Category: Starting Up

BusinessWeek: You’ve worked hard, you’ve invested well, and now you have the financial means to exit early. While others might be perplexed by the unscheduled blocks of time in retirement, you know exactly what you want to do. For years you squeezed it into the spare hours of your workweek or daydreamed about it at your desk. Now you’d like to turn that hobby or passion into your life’s work.
What can go wrong? Just about anything that hampers a startup. Launching a business is never easy: Around half close within four years, according to the Small Business Administration. But it can be especially difficult for early retirees who allow emotions to trump smart decision-making.
Unlike younger entrepreneurs, retirees don’t have a long time to recover from a failed business. A money-losing enterprise can eat up savings, force you into debt, and even send you back into the workforce. But intelligent planning can make all the difference between success and stress.
Here are stories of three people who looked at the numbers, planned their exits, and made the transition with ease. Look at THE WINEMAKER, THE BONSAI GROWER, THE BOOKSELLER, THE NOVELIST.
And Now For That Dream Job [BusinessWeek]

Businessweek: Your public launch of a product or service should be designed to raise the profile of your company. Think of it as a marketing event—a kickoff party of sorts. What you need for a launch is a compelling product or service, plus a handful of early customers providing gushing testimonials.
Don’t spend money on a flashy launch party when you have no accomplishments to show off. Spend your marketing budget on making the press and blogging community aware of your product and the companies that are using it, as well as the problems your product is solving and the specific benefits that have resulted from its use.
You should prepare for your launch by answering the following four questions. Which companies are using your product/service? What specific problems are being solved? What associated “pain” is your product/service removing? What have the tangible and quantifiable benefits been to your clients?
Preparing for a Successful Launch [Businessweek]

StartupNation: Competition is as inevitable in business as death and taxes are in human existence. Even if your startup business has stolen a march on the rest of the world with your product, service, execution, distribution or customer service, somebody else will inevitably try to chase you down and beat you at your own game.
Most entrepreneurs become concerned about competition early on and never quite shake their fears. In fact, besides tax issues and the matter of health care coverage for their employees, a recent survey reveals competition is the biggest concern of small business owners. And most of them are far more worried about the guy down the street than they are about being stomped by some Fortune 500 corporation.
But there’s one fail-safe way to avoid a preoccupation with your rivals – and that is to focus always on making your startup business the best that it can be. Whether your edge on the competition lies mainly in unique product selection, supreme customer service or cutting-edge marketing, you’ve got to maintain or increase that lead – and then look around for some other way to best your competitors as well.
5 Startup Tips for Beating your Business Competitors [StartupNation]