Lessons I Learned Today 6/11/09 – Leverage; Ben Franklin to Breast Milk

This is a digest and recap of highlights, quotes, and comments from articles and discussions posted on this date on the Applied Entrepreneurship, LinkedIn group site.

 

*Why Benjamin Franklin Was a Better Entrepreneur Than You by Matt D Walker

“As Benjamin Franklin said: Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

This quote could probably be interpreted in many different ways, but the one way that I see most fit for this article is going to be with entrepreneurship versus being an employee.”

“The difference between employees and entrepreneurs is staggering. Everything from money management, shopping trends, to problem resolution and beyond. What really makes the difference between an employee and an entrepreneur is simple. It simply boils down to time management, and entrepreneurs know that in order to get something better than what they have, something else must be given. For some, it’s money, for others, it’s time. This is definitely the determining factor.”

“Many entrepreneurs start a traditional business and end up creating a job for themselves.”

“Leverage is essential to any business, and with leverage, you can gain time freedom and still earn income needed to support time freedom and retirement. One of the best business models for leverage is network marketing.”

 

*It Takes a Village to Run a Successful Business – Don’t Go it Alone by Lisa Montanaro

“Imagine a group of people that are available to bounce business ideas off of, to help you make pivotal business decisions, and to serve as a sounding board. Major corporations have a Board of Directors. Non-profits have a Board of Trustees. Why can’t the solopreneur or small business owner too? You can! How? By developing a Board of Advisors for your business.”

“Be careful not to include anyone on your Board of Advisors that pushes your buttons, saps your energy, or is competitive. In addition, try not to surround yourself only with “yes” men and women who nod approvingly at everything you do, and never challenge you or hold you accountable. You want members that challenge you to stretch your entrepreneurial muscles.”

“Do not confuse your Board of Advisors with your official team of advisors. Your team of advisors is usually made up of people that you retain to assist you with certain aspects of your business operations, such as a lawyer, accountant, graphic designer, webmaster, etc. These are paid professionals that you hire to provide services to your company, as opposed to an individual that is voluntarily providing assistance to you and your business.”

“A Board of Advisors can push you when you need a nudge, lift you up when you lose focus or faith, and help to keep you on track.”

 

*Overcoming the Fundamental Obstacle to Entrepreneurship by John Vespasian

“Starting anything new entails risks and demands dedication. Irrespective of the technical difficulties of your chosen endeavour, nothing can be compared to the level of commitment required to get a new business off the ground. The sheer number of different tasks that entrepreneurs must perform, from product development to marketing, is overwhelming.”

“On the other hand, entrepreneurship possesses three characteristics that render it uniquely inviting and reassuring. No other human activity offers these advantages to its practitioners. It is regrettable that many men and women graduate from their studies without knowledge of these facts:”

1.- UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES:

2.- UNLIMITED SCOPE

3.- UNLIMITED LEARNING

“The fear of being unable to achieve enough sales is what blocks 99% of those who entertain the idea of becoming entrepreneurs. Other obstacles pale in comparison to this one. If you succeed in getting over this initial hurdle, chances are that your business will be able to face whatever problems might come your way.”

“Start small, try different things, see what works and what doesn’t. Learn from mistakes, don’t be discouraged, and ignore malevolent criticism. Take limited risks, follow market signals, be persistent, and you will eventually get it right.”

 

*Why 99% of Entrepreneurs Fail: Because they don’t do anything by Jessica Mah

“Many of you have had the pride and joy of thinking that you know the next billion dollar idea. For scholars, a similar feeling is found when you come to a philosophical epiphany. The high is so great, that it’s difficult to get your mind onto anything else.”

“There are three types of amateur entrepreneurs out there, and in my young life, I’ve been every single one of them. By coming to terms with my failures, I’m more prepared to classify which type of amateur entrepreneur I am, and thus preventing myself from failing in the same way again.”

Type 1 Amateur Entrepreneur: All ideas, no implementation.

• Type 2 Amateur Entrepreneur: Lots of ideas and half assed implementations.
• Type 3 Amateur Entrepreneur: Lots of ideas, lots of implementations, and absolutely no focus.

“Everyone is “working” on a project, but 99% of self-proclaimed entrepreneurs fit into one of the three profiles above. If you’ve thought of the next billion dollar idea, please refrain yourself from being an amateur entrepreneur. If you find yourself as being an amateur entrepreneur, it’s not too late to change. Pick one idea that you’re passionate about, and whole-heartedley follow through with your implementation.”

 

*Fair Trade importer Alter Eco cultivates growth by Lindsay Riddell

“Alter Eco Americas is bringing Fair Trade and organic goods from across the world to U.S. grocery stores while trying to make a dent in global poverty. The startup has more than quadrupled its revenue over three years to $1.5 million in 2008 by landing distribution for products such as quinoa and jasmine rice in major grocery chains. One grocer that carries its products is Whole Foods, which has increased its Fair Trade offerings to more than 1,000 products in the last two years, including Alter Eco’s organic extra virgin olive oil from Palestine.”

“Alter Eco imports 150 products, including coffee from Peru, Ethiopia and Mexico, cocoa from Ghana and Bolivia, unrefined sugar from the Philippines, rice from Thailand and other foods under its brand. Alter Eco Americas has introduced 26 of those to the United States. Most products carry the Fair Trade label, which certifies that companies pay their workers fair wages and provide decent working conditions, among other things.”

“Alter Eco Americas also offsets the carbon emissions for the life cycle of the products. Paying fair wages, offsetting the carbon emissions and requiring products to meet organic standards squeezes margins.”

“In the U.S., we’re competing against brands that don’t have the same standards,” said Senard. “We have to be competitively priced even though we pay our farmers more.”

 

*CD buys aimed at helping businesses by Renee McGaw

“I was thinking, well, people aren’t really thinking about Arapahoe County,” said Milliken, the county’s treasurer. “Crisis is always an opportunity and I thought this is a good time to bring something home to the county.”

“So he came up with his own local stimulus program. Arapahoe County has bought $5 million in one-year certificates of deposit (CDs) from three locally owned banks — Colorado Business Bank, Citywide Banks, and Guaranty Bank and Trust Co. The banks have agreed to use the cash to make loans to Arapahoe County businesses.”

 

*Branding is just not for Coca-Cola or McDonald’s anymore by Steve Beseke

“Personal branding is your 21st century key to promoting yourself in the workplace. Today, branding isn’t just for companies, Hollywood celebrities, or highly-paid athletes. People in all walks of life are starting to use personal or self branding to get ahead in the game of life.”

“The single factor that often explains the difference between a professional who is competent and doing okay and one who earns a significant income and generates lots of business is self branding.”

“Self branding is a strong personal identity based on a clear perception about what you stand for, what sets you apart from others, and the added value you bring to a job or situation.”

“Your self brand is the sum total of other people’s feelings about your attributes and capabilities, how you perform, even their perceptions about what you are worth.”

“It is important to set personal brand goals with a specific time frame and plan of action for achieving the goals. So just like a marketer would, you write down personal marketing activities to achieve your goals. And, of course, you execute the marketing plan. You can’t get to where you want to go unless you plan it and then do it.”

 

*Winds of change for baby business by Jane Meyer Brahm

“A childbirth educator, certified labor doula, mother of five and new grandmother, Wallace started Gracewinds in 2002 when she saw that expectant couples and new parents had to look all over town for services.”

“It was crazy,” she said. “I thought, why not put them all together?”

“She started with five contract practitioners operating out of a former tavern. She and her husband, Jeff Carson, self-financed the business with a few thousand dollars. Jeff did carpentry and remodeling in exchange for a few months’ rent on the building. Christine made use of her art background by painting murals.”

“A childbirth educator, certified labor doula, mother of five and new grandmother, Wallace started Gracewinds in 2002 when she saw that expectant couples and new parents had to look all over town for services.”

“It was crazy,” she said. “I thought, why not put them all together?”

“She started with five contract practitioners operating out of a former tavern. She and her husband, Jeff Carson, self-financed the business with a few thousand dollars. Jeff did carpentry and remodeling in exchange for a few months’ rent on the building. Christine made use of her art background by painting murals.”

“Her big dreams are still evolving. She’s working on a new-fathers program that will become the first of its type certified by the national Childbirth and Postpartum Professionals Association. She started her own publishing company, Braxton-Hicks, to publish her labor guide for doulas, which now has international distribution. She set up Gracewinds Global Breast Milk Initiative, a nonprofit focused on promoting and supporting breastfeeding in third-world countries. She holds monthly meetings for women business owners, focusing on entrepreneurship.”

“What we’re providing here is age-old and timeless – a community of support under one roof.”

 

What I Think

I think some may feel the title of this post is a stretch, but if you look at the articles posted on this date, many of them deal with leverage in one form or another. Matt D Walker’s article, Why Benjamin Franklin Was a Better Entrepreneur Than You, makes the point that entrepreneurs are different from those willing to simply be someone else’s employee all their lives. Entrepreneurs understand they must make a sacrifice to accomplish a quantum leap, but also understand that the rewards are worth that sacrifice. Entrepreneurs make their own “lever,” managing their time more efficiently than others, and failing to be deterred from reaching their vision.

Ben Franklin understood that the American enterprise desperately needed partners if it was to survive a hostile takeover on the heels of the initial launch of the new brand. The American start-up lacked sufficient credit, like many new organizations, and initially was rebuffed by the more established European power brokers. Franklin realized he had to turn his enterprise’s apparent weakness into strength. His innovative approach to European politics made his “wilderness” non-conformity a novelty with which to open doors and purses.

Franklin was a master of the personal branding techniques advocated by Steve Beseke’s article. He made himself so unique he became a celebrity. The barriers to entry facing our Founding Fathers would have seemed insurmountable to another team, but they divided and delegated the various tasks involved in building the foundation of the new enterprise and the bridges necessary to allow it to open trade relations with much more mature and sophisticated competitors in the world economy.

Franklin and the others on the start-up team certainly didn’t accomplish all this by themselves. They could easily have fallen prey to any of the three cardinal sins of entrepreneurs suggested by Jessica Mah’s article, but they were passionate about getting the new enterprise launched, and whole-heartedly followed through with implementation.

 They enlisted the help of an extensive advisory group, just as Lisa Montanaro’s article suggests. They put the talents of their start-up team together and the resulting foundation they gave the new American enterprise was so skillfully crafted that it has withstood the winds of change for over two hundred years. It has certainly changed and grown during that time, but it is obviously now much more diverse and powerful than perhaps anyone other than the Founders could have imagined.

  

If you enjoyed my impression of these articles, why don’t you read them for yourself and see what you and I missed or hit? Join the Applied Entrepreneurship group on LinkedIn. Membership is free and I try to post about ten articles a day there. We have some great discussions going and if you are an entrepreneur, we hope you will join us.

Lessons I Learned Today 5/29/09 One Lawyer’s Guide to the Tortoise vs. Hare Race

This is a digest and recap of highlights, quotes, and comments from articles and discussions posted on this date on the Applied Entrepreneurship, LinkedIn group site.

 

*Brand Protection Online: 11 graphic examples of brand abuse online

The threat of aggregate brand abuse can fuel a tipping point of how your brand is perceived, affecting the brand’s reputation, and thus, equity, worth, or value. Addressing threats to your brand on the internet is a primary business concern and the consequences of multiple brand abuse issues online can loom much larger than singular incidents of unauthorized sales, counterfeiting, cybersquatting, trademark dilution, or a gripe site making unpleasant claims.

This article is particularly useful because it presents nice examples of the primary forms of online brand abuse. Some of these are:

• Brand Erosion (trademark infringement, copyright violations, defamatory claims, and competitors advertising on trademarks) Brand Erosion is a slow but deadly brand killer. It is easy for disgruntled customers, clients, employees, or deceptive competitors to publish negative experiences or content about your company’s products and services.
• Cybersquatting is the registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad-faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to another entity.
• Typosquatting (a form of Cybersquatting that utilizes various typographical errors within the name of a trademark)
• Brand Siphoning – On the surface it makes sense for direct selling and network marketing brands to utilize affiliates and web-savvy reps to generate revenues in the search engines for branded searches.
• Traffic Diversion occurs when any third party places ads for your trademarks (company name, products, etc.) on the search engines. These ads dilute your brand and divert traffic away from your web assets.
• Phishing – Generally speaking, phishing is primarily a threat to financial services companies. Phishing ploys are not only targeted at consumers, but to employees as well, designed to extract account information, passwords, and even trade secrets.
• Unauthorized Sales – Gray market and unauthorized sales channels can compromise the integrity of a brand and can create rancor amongst authorized vendors and reps who follow corporate guidelines and pricing structures.
• False Associations can be conveyed using trademarked domains (cybersquatting) as well as text or logos that suggest or imply some type of business relationship.

 

*A Theory of Trademarks in the Blog Era by Ron Coleman

The IP implications of blogs beyond trademarks, especially regarding copyright but even recently involving the publication of trade secrets, are also wide-ranging.

Unlike virtually no other mass publication of trademarks that is likely to interest mark owners, the Internet raises few barriers to entry. Blogging presents even fewer – virtually none. Trademark enforcement practitioners who are used to the frustration of chasing after ethereal Internet-based trademark infringers are understandably aghast over the incredible ease, and functional anonymity, with which bloggers can instantaneously upload text, graphics and files, including HTML links. Blogger software platforms, including substantial hosting resources, are available for free from services such as Blogger and many others.

There is virtually no editorial, legal or other oversight over what content is to be found on blogs, as is the case on most privately-hosted websites, but while most recreational blogs are graphic nightmares, even the simplest blogs present a structure that features easy interactivity, a choice of practical and attractive graphic designs, and numerous add-on features that enable even lightly experienced amateurs – for no or very little cost – to easily monitor the volume, origin and trends of reader traffic, feature cooperative or trade advertising (and for higher-traffic blogs, even paid advertising), and take advantage of the burgeoning phenomenon of online blog networking.

Communication on the Internet, typified by blogs, is highly symbolic, and trademarks, if they are any good at all, pack a powerful semiotic punch. This attraction is intensified by the countercultural, or at least individualistic, tone affected – and frequently realized – widely throughout the blog subculture.

Blogs are democratic, self-obsessed, essentially unaccountable, cheap, technologically powerful, judgment proof, ungoverned, interconnected, and very, very public – meaning that intellectual property lawyers, or those who play them on the Internet, should proceed with care.

 

*Forming and Operating a Small Business- ABA Family Legal Guide

A little planning now might save plenty of time, money, and heartache down the line.

This article deals with the legal and other issues that have to be resolved when forming and operating a small business. Whether you’re manufacturing lawn furniture, selling stuffed animals, or offering high-tech computer consulting, you’ll have to face certain basic issues, all of which have legal dimensions.

 

*So your Business has a Legal Problem. . . 8 Useful Tips on what to Expect from your Lawyer by Igor Ellyn

This article provides a very nice and details series of tips on everything from finding and hiring a lawyer, fee structures, and settlements, to how to be a good client and avoid legal problems in the first place. Definitely worth reading for any entrepreneur.

As a business owner, you are usually run off your feet with the challenges of operating your business. The last thing you need to worry about is a legal problem. Many business people put off dealing with a legal problem because they don’t know where to turn, don’t have the time, or most often, are afraid of how much it will cost and how much time it will take. The authors give tips on how to get legal advice efficiently.

Every business should have a team of on-call lawyers. This is less expensive or complicated than it sounds. All you need are the telephone numbers and email addresses of trusted corporate, employment law and litigation lawyers. Depending on the nature of your business, you may also need an intellectual property lawyer, who deals with trademarks, patents and copyright. You may even need a tax lawyer because not all tax issues can be solved by an accountant.

When you retain a lawyer, you need a trustworthy advisor, who will point out the weaknesses of your case as well as the strengths. A litigation lawyer who is waiting by the phone for your call and tells you exactly what you are hoping to hear may be too hungry or too inexperienced to manage your case. He may be in over his head and will bail out as soon as your case takes a negative turn. By then, your legal situation may have worsened. It will be more expensive and perhaps impossible to repair it.

Competent legal advice is available for matters such as corporate organization, leases, the wording contracts and other documents you use in your business, partnership and shareholder agreements, your relationships with your employees, your company’s trade names, logos and website, your regulatory compliance, your risk management and litigation prevention techniques. It’s all important to arrange legal affairs to ensure that your personal liability is limited in the case of a claim against your business.

Ensure that the legal issues affecting your business are in good order. This is likely to save you a lot of money and grief in the future. You might even consider having a legal audit or a “business legal checkup”. We plan to write about this topic in a future article in this newsletter. Preventative legal advice may be expensive but it is just as important as fire insurance.

 

*To Avoid Tax, Set Up as S-Corp or C-Corp? by Karen E. Klein

“The debate on proposed tax rate increases for the country’s wealthiest people has just begun, and the potential increases would not happen until 2011. Still, tax experts say it is not too early for small business owners to think about defensive strategies. Whether they’re contemplating moving from S-corporation to C-corporation status, accelerating income, or deferring compensation, their decisions should be thought through in the larger context of their business and personal goals.”

” Small business owners who think they might be affected really need to see their tax advisers and look at their long-term desires, not just for their businesses but also for their personal needs. They need to run the numbers; this should not be a gut reaction.”

 

*A Guide to Self-Employment

Besides paying taxes, finding health care, and landing clients, self-employed workers face another big challenge: motivation. It’s easy to procrastinate when there’s no boss looking over your shoulder.

One of the most important referrals you can get is for a good accountant. Knowing what to write off as business expenses can save enough on your tax bill to make hiring an accountant worth it,

 

What I Think

I think, after probably scaring you half to death yesterday, with a score of articles about a wide variety of potential legal entanglements, the articles posted on this date may calm you back down, a little.

Sorry about yesterday, if you still have the shakes. Unlike my usual custom of pretty much choosing the most interesting articles at random, I made some attempt in choosing the articles I posted on this date, to make amends for the horror show yesterday. The “amends” I’m referring to are those articles which demonstrate there can be light both at the beginning of the tunnel and at the end, in terms of what legal counsel can do for you. Not only do some of these articles tell you how to get out of your legal jam, some actually should help you avoid one in the first place.

This, of course, is good for you as a bottom line oriented entrepreneur, and bad for me, as a lawyer who makes much more fixing problems than helping clients avoid them. Oh well, it is great to see such a high percentage of my clients surviving the inevitable potholes on the road to success. My theory, is that a good counselor, legal or otherwise, will eventually see greater professional success, as well as personal satisfaction, helping clients avoid disasters for relatively lower retainers, than letting the chip fall where they may, hoping some of them will come back seeking disaster repair advice at relatively higher hourly rates. Stay tuned for the results.

Sure, I couldn’t help starting out with 11 graphic examples of brand abuse online, but the graphic depiction of the various forms of online abuse should help educate some as to what to actually look for. The Trademarks in the Blog Era article, by Ron Coleman, points out many of the problems the law has in keeping up with emerging technology. The other articles posted on this date provide a range of advice on topics, such as comparing an “S” corporation start-up to an LLC, self-employment issues, and a whole host of other topics, which should pretty well cover the spectrum for a small start-up business. Just as the horrors from yesterday’s articles wait in the bushes to jump you when least expected, obtaining sound legal and accounting advice is pretty easy and the sources plentiful.

Historically, it has seemed that cyber criminals, identity theives and their ilk always managed to stay one or two steps ahead of the law. I continue to be amazed, however, every time I research a legal or business issue, how many more narrowly focused blogs there are on topics of interest in my search, then there were the last time I looked.

With the explosion of such blogs and informational Web sites, this may be the first time the sources of advice have exceeded the number of individuals committing the crimes. Use these resources wisely and often to avoid becoming one of the statistics.

 

If you enjoyed my impression of these articles, why don’t you read them for yourself and see what you and I missed or hit? Join the Applied Entrepreneurship group on LinkedIn. Membership is free and I try to post about ten articles a day there. We have some great discussions going and if you are an entrepreneur, we hope you will join us.