Archive for March, 2010

This is the final piece of a four-part series asking, “Do you have it in you, to be an Entrepreneur?”  There are four key strengths that are must haves for an entrepreneur to be successful.  Previously, I discussed the Passion, Guts, and Team.  Here, we’ll discuss Cash Flow.

What is cash flow?  Wikipedia’s definition is fairly straight-forward: “Cash flow refers to the movement of cash into or out of a business, a project, or a financial product. It is usually measured during a specified, finite period of time.”

There are entire courses available on studying cash flow delving into whatever depth of detail you desire.  As an entrepreneur it is really simple.

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This is the third in a four-part series asking, “Do you have it in you, to be an entrepreneur?” There are four key strengths that are must haves for an entrepreneur to be successful.  Previously, I discussed the Passion and Guts.  Here, we’ll discuss team.

I suspect, when most people think of an ‘entrepreneur’ they’re thinking of a single person, moving mountains on their own, going it alone.  Later, they marvel at how the one individual became an ‘internet millionaire’ or now owns a 1,000 person company or some such.

The reality is so very far from that truth.  No matter who the successful entrepreneur is, they are always surrounded by their team. Look at the names you know, like Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki. Robert tells stories in his books about the importance of building a team.  Donald, especially in the acclaimed Apprentice series, made the value of team very visible by including them on his own television show.

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Ok, here’s your chance.  Tell me what you think.

I’ve decided, I’m eager actually, to sit down and start writing my first book.  I have a few ideas as to what the key focus might be.  But, I want to reach out to you, the slowly growing number of individuals visiting me daily, and ask your opinion.  I want to see if my personal expectations are in line with what you have come to expect of me.

What type of book, what type of topics, would you like to see from me?  Leave a comment.  Send me an email (bookideas@jtpedersen.net) in the next 10 days.

I’d appreciate your input.  Really.

(photo credit: Sigurd Decroos)

This is the second in a four-part series asking, “Do you have it in you, to be an entrepreneur?” There are four key strengths that are must haves for an entrepreneur to be successful. Previously, I discussed the first of these, Passion.  Here, we’ll discuss guts.

• Passion
• Guts
• Team
• Cash Flow

Passion.  Guts.  In past entrepreneurial discussions I have heard people use these two terms (or equivalents) interchangeably.  But, really, there is a difference between passion and guts.

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This past Friday, I had the opportunity to speak in front of a group of 30, folks considering launching their own business or just having done so.  Many are doing so because work is so hard to come by, others because it’s simply the right time to follow their dreams.

Starting my presentation, I wanted to address four key strengths that are must haves for an entrepreneur to be successful.

• Passion
• Guts
• Team
• Cash Flow

You Have to be Passionate

As a potential new entrepreneur, you have to ask yourself, “Am I passionate about what I want to do?”  Do you truly believe in the product, service, or other offering that you are going to build and take to market?

Passion is, perhaps first and foremost, the most important trait for any entrepreneur.  You have to truly believe that what you are going to do will add value for your customers.

A fire in the belly is what it will take for you to work the 12, 14, 16 hour days necessary at times to get your dream off the ground.  That same fire will keep you moving even when best friends, family members, Mom or Dad, are telling you it’s all wrong, you can’t do it, you won’t succeed.

Beyond the doubters, you will face uncounted obstacles, distractions, and daily-living events. If you’re not passionate, if there’s no fire in your belly, these events will overtake you, remove the luster of your once-shiny idea, and make it harder to stick with.

Next, I talk about Guts, Team, and Cash Flow.

Photo Credit: www.sxc.hu #793479

Ann Arbor SPARK hosts a monthly series, Starting Your Own New Business. The day-long seminar includes presenters on finance, accounting, marketing, product development, and other topics related to launching one’s own business. Below, is the high-level presentation for Friday, March 19, 2010.

This high-level presentation discusses:

• Do you have what it takes…to be an entrepreneur
• Key topics important for successfully moving the Idea for a product, through development, and ensuring it survives to reach fruition.

For some time now, we have been hearing about a looming labor shortage in ‘10-15 years.’  That forecast has been out there quite a while now.  It seems odd that, even as we’re suffering higher unemployment than we are accustomed to, that this remains an almost certainty.

Why is that?  If you’ve not monitored labor trends, there are at least two key drivers.  One, is that the following generations (X-, Y-, …) are smaller than the baby boomer generation.  As the boomers begin retiring, there are fewer to replace them.  At the same time, other major parts of the world, such as India, China, and Brazil, are rapidly developing and more effectively competing for those same people we’d normally bring to the U.S.  Now, they’re returning or simply not coming to our shores to begin with.

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This week I participated in a discussion on what you need to do to strategically position yourself for moving into executive management.  There was a lot of input as you might expect, given the topic.

Distilling the comments, it came down to demonstrating:

• Acceptance of Increased Responsibility
• Courageousness – Make the hard decisions
• Vision and Leadership
• Ability to Influence colleagues at all levels
• Willingness to Move (to another company)

In my own experience the last two factors rise above the rest.

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Even though I’ve had my iPhone for quite a while now, I continue to be amazed at the sheer range and depth of application offerings available for it.  Even when there were ‘only’ 20,000 apps available, there was always something available to solve the need of the moment.  Now there’s over 133,000 apps, the sky’s the limit.

One of my favorite examples was while having coffee with my friend and minister.  He was bemoaning the fact he had the Bible installed on his smartphone, but that it wouldn’t let him read anything past about Matthew or Mark.  Sure enough, I was able to find, download, install, and show him a copy of the Bible on my iPhone, with 6 translations, in about 2 minutes.  There really is, an app for everything!

So here are some of my own ‘top’ apps for the iPhone, based on my current activities:

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Monday night I had the opportunity to attend an Agile Groupies meeting.  It’s a semi-regular gathering of folks (developers, business analysts, product managers, etc.) interested in a specific approach, Agile, toward software development.

For those of you not familiar, Agile development focuses on smaller development teams, working on smaller deliverables, in highly iterative, somewhat less structured approach.  Part of the thinking is that if you are delivering in smaller, more discrete ‘chunks’ of working product, that the overall process will be more ‘agile,’ more adaptive to ongoing change during a product’s overall life cycle. The idea is to move away from ‘heavy’ less flexible disciplines, and back toward lighter, freer, approaches. Read the rest of this entry »