How Can You Become a Young Millionaire?

Find out from author and young entrepreneur Jennifer Kushell, who explains how to get everything you want without waiting a lifetime.

If you were like most teenagers, it was all you could do to survive the trials and tribulations of junior high and co-existing with the opposite sex. But Jennifer Kushell had more than boys and school on her mind back then. At 13, she started her first small business-creating and selling hand-painted T-shirts. By the time she was 19, she'd started three other businesses and had just launched the Young Entrepreneurs Network, the first online network for young people trying to start their own companies. Now 30, Kushell is the author of Secrets of the Young & Successful: How to get everything you want without waiting a lifetime.Drawing on both her personal experience and the experiences of the hundreds of young entrepreneurs she's met in the past 10 years, Kushell offers some words of wisdom to help you get off your duff and get your business started now!

Entrepreneur: Why did you decide to write this book?
Jennifer Kushell: Three years ago, my husband, Scott, and I were sitting on the beach in Belize [and] we came up with the idea for this new company called the Young and Successful Media Corp. This company does what we call "educaiment," a cross between education and entertainment, and the point is to take all the intellectual property we've been developing over a decade now and create the tools and resources young people need as they go out into the real world, picking up where parents and school leaves off, [and help them] establish themselves not only in their own businesses, but in life in general. This book was the first project.

Entrepreneur: Your book is really interactive and included exercises for readers to work on. Why did you choose to do it in that format?
Kushell: We really wanted to get people to start thinking about what their opportunities are and how far they can go with their lives and really start questioning how much more they can accomplish if they think strategically about it.

Entrepreneur: Although it's not written specifically for entrepreneurs, what do you think the most important lessons are for young entrepreneurs reading this book?
Kushell: I'd say the most important thing in the world is to be able to clearly articulate what you're trying to do, or what you're interested in. You don't have a lot of time to pitch yourself and to pitch your ideas to people out there, and the more clear, concise and sophisticated your answers can be, the more people will pay attention to you.

I think you have to start working very early on to build your own credibility and your respect in the professional workplace or in your industry. The younger you are, the more people question what you know and what you're capable of and if you go in knowing that, you can start to join organizations, you can volunteer, you can maybe even sit on boards. You can start to build up your bio early on and do research; you can hire interns; you can start to establish yourself in your community and your industry and become someone people know and respect. When your knowledge base and your expertise overshadows your age, that's when you're in a position where you can truly do anything and not be limited by how young you are.

Entrepreneur: What other important lessons are there for young entrepreneurs in your book?
Kushell: Young entrepreneurs must understand and be able to clearly articulate both their history and where they're headed. We like to ask the question "What's your story?" because it's very important that young entrepreneurs can effectively communicate their story to others, especially in business. In order to have customers, vendors, potential investors, employees, etc. to buy into your vision, you must know how to communicate what both you and your business are all about.

With "Real World University," we provide a concept of continued learning and sculpting an environment to efficiently and effectively learn what you really need out in the real world. Unfortunately, the education system and parents can't prepare everyone for what they really need to know once they're out on their own-everyone learns differently and has different knowledge bases they need to be successful in life. By identifying the areas you need to become an expert in business or industry and designing "classes" for yourself, an entrepreneur will set up a system to continually obtain new knowledge and wisdom over time. Attend Real World University, and your knowledge base and success will jump right past your competitors who think they know enough. Great entrepreneurs know that learning never stops!

The metaphor of "the house on the hill" is one we created to [help young people learn] about power players. Power players exist in different industries and areas of society. Young entrepreneurs need to learn early who the people are in these influential power circles that directly affect them and how to gain access and build relationships within "the house." It takes just one of these "homeowners" to take a liking to you and want to invite you in to their house to transform your business and opportunities.

Entrepreneur: How did you come up with the "young and successful" character traits you describe throughout the book?
Kushell: From people we knew, people we'd researched, and people we'd read about. From having the Young Entrepreneurs Network, I was dealing with tens of thousands of people who were doing amazing things with their own businesses. And we travel all over the world, we speak to huge audiences all the time, so we've come into contact with thousands of young people.

What we tried to do was figure out the key attributes that separated the people who are going about their lives and are maybe not so happy with everything but don't really know where they're going or how they're going to accomplish what they want-and [determine] what separates them from the people who have what they want-[those] who are totally focused, totally on the right track. That's where we came up with those attributes and said, 'OK, these people have taken control, they've taken ownership, they've said, "It's up to me to make the right decisions to get where I want to go." ' They don't wait for other people to hand them things and they also have a remarkable ability to spin challenges and disadvantages into the most powerful motivators and most powerful advantages, which was a very interesting thing we saw over and over and over.

I'd describe young and successful people like this:

• They display high levels of optimism and confidence.
• They possess vision and passion in their dreams and convictions.
• They ensure that they surround themselves with other like-minded people.
• They're highly resourceful, creative and inventive.
• They seize opportunities and create their own whenever possible.
• They know what motivates them.
• They have a strong sense of personal identity.
• They have spent a substantial amount of time on introspection and self-discovery.
• They refuse to let other people dictate how they should live.
• They take responsibility for their happiness.
• They spin challenges into their greatest motivators-and sometimes biggest advantages.
• Most importantly, they take control and ownership of their lives and careers early on, and never let go.

Entrepreneur: How did you develop TAPPS, the Four Rs and the personal balance sheet?
Kushell: [Scott and I] have always been very introspective and very intuitive, and part of our pact with each other as a married couple and as business partners is that we're constantly analyzing the way each other operates and [trying to] improve ourselves. You can't really do that unless you can be very candid with yourself and other people about what your strengths and weaknesses are.

TAPPS, which stands for Truth, Awareness, Preparations, Prevention and Survival, is an advance planning process that takes people through five simple steps to uncover how they might best approach a major challenge that could threaten to knock them off their path to success. It helps you identify the best possible approach to take to overcome the challenge, prior to the challenge occurring! For entrepreneurs, there's no denying that the path to achieving their dreams will inevitably have some bumps along the way. By applying TAPPS to a few of the top scenarios and mishaps that could potentially have the biggest impact on your life, you can rise to and overcome most challenges with great strength and clarity of mind.

The Four Rs is a tool we created to help people measure the level and kinds of returns they can expect from their investment of Risk, Effort, Sacrifice and Time in their major life decisions. For entrepreneurs, this is a critical tool to use, as it enables them to think clearly and analyze if and why they should plow everything they have into a new idea or business. By determining the returns on each of the 4 Rs, they'll be able to rest comfortably and confidently as they forge forward (or not), knowing that they've carefully thought through all they could in advance and not second guess themselves.

The "personal balance sheet" is similar to the process of a balance sheet used by a company to take a snapshot of their financial health on any given day. It's a terrific self-assessment tool that allows people to take a snapshot of their personal skills and abilities, as well as their current weaknesses and disadvantages, and then put this information to great use.

Many entrepreneurs tend to undervalue or overlook their assets and over exaggerate their liabilities, which can be detrimental to the success of their business. If you can be fair and honest with yourself when putting together your personal balance sheet, you'll develop a keen awareness of both your personal strengths and weaknesses or personal "assets" and "liabilities." This will enable you to better focus on and learn to minimize your liabilities and increase the strength of your assets so they can best be leveraged for success in both your business and personal lives.

Entrepreneur: In the book, you emphasize the importance of having a balanced life, a balanced and strong support structure with your family. Why is that so important to success?
Kushell: I've always said when it comes to entrepreneurs, I think more young people are put out of business by emotional issues than by financial issues. But people are always surprised when I say that. It's not money that puts young people out of business, it's the fact that people don't believe in them, that people are criticizing them or ostracizing them. I think when you're young, you're trying so hard to build a foundation for yourself, to get comfortable in your own skin and build your confidence, and people are always going to be chipping away at that, no matter you are, whether you're the most successful person in the world or you're homeless.

We have to become comfortable with who we are, and the only way I think we're gonna do that is by doing something we call 'sculpting a more perfect environment.' None of us has an absolute perfect environment to live in. Whether we're in school or at work or whatever we do, it's critical that we surround ourselves with people who understand us, who love us, who support us, and then also that we have a strong mentor mix. It's not a matter of finding one or two mentors. You need to have many different mentors, and that's [why we recommend] having a board of advisors.

You don't have to have a business to have a board of advisors, but it's critical that you have people who can support you in all different ways: people who are going to watch out for you and your health, people who are going to watch out for your finances and your money, people who are going to watch out for your education, your relationships, your social life and your lifestyle. There are a lot of different people we each need, and if you're not surrounded by people who motivate you, you're just not gonna go as far as you could.

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Jennifer Kushell is the founder and president of The Young Entrepreneurs Network as well as the author of several books on entrepreneurship, including her most recent release, Secrets of the Young & Successful.

Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/65154#ixzz2gEDiOWCx

25 Skills and Classes Necessary to Become a Great Entrepreneur

Background & Overview

Entrepreneurs are the backbone of today’s society – even more so now than ever. Whenever the economy gets rough or things begin to tighten up, it is always the entrepreneurs that are the first to rebound and lead the way to recovery. In fact, during tough times, is when the smartest business people become the most profitable and go through the most rapid growth and expansion. This cycle has repeated itself many times over and is evident all the way back to the Great Depression. Yes, many lost a lot, but a record number of people skyrocketed their success during those very same times.

So, what’s the secret? Well, it’s never a simple answer, but in analyzing and studying today’s entrepreneurs there are many trends that can be recognized. And, the old saying was never truer than it is today – “If you want to get what a millionaire has, you have to do what a millionaire does.” The thing that most people miss, however, is that in order to do what a millionaire does, you have to understand what it is that he or she is doing and why.

Looking at the various statistics for entrepreneurs there are a couple that really stand out above the rest. The first is kind of shocking in some ways, but makes sense in others. Currently, the largest age group of entrepreneurs is in the 45 to 60 year old segment of the population. In a recentVanderbilt University study, entrepreneurs ages 45 to 64 were expected to grow by 15 million by 2006. That compares to a four million decline in entrepreneurs aged 25 to 44.

Now that data is a couple of years old at this point, but still very statistically relevant. So why all of the growth in the elder generation? A lot of it can be attributed to having more assets disposable to them to help fund and jump start a new business endeavor. It is also very likely that in the their 40’s many realize that their current path is not going to get them to their goal and they are willing to take the risks necessary to become an entrepreneur that perhaps they were not willing to take at a younger age.

A second rather startling statistic is that 33% of all new businesses fail within the first two years. That number is much higher when you look at the first five years. The problem is that many young entrepreneurs are ignoring both of these statistics – and we know, statistics don’t lie.

So if the largest entrepreneurial age segment is over 45 years old and if one-third of all entrepreneurs fail in the first two years, why aren’t younger people reading between the lines and following the blueprint for success? The simple fact is that many of them simply do not know what all is involved and just how complex it can be (leading to the very high failure rates).

Key Character Traits

Before we dive into the skills and classes that you should be pursuing to increase your entrepreneurial aptitude, we first must talk about core principles that most all great entrepreneurs share. You could call them character traits or personality traits – whatever you like. But if you truly intend to be able to replicate what some of the new generation of entrepreneurs are doing, you need to understand a bit about who they are first of all.

Independent/Non-conformist - Successful entrepreneurs are very independent and don’t easily take no for an answer. They tend to have very strong ideas – frequently bucking traditional beliefs and so-called wisdom. Probably the strongest trait that they have is the recognition that they don’t know what they don’t know and they don’t try to do what they don’t know (they hire someone else to do it).

Many wannabe entrepreneurs miss the boat on that point; instead, trying to be the “Jack of all Trades” and doing (or trying to do) everything themselves! The near certain end result of such a tactic is either becoming completely burned out and flopping, or a small degree of success but the creation of a system that simply cannot grow or expand because of its inherent structural limitations.

Today’s entrepreneurs also recognize that time can be “bent”. They don’t limit themselves by traditional expectations of time and money – rather, they break the mold and find new creative ways to shatter old concepts of what is achievable within a certain time frame.

Have Passion/Drive - One factor that can’t be overstressed is the fact that most successful entrepreneurs absolutely love what they do. It’s not a J.O.B. to them – it is a passion! That passion is what drives them to the incredible desire to swim against the current and come up with fresh new ideas and perspectives that can catapult their business into rapid success.

Today, more than any other time in history, it is possible to go from nothing to mega-millionaire in record time. The Internet has created this massive ability to rapidly transform your income, exposure and career – virtually overnight (given the right set of circumstances). While this has always been true to a large extent, the Internet has hyper-accelerated this rapid wealth expansion phenomenon and there doesn’t seem to be any let up in sight.

Consider this list of the Top 40 Young Entrepreneurs under 30 years old. At the top of the list is Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook. Mark is a mere 23 years old and yet has an estimated net worth of $700 million.

Look through that list and you will find many such twenty-something people all making millions or hundreds of millions of dollars. One key concept that every single one of these entrepreneurs shares is the ability to leverage their time. Leveraging means that you don’t trade your time for a wage. Instead, you create a product or service that can achieve huge levels of income and not be directly related to how many hours you work.

At #34 on the list is Rob Benwell, a 23 year old that makes $3.3 million a year – he fully understands the concept of leverage. He has several digital information products that, once created, make him money time and time again – regardless of whether he is physically working or not – that is leverage.

Core Entrepreneurial Skills

Having the right mindset and attitude is a big part of becoming a successful entrepreneur – but without the core skills necessary to be successful in business you will likely not get very far down your path and will likely become one of those 33% quick failures.

Learn Quickly from Mistakes - Consider the story about the ignorant businessman, the intelligent businessman and the wise businessman. The ignorant businessman makes the same mistakes over and over again with the same, and unfortunate, outcomes. Maybe those mistakes are not researching the competition or taking on bad business partners – whatever they are, the ignorant businessman repeats his or her mistakes, without learning the lessons from experience.

The intelligent businessman sees the errors of his or her past mistakes, learns from them and makes adjustments for the future. That is as far as most people go, but the key to becoming a true entrepreneur is to enter the last plateau – that of the wise businessman. The wise businessman not only learns from his or her own mistakes, but also learns from the mistakes of others – saving vital resources, time and money by not having to make the same mistakes others have made.

In order to foster the growth of your “wise” business approach, you need to study and develop certain skill sets that are absolutely imperative for a successful entrepreneurial journey. Most of these skill sets are easily expanded upon by taking some courses at your local community college or university.

Strong Command of Business Language

If you expect to be highly successful in business, you need to understand the language of business and have a firm understanding of how to effectively and intelligently communicate with your peers.

Remember the study above that found that largest sector of successful entrepreneurs was over 45 years old – well, there is some reasoning behind that truth. One of those reasons is that at 45 years and older, they are much more experienced with various business endeavors and already know how to talk the talk, but walk the walk as well.

Learn Quickly, Effectively and Efficiently - As an aspiring entrepreneur, it should be your first and utmost goal to become a sponge ready to absorb any and all business strategy and information you can. Many courses at your local college will help you in this endeavor, but don’t be too narrow minded in your search.

The communication and command of business language can be expanded in many forms – from English and speech classes to pure business and even debate classes. All of these subjects will help you expand your business knowledge, prowess and confidence.

Writing classes and technical writing classes can also be extremely beneficial. Effective communication is very important and much of today’s communication is technical in nature. The more successful you become as an entrepreneur, the more you will likely delegate and outsource your work. Doing so will require very detailed and poignant technical requirements documents. Taking the time to take a course to develop these kinds of skills will serve you very well later on in your journey to become the next Donald Trump.

An expansion of writing would be sales and copy writing. This may seem like a mere natural and simple expansion of basic writing or technical writing – no way. Becoming a quality sales writer is almost as much of an art form as a science. You will need to become skilled in the creative usage of wording and suggestive selling techniques as well as understanding psychology and NLP (nuero-linguistic programming) if you truly want to become an effective sales copy writer. Copy writing and fact checking are other vital, yet totally different, skill sets that you will master through the college experience.

You simply cannot be expected to be taken seriously if you cannot effectively and intelligently communicate on core business ideas and concepts. This doesn’t mean that you have to be a business major, but it does mean that you need to be very well rounded in your business and communication backgrounds. Great leaders are born from great communicators.

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Finances and Accounting

Can you imagine a topic more important than finance and accounting for a fledgling entrepreneur? How could you possibly expect to amass wealth as an entrepreneur, if you truly don’t understand the mechanics of accounting and the general principles of sound finances? Financial management can be a bit more than it is initially thought to be.

Really understanding some of the limitations (many of them self-imposed) behind finance can open a lot of creative doors to your future. There are a lot of psychological money barriers that we impose upon ourselves – understanding those from a psychology perspective might have huge ramifications on your future earnings.

Psychology in general has many very applicable uses for business and is a great course to look into at your local college. Understanding some of the human behaviors and the “whys” behind core business issues can help you tremendously in your quest to become a great entrepreneur.

All great entrepreneurs are great salesmen (at some level, whether they recognize it or not). And all truly great salesmen understand very intimately the human psyche and behavioral patterns that psychology can help you to become aware of.

Accounting is a much more black and white subject, but is just as vital. As an aspiring entrepreneur, you will need to be in complete command of your finances and without an Accounting background you will have a tough time doing it. Again, this doesn’t mean that you have to major in Accounting, but you should have some general and basic understanding of the core account principals necessary to run a business.

To grow your business you will have to interact with many accountants and tax and business strategists and even if this is a weak point for you that you truly have no desire to do yourself, you still must be able to speak intelligently enough on the subject to be able to evaluate the proposals and suggestions you are given. Proper accounting is not rocket science, but it is fundamental to your business and you should give it the proper respect needed if you expect your business to respect you (with profit).

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Corporate & Business Law

Leverage can be applied in many different forms. Leveraging your time has already been discussed, but leveraging your business from a corporate perspective is yet another approach. There are many different corporate entities – corporations, limited partnerships, general partnerships, limited liability companies – and many others. Each of these different business entities has unique benefits and drawbacks from a business law perspective as well as tax and distributions perspectives.

It is imperative that you learn enough about these different structures and entities so that you can best structure your own business as per your own particular goals and objectives.

This is further magnified when you begin to look into the tax consequences of conducting your business under the wrong type of business entity. We live in a very competitive world today and 5% here and there can be the difference between making it and becoming one of the 33% that don’t – you don’t want to be on the wrong side of that number. Holding onto your money can be equally challenging.

Many people, from good old “Uncle Sam” and the IRS to lawsuit happy money chasers are eager for you to bypass this step and just jump in without any research because they know most all of the loopholes – shouldn’t you as well?

Contractual law is yet another sub-division of business law that is vital to an entrepreneur. Today more and more businesses are moving away from employees and instead focusing on outsourcing and contractual workers. This can really lead to some incredible savings by avoiding the costly demands of employees – however, it is not without its share of risk and potential pitfalls. You need to be thoroughly versed in the key ingredients of contractual law so that you don’t make any of those big mistakes that can’t be undone. There are a lot of very specific tax code laws, for example, on how to properly classify and treat independent contractors – ignore them and you will find yourself paying a lot of back taxes and fines.

Are you going to become a lawyer yourself? Probably not as it is not necessary, but a general knowledge of contractual law will serve you very well in helping you to avoid some of the major land mines.

Lastly, when it comes to business law, you have to think about asset protection. Here in the United States we live in a very litigious society. Rest assured that as you start your climb up the entrepreneurial ladder, there will be many looking for opportunities to knock you off a wrung or two. By combining an understanding of business law with corporate entity structure and asset protection you can formulate a business entity structure that will help you to be successful as well as protect yourself from frivolous and malicious lawsuits.

There are several different courses at your local college that can help you will all of these ventures. From the standard business courses to business law and even business tax courses – the more that you can educate yourself in these areas before you launch your own business, the better. Many of these decisions, once made, can be very costly and difficult to undo, so do yourself the favor of investing your time upfront to avoid these potential land mines.

Remember to follow the path of the wise businessman and avoid the mistakes of others. Many have lost everything – millions and millions – to a single lawsuit that they could have easily protected themselves from with some basic asset protection strategies and business entity understanding.

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Time Management and Organization

Learning to properly manage your time is an essential trait necessary for being successful in any business endeavor, but it is even more essential to the budding entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, you won’t have a boss looking over your shoulder telling you what to do and when to do it – that’s great, or is it? You see, many people simply do not do well without a strong sense of direction and leadership to push them along the course. The life of an entrepreneur is vastly different because you will have to become your own motivational force – this can be a great challenge for many.

There are many classes in college that will help you with your organizational and time management skills but even more importantly, just the process of going to college will help out tremendously in these areas. The whole process of college is all about being independent, on your own and making the right choices (late night party? or more studying for the final?)! This experience will help you a great deal in learning to budget and control your own time and reaping the rewards or suffering the consequences of your decisions.

As discussed earlier, leverage ,especially time leverage, is a tremendous key to the success of today’s entrepreneurs and there is no better way to learn this than through proper time management and organization. It is a lesson quickly learned in college – and to do well in college you must master time management and organization – just like in the entrepreneurial business world.

Marketing

There probably isn’t a bigger subject to tackle for a wannabe entrepreneur than marketing. You see, there are a lot of great ideas out there. In fact it is said that there are no original ideas – meaning that probably hundreds of others had the same idea as the founders of Google – but, did they implement their ideas? You see having a great idea is not enough, you must be able to effectively implement it – and generally that means selling something. To sell anything, you must be able to effectively market it and that is where several college level marketing courses could really come in handy to jump starting your career.

Marketing is often misunderstood and today, especially on the Internet, it has taken several new forms – web 2.0 marketing, attraction marketing and several others. Marketing really comes down to targeted exposure – exposing your product or service to a very select group of individuals who are highly likely to become customers. Learning how to effectively find and/or create those “targeted customers” is what marketing is all about. But more than that, it is a mindset and a philosophy of how to approach customer acquisition all together.

There are many good books on marketing as well and it is a subject with a lot of strong and diverging opinions, so you definitely want to do some of your own research in this field as well. Marketing can be very trend oriented – what works today may not work tomorrow – so make sure that you approach the concept of marketing as a continual learning process. This isn’t basic algebra where you learn it once and move on. Marketing is a constantly moving target and to continue to hit that target you need to adapt to the newest trends and market research.

Marketing is also about getting to know your customer. You can’t begin to address the needs of your customer until have a full and through understanding of what it is that your customer is looking for and what their situation (economic especially) is towards acquiring your product or service.

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Leveling the Playing Field with Technology

Today you need to have every edge you possibly can in order to get ahead of the next guy – especially true for high aspiring entrepreneurs. You will need a strong technical background and familiarity to exploit technology to your best advantage. College provides a very solid core background of technology – from basic office packages, to high tech drawing and cad work, to content management software, to programming and office automation software – it’s all there waiting to be explored.

Technologically Savvy - So jump in with both feet and immerse yourself with technology. The savvier you become, the more you will begin to think out of the box to resolve problems. For example, it is common practice for a software developer to try and improve the performance of a given chuck of code (or algorithm). But, it is also commonly known, that improvements of less than 50% are rarely even noticed by the average user. So, if you have a task that takes four seconds, you need to cut it down by half in order to be any perceived difference to the user. This level of improvement does not come from simple “refinement” – no, not at all. It requires the programmer to completely step out of the box and rethink the entire problem and solution. This type of thinking is what is encouraged in the college technology environment and is key to your development as an entrepreneur.

By learning what technology is available to you, you will begin to broaden your horizons of thought around problem solving. The next level of understanding then becomes how to combine technologies to generate even more rapid changes. But being able to go to that next level, means first having a basic and functional understanding of the first level of basic technology awareness. Start out by crawling, then walking and then we will begin to go running with technology at your side.

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Math – It’s All in the Numbers

Math clearly has its place in any business endeavor, but even more so in today’s high tech world. This is not accounting math, but just general ability to rationalize and reduce complex concepts into mathematical equations that can be addressed and solved.

As an entrepreneur, you will have to do a lot of “what if” analysis about whether a particular venture makes sense to embark on or not, for example. Of course you don’t have to be a math major in college, but you should have some good basic backgrounds in business math, algebra, statistics and other pertinent math related courses.

Problem solving skills with math are often overlooked but they can dramatically reduce the time you spend chasing after invalid assumptions. Learning to reduce a set of variables into an equation that you can solve or estimate can really knock some of your wasted time away – and that leads to more enhanced productivity and better results.

Be realistic about the world we live in today – it is very high tech. Math plays a very high roll in today’s entrepreneurial business venture and being strong at least with the basic college level math will give you that added boost you will need. Again, sometimes it is not about being able to do it yourself, but you want to be at least able to articulate to others what you problems or concerns may be. Furthermore, statistics is something that will help you throughout your business career and it other aspects of the business as well such as marketing.

Interviewing Skills

One way that successful entrepreneurs are able to leapfrog over many competitors is their willingness to involve and participate in mastermind sessions. A mastermind session is a group of individuals that the combine forces to brainstorm on a particular subject or idea. This can be very helpful in dramatically reducing the time involved in bringing a product to market, for example. These brainstorming session allow various feedback all simultaneously, rather than serially, and this can be much more productive. However, a mastermind group is only as effective as the members of the group. That’s where interviewing skills come into play.

Many colleges have courses teaching you how to improve your abilities during the interview process, but what if you turn the tables and instead focus on learning how to become a better interviewer? Your ability to cut to the chase and sort out those that are worth your time and those that are a complete waste of time will be a huge benefit in your entrepreneurial quest. It all comes down to time and being productive with your time. Learning how to interview others is a key skill for an entrepreneur because they will likely surround themselves with people that can do much of the basic work so that the entrepreneur can be freed up to create new projects and visions.

But in order to be able to effectively delegate this work out, there has to be a solid structure of trusted employees or contractors in the middle that can be relied upon. Learning how to evaluate character and talent can be a vital asset. The quicker and easier you can grow your trusted team of advisers, the quicker you will be off of the wannabe chair and into the real realm of the entrepreneur.

Negotiating Your Way to Success

Much of what a great entrepreneur does is some form of negotiation. By their very definition, entrepreneurs play outside the rolls of traditional businessmen and therefore their ability to connect with other people and negotiate and structure mutually beneficial deals is vital. College can help in several ways here from speech, writing and communication courses to debate classes. Debate and political science courses can be extremely effective at transforming an average negotiator into a skilled negotiator because you will be forced to see a problem from various angles.

Understanding not only your customers, but also your suppliers and your employees, etc… will give you an leg up on your competition who might have become to obsessed with running the business to actually observe the business and learn from those interactions. Successful negotiation comes from being able to see both sides of the table and then being able to stitch together an offer that appeals as a “win-win” solution to both sides. Much more so that for a normal businessman, the entrepreneur will depend heavily on this ability to negotiate – it’s part of the lifestyle!

Leadership and Inspiration

Being able to inspire and lead others is a cornerstone of entrepreneurship. Simply put, if you’re not working for a boss than you are the boss which means you need to be an effective and inspiring leader. Most people do not want to be leaders. Most are comfortable following a leader that they know and trust. It is your job as an aspiring entrepreneur to appeal to that desire to be led and guide those employees towards a successful path. Your success, to a large extent, will not necessarily be measured in what you personally achieve, but in what you help others to achieve. Think about that for a minute and let it settle in.

As an entrepreneur, you must learn to outsource as much as possible so that you (one person) do not hinder progress and you leverage your efforts as much as possible. So, the more effectively that you can lead people to help you achieve your goals, the more successful you will be. There are many leadership courses taught at most colleges and there are also many extracurricular activities that you can involve yourself in that will enhance your leadership abilities.

As the saying goes, “either lead, follow or get out of the way”. Well, as an entrepreneur, you need to be on the “leading” side of that equation if you expect to have success. Leadership, contrary to what most people believe, is not something you are born with so much as it is something you learn to do but it does take effort.

Summary

Becoming an entrepreneur can be one of the most rewarding decisions of your life. Understanding how to separate yourself from the rest of the rat race and put yourself in control of your own life is incredibly empowering. By choosing this path, you are giving yourself the ability to control your own destiny rather than simply choosing to work for someone else. The downside of it is, however, that you will have no one but yourself to blame for your failures. Therefore, you need to mitigate the risks of failure, by educating yourself in the key fields necessary to become successful.

You will not and cannot be a “Jack of All Trades” as an entrepreneur – you will need to focus on what you do best and hire, contract and outsource others to do those things that are not your forte. However, that does not dismiss your responsibility to have a well-rounded education and familiarity with various core business topics. You need to be able to effectively and intelligently communicate on those topics if for no other purpose than to properly evaluate those that you hire. If you don’t have the most basic understanding of accounting, how can you possibly search for the proper qualifications for a crucial and strategic business account for your new endeavor?

The point of this article is to illustrate that an entrepreneur, while a specialist, must still be very well rounded in his or her education in order be able to see all sides of the issues in front of them. Successful entrepreneurs are able to effectively wear multiple hats and shift from role to role as necessary. They surely won’t be an expert in everything, but they know enough to surround themselves with great talent and know how to evaluate that talent. By leveraging the efforts of others, they can boost their own performance as well as free themselves up to pursue other endeavors as well.

While not all may be cut out for the entrepreneurial lifestyle, for those that are, it can be extremely rewarding and provide freedom and flexibility far beyond the cubicle walls of any corporate job. It will, however, take discipline and a great deal of self-control in order to keep yourself on the right track and focused on the target. You will have to shuffle between a lot of different skill sets and responsibilities and using your college education to create a strong foundation is clearly your best bet for long term success.

One Day, Google Will Deliver the Stuff You Want Before You Ask

Photo: Google

The world trusts Google to deliver quality internet search results. And now, it’s delivering your toilet paper, too.

That may sound like nonsense, but it’s true, and it could lead to a weird new world where the stuff you need arrives at your side before you even realize you need it.

On Wednesday, Google announced that its same-day delivery service has emerged from its private testing phase and is now available to anyone in San Francisco and Silicon Valley who’s willing to turn over a credit card number.

As with the competing eBay Now service, Google Shopping Express involves placing an order with nearby chain stores via an app or the web. A courier then picks up the order from the store and delivers it.

As personal digital assistant apps such as Google Now become widespread, so does the idea of algorithms that can not only meet but anticipate our needs

These services differ in the details. eBay lets you shop at only one store at a time and promises delivery “in about an hour,” while Google lets you shop at multiple stores and pick your own delivery time window. But both fit into an emerging category that has also captivated other big companies, including Amazon and Walmart. Local same-day delivery, a difficult logistical problem to solve on a large scale, has become an experimental playground for companies adept at solving big logistical problems — though all of these companies are moving into this game at slow and careful pace.

On one level, the business motivation is obvious: Whoever can deliver the most stuff the fastest with the least hassle wins. Online shopping is big and only getting bigger. And since all the big players can more or less match each other on selection and price, the shopping “experience” — of which delivery is a key part — becomes one of the few ways retailers can sell themselves as the better option.

But the game goes deeper. As personal digital assistant apps such as Google Now become widespread, so does the idea of algorithms that can not only meet but anticipate our needs. Extend the concept from the purely digital into the realm of retail, and you have what some industry prognosticators are calling “ambient commerce.” In a sensor-rich future where not just phones but all kinds of objects are internet-connected, same-day delivery becomes just one component of a bigger instant gratification engine.

On the same day Google announced that its Shopping Express was available to all Bay Area residents, eBay Enterprise Marketing Solutions head of strategy John Sheldon was telling a roomful of clients that there will soon come a time when customers won’t be ordering stuff from eBay anymore. Instead, they’ll let their phones do it.

Sheldon believes the “internet of things” is creating a data-saturated environment that will soon envelope commerce. In a chat with WIRED, he describes a few hypothetical examples that sound like they’re already within reach. Imagine setting up a rule in Nike+, he says, to have the app order you a new pair of shoes after you run 300 miles. Or picture a bicycle helmet with a sensor that “knows” when a crash has happened, which prompts an app to order a new one.

‘Ambient commerce is about consumers turning over their trust to the machine.’

— John Sheldon

Now consider an even more advanced scenario. A shirt has a sensor that detects moisture. And you find yourself stuck out in the rain without an umbrella. Not too many minutes after the downpour starts, a car pulls up alongside you. A courier steps out and hands you an umbrella — or possibly a rain jacket, depending on what rules you set up ahead of time for such a situation, perhaps using IFTTT.

“Ambient commerce is about consumers turning over their trust to the machine,” Sheldon says.

Though it might be hard to believe, the logistics of delivering that umbrella are likely more complex than the math behind detecting the water. Delegating drivers along optimal routes is a notoriously difficult computing problemcompared to the if-then logic of “water = order umbrella.” In that context, the tentativeness of even the most powerful businesses in rolling out same-day delivery is understandable, as is their ambition to perfect it.

“The ability to both sense a need and fulfill on that need in that compressed a time frame is very, very powerful,” Sheldon says.

Before that can happen, the smartest companies on the planet have to figure out whether same-day delivery on a wide scale is even doable. This explains why all of these services are still limited to a few cities, and in some cases have been for years. No one knows for sure yet whether its possible to make money on the promise of same-day delivery — or whether most shoppers even care about getting their stuff so quickly.

But clearly Google, eBay, and the others see some kind of potential here. And why shouldn’t they? Between what these companies know about our interests, our friends, our whereabouts, our purchases, and anything else we’re willing to feed them, whether by email, Twitter, Facebook, GPS, or credit card, they probably should have a very good idea of what we want and when and where we want it. Add in the even more granular data provided by the internet of things, and a future of ambient commerce seems not just possible but probable — a utopian future in which running out of toilet paper at the wrong time will never, ever happen again.

10 Questions Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors Are Going To Ask

When raising money from venture capitalists or angels, you’ll want to meet as many as possible. They won’t all invest, but each time you pitch, you get better. Each time you pitch, you get asked different questions, get different opinions and ideas. It’s worth it to pitch as many people as you can, as often as you can. Wil Schroter says it perfectly, pitch everyone, all the time.

Some questions will get asked over and over. And you’ll discover those patterns quickly enough and adjust your pitch accordingly. If you have a less-than-stellar answer to a question that gets asked once or twice, it’s not a big deal. But if your weaker answers are to the most common investor questions, you’ve got a problem.

With that in mind, here are some of the more common questions investors will ask:

1. So what’s your business all about? The wording of this question will change, but this is the classic “elevator pitch” question. Translation: “In the shortest amount of time possible, grab my interest by the proverbial you-know-whats.” Sell them quick, with something simple and powerful they can remember; and keep reiterating that message throughout your presentation.
2. What’s the barrier to entry for competition? For Web 2.0 startups this can be tough. The question comes from VCs and angels that might not be as familiar with the overall industry and the ease with which many web applications can be built. They’re looking for a real technological barrier that might not exist. Some answers that might help you skirt this topic: launching big, building a devoted community, key partnerships and/or customers (before launch), we’re cooler than everyone else (this won’t work.) None of these answers are great (for a host of reasons.)
3. What’s going to stop big monster company in your space from copying you?This is almost identical to Question #2 but it’s more commonly asked because there’s always competition. And, it’s usually from the “big bad wolf” company that’s got tons of money, lots of market share, a huge staff and years of experience.
   For starters, don’t say, “What competition? We don’t have any“. There’s always competition.
   Secondly, this is a tough question to answer. What is stopping “big bad wolf” company from copying you instantly and smashing you like a bug? Generally, you can argue:
   • We can move more quickly.
   • Big bad wolf is too busy managing what it’s doing to innovate.
   • They’ll acquire us rather than copy us (if you have examples, use them.)
4. Why are you raising the money you want to raise? The amount you’re asking for is critical. Make sure you’ve done your financial homework. Don’t tell them your numbers are conservative, just explain to them how you arrived at them.
5. How far does that money get you? Have a good answer to this question. Couch this in product and financial terms, i.e. “It gets us 6 months past launch, when we expect to be cash flow positive.” The best way to think about this is to calculate how long the money will last if you earn zero revenue. Count backwards by 4-6 months and that will tell you when you need to start the process of raising more money. If the money is only going to last you 4-6 months, you need to start looking for more money almost immediately (which isn’t a pleasant thought.)
6. Do you have any customers? Have you spoken to potential customers? Investors are looking for traction, or at least the inkling of traction. As soon as possible, try and get a few potential customers to say, “Sounds interesting.” You might even use them as references. This raises the comfort level for investors and helps answer the question,“What’s the market?”
7. What’s your marketing strategy? For early stage companies this is a very tough question. Chances are “just getting to freaking launch” is what you’re thinking, but that’s not good enough. And “launch big” is equally uninspiring. Think about presenting a timeline of events and customer acquisition numbers that you’re anticipating, tied to marketing. Throw in a variety of strategies that you’re going to do or researching. Marketing will be critical to your success, so you better plan for it sooner rather than later.
8. What are you coding in? Investors do want technical details. This is an easy question to answer at least (assuming you know!)
9. How are you handling the technological infrastructure for scaling? Like I said, investors want technical details. They want to know that you’ve thought about the behind-the-scenes technology to support your system. When you get on the front page of TechCrunch, will the server hold up? When customers are signing up faster than you can process their credit cards (don’t let that happen!), will the system stay running at a reasonable speed? The further you get along in the process with investors, the more technical details they’ll want.
10. What’s the team look like? What are your backgrounds? Investors want to know the backgrounds of the founders. If you’ve got people on staff, they’ll want to know who, why you hired those people, and who else (and how many) you need to bring on board. They’ll want to know how quickly you expect to grow the team over time as well.

Although there are common questions you’ll get from venture capitalists and angel investors, what’s more fascinating is that each investor will ask different questions. You can’t be prepared for every question, but even if you get new ones, the more comfortable you are pitching (because you’ve done it so many times), the better.