Entrepreneurship Defined: What It Means to Be an Entrepreneur
The road to entrepreneurship is often a treacherous one filled with unexpected detours, roadblocks and dead ends. There are lots of sleepless nights, plans that don’t work out, funding that doesn’t come through and customers that never materialize. It can be so challenging to launch a business that it may make you wonder why anyone willingly sets out on such a path.
Despite all of these hardships, every year, thousands of entrepreneurs embark on this journey determined to bring their vision to fruition and fill a need they see in society. They open brick-and-mortar businesses, launch tech startups or bring a new product or service into the marketplace.
An entrepreneur identifies a need that no existing businesses addresses and determines a solution for that need. Entrepreneurial activity includes developing and launching new businesses and marketing them, often with the end goal of selling the business to turn a profit.
An entrepreneur who regularly launches new businesses, sells them and then starts new businesses is a serial entrepreneur. Additionally, although the term “entrepreneur” is often associated with startups and small businesses, any founder of a successful household-name business began as an entrepreneur.
Read more at BusinessNewsDaily.com
“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.” – Student of Warren G. Tracy
Three Steps To Achieving Your Entrepreneurial Goals
The day-to-day life of entrepreneurship never looks the same. As a business owner, you solve problems and navigate challenges everyday. In most cases, entrepreneurship can consume your personal life. This is a natural part of the process, especially at the beginning, but every entrepreneur needs to learn how to find a healthy balance.
Whether your business is just getting off the ground, or you are already settled into the life of an entrepreneur, it’s important to set goals for your personal life and plan for your future. When things go awry or go really well, when business gets rough or when it accelerates, a strategic plan for your personal life will help you stay balanced.
Entrepreneur, investor, author and cofounder of Traffic and Funnels Chris Evans is passionate about coaching entrepreneurs on wealth management, and how to balance personal life. He believes that planning is the key to a happy, successful and fulfilled life. He breaks essential life and career planning down into three categories: cultivating an environment, eliminating ambiguity, and committing to growth.
“The cover-your-butt mentality of the workplace will get you only so far. The follow-your-gut mentality of the entrepreneur has the potential to take you anywhere you want to go or run you right out of business – but it’s a whole lot more fun, don’t you think?” – Bill Rancic, American entrepreneur
4 Reasons Older Entrepreneurs Hold All The Cards
Is it possible for older entrepreneurs to be successful? If so, how can we compete with our younger counterparts and tip the odds of success in our favor?
The first question is easy to answer. While scanning the pages of TechCrunch might make you feel like entrepreneurship is a club for collage drop-outs and genius hackers, the statistics don’t lie. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the number of entrepreneurs over age 50 has increased steadily in recent decades. They point out that, in 2011, 20.3% of the entrepreneurs were over 50. That’s almost 3X the number of entrepreneurs between the ages of 25 and 34.
That’s all well and good, you may be thinking. But, can older entrepreneurs really compete with their younger counterparts? Even if they have the passion, do they have the ideas? If they have the time, do they have the energy? Yes and yes. In fact, there are several reasons to believe that older entrepreneurs hold most of the cards.
Young entrepreneurs want to start their own business before the age of 30, new research shows
For those thinking about opening their own business, it’s time to take the plunge before you hit the big three-oh, according to new research.
The survey of more than 25,000 respondents (age 18-40) across 35 countries asked respondents what age they thought would be easiest to start a business and identified it to be at 28 years old.
For respondents interested in starting a business, 51% worry they won’t be taken seriously because of their age — but they also see their youth as a positive.
In fact, half of global entrepreneurial hopefuls said their age would help their chances of success.
When asked why, six in 10 (61%) said they’re better at adapting to new technology than other generations, and 43% said they’re more likely to have fresh, unexplored ideas.
Read more at UK.News.Yahoo.com
Get Started on the Right Foot with These 10 Small Business Tips
Since so many small businesses fail in their first few years, a strong start is a must. If you plan on launching a business in 2021, careful planning can make all the difference. Here are tips from members of the online small business community to help you get started on the right foot.
Find the Right Niche for Your Business
Every business needs a specific niche to differentiate it from others in the industry. There are tons of different ways to identify a niche. Read this CorpNet post by Nellie Akalp for tips on finding the right specialty for your business.
Consider a Degree to Help with Your New Business
Education is essential for growing any endeavor. For certain types of businesses, a degree may even help you get started or reach the next level. If you plan to start a new venture this year, it’s worth considering. This post by Geoffrey Tracy on The Franchise King blog discusses the benefits of a degree.
Learn more tips at SmallBizTrends.com
How to Combat the Single Biggest Problem Businesses Face
Executives are problem solvers, but details count when solving the short- and long-term problems their businesses face. A miscalculation or slight deviation in navigation could throw a ship hundreds of milesoff course within just a few days. However, if executives know in advance what small adjustments to make or what details to focus on, many of their problems could be avoided in the long run.
Lots of failed businesses have one thing in common: They settled for the idea that circumstances were out of their control. In fact, many of us have shared that feeling during the last year and a half. A pandemic, a series of lockdowns, political turmoil — we’ve faced so many circumstances that were out of our hands. But it’s how executives address that problem that can make or break their success in the coming months and years.
“We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality of time we put in.” – Arianna Huffington
Setting your company up for success in 2021
COVID-19 forced businesses to rethink multiple facets of their operations, and in some cases to recast them repeatedly, in response to the disease’s shifting geography, Whac-a-mole switches in rules and regulations, and huge changes in customer behavior and the way we work. Last year, we wrote about several of these trends, and the need for leaders to use design thinking to create the customer and employee experiences that would sustain their company through the pandemic.
Today, as vaccines are rolled out around the world (granted, at various degrees of speed and scale), people can start to imagine finding some stability. For the leaders who have been in response mode, it’s time to stop winging it and make a flight plan.
Read more at Strategy.Business.com
Welcome to The Social Geek Radio Network
Get in touch with your inner geek. Jack Monson and many special guests discuss social media and digital marketing trends for brands, small businesses, and franchises.
Social Geek Radio was listed as one of 20 Best Business Podcasts according to Emerge and was named to the Best Small Business Podcasts by FitSmallBusiness.com. Recently, Social Geek Radio finally made the Top 25 podcasts in the Marketing category of Apple Podcasts / iTunes.
- Franchise Facebook Podcast – every Monday
- Franchise News Podcast – every Wednesday
- Social Geek Radio Franchise Spotlight – every Friday
Listen, download, subscribe to Social Geek Radio!
Get in the Mindset: Achieving Success through a Positive Outlook
A mindset that is fixed, rather than set on growth, can sabotage success. The mind is a really powerful thing. As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” People with a fixed mindset believe that their abilities, intelligence, and talents determine who they are and they are not able to change their situation. On the other hand, someone with a growth mindset, as the name suggests, believes they can shift and grow and they are not afraid to step into the unknown. They learn and may flounder or fall, but this is what allows them to remain flexible and to grow. Amindset that is fixed, rather than set on growth, can sabotage success.
The mind is a really powerful thing. As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” People with a fixed mindset believe that their abilities, intelligence, and talents determine who they are and they are not able to change their situation. On the other hand, someone with a growth mindset, as the name suggests, believes they can shift and grow and they are not afraid to step into the unknown. They learn and may flounder or fall, but this is what allows them to remain flexible and to grow.
The Courage to Be Candid
When you think of workplace courage, your mind might go straight to whistleblowing — calling out unethical behavior, often in the senior ranks of an organization. That’s the example we see again and again in news stories: people who have risked their jobs, entire careers, or even family relationships to report doctored research, for instance, or delays in recalling potentially deadly defective products.1
But whistleblowing is only the most obvious example. Other behaviors that organizational leaders tend to see as “just doing your job” take guts as well. Challenging bosses about strategic moves or operating policies, speaking honestly to peers or subordinates who aren’t pulling their weight, making and owning bold decisions — these, too, are acts of workplace courage.
Read more at SloanReview.MIT.edu
“If you are not willing to risk the usual you will have to settle for the ordinary.” —Jim Rohn
How to Exponentially Improve Your Performance
“Do your best.” We’ve heard that advice since pre-K, but how often do we really perform at our own personal best? Probably not that often if we’re in the groove of work and family life. And if we’ve been in that groove long enough, neuroscience tells us that the bar for our “best” has probably been lowered.
But thanks to the (newly discovered) plasticity of our brains, we can raise that bar higher than ever—and consistently reach it. How? By pushing ourselves physically and mentally.
New science shows us the absolutely groundbreaking, life-changing power of exercise to rebuild, strengthen and fortify our muscles and brains. With sharpened focus, memory, creativity and motivation, who knows what we could do? So let’s start the rewarding work here. The gold stars will be worth it!
4 Habits That Will Help You and Your Business Bounce Back Into Top Shape
Some call it “Covid pounds.” Others label it the “quarantine 15.” And some refer to it as the “pandemic pounds.”
Regardless of the name, we are emotionally and physically under duress.
According to an American Psychological Association (APA) survey of more than 3,000 people — released a year to the day since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic — 61 percent of American adults reported undesired weight gain or loss since the coronavirus outbreak.
As if that wasn’t problematic enough, according to the APA’s latest “Stress in America” report, more than two in five of the surveyed adults (42 percent) revealed that they gained more weight than they intended over the past 12 months. And that amount was 29 pounds, on average.
Learn more at Entrepreneur.com
Connecting the Right Brands, People & Opportunities!
The uncertainty of COVID-19 pandemic created the perfect time to diversify and expand. After all, it’s been said that necessity is the mother of invention. To that end, Acceler8Success Group was formed mid-2020, building upon Acceler8Success principles and methods that have proven successful since 2014.
Widely recognized as industry leaders & experts, Acceler8Success Group leadership have extensive experience as entrepreneurs in small business & restaurants, as senior-level executives within nationally recognized brands, and as franchisees within successful franchise systems.
Members of Acceler8Success Group along with Strategic Partners have earned designation as Certified Franchise Executives, Certified Franchise Brokers, Certified Business Brokers and Commercial Real Estate Brokers. Positioned to deliver services within the U.S., Canada and other Global markets, languages spoken include: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German and Russian.
Learn more at Acceler8Success.com
“Good things come to people who wait, but better things come to those who go out and get them.” —Anonymous
Acceler8Success Cafe 
You must be logged in to post a comment.