Lessons from an entrepreneur: Start before you are ready | BusinessTips.com

March 20, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ 1 Comment

I attended an entrepreneurship summit recently, where I was asked to help select and distribute an interesting award. Attendees were asked to write down something inspiring they learned at the summit and the best entry would win.

The majority of attendees entered the same mantra from an earlier speaker: Start before you’re ready. However, only one attendee went the extra mile and described what that principle meant to him. He applied the knowledge and was named the winner.

I was impressed by that because, of all the so-called entrepreneurs in the room, he was the real deal.

Thinking about this, I decided to look at my own entrepreneurship efforts (some successful and some not) to see how the “Start before you’re ready” mantra could apply to me. Here’s what I learned:

12 Ways Successful People Handle Toxic People | Entrepreneur

March 19, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Toxic people defy logic. Some are blissfully unaware of the negative impact that they have on those around them, and others seem to derive satisfaction from creating chaos and pushing other people’s buttons. Either way, they create unnecessary complexity, strife, and worst of all stress.

Studies have long shown that stress can have a lasting, negative impact on the brain. Exposure to even a few days of stress compromises the effectiveness of neurons in the hippocampus—an important brain area responsible for reasoning and memory. Weeks of stress cause reversible damage to neuronal dendrites (the small “arms” that brain cells use to communicate with each other), and months of stress can permanently destroy neurons. Stress is a formidable threat to your success—when stress gets out of control, your brain and your performance suffer.

How Do You Rebuild A Small Business After It Collapses? | Forbes

March 18, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Things could not have been worse for Bill Cromedy. His partners in the Philadelphia contracting firm had suddenly left, leaving him with little but the chair he sat in and a cloud of industry rumors about what had caused the company to split.

Cromedy knew that rebuilding the business would mean countless hours, as well as competing against his former partners. Cromedy could easily have walked away—many others would have. But now, just a few years later, Advantage Contracting is going strong once again, and the lessons he learned along the way continue to fuel his success.

How does a small business come back from such adversity? Cromedy began his path to recovery by looking inward. What he found can serve as a template for overcoming entrepreneurial catastrophes of any magnitude.

3 Reasons Why You Want Your Work to be Copied | Blinkist

March 18, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Nobody likes to see their ideas stolen, but in The Knockoff Economy, Kal Raustiala and Christopher Sprigman offer some pretty compelling reasons why copying is more than just a big compliment.

That classic after-school snack. That crunchy adulthood indulgence. That chocolatey, curiously sandy sandwich cookie for the ages that was just made to be dunked in milk. What could be more original and distinct than an Oreo cookie?

Actually, the Hydrox.

5 Signs a Leader Is Burned Out | Inc.com

March 17, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Politicians, entrepreneurs, and leaders of all types get burned out. The problem is that because they are on center stage, the little subtleties that indicate that they aren’t at the top of their game are missed. Agendas get stuck. Leaders who have been previously energetic, focused, and a bit ahead of everyone else can get behind, and inertia sets in.

Those around them begin to whisper, get nostalgic for what was, and hope that the leader can turn it around. The signs of leadership burnout aren’t as simple as noting when someone locks him- or herself away. Burned out leaders stay active, but there is a sense that they’ve lost their edge.

The problem of leadership burnout is that no one is going to tell you. You are the person in charge. You are the entrepreneur with the great ideas. You are the CEO with ultimate authority. No one is going to come into your office and tell you that you’re losing your edge. You’re going to have to monitor yourself to make sure that you are on top of your game. It is crucial that you learn the symptoms of burnout so you can make a change before it’s too late.

Here are five signs to watch out for:

The New Rules of B2B Marketing | All Business

March 17, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Do you own a company that markets business-to-business? If so, you know how important face-to-face prospecting and selling is for success. You’ve got to network, work the phone, make sales calls and more. But increasingly, B2B marketing is happening online—and if your small business is still relying too much on in-person marketing methods, you’re going to fall behind the curve.

Your business website is the essential starting point for online B2B marketing. Today, the sales funnel of B2B has changed, with buyers typically conducting much of their research online before ever reaching out to a company to make a purchase. Where once you could reach out to prospects personally, now it’s equally important to draw them in through online marketing and content that gets them interested, provides information and answers their questions. That way, by the time they contact you, they’re halfway sold on your product or service already.

Detroit Motor Show: Car firms take on the tech giants | BBC News

March 16, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Detroit in January is largely filled with just one group of people, petrolheads.

They come to the Detroit Motor Show in droves, eager to get a peek at the latest offerings from the big three US car makers and the European manufacturers who are competing for market share in the lucrative car market.

But car firms here, while continuing to focus on horsepower, are beginning to turn their attention to processing power.

That’s because most analysts agree that if car makers want to appeal to a younger generation, who are driving approximately 23% less than they used to, they’ll need to shrink cars into, well, iPhones.

How to Choose the Right Internet Provider | Small Biz Trends

March 16, 2015March 25, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Imagine your business without an Internet connection. Customers depend on getting service from you online or via your IP phone system. Employees need to communicate and collaborate, and are often doing that online (even when they are located in the same office!) The Internet is fast becoming one of the top sales and marketing channels for small businesses.

A lot is at stake with your business, if your Internet is slow or unreliable.

Depending on where your business is located you may have many choices or few choices. Whatever your situation, here are some important considerations to take into account to choose the best Internet service provider for your business:

This Woman Wants to Take Common Folk to Space—In a Balloon | WIRED

March 13, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

JANE POYNTER HAS a mesmerizing way of describing what it will be like to be shuttled to the ends of the Earth in the souped-up space balloon being developed by her company, World View.

You’ll arrive at the launch site predawn, Poynter says, and step inside a comfortable capsule with a few other passengers. You’ll lift off the ground, and float upward for an hour and a half, gently rising at a speed of about 1,000 feet a minute. When you arrive at the top of the atmosphere, Poynter says, you’ll see “the most unbelievable panorama of stars” around you. The sun, rising up over the ground below you, will begin to creep over the horizon and light up the Earth below. You’ll hover in that place for about an hour before gliding back to the ground using a rectangular parachute called a parafoil.

Your Fitness App Is Making You Fat | TechCrunch

March 13, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Fitness apps are all the rage. A raft of new companies and products want to track your steps and count your calories with the aim of melting that excess blubber. There’s just one problem — most of these apps don’t work. In fact, there is good reason to believe they make us fatter.

One study called out “the dirty secret of wearables,” citing that “these devices fail to drive long-term sustained engagement for a majority of users.” Endeavour Partners’ research found “more than half of U.S. consumers who have owned a modern activity tracker no longer use it. A third of U.S. consumers who have owned one stopped using the device within six months of receiving it.”

While the report mentioned several reasons why people don’t stick with these tracking devices, my own theory is simple: They backfire. Here are three surprising reasons why fitness apps may be making us less happy and more flabby.