The Best Entrepreneurial Quotes

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”

Albert Schweitzer

“Those who would sacrifice liberty for security, deserve neither.”

Ben Franklin

“Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration.”

Thomas Edison

“Every man dies, not every man really lives.”

William Ross

“There’s no such thing as too far. You understand? You push everything as far as you can. You push and you push and you push until it starts pushing back. And then you push some goddamn more.”

Al Pacino

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Mahatma Gandhi

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Winston Churchill

“Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.”

Henry Ford

“Watch, listen, and learn. You can’t know it all yourself. Anyone who thinks they do is destined for mediocrity.”

Donald Trump

“The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew it would never be found out.”

Thomas Babington Macaulay

“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”

Michael Jordan

“Everybody lives by selling something.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

“Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.”

Salvador Dali

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”

Seneca

“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

Vince Lombardi

“When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

Harvey Mackay

“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree I would spend six hours sharpening my axe”

Abraham Lincoln

“Try not. Do or do not. There is no try”

Yoda

“Never let school get in the way of your education.”

Mark Twain

“The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.”

Peter Drucker

“The brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things.”

Dr. Randy Pausch

“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t”

Anonymous

“Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them”

Anonymous

“Anything the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

Napoleon Hill

“Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.”

Stephen R. Covey

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Thomas Edison

“Choose a job that you like and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

Confucius

Leveraging 7 Types of Social Media for Branding

It is impossible to ignore the power of social media. Everyday it is integrated more and more into the marketing of businesses – both small and large. Even brick and mortar business can take advantage of this by focusing on a specific region. However don’t bother if you will just “join”, you need to be active in order to see the results. Building relationships and trust takes time. Here are 7 types of social media you should take advantage of everyday.

Social Networking – Besides the obvious personal benefits of using websites like Facebook and Myspace, there are many advantages to using these networks for your business. According to Michael Greene, research analyst at JupiterResearch, social networks such as Facebook and MySpace can be powerful marketing platforms. “MySpace has already become a must-use platform for entertainment marketers looking to connect with young and highly engaged audiences,” he said. “And Facebook offers an array of options for marketers through its ‘Pages’ function and its applications platform.” Facebook and Myspace are soon becoming the most prominent means of sharing information. As of July 2009, both sites were reaching over 180 million unique visitors on a monthly basis and are continuing on an upward trend. Businesses can promote through these sites’ forums, blogs, fan pages, groups, events, bulletin boards, and other features.

Professional Networking – LinkedIn is the most prominent professional networking site. You can increase your credibility by creating a professional profile that serves the purpose of a resume, having lots of connections, and answering many questions in forums related to your business. Other professionals can recommend you and introduce you to new contacts. There are many groups specific to your business that you can join and post interesting discussions in. Chances are if people like what they are hearing from you, they want to learn more about you and your business.

Blogging – It is best to integrate a blog into your own website, however if that isn’t an option there are many websites like WordPress and Blogspot that offer free hosting. Be sure to consistently provide fresh and relative posts. Blogging can increase search engine optimization and boost your traffic. Providing an interesting read for your users can leave a positive experience with the main brand you are marketing.

Micro Blogging – Micro blogging sites like Twitter have gained an incredible amount traction. Twitter allows for users to send out real-time updates to its followers and is great for getting opinions. There is no limit to the amount of followers you can have. You first need to have an aesthetically appealing page, preferably custom, and have a picture attached to it. Tweet about the human side of your company instead of constant company updates. Keep your followers interested and engaged in your brand and routinely tweet (at least once a day). Multiple businesses have spawned off from the Twitter idea, allowing users to log in to niche chat rooms and network with like minded people. Twitter can even provide for internal communication within a business. You can do so by protecting updates limiting it to certain personnel. Using search tools you can keep track of what is being said about your company or even the industry as a whole. Here are a couple of resources to help your company get familiar with how other businesses do this:

• 16 Examples of Huge Brands Using Twitter for Business

• 40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them

• Lots of tips on how to use Twitter from celebrity blogger Darren Rowse

Social Bookmarking – There are many social bookmarking sites out there but the most prominent are Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious, and Technorati. People come to these sites in search of interesting reads/websites. If you post something with a catchy or interesting title and the content lives up to the hype, this can gain momentum on these sites which boost your rankings on the site and add more visibility to your posts. Sometimes posts that make the front page of these sites can see a surge of 30,000 unique visitors in a given day. See the Digg Effect.

Discussion Forums – Discussion forums are integrated into many websites. This was one of the first forms of social media and still continues to remain effective. If you take time and respond to people and post interesting topics for discussion, it could bring a significant amount of traffic to your website. This is focused marketing because you are engaging people that already have an interest in what you are essentially selling. Craigslist has a forum that can be filtered by city and topic and has a very large viewership base of over 50 million unique visitors monthly.

Video Marketing – YouTube is the most effective form of video marketing. You can create a channel and post videos that get people interested in your brand. In those videos you can put a link to your site. If you can create some videos that have the ‘virability factor’, there is a great chance it can get shared across the net. Think outside the box and you will be handsomely rewarded.

Don’t get overwhelmed, shaping a brand isn’t an overnight process. Spend a portion of your day focusing on social media and in no time you will see a noticeable difference in traffic.

Top 20 Startup Tips

It’s been two years since I began my business, TriFame, and I have grown so much from it; both professionally and personally. Below are 20 startup tips I have for aspiring entrepreneurs.

1. Find a strength for your weakness.

2. Work with people that are just as passionate about the business. You have to be “all-in” and fully committed to the business.

3. Always think “how can I add more value to the end user?”

4. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

5. Realize that as an entrepreneur, you are innately optimistic. Try and step outside yourself, ask others, and try and be more realistic.

6. Networking is more important than you can even imagine. Never eat alone. Ask lots of questions to people who have been there and done that. Surround yourself with wise people. As Jim Rohn said “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

7. Make mistakes; just don’t do it again. Embracing failure and learning from your mistakes is integral to growth.

8. Money is always problem. Deal with it.

9. Continually innovate and think outside the box.

10. Never lose focus on your mission.

11. Customer service should always be a core value.

12. Write down and document everything. Be concise on all documents. The devil is in the details.

13. Don’t underestimate the power of social media.

14. Write a SWOT analysis of every one of your competitors.

15. Periodically revise your business plan to better organize your thoughts.

16. Communication is key.

17. Every single night write a to-do list for the next day and don’t go to bed until you complete the tasks.

18. There is no clocking in or clocking out. Work is never done, you just have to decide what not to do.

19. Luck happens when hard work meets opportunity.

20. Nothing is a greater high than when people use your product and see value in it.

What makes a good leader?

You’ve seen many people tagged as leaders, but are they really? Have we stopped to ask what qualities they possess? The following 10 characteristics best represent a good leader:

Visionary

Without a clear picture of where you want to go, others will not know what they are working towards. It is integral to set a tone for victory and show everyone where the finish line is. Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric said it the best, “Good business leaders create a vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessy drive it to completion.”

Integrity

A leader with integrity has good inner values and shows it through their actions. This type of person can be trusted because they never veer away from their inner values and are continuously honest. Regardless of their feelings towards a decision they will always make the morally correct decision. They treat everyone around them fairly and with respect.

Inspirational

Finding what lights everyones fire is the key to motivating them. When people are inspired they are motivated and dedicated to the cause. A leader needs to give hope to everyone as this is a main motivator of life; the hope of achieving X.

Insatiable Hunger for Growth

It should never be enough and you should never be satisfied. A true leader wants to continually grow as a person, whether it is personal, professional, or social growth. Accepting failure only aids this process. Experience all you can and keep asking questions.

Magnanimity

As the old saying goes, you have to give credit where credit is due. A leader shares success with his team and takes the blame for any failures. Humility plays a factor in magnanimity.

Openness

Many people hear what you have to say but do they really listen? The two are not the same. Hearing is the act of perceiving sound by the ear. Listening is making sense of the sound and using brain processes. Listening leads to learning. You have to be able to listen to new ideas, even if they are contrasting to your own. Suspend judgement until you hear the full details and be accepting as it will build mutual respect.

Passionate

Regardless of what cause you are leading you have to believe in it 100% and be dedicated enough to spend whatever time or energy is necessary to accomplish the task at hand.

Likeability

It isn’t all about the work. People gravitate towards people they like. A good sense of humor is a critical component of likeability. Humor fosters a positive environment and good camaraderie.

Decisiveness

We live in a fast pace world where key decision making is vital. A true leader is assertive and can step in and make the tough decisions and can defend his position. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the second best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

Adaptability

Things change quickly, and when they do you need to be able to adapt to the new situation at hand. It is also important to be a catalyst for adaptability for others through innovation.

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

- Peter F. Drucker

The Nordstrom Way

After my internship with Merrill Lynch where I decided my fate was to be an entrepreneur I decided to intern at Nordstrom. Many of my friends and family secretely baulked at the idea of me working at a clothing store which seemed to be something that wouldn’t further advance my professional ambitions. In reality, interning at Nordstrom would prepare me more for my entrepreneurial career than most other prestigious programs. Customer service, to me, is the most important core value of a business and I wanted to learn from the company that does it best.

Customer service goes way beyond the person spending money. It applies to everyone associated with the business, even employees. My first day on the job we got the employee handbook. Expecting to see a tedious list of do’s and don’ts, I was shocked when I received a single 5 x 8-inch card with 75 words:

Welcome to Nordstrom

We’re glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.

Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.

Please feel free to ask your department manager, store manager, or division general manager any question at any time.

By trusting their employees, Nordstrom creates an autonomous environment where employees feel like entrepreneurs. At any point, an employee (at any level) can contact the CEO to discuss their thoughts. Unlike many vertically organizaned businesses, Nordstrom can quickly adapt and react to many situations. On the buyer side of the business, customers are treated like royalty. Anything and everything will be done to satisfy the buyer and make sure they leave with ‘The Nordstrom Experience’. Nordstrom is informally organized as an inverted pyramid with 5 tiers. First is the customers because without them, you don’t have a business. Next is the sales and support people, the guys on the front line that make sure the buyers are taken care of. The third tier is the department managers who are responsible for fostering the growth of not only the department but of their employees. The fourth tier consists of store managers, buyers, merchandise managers, and general managers. Last comes the board of directors. It is this emphasis that has been the catalyst to their success.

Similar to Nordstrom, Google has created a very positive atmosphere for its employees and continually uses feedback to better its business. Check out ‘The Google Life‘ and you will see what it is like to come to “work” at Google. When your employees are happy they are productive, and when they are productive they are creating value.

By studying the greats, you can quickly learn what attributes to their success and you can implement that in your own game plan. Now that I have launched my own company I can put to use all the invaluable lessons of customer service that I have learned. I hope to one day create an environment where employees want to come to work and where buyers will enjoy their time/money spent.

What is Success?

What defines success? According to dictionary.com, success means:

1) the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.

2) the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.

3) a successful performance or achievement.

4) a person or thing that is successful.

There are multiple connotations however. Success can be found in some of the simple, more intangible pleasures of life. To me, success is measured in happiness.

Hold ‘em or Fold ‘em

We live in a fast pace world where quick decision making is critical. As an avid poker player and an entrepreneur I see many parallels between the two.

In general, I believe poker is a metaphor for life. You are dealt a hand and have to decide how you want to play it. There is no guidebook as to what is best to do. You have to take the incomplete information around you and make the best sense of it. You need to make a read about the people you are around. Are they bluffing or are they for real?

In life you need to take calculated risks in order to be profitable (not necessarily monetary). As cliche as this may sound, you need to know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.