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Start-Up Competitions Give Companies Numerous Benefits

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Companies are using startup competitions to get valuable rewards – even if they don’t win.

The Wall Street Journal says that corporations and nonprofits are now using startup contests to help give promising new companies a way to grow and expand.

These contests can cover any number of categories – from women-owned business to technology companies or even entrepreneurs under 40. While prize money is often the major lure for business owners, the paper says that even those who don’t win earn exposure and potentially helpful advice from judges – good news for small business owners who enter.

Most contests, the paper says, involve both a written application and an oral presentation. The written application gives entrepreneurs a chance to describe how their product sets them apart from the rest of the world, while the speech gives them a chance to give judges their pitch and show their enthusiasm.

“There’s a certain amount of theater involved,” says Jonathan Rosen, executive director of the entrepreneurship program at Boston University. “How well can you get people excited about whether this is an idea worth pursuing?”

Many companies have used contests in a different way – to get entrepreneurs to improve their existing products. Netflix recently offered a $1-million prize to anyone who could improve their movie prediction algorithm by 10 percent. The Huffington Post reports that the company later estimated all the work they received was worth more than ten times that amount.

Written by Resources for Entrepreneurs Staff

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Posted in business plan competitions, business plans, business start-up, entrepreneurism, start-up advice, start-up help, tips and tricks | No Comments »

Tips To Remember When Choosing The Best Franchise

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

When you decide to buy a franchise, you’re giving your business a major head start in so many ways. By trading on an established name, you slash your advertising costs. Because the franchisor wants you to succeed, you have access to everything that they’ve learned in years of doing business to help you choose your site, develop your staff, design your store – in fact, in every aspect of starting up your own business. A franchise business opportunity gives you your best shot at succeeding in owning your own business – if you choose the best franchise opportunity for you.

The start-up costs are part of the arguments against buying into a franchise business opportunity. Other cons include the monthly payments to the main franchisor of the business as well as marketing costs. If you want to use the corporate headquarters clever marketing campaigns, you have to pay for the privilege. Then there are the restrictions on suppliers and such. Usually the corporate headquarters of your franchise business opportunity has a network or pre-approved vendors, suppliers and contractors that you must use. There is also the contract that you have to sign with the corporate headquarters for the right to use the franchise name. It is very tough to break and could have you locked in for years.

How do you evaluate the various franchise opportunities that are out there to find the best fit for you? The first step is to know what you want to do. What resources and skills can you bring to your new business? What kind of business will you enjoy? Keep in mind that the best franchise opportunity is one that will offer you full support, including training in all the business skills that you’ll need to be successful. After all, your success adds to their value.

Once you know what you want to do, it’s time to get down to the serious work of choosing the best franchise opportunity for you. Here are some key points to consider:

1. Choose a product that you love.
Not just like, but love. It’s possible to sell something you don’t care about, but the more you believe in your product, the more successful you’ll be at selling it.

2. Research the industry.
Once you’ve chosen a product that you like, take a long, hard look at the industry of which it’s a part. Sit down and study the brochures and information from the franchisor. Are you interested enough in the business to put in the required time to succeed?

3. Talk to others who already own franchises.
Take a field trip to others who are already involved in the network. Most owners will be happy to talk to you about their business. Ask about their normal day, the obstacles they had to overcome, the parts that were easier than they thought. Ask if the business lives up to their expectation, and ask point-blank if they’d do it again.

4. Get the answers you need from the franchisor’s representative.
Once you’ve expressed an interest by submitting an application, feel free to call the franchise representative with your questions. He’ll be happy to give you the answers you need to make your decision about whether this is the best franchise opportunity for your investment.

5. Meet the franchisor face to face.
Get to know the person you’re going to do business with. They have their own interests at heart, of course, but how sincere are they about helping you make YOUR business a success? Is the training they offer sufficient? Do they respect you as a partner?

The answers to those questions will help you evaluate each business and find the best franchise opportunity for you.

Just make sure before taking the plunge with a promising small business franchise opportunity that you do your research. Make sure you have enough money, not only for investing in the new business, but also for living expenses while your build up your clientele.

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Posted in business start-up, entrepreneurism, franchises and franchising | No Comments »

How An Operations Manager Helps Your Small Business Start-Up

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Are you an early stage or start-up small business entrepreneur who’s so busy you’re running around trying to do ten jobs at once? Are you running out of time everyday and can’t seem to get caught up? Let’s discuss how an operations manager can make all the difference towards the success of your business.

“Operations Manager.”  The title sounds like something that is only suited for a large corporation.  No one really considers that there might be a need to staff for this position as soon as you’ve decided on your business idea, but frankly, it’s an essential part of running your own business.  As the entrepreneur, the feeling is going to be that you need to do everything yourself as the business ramps up and gets underway after funding.  Your fingers need to be in every transaction and every phone call needs to have your initials next to the schedule.  In some ways, this is true.  You should involve yourself with the business as it ramps up so that you are aware of what’s happening and you are taking responsibility for the direction.  You should also begin the act of staffing your business and there’s no better way to do that than the hiring of a competent and qualified operations manager to start handling the small day-to-day decisions for you while you handle the business itself.

The position of Operations Manager is defined as, “[being] concerned with managing the process that converts inputs (in the forms of materials, labor and energy) into outputs (in the form of goods and services).” This position generally translates to having someone whose job it is to make sure the day-to-day menial tasks of the business are run smoothly and make sure that the owner isn’t prone to micromanagement and spreading themselves too thin.  Deeming someone suitable for this role is daunting, but can usually be made slightly easier by following these requirements:

*Experience in the field: You want to have someone working with you who has a strong familiarity with the type of industry you’re embarking on.  This could lead to them having contacts in the field, personal experience with trouble shooting for this particular industry, or maybe just the general confidence from familiarity.

*Don’t work with friends/family:  We all want a familiar hand working next to us when we’re starting out, but once you’ve gotten to the point of staffing, putting someone in the position of operations who has close ties to you is not going to pan out well.  You have to be able to trust that this person is directly under you in terms of management hierarchy and willing to take orders and responsibility for the failures of others.  Having a personal history with that person tends to be counter-productive to that goal.

*How to read resumes:  Someone with previous experience under the title of “operations manager” might not have all of the skills you need for your particular venture.  Look for skills that show experience dealing with vendors, managing workflow and employees, and taking initiative regarding trouble-shooting.

Again, these are just key points to keep in mind for when you’re starting up your business and staffing this position.  People tend to forget that it’s important to have an operations manager of some kind in their company and that the position should be manned by an individual who has the required qualities required for the position.

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Posted in business start-up, entrepreneurism, operations | No Comments »

Angel Investor Partnerships Lead To Business Success

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Angel investors are your partners.  Remember those words because they’re going to have to be put on a sign over your desk in case you have trouble.  When entrepreneurs finally make that leap into securing an angel investor, the thought that has escaped them during the entire process is, “Now I have another partner to help with the decisions and the running of the business!”  You didn’t think it would be that simple, did you?

What many entrepreneurs can seem to forget is that people aren’t going to just give you money to go off and start a business on your own.  They’re going to want a say in what’s happening, the decisions that are being made, and most likely even the stationary choice that you made.  Thinking that this wasn’t going to be a logical outcome to hitting up every angel investor in town is a tad bit short-sighted.  Let’s examine why.

You’ve got a great business idea, you’re confident you could get funding once being put before an investor, and you’re ready to present.  These are all the factors in your corner that you thought were important to get the preparation for opening the doors in place, but you forgot what to say when the investors nod, shake your hands, and go, “when do we get started?”  Wait, what’s this “we” nonsense?  The “we” is that these people are sinking a large sum of their money into the prospective success of your venture and, frankly, not realizing that giving them a say while they have however much percentage of a share of the business is going to look a little unprofessional.

The first thing that’s going to have to happen is for you to try to figure out what that percentage will equal in your comfort level for sharing a commanding say in the business.  Are you going to pick fights over things that you thought you were dead set on?  Are you open to input at all for any directions the business should go?  Do you respond to disapproval regarding your own plans?  You have to make sure that these questions don’t make the hairs on your back stand up.  If the thought of having to go head-to-head with some of these potential conflicts doesn’t sit well with you, you might want to rethink the concept of investment.  You’re giving up a say in the business by asking people to put their money where your mouth is and that comes with strings that maybe you’re not ready for.

There is a bright side, though. By allowing these investors to take this percentage you’re getting the potential years of knowledge and experience that they have under their belt and the suggestions and guidance that can come along with that.  Also, besides the money, the angel investors might even have suggestions for organizational solutions, marketing plans, and alternate revenue opportunities.

If you can break yourself into the idea of looking at investors as more than “free money without interest,” and a potential way to advance the business forward, then their suggestions and decisions won’t feel like they’re taking control of your dream.

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Posted in angel investors, business start-up, entrepreneurism, entrepreneurs, raising capital | No Comments »

Awesome New Baby Book iPhone Application From Emmbook

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

Parents love sharing every detail of their baby’s growth and development. Picking up your fancy new 3g internet enabled cell phone allows anyone to quickly snap a picture or shoot a short video of their baby mugging for the camera or doing something super-cute. Within seconds this special moment is disseminated to friends and family across a plethora of media platforms utilizing a variety of delivery services, such as, email, SMS or post the picture or video to their Facebook page or YouTube. It has never been easier to create your own videos, manage photos and share information with friends and family. Technology and Steve Jobs has made it happen, but it’s also become more time consuming and confusing than ever.

In my family anyone under the age of 10 already has a full command of how to quickly work and leverage all of the technological advances to their advantage. What about the grandparents or the parents who didn’t grow up with social networking or upgrading to the coolest cell phone every six months? My 10 year old nephew can easily embarrass me with his knowledge of how all of these different entertainment and communication apparatuses interact along with how to effectively leverage them.

Now there’s a user friendly wonderfully simple solution called Emmbook. Emmbook is a new iPhone and iPod app that will let you capture every single memory related to your baby and save it for posterity. In a certain sense, it is not that inaccurate to call it a mobile baby book.

Using such an app you will be able to set down just everything, from the time your little one was first introduced to relatives to his first steps. The way this is done is very intuitive, as each and every picture of you baby that you take is added to the Photo Book and you can then tap the screen to display the different images that you have added so far.

In addition to that, the app comes with some features such as a diary of feeding and sleeping and a tracker of “thank you” notes for the gifts your baby has received. That is interesting for sure, and it raises the VFM appeal of the whole package considerably.

When all is said and done, this is quite a fitting way to save your baby’s best moments without going overboard. Emmbook can be downloaded from the App Store at a price which is specified on the site. Watch the introductory video below to learn more or visit www.Emmbook.com to check it out.

This start-up is HOT and gaining traction.

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Posted in business, business start-up, entrepreneurism, entrepreneurs | 3 Comments »

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