The Naughty Entrepreneur Checklist: 40 Reasons Why You Are Not Seeing Results

If you are wondering about what the Naughty Entrepreneur Checklist is, it’s achecklist of all the things you “should not” do or ways you “should not” be if you want to move forward in your endeavors. I put the words “should not” in quotations marks because what you should or should not do is subjective.

You be the judge…

(Source)

However, if you see yourself falling into most of the circumstances listed here, there’s a good chance you are not getting the results you want with your online business.

So without further ado, here is The Naughty Entrepreneur Checklist:

If you are guilty of any of these naughty behaviors, don’t worry. It just means you got it a bit backwards and we have to turn things around a bit. I myself still fall into several of these old bad habits! Still working on the saying NO part. It’s a work in progress. 

But lets work on it shall we? Here’s your homework assignment.

Action Plan:

1. Either print out this page or click on the link below to access the pdf version of the checklist to print out.
2. Start checking off the areas that you feel you’ve been a naughty entrepreneur.
3. Make it a commitment to do the exact opposite of what has not been working for you!
4. Hang it up somewhere readily visible to refer to it constantly to ensure you do not fall back into old habits.

Naughty Entrepreneur Checklist PDF

Note: Keep a copy of this checklist on your computer. As you begin tackling some of these issues, you will have less and less of them checked off. So I would suggest printing out a new copy each month and monitoring your progress.

So what about it? Are you a naughty entrepreneur?

Please share this post and help other entrepreneurs tackle their unproductive and ineffective habits!

Update: Julie Sahud Weishaar from Say It With Video, created a video out of this checklist. Very cool! Check it out.

9 Amazing (Very) Young Entrepreneurs

Credit: Young entrepreneur image via Shutterstock View full size image

Entrepreneurs are getting younger and younger these days. Stories of people launching startups right out of college and becoming CEOs in their 20s seem to pop up everywhere. But it turns out some of us don't even need to reach college age to start a successful company: These business owners aren't even out of their teen years yet! Check out our list of incredible young entrepreneurs that made a name for themselves before they could drive a car.

Leanna Archer

Leanna's Hair
Leanna Archer was just 9 years old when she began bottling and selling her own hair pomade to friends and family. Based on her great-grandmother's secret recipe, Archer's line of all-natural hair products has expanded to include a variety of hair cleansers, conditioners and treatments. The now-17-year-old serves as the CEO of her company and has been recognized by prominent business publications like Forbes and Success Magazine. She even started the Leanna Archer Education Foundation to help build schools and safe learning environments for underprivileged children in Haiti.

Robert Nay

Nay Games
In December 2010, a new mobile game app called "Bubble Ball" was launched on the Apple app store. In its first two weeks it received more than 1 million downloads, surpassing "Angry Birds" as the most downloaded free game from Apple. This game was built entirely by Robert Nay, a 14-year-old with no previous coding experience. According to CNN, Nay learned everything he needed to know through research at the public library, and produced 4,000 lines of code for his physics-based puzzle game in just one month. The teen entrepreneur's company, Nay Games, released 24 new levels for "Bubble Ball" in August 2013.

Lizzie Marie Likness

Lizzie Marie Cuisine
Like many little girls, 6-year-old Lizzie Marie Likness wanted to ride horses. To pay for horseback riding lessons, she began selling homemade baked goods at her local farmers market. Eventually Marie realized that cooking was her true passion, and with the help of her parents, she built a healthy-cooking website with instructional videos to help kids eat better. Now 13, Likness has taught cooking classes, appeared on the "Rachael Ray Show," and starred in her own WebMD video series, "Healthy Cooking with Chef Lizzie," through her culinary business venture.
[Do Confident Kids Have More Future Career Success?]

Moziah Bridges

Mo's Bows
Most young boys are revolted by the idea of getting dressed up, but Moziah Bridges is a rare exception. After being disappointed in the bow ties available to him on the market, Bridges learned how to sew his own with the help of his grandmother. The fashion-forward 11-year-old began selling his creations on Etsy, and his products were soon picked up by boutiques in several southeastern states. So far, Bridges has earned over $30,000 from his bow ties, and told Forbes that he eventually plans to start a children's clothing company.

Neha Gupta

Empower Orphans
From an early age, Neha Gupta has participated in her family's tradition of celebrating birthdays by traveling to India and bringing food and gifts to orphans in their hometown. In 2005, when Gupta was 9 years old, she decided she wanted to do more to make a real difference in these children's lives. She began selling handmade wine charms door-to-door and at community events to raise money for school books and other educational expenses for orphans. These efforts led her to create her own registered nonprofit organization, Empower Orphans. Gupta, now 17, has raised more than $1 million and has received awards from numerous charitable foundations.

Jaden Wheeler and Amaya Selmon

Kool Kidz Sno Konez
Jaden Wheeler and Amaya Selmon started making snow cones with a blender and an extension cord in front of their Memphis, Tenn.,home two years ago. Since then, the brother and sister team have upgraded quite a bit: at ages 12 and 11, respectively, they are now the youngest food truck owners in Memphis. In a Huffington Post feature on Kool Kidz Sno Konez, Jaden and Amaya explained that their mother purchased the truck for them after seeing how successful their (very) small business had become. The truck, which is usually stationed in local parks or at private events, now offers hot dogs, nachos, and more than 20 snow cone flavors.

Nick D'Aloisio

Summly
How many teens can say that a multinational corporation purchased their company and made them millionaires? There's probably not a lot, but Nick D'Aloisio is one of them. The 17-year-old entrepreneur is the tech prodigy behind Summly, a summarization app that algorithmically creates summaries of news articles optimized for the iPhone. At 15, he received backing from Horizon Ventures and other angel investors to develop his technology, and in March 2013, Yahoo acquired D'Aloisio's company for $30 million.

Anshul Samar

Elementeo (Alchemist Empire Inc.)
As a fourth grader, Anshul Samar loved playing card games. Two years later, he began developing his own, which he called Elementeo. Samar aimed to make chemistry fun with his board-based game, which involves pitting personified versions of each element on the periodic table against each other to "capture" electrons. Since the first iteration of Elementeo, Samar, now a 19-year-old Stanford University student, has continued to update the game and created a grant fund for other young entrepreneurs, says in a Taking on the Giant article. He has even given a TEDx Talk (an independently organized TED Talk) on his game.
This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Originally published on BusinessNewsDaily.

77 Business Improvements in 77 Days

Business improvement is the basis for competitive advantage. The most successful businesses are businesses that are different today from yesterday, and tomorrow bring something new and in that way make today always to be better from yesterday.

In this post, you can find the list of 77 items that you can improve for 77 days. Of course, the list is not final, we can go with more fields for improvements. However, it is limited to the 77 most important elements.

You can use at once, but my recommendation is to use it in cycles. Start from the first day and finish with the last day, but then go back again from first day. In such a way, you can have a company that will be difficult for someone to copy. So start improving.

77 Business Improvement in 77 Days

Business idea

Day 1: Creativity

First place where there is always something for improvement is to increase your creativity.

Day 2: Communicate the idea

You are not alone and the idea would not be only for you if you realize it. Communicate the idea and get the improvements of that communication.

Day 3: Community

The idea must be communicated with your community where you or your company is. This is an important element of the process of creating and implementing ideas.

Day 4: Prioritization

You will have many ideas, many projects but, with different priority. You can improve the process of prioritization.

Day 5: Plan the Implementation

Many good ideas are not transformed into successful businesses due to lack of one thing – implementation.

Day 6: Process of implementation

The idea might be great, but if it is not implemented in the  right way, the whole process would be pointless.

Day 7: Leadership

Who is the leader, the person who will lead the whole process?

Day 8: Implementation Capacity

What is capacity of the implementation of ideas? Can you increase that capacity?

Business Plan

Day 9: Previous Experience

Check previous experience with planning and find the biggest failures.

Day 10: Forecasting

Quality forecasting is the basis for good planning. Improve the whole forecasting process.

Day 11: Knowledge

Business planning requires knowledge, find as much as possible sources of knowledge that will improve the process.

Day 12: Business Model

Start with the design of a business model, then incorporate it in the quality business plan.

Day 13: Goals

What do you want to make with a business plan? The goals are the basis of any planning process and something that can always be improved.

Day 14: Graphs

Business plan is a graphical presentation of business figures. With one view, you can see the necessary improvements.

Day 15: The Purpose of Business Plan

Who is the purpose of the business plan? Do not attempt to satisfy all parties with your business plan.

Day 16: Interesting

Do the business plan is interesting or boring?

Day 17: Reality Instead Optimistic

Business planning process requires to be realistic, do not foresee or set goals too many optimistic.

Day 18: Me, Me and Me Syndrome

Check out where you use it and try to avoid it!

Day 19: Looking to Competition

You can always find opportunities to improve your view of the competitors.

Day 20: Perspectives

Choose a perspective through which will be directed your view, improve it and just go ahead!

Day 21: Implementation Plan of Your Business Plan

You must have one implementation plan. Improve it apply it.

Day 22: Evidence

Make sure that all the numbers and facts are drawn from proven and consistent sources of information, rather than from assumptions.

Finance

Day 23: Financial Sources

Look for possible financial sources and improve them!

Day 24: Cash Flow

Look at the graph of cash flow analysis of and find elements that can be improved.

Day 25: Cash Flow Skills

Improve your cash flow skills through a different knowledge sources on the issues.

Day 26: Costs

Believe it or not the costs are something that always can be improved.

Day 27: Break-even Analysis

Make a break-even analysis and see what, where and how to improve something.

Day 28: Profit/Loose Projections

Look at profit/loose projections and consider how to improve profit or how to make losses to become profit.

Day 29: Total Income/Expenses Rate

What is the relationship between total income and expenses and what you need to do to increase that relationship?

Day 30: Return of Investments

What is the return of investment in your business? How can you improve it?

Day 31: Net Income/Total Investments Rate

What is the relationship between net income and total investments and what you can do to increase that amount?

Productivity

Day 32: Organization

Organization is the basis for increased productivity. If you improve the organization you will also improve the productivity.

Day 33: Planning

Plans can increase personal and business productivity. Improve your planning process if you want to improve personal and business productivity.

Day 34: Systems

Business systems enable faster execution of the same thing at the same period of time. There is always space for improvement.

Day 35: Personal Life

Improve your personal life and you can see the difference in business.

Day 36: To-Do Lists

To-Do lists are useful tools in increasing productivity.

Day 37: Constraints

There are always personal and business constraints. Find and eliminate them to increase personal and business productivity.

Day 38: Outsourcing

What can be done in the form of outsourcing that will increase business productivity?

Day 39: Employees

Business productivity is based on the employee’s productivity.

Day 40: Management Systems

Business productivity depends on the management systems used in your company.

Day 41: Information Systems

Real information in real-time, to the right person will help to complete more work.

Day 42: Learning System

Knowledge gained through a good learning system will increase business productivity.

Business Processes

Day 43: Organize the Unorganized

There is always something in business that is not organized properly.

Day 44: Systematize the Business Processes

Systematization of business processes is the basis for future improvements that will bring competitive advantages.

Day 45: Technology

Use your technology at the optimal level.

Day 46: Input/Output

You can always improve the transformation of the input into the output.

Day 47: Business Model

The business model as a basis of any company always can be improved.

Marketing

Day 48: Marketing Plan

Create better marketing plan. Read more about marketing plan in Better Marketing Plan – 5 Questions & One Table.

Day 49: 4P

Product, promotion, place and price as elements  of a marketing mix can always be subject to improvement.

Day 50: Marketing Weapons

Each marketing weapon always can be improved.

Day 51: Marketing Calendar

Check, compare, analyze and redesign your marketing calendar.

Day 52: Call to Action

Call to Action is one of the most important elements of any marketing weapon that has an enormous impact on the success of a whole marketing campaign. Improve it if you want to increase efficiency and effectiveness of all your marketing efforts.

Day 53: Segmentation

Use tools such as RFM formula and analyze demographics against activities of customers.

Day 54: List of Customers

Check, compare, analyze and redesign your list of customers.

Day 55: List of Potential Customers

Check, compare, analyze and redesign your list of potential customers.

Day 56: Blog Design

How can be improved your blog design?

Day 57: Website Design

How can be improved your website design.

Day 58: Marketing Campaigns

You can always make a better marketing campaign than the previous one.

Day 59: Online Strategy

Online strategy becomes one of the most important strategies for a business. Any improvement means the overall business improvement in the same time.

Day 60: Attention, Reputation and Trust

Improve attracting attention to your company and in the same time build a better reputation and to trust.

Day 61: Additional Service

Improve additional services that you offer to the customers.

Day 62: Know Your Customers

The consumer is the most important person in your business world. If you have a better knowledge about them, you will have better relationships with them.

Day 63: Urgency

Improve elements that make a sense of urgency.

Day 64: Benefits

Improve benefits that your products and services offer to your customers.

Day 65: Credibility

Improve the overall credibility of your business.

Day 66: Offer

Improve your offer to be in terms of customers. Your offer must be based on the target market not on the wishes of the entrepreneur.

Day 67: Social Media

Improve your presence on social media.

Day 68: SEO

Optimize your web site and blog to the search engines.

Sale

Day 69: Sales Funnel

Improve your sales funnel. There’s always place to make something better.

Day 70: Sales Funnel Entrance

Increased entrance means increased likelihood of higher sales.

Day 71: Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is the rate of transformed potential buyers who entered in the sales funnel into the buyers. This measure is expressed as a percentage of total input and there are always possibilities for improvement.

Day 72: Average Sales

Improve the average amount of sales from one customer.

Day 73: Duration of the Sales Funnel

Reduce the duration of the sales funnel process.

Day 74: Sales Team

The sales team is the persons that finishing every sales process, let it be more convincing.

Day 75: Sales Team Knowledge

Sales team with a better knowledge about your products and /or services always can be increased. However, they are in direct contact with your customers.

Day 76: Smile

Improve the smile on the face of your sales team. Do not hold people who do not know how to laugh.

Day 77: Explanations

You can always make a better explanation of the features and benefits of your product and /or service to the customers.

Nido Qubein: Why Immigrants Become Millionaires

How post-industrial St. Louis made itself a startup hotbed

St. Louis has become a startup mecca, and a good place for recent college graduates to find work, or even follow their dream and create their own venture. There are tons of support resources, a favorable business climate, lots of shared spaces to choose from, and a positive vibe from many quarters. Having been a resident of the city for the last seven years, I have personally seen this evolution and am indeed part of the action myself. So why St. Louis and why now? It has to do with money, middle management, mentoring, brains and bandwidth.

Let's look at the stats. Earlier this year, Dice named St. Louis the fastest growing city when it comes to technology jobs posted on Dice. Job postings grew 25% and the average tech salaries were up 13% to $81,245. And according to Dice, Missouri's tech employment beat out Texas, New York and Washington. St. Louis Community College's annual workforce report is also noteworthy in its praise for IT jobs.

First there is money. Over the past several years, entrepreneurs have seen multiple ways to get grants or investments in their companies. Jay DeLong, the Vice President for New Venture & Capital Formation for the Regional Chamber in St. Louis has this video showing the 10 ways to raise $50k for your startup, including links to venture capitalists and business plan competitions. His video is nicely outdated, and new VC firms are being added to that list. Last month, Jim McKelvey, who was one of the co-founders of mobile payments company Square, put together the new VC firm SixThirty.

Matt Menietti is a Venture Partner with SixThirty (the name refers to the height and width of the iconic Gateway Arch.) and he told me, "We are another organization to the rich ecosystem in St. Louis but we are just focused on financial service tech startups." Their first program starts next month and will provide $100,000 investments, requiring each beneficiary to move to St. Louis for a four month program.

Some of these organizations such as Arch Angels have stepped up their game. When I first came to town, the Angels made one or two yearly equity investments and had a few dozen partners. Now they have merged with another venture capital group that was known as FinServe Tech Angels and award dozens of grants per year. Kyle Welborn, who ran FinServe and is now a partner at Cultivation Capital, another St. Louis-based VC firm, told me "With accelerators, business plan competitions, venture funds and angel groups, local companies are raising enough money to get started and grow."

I mentioned middle management for a reason, but not why you think. Over the past decade, St. Louis has been losing headquarters of Fortune 100 companies to other locations. Our iconic Budweiser is now part of an international beer company as one notable merger or acquisition. These moves involve shedding a lot of middle management, who in turn go into startup mode. Many of them have created new ventures and have been early recipients of Arch Grants and other funding sources.

Some ventures have gotten big enough to require their own middle managers. McKelvey's Square continues to have a small development group in town, and Riot Games development team has more than 30 people in the region.

Mentoring is another big factor. If you are going to start up a company from scratch, it helps to have folks you can call and get guidance from. And in St. Louis, there are now so many IT-related mentoring opportunities it is hard to keep track of all of them. The longest-running IT-specific program is the IT Entrepreneur Network (ITEN), which was founded in 2008 and now has 70 mentors advising more than 200 startup companies. ITEN has various programs including its Mock Angel preparatory session for those ventures that are ready to pitch to VCs and another program to help hone business plans. All of its mentors volunteer their time and take no equity position in the ventures. ITEN has more than a dozen job openings on their website, and you can see some of them below here. (Disclosure: I am a mentor at ITEN.)