactics to improve the situation, possibly overestimating her own contribution and blaming herself or having self-doubt. As a result, Tenacity Jane may attempt a several strategies to improve the situation, bending over backward – and some difficult clients will actually take advantage of that fact and abuse her sincere desire to provide a valuable product or service.
If you’re a Tenacity Jane it’s important to realize that difficult clients are not your fault! You should honestly assess the situation and then be willing to let go and move on. Many of the Tenacity Janes we’ve interviewed say that having the courage to fire a difficult client was a true turning point in their business and enabled them to move into a much more financially successful phase of their business.
No business owner wants to fire a client. It’s difficult to accept that something just isn’t working out. But sometimes all you can do is to get out, and it proves to be best for both parties involved. Whether you’re a Jane Dough, an Accidental Jane or a Tenacity Jane, when it’s time to cut and run, you can do it. And you’ll be better off for it.
About the Author:
Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane out of the Box, an online resource dedicated to the women entrepreneur community. Discover more incredibly useful information for running a small business by taking the FREE Jane Types Assessment at Jane out of the Box. Offering networking and marketing opportunities, key resources and mentorship from successful women in business, Jane Out of the Box is online at www.janeoutofthebox.com