YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog

In October of 2007, I did a profile of Ron Joyce (Have You Found Your Calling?), one of the richest Canadians entrepreneurs and the founder of Tim Hortons. I wanted to continue to shed some light on the secrets to his success today by expanding on one of his tried and true strategies for success:“When you find the niche you love, that becomes your passion,” says Joyce. “For me it was Tim Hortons. It was my world.”

The story of Tim Hortons is one of death and tragedy, one of heartbreak and loss, but above all else, it is a story of unbridled passion and success. There is no question that Joyce was one of the most devoted businessmen of his time. An admitted workaholic, Joyce’s personal life often bore the brunt of that hard work. Indeed, his two marriages might have resulted in seven children, but they both also ended in divorce.

After Horton’s death, Joyce’s second wife, Teri, took their three children together and left with no further contact information. Of her, Joyce says, “She wanted the benefits that came with a strong work ethic, but I always felt she wasn’t willing to put up with the sacrifices I needed to make to obtain them.”

Joyce admittedly had little time for a personal life. “I think people who excel in anything are often totally dedicated to it, but are only really good at one thing,” he says. For Joyce, that one thing was business. He loved it more than anything else he knew and dedicated all of his time and energy to seeing Tim Hortons grow.

“I look at the great athletes of all time, like Michael Jordan, who went from basketball to baseball and it didn’t work,” he says. “Or Wayne Gretzky, who probably wouldn’t have been great at anything but hockey.” Joyce knew that his business was to him what hockey and basketball were to Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan. And, it was in having that passion for what he did that he was able to take Tim Hortons to the top.

Aside from business, only one thing could ever get Joyce as excited and that was golf. As passionate as he was about it, though, he knew it was never one of his natural talents, not like business. But Joyce never seemed to care. It did not matter to Joyce that he would never be the next Jack Nichols, but he kept playing the game with the same attitude he used in his business. “If you love the game, it doesn’t matter if you play badly,” he says. “It is still a wonderful way to spend a day. There are days when I get so damned mad at myself when playing, but then I can hardly wait to get back on the course.”

Joyce loved his business, but that did not mean he was perfect at running it. He made mistakes like everyone else. Tim Hortons pies are just one example of one of Joyce’s experiments gone wrong. But, mistake or not, Joyce never gave up because there was nothing else he would rather have been doing. Even after he left his position at the top, he would continue to spend his spare hours sitting quietly in the corner of a Tim Hortons, watching patrons place their orders and down their Timbits. His business was his second home.

When Joyce was once downhill skiing near Calgary, he ran into a professional skier friend of his. She was complaining about people who wanted to get up to the top of the hill and down again as fast as they could. “They didn’t care about the in-between, which was the fun part,” says Joyce. He took that same attitude with both business and golf.

“I look at a player…who shoots three or four over par, and I think that must be nice,” he says. “But it is also quite nice just to go out there and play.”

Today’s Entrepreneur University comes thanks to Michael Fleischner. Michael is an Internet Marketing Expert with more than 12 years of marketing experience. He has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other Major media. You can learn more about Michaels SEO experience by reading the Marketing Blog or by picking up his tell guide on how to improve search engine rankings at http://www.webmastersbookofsecrets.com.

Michael shares with us his tips on how to build links to your website:

“The popularity of your website can be directly correlated to the number of sites linking to you. In fact, search engines like Google have been built on the concept of link popularity. To win on the Internet, your website not only needs to be seen as popular, but also garner top search engine results for your identified search terms. In-bound links to your website tell the search engines what they will find when visiting your site.

So now that we’ve established the importance of inbound links, you should be asking yourself, “How do I get them?” and “Which links are valuable?”. Focus on acquiring in-bound links that are from sites offering related content to your own website and that have an established Google PR. Sites from unrelated sites without a Google Page Rank do not provide any benefit.

Inbound links can be acquired in a number of ways. Here are the 7 most popular link strategies you can start using today:

1. Directory Submission. The web has hundreds, if not thousands of link directories. Search for the most popular directories and submit your site. Beware, some directories charge for submitting your link but offer very little value in return. If you are going to pay for a link submission, make sure the site has a high Google PR and garners a lot of traffic.

2. Reciprocal Linking. Exchange links with other popular sites to increase the number of inbound links you receive. There is a good deal of debate in Internet circles today about the validity of reciprocal linking strategies. As long as the link you are receiving is of equal or greater quality to the link your giving, than the concept of reciprocal linking is still valid.

3. Article Submission. Create quality content and distribute it across the web. There are many article directories that offer content to webmasters and allow for mass distribution. The benefit of article submission is that when you submit your article you include and “About the Author” section. This area of your article is posted each time your article appears on a distributed website automatically building links back to your site. The more valuable the article, the more distribution you receive.

4. Social Posting Tools. We all know the power of social networks. Use tools like SocialPoster and others whereby you register and submit your site or article to social networks. The benefit of posting to these sites is that others may recognize and acknowledge your submission, resulting in higher placement. With higher placement comes more links and more link popularity.

5. Gadgets. Develop something worth linking to. Many websites offer free tools that are valuable because they solve a problem. A great example of this is a widget that allows you to find out the Google PR of any site. There are dozens or hundreds of websites that offer this type of tool and users provide links to those sites. Again, find something of value and let others know about it.

6. Press Releases. Have some news to share? A new product? A website launch or perhaps the results of your latest online survey. Visit sites like PRweb and find a distribution option for you. Press releases are pushed out to hundreds if not thousands of site that might run your release. Of course, make sure that you imbed a link back to your website.

7. Blogging. If you have your own blog or post comments on someone else’s blog, don’t be afraid to mention something of value relating to your site. Perhaps you can point to a Gadget your offer, free services, or an ebook you’re offering. Blogging is a powerful tool and easy to implement. If you don’t have a blog, start one. You can have your own blog in just a few minutes with today’s online providers like Blogger or WordPress.

No matter what strategy you use to improve your link popularity, one thing’s for sure. Developing in-bound links to your website is a critical step in achieving website popularity. As your popularity grows, so does your search engine result placement and traffic.”

Is there a topic you would like to learn more about for the next Entrepreneur University? Leave a comemnt below and we’ll try to find an expert to discuss your topic!

Title: Founder, Red Cup Media, www.redcupmedia.com
Industry: Internet
Type of company: Online media network
Year founded: 2008
Location: Tucson, Arizona’s great portal to the Internet
Number of employees: 6, all college students

1. What is the startup story behind your newest business venture?

Red Cup Media is just one big snowball that keeps growing. It all begin with a small sports blog that started up over the summer, TheSportsCulture.com. My buddy Lance and I loved talking about the off-beat side of sports, and others enjoyed listening. So, in tern, we decided beginning a sports blog just to share satirical stories and funny videos that would attract readers not for its topic, but for the originality and uniqueness. Nobody logs onto The Sports Culture.com for hard sports news, that’s why there are sites like ESPN.com and CBSSports.com. But rather, we strive to deliver the most obscure angles to the daily sports cycle.

As a result, I thought if two college kids could write about something they loved and potentially made a few bucks during the process, why do we have to be limited to sports? As a college journalist myself, I’m extremely familiar with college newspapers and the level of journalistic excellence that some students can develop on their respective staffs. I first sent out a listserv message to the nation’s top 10 most prestigious journalism schools, giving students the opportunity to start a blog in their favorite niche while earning 100% of their network advertising revenues. That got me an excellent alcohol blogger, Alex of TheBoozeBuzz.com, and music blogger, Chris of TunesLevel.com. Since then, we’ve added a sex columnist, Di of CollegeAndSex.com, and received freelance content for TheManLog.com, a blog for guys.

It’s been an never-ending expansion process that has just suddenly began to reach fruition. Our newest property, HottestCollegeinAmerica.com, is a completely user-based interactive reality search for the sexiest campus in our nation. The feedback has just been immensely supportive.

2. What is your definition of success and has your company achieved it?

We’ve been successful, but I’m not sure anybody can pinpoint what “success” means in today’s continuously evolving blogging frontier. As a big sports guy, I really take more of a coaching role in my organization, guiding the writers to better content and providing steps in the right direction in terms of their blog and content. I believe in the whole one-day-at-a-time approach, and although there isn’t a “championship” in blogging, there are still benchmarks that show general progress. I’ll admit, I’m obsessed with our visitor statistics each and every day, but those numbers don’t directly reflect the amount of effort we put into our Web sites. Consistency is a term that I continuously drill into our bloggers (probably a little too much) because that’s a trend that will pay off huge over a long period of time. Like all small businesses, nothing instantly becomes “successful” overnight.

At this point, I consider success in blogging is based on establishment and recognition. In terms of revenue, that’s the ensuing affect of great establishment. Advertising will take care of itself if the content is good enough. (That, of course, barring the recession.)

3. To what do you attribute your company’s recent achievements?

Our writers have done an excellent job making the transition from print to online. Nobody began with extensive blogging experience, nor completely understood the differences between newspaper articles and blog posts. It’s still a work in progress, but like I said before, it’s their consistency that will win over their target audience, and in tern, target advertisers clients.

Personally, I’ve been the “glue guy” in this whole expansion process, ensuring that the designs, network advertisements, writers and public relations are all on the same page — literally. It’s the constant 24-hour BlackBerry connection that probably has become an unhealthy addiction.

4. How important have good employees and team members been to your success?

From the first day I started this, I told Lance that being surrounded by good people is the biggest key to success. Sure, we’ve had someone flop and completely drop out, but there’s not a doubt in my mind that moving forward can only be done with good people in the organization. I feel like, at this point, I have great surroundings that I’m very comfortable to work with.

5. What three pieces of advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?

1) Follow your heart — Entrepreneurship is something you’re born with. And even if you’re born with it, you need to be proactive and aggressive. Nothing is just going to come to you wrapped in a gift box. Be patient and don’t expect to blossom as this superpower Donald Trump overnight. It takes an immense amount of hard work to start up a business. But then again, if you’re born with the passion and entrepreneur mindset, then it shouldn’t be a problem, therefore these three tips are almost meaningless because you’ll strive to meet your goals regardless of what I say .

2) Don’t do it for the money — Sure, none of this is charity work; everybody’s time has value to it. But entrepreneurs can’t immediately judge success based on revenue or profits. There needs to be another integer that measures your progress. Never should a lack of income drastically affect how a startup operates if a solid business plan is in place.

3) Don’t be afraid to take risks — Again, this is couldn’t be more of an understatement for entrepreneurs. And again, if you’re born an entrepreneur, then this should be second nature.

6. What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?

An online-based company has many benefits, including relatively inexpensive startup costs. We’ve had a blogger quit already, so that domain name and design went down the tube. That’s completely my fault, just because it was a bad hire and didn’t have the instincts that I have now when spotting potential blogging talent. A lot of mistakes like mine happen to everyone, and that just comes with a lack of experience. I’ve learned different trends and personalities to look for in bloggers that equates to a good formula. That was the biggest factor, along with the over-eagerness to expand. Yes, there is such thing as growing too quickly, so always be cautions about that and only expand when needed.

As I mentioned early, I love being a coaching figure. And just like college coaches, I’ll learn to recruit better over time.

7. Describe/outline your typical day?

Well as a college student, my typical day often begins 10 minutes before my first class of the day. After rolling out of bed and attending classes, I’ll chip away throughout the afternoon at whatever needs to be done. I bring my laptop to all classes, so often times I get to monitor everything in Red Cup Media and keeping tabs in lecture halls. I’m also a youth basketball coach in the city, so that gives me a great outlet to do something else I truly love — coaching young kids. See a trend?

Between homework and a social life, I keep busy to say the least.

8. Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it?

That came from the good ‘ole personal checking account. I look at it as an investment, just like the investment I’m making in my education. Except out-of-state tuition really sucks.

9. What stops you from throwing in the towel and giving up during those frustrating days of running your business?

There’s been frustrating instances in getting everybody on the same page, but nothing drastic enough to think about quitting. Other than the strenuous struggle to balance academics and work, there really haven’t been obstacles inside the company, and I certainly attribute that to surrounding myself with good people. I could definitely see that being a different story if I didn’t have reliable people.

10. Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?

You need to be born with the entrepreneur gene. And luck. A lot of it.

11. Who has influenced you most and been your greatest inspiration?

Believe it or not, Nik Richie from TheDirty.com has been an interesting story that I’ve followed. Here’s a guy who started a simple blog about the Scottsdale nightlife. He’s someone who wanted to share a few laughs and keep his day job light hearted with satirical commentary. His quickly growing reality paparazzi-style blog, in which he dubbed the world’s first reality blogger, expanded to students at the University of Arizona and ASU, becoming wildly popular through negative press and publicity. He’s executed the ideal process of expanding at the appropriate lengths and handling an incredibly critical national media. His simple idea became the first of its niche, giving him the originality. His content became viral, giving him the marketing. It’s the ideal combination that he has turned into profits, and just goes to show that truly anybody can make it work with a great idea and natural instincts. I’ve followed his site since it was called DirtyScottsdale.com, and look forward to how he is going to develop.

12. What book has inspired you the most?

Not really a big book reader, but I’m open to recommendations. Suggestions, anybody?

13. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?

Now that’s the million-dollar question. I’ve partnered up with a college buddy of mine who just graduated with a degree in public relations. Now that we’ve established ourself as a reliable source for content and entertainment, it’s now our time to execute our marketing plans. Setting up a business is all a step-by-step process, and we’ve reached the point that relies on an aggressive marketing plan and connections.

Because our company is so unique (content for college students by college students) we anticipate a good amount of press coverage from college newspapers, especially with the connections that we have. From there, we’ll reassess what needs to be done.

14. In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.

Rewarding.

15. Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?

I love some of the things that Gawker Media is doing. After explaining Red Cup Media to another entrepreneur, he said, “Oh, so you’re basically a college version of Gawker?” I’d say that’s a pretty big compliment, and certainly a great company to model after.

16. How do you achieve balance in your life? Or do you?

I’ve always kept a full plate of activities since high school, when I played sports all year round. So time management has been an evolving trait that I’ve learned to utilize better and better. As for achieving balance, I’m still a typical college student that attends class and goes out on weekends. Unlike some up-and-coming entrepreneurs, I don’t have a wife and kids to support, or full-time job that engulfs 40 hours per week. Relatively, college students don’t have anything like that to lose, so I feel like this is the perfect time to begin that awkward growing period that takes up ridiculous hours. And like a college student, I’m pretty much best friends with all-nighters and the sunrise.

17. Where do you see yourself and your business in 5 years? 10 years?

Every entertainment company aspires to locate to L.A. I’d love to open an office in southern California and promote our sites through promotional events and parties. But seriously, I have no clue what the future of the internet entails.

18. What’s your exit strategy?

Exit strategy? I’m not going anywhere.

19. If we could introduce you to anyone, who would it be and why? (you never know who we know!)

Nick Denton and Mark Cuban.

Today I’ll finish my series on the Entrepreneur’s Guide To Venture Capital.

How To Valuate A Business

One of the most common questions I get around venture capital financing is how to determine the value of a business. Here is how we did it when I was in the business:

2013 Financial Projections
Earnings Before Tax    $5,865,000
Tax Rate    42%
Taxes    $2,463,300
Net Earnings    $3,401,700

Amount Seeking to Raise Today    $3,500,000

Discounted Value of Future Opportunity, 5 Years Out
2013 P/E Ratio    15
Value of Company in 2013    $51,025,500

Discount Rate Applied    30%
Year 2013    $51,025,500
Year 2012    $35,717,850
Year 2011    $25,002,495
Year 2010    $17,501,747
Year 2009    $12,251,223

Value of Company at Investment in 2004    $12,251,223
Less: Investment Amount    $3,500,000
Present Value    $8,751,223

Discount for Risk & Private Company    40%
Less: Discount for Risk & Private Company    $3,500,489

Private Company Value    $5,250,734

Present Value (What the Owner Keeps)    $5,250,734    60.00%
Financing (What the Investor Gets)    $3,500,000    40.00%

Total    $8,750,734    100.00%

At the end of the day the venture capitalist will make an offer and you negotiate from there. This model is far from perfect but does give you a starting point to valuate your business.

Happy New Year everyone!

As always, the New Year is a time to start with a clean slate.

If you weren’t able to achieve the success you hoped with your business last year, you now have a brand new year to start over! And if you did very well last year, now’s the time to do even better!

In my Entrepreneur Mastermind Groups we always set a new goal for our businesses in January that we then track every month until the end of the year.

This kind of group accountability helps us stay focused in on actually doing what we say we’re going to do (and not letting life get in the way).

Are you a believer in New Years resolutions?

Have you set any goals for your business for this year?

I would love to hear them and then check in with you later on in the year to see how you’re doing!

If you’re looking for a little extra accountability feel free to comment below and post your goals for 2009!I might just be doing a feature post on you later in the year to see if you’re on track!

Today I’ll continue with my series on the Entrepreneur’s Guide To Venture Capital.

The Grandmother Test

Most people never get into see venture capitalists because their business plan doesn’t get read.

Why?

The executive summary is poorly written. The executive summary is the two to three pages at the beginning of your business plan that gives an overview of what’s in the document. Your business plan might be 30 or 50 pages and the venture capitalist doesn’t have time to read it if they don’t think they will make a potential investment. If your executive summary doesn’t compel the investor to read on… she won’t. Your plan will end up in the garbage can and they’ll move on to the next deal.

Here’s an example of the first paragraph of a poorly written executive summary that came across my desk a few years ago. I’ve blanked out the company name for confidentiality purposes:

“ _____ has developed collaboration applications that are based on a flexible, modular, and extensible software framework. Our products are ideally suited to cross-enterprise, cross-platform applications. Our system architecture gives us a strategic advantage for deploying collaboration to many platforms – including the latest generation of wireless hand-held devices – while providing organizations with strongly encrypted collaboration capabilities, fine grained security and access control.”

So what the heck do these guys do? I came from a software background and it took me three reads to try to understand it. If you’re not technical then forget about understanding this company’s value proposition.

Remember that VCs will not understand your business and your industry to the extent that you do - you’re the industry expert and if you put in too much technical jargon and don’t answer the simple question of: “Why is this important?” then you’ll lose most of your potential investors right from the start.

The Grandmother test is a great tool to use to help you get funding. It basically means show your executive summary to your grandmother (friends, family, people who don’t really know what you do) and see if she can understand the value. If your grandmother gets it then chances are the VC will to. If it’s too technical for grandma, rewrite it and put it into plain English.

He’s one of the Top 25 Businessmen Who Broke The Rules And Won, he made a $4.5 million salary last year and he’s the #14 Top Celebrity Entrepreneur.

In 1999, Michael Dell was giving a lecture on the ABCs of entrepreneurship to a business class at his psuedo-alma mater, the University of Texas. When it came time for the question and answer period, one of the students eagerly stood up and asked Dell why, despite being worth over $17 billion, he continues going to work each day. “You’ve got so much money,” the student said. “Why don’t you just sell out, buy a boat, and sail off to the Caribbean?” Dell stared back at the student and replied, “Sailing’s boring. Do you have any idea how much fun it is to run a billion-dollar company?”

Dell transformed a dorm room venture into one of the world’s largest billion dollar corporations. He became the youngest CEO in history to ever head a Fortune 500 company and he created a revolutionary new model for doing business in the information age.

How did he do it?

“I saw that you’d buy a PC for about $3,000, and inside that PC was about $600 worth of parts. IBM would buy most of these parts from other companies, assemble them, and sell the computer to a dealer for $2,000. Then the dealer, who knew very little about selling or supporting computers, would sell it for $3,000, which was even more outrageous.

At the root of it, I was probably just opportunistic. I had and still have a great interest in computers. There was a business opportunity [with] this product that I really liked, and it all kind of lined up together.

Well, we started the company by building to the customer’s order. And interestingly enough, we didn’t do it because we saw some massive paradigm in the future. Basically, we just didn’t have any capital [to mass-produce].

One of the things I benefited from when I started this business was that I didn’t know anything. I was just instinct with no preconceived notions. This enabled me to learn and change quickly without having to worry about maintaining any kind of status quo, like some of my bigger competitors.

I had to give it a full go and see what happened. I couldn’t resist the opportunity. The deal was, I would start into business full time in May, and at the end of August we would take a look and decide if it was doing well.

There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don’t like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don’t spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities.

I dropped out of college because that’s what I thought would happen. So, that for me was in 1984 and I started a company around that idea, believing that more and more people would know how to use PCs, that they would become easier to use, that even people could buy them without going to a store. We had a sense for it in the early ’80s but certainly couldn’t say we imagined it. It is just the way it happened I was, you know, rebellious–an 18, 19-year-old and just did what I wanted to do and all worked out OK.

The key is to listen to your heart and let it carry you in the direction of your dreams. I’ve learned that it’s possible to set your sights high and achieve your dreams and do it with integrity, character, and love. And each day that you’re moving toward your dreams without compromising who you are, you’re winning.

Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity. Whether you’ve found your calling, or if you’re still searching, passion should be the fire that drives your life’s work.”

Are you still waiting to find the “perfect opportunity”?

This week’s Entrepreneur University comes thanks to Robin J. Elliott. For more than 19 years Robin has worked with small business owners helping them attain success through joint ventures.

You may remember Robin from his previous contributions:

• 3 Easy Examples Of How To Joint Venture
• 50 Benefits Of Joint Ventures - Entrepreneur University

Today Robin shares with us his thoughts on how to create a motto that works for you:

“What is your motto for your life? The Elliott Family Crest contains the Motto, “Fortiter Et Rechte” – Bravely and Truly. My person Motto is “Freedom at Any Cost”. Your Motto tells you a lot about yourself, your values, purpose and beliefs, your goals and your philosophy. And using your Motto correctly can empower and revitalize your life. When I come home the first thing I see on the wall is the Elliott Crest and my Father’s ceremonial Air Force dagger. It reminds me of my Warrior mindset, the love and support of my family and my Motto. There are some really motivating and inspiring Mottos out there, especially military Mottos. Look at these:

The Pain is Temporary; The Pride is Forever (Israeli Military)
Who Dares Wins (English SAS)
Through Adversity to the Stars (Canadian Air force)
Fortune Favors the Brave (American 3rd Marine Regiment)

A Motto that is displayed, remembered and honored will help to focus and ground you. How would you feel if you were entering a difficult situation and you repeated your Motto, “Any Time, Anywhere, Any Weather” (USS Salamonie) – would you be more resolute? Would you be more determined? How about, “Do Right, Fear No one” (Norwegian Artillery)? If you were to repeat your Motto on a regular basis, it would undergird and encourage you. What about creating a wall plaque, a desk sign, a banner, a screensaver, an e-mail signature with a strong Motto that really worked for you? It would tell the world a lot about you as well, of course. (When I see some loser wearing a marijuana leaf pendant, I know exactly what his Motto is.) Here are some you might want to consider for yourself:

Can and Will
Deeds not Words
Rise Above the Rest
Yield to None
The Higher I Climb, the More Gallant I Am
Bound to Win
Hard as a Rock

If you’re religious, here’s an opportunity to use your favorite verse, like “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” One of my mentors, whenever you asked him how he was, would reply, “I’m Happy, Healthy and Successful.” Isn’t that great? What you say and believe becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum Motto is “Together, we do amazing things.” What do you call yourself? I’m the Prophet of Profit.”

Do you have a motto for yourself and your business? What is it?

Even though I have been studying luck and fortune for quite a while now, I am still surprised by how many successful and famous people attribute at least part of their current position to luck.  People like Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman, and even Bill Gates have been quoted citing the significance of luck in their lives.  It takes a strong person to work hard for what he or she wants.  It takes a stronger person to admit that it took more than hard work.  If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you know you will have to work hard.  You may not know that you will have to be lucky too.

Luck is not some mystical, magical pseudo-science.  A first-century Roman philosopher defined it best: Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.  These simple words are often dismissed as a little too cute to be true, but I think an entrepreneur can benefit from this definition of luck.  To become a luckier entrepreneur, all you must do is improve your preparation and increase your opportunity.  Too many of us focus on seeking more business opportunities.  This unbalanced pursuit will be fruitless without preparation.

How many opportunities have passed you by, because you were unprepared?  An investment opportunity with no capital?  A site traffic spike with no content?  A new market segment in a foreign culture?  Is an opportunity without preparation really an opportunity at all?

For an entrepreneur, preparation usually comes in the form of research and education.  Studying markets, assessing customer needs, learning news skills, and expanding your abilities are all forms of preparation that can make your next opportunity a lucky one.  Some of my favorite preparatory entrepreneurial activities include:
•    Reading relevant blogs like YoungEntrepreneur.com,
•    Contributing to entrepreneurship forums,
•    Studying a second language to work with larger markets,
•    Reading books by masters like Kiyosaki and Trump,
•    Expanding skills like web design to cut down on unnecessary outsourcing, et cetera.

Preparation is only half the equation, though.  A good entrepreneur must locate (and recognize) great opportunities.  Sometimes they can be spotted while doing the above activities, but additionally one should be alert for places in which relevant skills can be applied.  Some key things to remember about lucky entrepreneurial opportunities:
1.    An entrepreneur might spot an opportunity in the classified ads or on a community bulletin board or just walking down the street.
2.    Read what your customers read, and be alert to signals that they will be changing their spending habits.
3.    A lot of good luck has come my way when I least expected it, but no good fortune has ever sprung up while I was on the couch.  In other words, be where the action is.  Interact and mingle.
There is a lot of work to do before you can become the owner of a successful business.  You will have to do everything better than your competitors.  You will have to rise earlier, work later, make more calls, deliver better service, and be more flexible than everyone else in your industry.  After all that, with a little luck, you will be exactly where you want to be.  Good luck!

About the Author

Skyler Reep is the 25-year-old entrepreneur behind PEER Enterprises, LLC.  Early projects included web services and widgets like his cash dimensions calculator, but most of his recent effort has gone into the research and writing of his first book, Luck-Struck: How to Take Control & Create Your Own Luck.  He is lucky enough to live and work in the shadow of the Tetons in beautiful Jackson, Wyoming. www.skylerreep.blogspot.com

Today I’ll continue with my series on the Entrepreneur’s Guide To Venture Capital.

What To Do In Your Meeting With A VC

Lose Your Ego

Nobody wants to work with an egomaniac. As entrepreneurs, we tend to be passionate about our companies and many of us have a certain amount of ego. Don’t let it get in the way of your company’s success. Be open and listen to the advice and feedback you get from the venture capitalists. Show them that you’ve made mistakes in the past and that you’ve learned from them. You have a long memory and won’t make the same mistakes twice.

Get To The Point

Be able to succinctly explain what your business does and why it represents a great investment opportunity. This is otherwise known as the “Elevator Pitch.” Imagine that you’re on the top floor of a building and you get into the elevator only to find that a potential investor also gets in the elevator with you. Now you have from the time you get on the elevator on the top floor to the time you reach the lobby to convince the investor that there is something of value in what you’re doing. Have a 60 second pitch ready as well as a longer five minute version and get to the point when you go to your investor meeting!

Back Up Your Numbers

By the time you get to the meeting with a venture capitalist you would have sent in your business plan and attached financial plan. VCs love numbers and will scrutinize every detail of your plan. Make sure you can back up your numbers with explanations as to where it came from and what it represents! Venture capitalists too often see financial plans that have been strung together with little thought or analysis and if you can’t answer their questions about your numbers then you’ll be associated with that group of unprepared entrepreneurs. A good practice exercise is to meet with your accountant first and ask her to pretend she’s the VC. Accountants usually are very detail oriented and will grill you appropriately on your numbers.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thank you for your loyal readership, for all the comments and advice you’ve left over the past year and for helping us break new subscriber and traffic records!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and take the time to enjoy the things that are important to you!

After celebrating, make sure to come back to the blog because I’ll be updating it every weekday throughout the holidays and I have some exciting posts lined up that I would love to get your feedback on!

Today I’ll continue with my series on the Entrepreneur’s Guide To Venture Capital.

Investment By Industry

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts from this series, venture capitalists look for high growth companies where they can earn a substantial return on their investment in a short amount of time.

This generally leads VCs to invest their money into companies that are in explosive and constantly changing industries. It’s not impossible to grow quickly and make substantial gains in an established industry but it’s more difficult.

As mentioned in Part 6 of the series, in the third quarter of 2008, venture capitalists invested $7.1 billion into 907 different deals. Today we’ll look at where they money is going by industry.

In terms of dollars invested, the Biotechnology industry came out at the number one position with $1.35 billion invested. Software was a close second at $1.34 billion. The Industrial / Energy industry came out in third position with $1.2 billion and in fourth spot was Internet-specific companies receiving $1.1 billion. Rounding out the top five was Telecommunications with $323 million.

In terms of number of deals done, the Software industry is the clear winner with 214 companies receiving funding. Internet companies came in second with 194 deals, Biotechnology was third with 114, Industrial / Energy was fourth with 96 deals, and Telecommunications was again fifth with 45 deals.

What’s interesting is that Internet companies were number four on the money list but number two on the number of deals list showing that VCs don’t think it takes a lot of money to start an Internet company and that they have an appetite to invest in online business models.

He had spent his entire life tinkering with ideas, most of which the rest of the world would call him crazy for. I

t was not until King Gillette was in his 40s that he would patent and begin to sell his disposable safety razor.

It was an invention that made him a household name and revolutionized the shaving industry in the process.

Today, Global Gillette continues to rank as one of the most dominant brands in the industry.

The idea might have come to Gillette in an instant flash of inspiration, but how did he manage to turn it into a profitable company that has lasted for more than a century?

“As I stood there with the razor in my hand, my eyes resting on it as lightly as a bird settling down on its nest, the Gillette razor was born. In that moment I saw it all: the way the blade could be held in a holder; the idea of sharpening the two opposite edges on the thin piece of steel; the clamping plates, with a handle halfway between the two edges of the blade.

They made money for others, but seldom for myself, for I was unfortunately situated not having much time and little money with which to promote my inventions.

The greatest feature of the business is the almost endless chain of blade consumption, each razor paying tribute to the company as long as the user lives.

There is no other article for individual use so universally known or widely distributed. In my travels, I have found it in the most northern town in Norway and in the heart of the Sahara Desert.

The razor was looked upon as a joke by all my friends. A common greeting was, ‘Well, Gillette, how’s the razor?’ If I had been technically trained, I would have quit.“

This week’s Entrepreneur University comes thanks to Donald F. Pooley. Donald, “The Advisor’s Advisor”, has shared his marketing know-how with audiences of life insurance men in all major Canadian cities, London, Australia, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and now in his free ezine.

Donald is a popular resource for the blog and has already been featured twice before:

• 7 Myths About Successful Selling - Entrepreneur University
• 6 Steps To Getting Referrals - Entrepreneur University

Today Donald discusses how to get more mileage from your marketing:
“If an article about you (or by you) appears in a newspaper or magazine, don’t just show it to your family then file it away, use it as a marketing tool thusly:

1. Reprint, Reprint, Reprint

A favorable article on your company or service is marketing gold. It implies that the publication or website has given its endorsement.
The best part is that you can enjoy the benefits of this third-party endorsement long after the article appears.

To re-print an article from any publication in its entirety, you must get its permission. Most publications have special re-print departments to help you.

2. Add it to Your Website

Show off your newly acquired media placement on your website. If you get a lot of publicity, set up a special area (for example, “As Seen In”)to display your placements.

Take a screenshot of the article including the publication’s logo, and place it permanently in the “As Seen In” area.

3. Mention Your Placement in Your Newsletter

If you send out a regular newsletter to your clients, and prospects let them in on your popularity with the media.

4. Contact Existing or Potential Clients

Impress your existing or potential clients by tooting your horn with an email or postcard, alerting them that a story about you (or by you) has been published.

5. Pitch it Again!

Take your story angle to a different publication or website. Make sure to bend the angle to match the publication’s editorial slant.

6. Internal PR

Place your article in a handsome frame and hang it in a visible area of your business or office. The story adds legitimacy to your business and provides entertainment for your waiting customers.

If you don’t have a waiting area, put the article behind your desk facing your visitors or in your meeting room.

7. Other suggestions

* Sales Materials. Brochures, Marketing Materials and Trade Show Handouts, like claims in self-produced brochures, are taken with a grain of salt. But if a credible publication makes those same claims on your behalf, make sure it gets front page placement in your sales materials.

* Speech handout. One way to keep a speech working for you long after the chairs are folded up is to distribute your article with your business card and company information to all attendees.

* Business card. Place an important quote from your article on your business card.”

How have you managed to get more mileage from your marekting?

Our 31st Review our Blog entry comes thanks to Brian from Nothing to Lose. You can read what he had to say about us in his blog post: Weekend Review: YoungEntrepreneur.com is Not Just For the Young.

Brianlinton.com is home to Nothing to Lose, a blog about the trials and tribulations Brian Linton faces as a young entrepreneur.  This website, however, is not just for young entrpreneurs to read, but anybody aspiring to either start or grow their own business.  The lessons on this website relate to marketing, branding, selling, PR, customer service, tradeshows, motivation, and any other topic that entrepreneur’s face on a daily basis.

Brian started his first company, Sand Shack, at the age of 19 in Cape Cod, MA.  He started his second company, Kofi Coffee, at 20 after he moved to Philadelphia, his current home and headquarters for everything he is currently involved with.  In addition to his two companies, he is involved in a variety of other entrepreneurial projects, which include mentoring and advising other startups.

Thanks for the review Brian!

If you are interested in doing a review, check out our Review Our Blog initiative for instructions.

Today I’ll continue with my series on the Entrepreneur’s Guide To Venture Capital.

Investment By Stage

Despite the common perception that venture capitalists are startup friendly, most of the money invested by VCs go to companies who are beyond the early days of building a business.

This is especially true with today’s economic climate - VCs are now looking more for “sure things” as opposed to taking a risk on a potential high flier.

In the third quarter of 2008, venture capitalists invested $7.1 billion into 907 different deals.

Of that $7.1 billion, only $1.7 billion was invested into seed and early stage companies. The average seed deal was $3.5 million and the average early stage deal was $5.5 million.

Companies who were in the expansion stage received $2.7 billion. The average expansion stage deal was $10.1 million.

Finally, companies who were in the later stage managed to raise $2.8 billion. The average later stage deal totaled $9.8 million.

If you’re in the seed or early stage, there is money available but there is less of it compared to other stages and it is being spread across more companies. Look for venture capitalists who are actively investing into your industry but who have also recently funded startups.

Some VC companies have a greater appetite for risk than others and are willing to take on more seed and early stage companies. A quick look at the press releases of the different VCs will give you an indication as to the types of companies they are investing in.

It’s time for another SEO Advice post! Last week, I offered free SEO advice to Josh Can Help. I’m going to continue my SEO Advice series today by helping out another YoungEntrepreneur.com blog reader Armond, from Pray For My Mom.

Armond - http://www.prayformymom.com
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Hi Evan,

I’m one of your blog readers, and need some SEO advices for the website I’ve setup.

It’s a website dedicated to my mother who is suffering from cancer. All we need are prayers, support and positive comments. Using that website people can post their supportive/positive comments, prayers and even light virtual candles there. I want to show my mother there are many people around the globe who care for us although they may not know who and where we are. In this way, I want to give my mother hope and enough power to resist and succeed.

Anyways, here is the website:
http://www.prayformymom.com

I need to spread the word more and more, and to get a descent page rank in Google to get more traffic. I will appreciate any advice in this regard.

Thank you so much for your time & effort.

Armond

My Recommendations

This is a great initiative that you have created and I would love to help you get more search engine traffic to the site!

1) Use Cancer Related Keywords In Your Title Tag

Your title simply reads “Pray For My Mom” which is descriptive of what you have on the site but it won’t help you drive traffic. Something like “cancer support blog” or “cancer support resource” would help you get more people visiting the site who are interested in the same kind of support (and will hopefully also read your story and pray for your mom!)

2) Create Longer Posts

Your news post updates, such as 3rd session of Radiotherapy, are very personal and tell your story but if you want to get them ranked you should write more content. Try to aim for at least 300 words per post so you can get Google to pick up the content and you can get more people reading the updates you’re creating.

3) Use Better Post URLs

Look at the options in your blog management system and see if you can edit the URLs of each post. For example, your post Radiotherapy started today!’s URL is http://www.prayformymom.com/news/42 - since you’re not trying to rank for the keywords “news” or “42″, try to get it so that the 42 becomes: Radiotherapy-started-today.html so you can increase your chances of ranking in Google for those keywords.

Good luck Armond!

Readers, what do you think about Pray For My Mom?

To learn more about how to get SEO tips for your website please read my post: Need SEO Advice? Submit Your Site!

Today I’ll continue with my series on the Entrepreneur’s Guide To Venture Capital.

14 Things VCs Look For

12) Customers Repeat For Three Years Or More

The main reason why most businesses fail is that they run out of cash. You can run a profitable business but because people take too long to pay you, the business shuts down. When you’re in startup mode, cash is king!

Venture capitalists like to see that you have a way to make ongoing revenues from your existing customers. Once you sell a client do you have to go out and few new business or can you continue making money every month / year from them? If you can build a recurring revenue model from your products or services it will help put your company on solid financial grounds as well as help you secure VC funding.

13) Easy To See $20 Million In Three Years

VCs like to see companies grow quickly. If you get venture capital funding, where do you see your company in three years? If you’re not around the $20 million in sales mark then you might want to consider changing your business model or looking at a different source of funding (friends, family, angels, etc). You have to have a plan to get there in three years and be confident that you can achieve the goals you set out.

14) Significant Barriers To Entry

What is in place to prevent other companies from copying what you’re doing? Assuming that your product takes off and is the next iPod, what measures are in place to make sure that people can’t come along and offer the exact same offering as you. Do you have patents in place? Do you have exclusive agreements with suppliers? Have you tied your customers into long term contracts? Showing VCs that you’ve thought about how to protect your business from competition will show your sophistication and increase the chances of landing the money investment.

In September I did a profile on Giorgio Armani (The Customer Doesn’t Care If You’re A Small Organziation - Giorgio Armani) and thought I would continue telling the story today by sharing one of Armani’s favorite business practices: Pay Attention To the Details.

If there is one thing Armani does well, aside from designing clothes of course, it is micro managing. “My work is my life,” he says. “Even though it is good to take a holiday, after two vacations it is boring.”

Armani’s reputation as being a stickler for details, as well as a workaholic, precedes him in the fashion industry. Indeed, it is widely considered to be one of his greatest assets, and what enabled him to grow while his competition floundered. Whether he is behind the scenes at one of his fashion shows or working the night away in his company boardroom, no detail is too small for Armani’s attention.

Before ever even taking out the sewing machine, Armani has already done his research into the fabric and materials. Similarly, at every one of his fashion shows, Armani is always on the move. From personally greeting his models to consulting the hairdressers about what styles to create for the evening, Armani is involved in every step along the way. At times, he has even personally taken over the job of make up artist, if he felt it was being done according to his satisfaction.

“It’s a long process, the preparation of the hair and make up and it almost seems like I really shouldn’t be here sort of – people might think it’s a waste of my time,” he says. “But, I need to have a presence here to sort of control what’s going on in terms of hair and make up.”

Armani’s need to have total control over every aspect of his operations is one of the reasons he has refused to give in to the temptation that so many other designers have of selling off their company or buying out smaller fashion houses to scale up. Indeed, he is rare in the industry in that he entirely controls his own business. This, he says, is because of his need for independence and creative control.

“It gives me the freedom to pursue projects and initiatives that I feel passionate about, even if in the short term they may not deliver a financial return,” says Armani. When asked whether his foray into accessories, for instance, would not have been easier had he done it in partnership with the likes of Louis Vuitton or Gucci, already specialists in the field, Armani replies, “Yes, but it would have kept me from seeing just what I myself could accomplish. This kind of work is my entire life and the idea of seeing others manage it would have been very difficult, no, impossible.”

Armani is a free agent and he wants to keep it that way. That is also the reason why he has refused to take his company public. “At the moment we are perfectly able to finance our projects without going onto the stock market to raise capital,” says Armani. “If we were to become a listed company, I would have to be constantly justifying certain expenses to my shareholders, expenditures that are sometimes absurdly enormous but which can produce an enormous return. And I don’t see why I should.”

Do you pay enough attention to the details with your business?

This week’s Entrepreneur University comes thanks to Kimberly Kingsley. Kimberly is passionate about helping people become more energized and purpose driven. Through her work as an energy coach, writer and speaker, Kimberly teaches how to tap into one’s unlimited supply of inspired energy, while untangling from constraining habits and relationships.

Today Kimberly discusses how you can make sure to be inspired at work:
“Are you doing what you love? Do you wake up each morning feeling excited to go to work? If not, take action immediately. I’m not suggesting that you shut down your business or march into your boss’ office and resign, but simply that you explore your options and move toward the direction of bliss.

Here are the top five reasons to change your career if you don’t love it:

• Life’s too short.
• When you don’t like your work you are no good to anyone.
• Lack of inspiration will cause you to overindulge in things that aren’t good for you.
• We either grow or atrophy – which do you prefer?
• You have gifts that the world is waiting to receive.

For many years I had a counseling practice. People would come to my office – one after another – and tell me their problems. While I have great respect for the counseling profession and would rely on it in an instant if needed, being a counselor was sucking the life out of me.

I found myself doing more coaching and teaching than counseling. A few clients loved this, and began to grow and change at a rapid pace. Others would just look at me as if to say, “Aren’t you suppose to just nod your head and support me?”

Being a counselor did not fit my action oriented, grow and grow fast, personality. Once I shifted from counseling to coaching, I loved seeing the clients. My work doesn’t look much different. People still come to my office, one after another, but when they leave I feel energized instead of drained.

The Truth about Energy

We are designed with the capacity to channel large amounts energy into the world. Whether it’s keeping up a farm, or writing a book, contributing your skills leads to deep contentment, and at times, even joy. These feelings are the direct result of energy moving through your body at a high velocity.

Consider, for example, a garden hose trickling water onto concrete. Over time it gets brittle from lack of use and the concrete doesn’t soak up the water anyway. Move it over to a tree, however, and as the water flows, the tree grows!

When we focus our energy and attention in a direction that feels good, we live according to design and the world benefits from our contribution.

Compensation

The problem with not living according to human design – when you are not contributing the way only you can – is that your body doesn’t get enough energy (essential nourishment) and starts to crave what it’s missing. We often don’t know what we are missing, so we try anything and everything: food, television, alcohol, buying toys, pornography, and other twisted attempts to feel energized.

It doesn’t work – well, it does work for a very short time – but then the cravings start again because what we really need is to feel our own essence. The only way to get filled up, or fulfilled, is to direct your attention and energy toward something that interests you. Then, and only then, will enough energy flow through you to satiate your cravings.

Healthy choices are natural when we are filled up from within – simply because an unhealthy choice would be a drain.

I spend a lot of time teaching people how to manage their energy so that they can feel good and cope well with life. But that’s step two. Step one is making sure you get enough to begin with.

Sometimes only a small shift is needed in order to align with your natural gifts, such as my move from counseling to coaching. Other times, a bigger change is required. This can take some time, and that’s okay. Energy is increased simply by moving in the right direction – no need to rush, just start moving.

There’s only one reason you’re here, and that is to share your gifts. So don’t feel selfish or foolish for doing what you love. The puzzle of humanity is not complete until you do.”

Are you inspired in the work that you do?