Archive for January 2010

YES941 (Young Entrepreneurs of Sarasota) Social Network

January 25, 2010 Entrepreneurs, Small Business, Social Networking One comment
 
YES 941 (Young Entrepreneurs of Sarasota) is one of my favorite Social Networks!  YES 941 varies from MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, etc., in that it is a Social Network where the members and guests actually meet on a weekly basis to share success strategies.
 
If people are not in the Sarasota area, the next best thing is to join the YES941 Social Website. 
Visit yes941
 

It is so awesome to network with other Entrepreneurs.  Everyone that I have met brings their own special uniqueness to the network, and it is a lot of fun!  This Social Network has over 1,000 members worldwide, and I understand that there is a desire to expand the membership. 

John Greer

YES941 was founded five years ago by my Entrepreneur friend, John Greer.  John is perfect to head up this net-work, as he has been an Entrepreneur all his life.  In addition, he takes pride in sharing his experience, ideas, and encouragement.
 
John challenges the membership to think strategically by setting ambitious business goals and keeping score.  Unlike a “conservative business plan,” a “strategic plan” is ambitious, bold and daring.
 
For example, John says, “Imagine if there was no scoreboard at a Florida Gators football game(would you guess he’s a Gator’s fan?)–do you think the players would strive for the extra footage to win?”
YES941 is often making news and appearing in the Sarasota Herald Tribune.  This week, for instance, YES941 was featured in an article by Jerry Chautin titled “Group’s Goals for Creating Businesses are Ambitious,” which is about the SCORE Association and how their strategic plan is to create 1 million businesses nationwide.
 
There is always something fun in this Network–just visit the HomePage, and join the upcoming YES941 Trip to China, for instance!

Visit yes941

What Makes Entrepreneurs Tick

January 19, 2010 Entrepreneurs, Small Business No comments

Alex Salkever, in his January 11, 2010 Article, “Anatomy of an Entrepreneur:  He’s Not Who You Think He Is,” uncovered some amazing results as he worked with Vivek Wadhwa and several other top researchers on a research project about what makes entrepreneurs tick.  Vivek Wadhwa is a visiting scholar at U.S. Berkeley, a senior research associate at Harvard Law School, and director of research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University.  He also founded two enterprise software companies, one of which went public.
 
What they found is that what the typical entrepreneur stereotype looks like– a recent college graduate (or even a college drop-out) living off ramen noodles, sleeping in the office and hitting up a venture capitalist for start-up funds, people that have rarely worked for other companies or other people (it’s not in their blood) — proved to be mistaken.
 
The average entrepreneur or founder of a fast-growing technology or knowledge industry company is married, has children, and worked for many years at a company or for someone else before branching out and starting his or her own business. 
 
Were rich kids given a leg up in starting their businesses?  Not really.  About 71% of the Entrepreneurs came from middle class backgrounds, with the majority of them coming from lower-middle and mid-middle class backgrounds.  More than three-quarters of the entrepreneurs surveyed had worked for someone else for at last six years before launching their businesses.  The most significant source of funding for all businesses was their personal savings.  The main obstacle entrepreneurs reported was lack of knowledge about starting a business, and fear of failure and the aftermath.
 
Why is this so important?  It is rapidly becoming a strong consensus in economic circles that Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses are the primary drivers for growth in the U.S. economy as a whole.
 
The implications of these findings for how we can pursue an economic strategy to encourage Entrepreneurs is quite clear.  “Look in the workforce, not in the university business-plan contest, for startup talent,” said Wadhwa.  He also believes that the focus on venture capital as a primary funding source is not really warranted; while VCs have their place, there are lots of other ways to get a startup funded.  Lastly, Wadhwa believes that just about anyone who wants to can become an Entrepreneur.  “These people saw very few barriers to starting their own company, and that is key to their success.” says Wadhwa.  In other words, the most important ingredient for an Entrepreneur is not age or youth, not experience, not family or lack of commitment, but the belief in oneself and the desire to succeed.