Blog
Selling Your Invention
As discussed in previous Q&A posts, one viable option for the creative type is to sell your invention to someone else rather than try to manufacture it and take it to market. Not only does this keep you in your sweet spot, but it is in keeping with my rule of never investing in •••
- September 24, 2007
Which Business Entity is Right for You?
Business Week recently ran an excellent article on the different forms of legal business entities and the advantages of each... Room To Grow S corporations, C corps, LLCs�wading through the alphabet soup of incorporation options is one of your move important early business moves Your idea is •••
- September 24, 2007
How Michael Dell Got Started and His Current Turn-Around
Stories about how an entrepreneur launched a business are always fun, but it is rare when an entrepreneur is as successful as Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Computer. I've always enjoyed following the Dell story, which took a personal turn for me when Dell invested several million •••
- September 15, 2007
Painful Lessons Learned on My First Acquisition
I was recently looking at a business plan involving software that was several years old and was being repositioned to sell into a new market segment. While discussing the plan with our interns, I was immediately transported back in my memory to twelve years ago when I acquired a software company •••
- September 4, 2007
Social Networking as a Web 2.0 Operating System
Facebook, currently the second largest social networking site, has recently made a strategic move into becoming a social networking operating system. In doing so, they are affording application developers the opportunity to link their apps to Facebook and monetize (make money •••
- September 4, 2007
From High School Dropout to Billionaire
There was an excellent profile of Ken Hendricks of Beloit, Wisconsin in a recent issue of Reader's Digest about how he went from a high school dropout and a roofer making $10,000 per year to building and running a 350-store roofing supply chain that has $3 billion in sales. Money isn't everything •••
- September 1, 2007
What Young Women Are Looking For In a Husband
I am not an expert on marrying off my children (they are still young) and I am not an expert on courting, but I do have the opportunity to meet and visit with many like-minded young men and women and most of the conversations of those in their early 20's turn to marriage and the preparation for •••
- August 28, 2007
A Father Encourages Entrepreneurship
What happens when a father sits his family down and lays out a vision for entrepreneurship? When one father I know did this with his family several months ago, the results were dramatic. First, the vision was simple: he encouraged the family to think and pray about how they could •••
- August 17, 2007
Look for Customer Pain and Sub-Scale Processes
During a recent lunch with the New Venture Lab apprentices, one of them brought up an idea he was working on based on informal market research he had conducted by striking up conversations with members of his target industry. He was zeroing in on the process that the most frustrating part of the •••
- July 21, 2007
Finding Opportunities in the New Outsourced World
I saw this tongue-in-cheek quote that came from a venture capitalist's blog recently: "About a year ago I hired a developer in India to do my job. I pay him $12,000 to do the job I get paid $67,000 for. He's happy to have the work. I'm happy that I only have to work 90 minutes a day, talking •••
- July 2, 2007
Marketing Strategy: The Awards and Recognition Strategy
An interesting marketing strategy that I had all but forgotten about until fairly recently (when I was on the receiving end once again of one of these types of mailings), is what I’ll call “the awards and recognition strategy.” This is not a marketing strategy that I fully endorse •••
- June 30, 2007
New Web-Based Tutoring Business is a Disruptive Business Idea
There was a news story today about a web-based tutoring business that offers a very attractive method and pricing for tutoring: Companies such as TutorVista have assembled an army of foreign teachers, most of them classroom veterans with graduate degrees, to help American students learn •••
- June 14, 2007
Entrepreneurship as Biblical Stewardship
A simple definition of entrepreneurship is: "creating value through the utilization and control of resources that you do not own", which is essentially a biblical definition of stewardship where God owns everything and we are merely the stewards tasked with making the most of those resources. •••
- May 26, 2007
Acquisition vs. Organic Growth
When I started my property management company, I got things rolling by acquiring three firms and combined them into one and then began focusing on organic growth off of that launch platform. The shift from an acquisition growth strategy to an organic growth strategy was not my original •••
- May 24, 2007
Lessons on Leadership from the World's Leading Investment Bank: Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs is the leading global investment bank (the kind of bank that takes companies public, provides brokers and capital advisory services, provides wealth management services, advises on mergers and acquistions, etc.) Goldman Sachs feels that good leadership is built on •••
- May 17, 2007
More Lessons on Leadership from the U.S. Army Rangers
Other guiding principles for the U.S. Army Rangers are captured in the Ranger Creed, which was written by Command Sergeant Major Gentry of Headquarters Company, 75th Ranger Battalion in 1974. Today it is recited by Rangers during upon graduation from Ranger school, change of command ceremonies, and •••
- May 17, 2007
Lessons on Leadership from the U.S. Army Rangers
Much of my leadership training came through the years of U.S. Army training that I took part in including U.S. Army Ranger training. The guiding principles of the Rangers are captured in the Rogers Standing Orders for his Rangers, or Rogers Ranger Rules, written just prior to the •••
- May 17, 2007
Guest Blog: How To Tell Which Customers Will Pay
Have you ever had to give a client company a buzz to find out where their payment is? Or have you had to tell them that unless they send a check, that they will be hearing from your lawyer? The best way to avoid payment problems is to avoid problem customers. Here are some tips: The most •••
- May 8, 2007
Till Debt Do Us Part
There was an interesting story in the newspaper yesterday titled "Till Debt Do Us Part." As Christians, we should take seriously the scripture that warns against the bondage of debt, but now fresh research also shows what most of knew anyway, that debt also curses marriages: The decision •••
- April 25, 2007
Creating an Entrepreneurial Training Roadmap
Once you've developed the high level vision for your children, look for the Lord's calling on each child when they are old enough to put away childish things. Discuss with them their areas of interest, seek God's guidance for their future and help them create a roadmap. We need to be •••
- April 24, 2007
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