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The entrepreneurial lure — should you bite?

01.12.12 Posted from CBS MoneyWatch

Entrepreneurship is all the rage these days. What with the breakout success of social media, the coming of age of Gen Y, and corporate America not hiring, it’s not surprising that the question of whether to start your own company or join someone else’s startup is a hot topic.

What is surprising are all the popular myths, obvious platitudes, and downright bad advice from people who have no idea what they’re talking about because they’ve never walked the talk in the real world. So let me shed a little light on the subject. Read more from CBS MoneyWatch

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Are You Blinded by the Conventional Wisdom?

11.03.11 Posted from BNET

How did Google manage, for several years, to ignore the rise of social networking? How did Microsoft miss the Internet? And why did it take so long for beverage companies to appreciate that consumers would pay real money for bottled water?

In none of these cases can you blame these big blunders on stupid employees. Nor does the ‘rotten apple’ theory of corporate blame work here either; simply too many people colluded in the same error to hold any one or two of them to account. Read more from BNET

How To

If You’re Struggling to Get Ahead, Try This

10.20.11 Posted from BNET

Whether you own a business or work for someone else, differentiation is tough. Local and global competition, coworkers, others in a similar industry… it’s really easy to get lost in the crowd.

Here’s a simple way out of the “similar” rut: Pick an always. An always isn’t based on style; an always is something you will do, without fail, no matter what.

In time you will be known by your always — and you’ll start to stand out. Read more from BNET

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Success? It’s Just a Decision Away

10.13.11 Posted from BNET

True story: I’m eating dinner with two old friends. (It’s a downer when you realize “old friends” doesn’t just indicate length of relationship but our respective ages.)

One says, “I hate being fat. I’ve tried everything but can’t lose weight. What do you think?”

“I don’t think you want to lose weight,” I said. (I know, kind of blunt. Normally I would deflect and evade, but I know he wants to hear what I really think.) Read more from BNET

How To

It’s Time for a Redesign: 6 Tips to Fix a Cluttered Website

10.10.11 Posted from BNET

When you first built your company website you had a primary goal in mind. Maybe you hoped to better market your business. Maybe you hoped to enhance your professional credibility and standing in your industry. Maybe you just wanted a website because everyone else had one and you didn’t want to get left behind.

Regardless of the type of business you run, you built a website because you hoped it would help you sell stuff: products, services, or even just yourself. Clean, simple, to the point.

Then, over time, like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man your website took on a life of its own. Read more from BNET

Startups

Trying To Sell An Idea? Advice from Ricky Gervais

09.23.11 Posted from BNET

Leave it to comedian Ricky Gervais to put things into perspective in an essay for the Wall Street Journal.

“If I’d sent off the script [for The Office], it would still be in an executive’s drawer. ‘Bloke who’s never written, directed or acted before plays a bloke who thinks he’s funny but isn’t, makes bad jokes, touches his tie and looks at the camera.’ Doesn’t exactly jump off the page, does it?”

No matter. What Gervais did next is relevant to anyone, especially in middle management, who is trying to sell an idea “upstairs.” Gervais shot the pilot himself with a group of friends to illustrate his concept. It sold and in time it spawned an even more successfulU.S. version starring Steve Carrell. Gervais himself is now a mega-star as an actor, writer, director and producer.

Read more from BNET

Startups

Create Your Own Personal Board of Directors

09.06.11 Posted from BNET

The most successful executives I know all have a group of trusted advisors.

This kind of board is more than a network. It is a small core of people who care about your success–both personal and professional.

This is how Holly Goodwin, a high tech project manager, described hers to me:

“The people on your Personal Board of Directors are not only useful for helping you move up, they are also helpful in correcting you when you need a sanity check. EVERYONE should have a PBOD. People from your work, faith/spiritual life, personal relationships, family etc. Those people whose judgment you value and whose opinions matter to you are the people who should be on your PBOD. If you don’t have a network like this, GET ONE. You will go nuts without it.”

Read more from BNET

Startups

Why Innovation Is Really a Four Letter Word

08.15.11 Posted from BNET

“Innovation” is a scary word when it’s aimed in your direction.  Say you’re looking for ways to improve your business; you know you need to be innovative, but then you immediately flash on an image of Steve Jobs and freeze. The word innovation tends to set a really high mental bar.

But the bar isn’t really that high. Finding new ways to improve your business is relatively easy. Don’t think about being innovative.  Think about something else instead: Read more from BNET

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Tom Szaky of TerraCycle: Know When to Stick to Your Guns

07.11.11 posted from BNET

Tom Szaky, 29, is the founder and CEO of TerraCycle, Inc. After getting its start in 2001 with organic fertilizers made from worm castings, TerraCycle has become one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world, with $13.5 million in revenue last year and $20 million projected this year.

“If I could boil down all I know into one piece of advice it would be to always stick to your guns – but be flexible. Contradictory? Perhaps. Effective? Definitely. Allow me to explain. Read more from Tom Szaky

How To

Top 10 Success Factors for Entrepreneurs

05.04.11 posted from BNET

Naveen Jain, CEO of Intelius discovered that entrepreneurial success usually comes through great execution, simply by doing a superior job of doing the blocking and tackling. But what else does it take to succeed as an entrepreneur and how should an entrepreneur define success? Here’s what Naveen came up with…

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