The Pandemic Created the Next Generation of Great Entrepreneurs

Could the pandemic be incubating a boom in the next generation of entrepreneurship? It’s hard to say, exactly — but it sure looks like something is happening. Applications for employer tax IDs have spiked dizzyingly since COVID-19 began; that translated to Americans starting 4.4 million new businesses last year, according to researchers at the Peterson Institute for International Economics — a record-breaking 24 percent increase from 2019. The Census doesn’t track business applications by age, and platforms like Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and Instagram told Entrepreneur they don’t have any data or insight to share. So it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how much of this growth is kid-related.

Still, experts say that crises have historically fostered entrepreneurship — and this particular crisis comes with some unique kid-focused factors. Many entrepreneurial parents juggling work and childcare are eager to offer their kids something other than Charli D’Amelio’s TikToks and Minecraft, which makes creating a business an appealing diversion. Meanwhile, the culture at large has been speedily molting old normals for new ones and seems to be charged with a fresh surge of startup spirit. For ambitious young people, it all combines to produce one of the greatest lessons in entrepreneurship: Unpredictable times are rife with opportunity. Read more at Entrepreneur.com.

‘If Not Now, When?’ – Women Entrepreneurs Launch Mid-Pandemic

They say necessity is the mother of invention — it is, at the very least, a parent of many startups. While the coronavirus crisis has forever altered our lives, and has had devastating economic consequences for millions of people, it has also fostered a groundswell of entrepreneurial spirit, especially among women.

The U.S. Census Bureau saw a significant uptick in new business filings over the course of the pandemic, with more than 4.4 million new firms created since March 2020 — a 24-percent increase from the previous year. Data compiled for The Washington Post by LinkedIn found that female entrepreneurship grew 5 percent during roughly the same period, more than double the pre-pandemic average. Read more at TheStoryExchange.org.

Opening Up Entrepreneurship To All: The Resource Hub

Plenty of potential entrepreneurs have great business ideas but are held back in their pursuit of their goals by barriers: knowledge and resources kept out of reach of all but a few, as well as assumptions about who might be an entrepreneur and where they might come from. And while it’s understood that starting your own business is a tough road — particularly in the age of COVID, where many small businesses are struggling to stay afloat — it’s to the betterment of all that more people should have the tools available to them to try their hand at a startup.

Enter Nicole Loftus, the founder of The Resource Hub, a national directory for small businesses, as well as SkinX, a funding platform for entrepreneurs, both New York based. She’s working to help entrepreneurs succeed, including over 3,500 resources on the Resource Hub and adding new ones regularly. Read more at Forbes.com.

Daring to Compete: The DNA of an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs are a special breed. They are the disruptive forces constantly challenging the status quo and often defining our futures for us. The media has an endless fascination with trying to understand who they are and how to teach us to be more like them. At any one time, you can find thousands of articles, blogs, profiles, and books attempting to breakdown the backgrounds, traits, and habits of these unique disruptors of society. Unfortunately, these attempts mostly fall short due to the top-line superficial nature of media today.    

The newly released book Daring to Compete takes a stab at cracking that elusive entrepreneurial code by taking a deeper dive. Based on data collected from thousands of interviews over the course of the more than 30-year span of the acclaimed EY Entrepreneur of The Year program, the authors uncovered some fascinating similarities among the world’s elite entrepreneurs. Although these similarities appear quite simple at first glance, there is a lot that goes on below the surface. Read more at PsychologyToday.com.

Dr. Alyssa Adams: How To Successfully Ride The Emotional Highs & Lows Of Being An Entrepreneur

Upgrade your self-talk by challenging unhelpful thoughts and patterns

As a business owner, you are your own supporter, cheerleader, thought partner, and saboteur all at the same time. It’s essential to choose what role you want to play and to notice when your self-talk has become negative, harsh, and critical. It’s a pattern that is important to identify and change, especially as a new business owner. There are ups and downs that are a natural part of entrepreneurship, but it’s how you describe those experiences to yourself that really matters. Read more at Medium.com.

60% of US Workers Concerned Over Mental Health After Pandemic

A new survey says that 60% of US workers are worried about their mental and psychological health.

According to the survey by The Conference Board, there is a positive side to that. Nearly 80 percent of respondents felt that their supervisors cared.

Yet only 62% felt that they felt comfortable talking about well-being challenges at work. And 18% said they do not feel comfortable discussing hardships at work. They said they feared negative consequences.

The strongest indicator may simply be through personal connection, said Amy Lui Abel, PhD, VP Human Capital, The Conference Board.

“Direct managers and supervisors should regularly check-in with their teams and simply ask: “How are you doing? How is the family? Are there things preventing you from focusing on your work? What is going on?” Abel advised. “These check-ins can happen on an organizational level as well, with quick “pulse check” surveys (anonymous or not) asking these same basic questions about well-being.” Read more at SmallBizTrends.com.

Do you plan your business strategy like you’re playing chess or poker?

But, before you answer, consider the following…

“Industry executives and analysts often mistakenly talk about strategy as if it were some kind of chess match. But in chess, you have just two opponents, each with identical resources, and with luck playing a minimal role. The real world is much more like a poker game, with multiple players trying to make the best of whatever hand fortune has dealt them. In industry, Bill Gates owns the table until someone proves otherwise.” ~ Deep thoughts by David Moschella

Let the professionals at Acceler8Success Group help you play the right hands. For more info please visit Acceler8Success.com.

7 Parts of Your Life That Suffer When You Fail to Change

Change. It’s a scary thing, and fears associated with change often cause people to just give up.

But how scary is not making a change? Let me ask you to try this. Pick up a 50-pound rock and carry it around with you. No, not just for a few seconds, or even a few hours. Do it forever. That’s what an unexecuted change can feel like. It weighs you down, potentially adversely affecting other areas of your life.

Just how much is maintaining the status quo costing you? Like Coach John Wooden said, “Failure isn’t fatal, but failure to change might be.” Read more at Success.com.

The Changing Workplace

As the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be winding down and many entrepreneurs are gearing up to get back to business, many of us still don’t feel like we’re getting back to normal.

For many, the coronavirus has complicated an already complex situation. A few weeks ago, I read something in The New York Times that actually made me exclaim out loud, “Yes, that’s what’s wrong with me.” Author Susan Orleans told the newspaper, “I feel like I’m in quicksand. I’m just so exhausted all the time. I’m doing so much less than I normally do…I’m just sitting in front of my computer—but I am accomplishing way less. It’s like a whole new math. I have more time and fewer obligations, yet I’m getting so much less done.”

Sarah Lyall, the author of the article, calls it a “late-pandemic crisis of productivity, of will, of enthusiasm, of purpose.” And it’s affecting everyone—business owners and employees. MetLife’s 19^th Annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study 2021, Redesigning the Employee Experience: Preparing the Workforce for a Transformed World, discusses five trends that are changing the workplace small business owners should be aware of at Score.org.com.

The Weekend Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs

Weekends allow a break from the abundance of menial duties of the week. In the Forbes article “Don’t Balance Work and Life, Integrate Them”, the estimated average business professional has between 30 to 100 projects on their plate, are interrupted an average of seven times per hour, and distracted over 2 hours a day. Take some time to spend alone in order reflect on the bigger picture. Just listen to what Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow Group, has to say on the matter:

“My weekends are an important time to unplug from the day-to-day and get a chance to think more deeply about my company and my industry.”

Remember to take a step back from the hustle and bustle. Don’t lose the vision in all the commotion. Read more at Medium.com.

Balancing Work And Family When You’re An Entrepreneur

When people talk about entrepreneurship, it’s mainly about the challenges that apply directly to that person. Being an entrepreneur means long hours, a lack of social life, that weekends are no longer “downtime”, but a means to squeeze more work into seven days. 

While all this is technically true, there is less thought to how entrepreneurship affects those closest to a person – i.e. balancing your work with family and friends. 

Let’s be honest. When we got ourselves into this game, we knew that balancing work and family was going to be a challenge. Once I’ve fixated on an idea, I will pour all my time and energy into it until it’s finished. I was born that way. 

But, on my journey to becoming a self-sufficient PPC agency owner, I met the love of my life. I married Mimi and went on to have two amazing children. 

Suddenly, my life was filled with people who depended on me. My wife has always been very supportive and understanding, but I couldn’t work 24/7 with kids. Read more at Flexxable.com.

5 Ways to Juggle Family and Business for Entrepreneurs

Two of the most crucial aspects of life are family and business. Each demands a lot of attention and dedication from an individual and it can often be overwhelming, trying to balance the two. 

In life, there is never a manual on how to be working parents and make things work. As an entrepreneur, venturing into new opportunities, crafting working strategies, and getting results is your sole purpose. You do this for self-improvement, portfolio expansion, and financial betterment. 

But when your family enters the picture, things can get a bit complicated. Your work rate and results have to improve because you’re now not just responsible for yourself, but your family too. The attention you previously gave solely to your business now has to be divided and shared with the addition of your new obligations and balancing the two can be quite a challenge. Read more at HiveLife.com.