Jumpstart Your Business

Whether you’re a male or female entrepreneur looking for a partner for your startup, here are the 5 top reasons to ignore this potential female partner like the plague:

Many entrepreneurs feel that they can run their business by “flying by the seat of their pants”, so to speak. While that can be done and is exciting, almost 90% of startups never see a second year, and many small businesses tend to run sluggishly all because their owners never invested in a business plan. Well here are 7 good reasons why you should:

1. Help you figure out clearly where your business is headed and what critical steps you need to take.

Every small business, whether established for a while or just starting up, should have a small business network. This should be at a minimum an informal group of friends or acquaintances who are there to provide both moral and subject matter support or the group can be more formal in the shape of an Advisory Board to give you advice and counsel whether for a fee or better yet pro bono.

1. The Business Idea.
Write it down, for only then it becomes real. Be able to
articulate it in less than twenty-five seconds or as long as
a short ride on an elevator. This is called the elevator
speech and makes you think long and hard about what it is you’re trying to do.

We’ve just completed a study of business planning in small businesses and found that both failing and successful businesses had invested in business planning to similar degrees. The difference is that successful businesses measured their progress against what they had planned and took corrective action while failing businesses tended to ignore the plan.

Invite over about ten of your best friends for a wine tasting party at your house early in the evening and make sure you have a designated driver or two. After everyone has had a glass or two, and start to loosen up tell them you are looking for a name for your product or business.

I always tell my clients that the reason for a business plan is not to go looking for financing. You develop the business plan for you. So that you can peel back the onion and really convince yourself that you understand every aspect of what you are setting out to do.

A lease is an agreement by which the owner of a property (the “lessor”) grants the right of possession to a tenant (the “lessee”) for a specific period of time (the “term”) for a predetermined amount of money (the “rent”). A “leasehold estate” is the space occupied by the tenant.

Common types of leases include:

I saw this on the Digg Blog and had to pass it on to those of you who are having a bad-hair day. So you’re feeling like a loser? Ok, well here is a 10 step guide on how to become the ultimate loser:

1. Learn that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already.
2. Never rush into a job or opportunity without a lifetime of consideration.

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1. Curiosity to seek and explore new ideas.

2. Courage to confront fear and uncertainty, to face the physical hardship the business may be subjected to and the moral courage in the face of shame and scandal. Also the courage to be curious.