Sprint Takes The Axe To Its Premier Program; No More Early Phones

For Sprint subscribers who qualified for membership in the carrier's Sprint Premier program, we've got some bad news for you: the days of all your perks are numbered, with Sprint announcing the discontinuation of the program.

Some members of the Premier program might have been interested in the ability to upgrade their phones more frequently, but we always paid the most attention to the early access members had to some cutting-edge phones. Sprint would occasionally give Premier members the chance to buy a new piece of hardware several days before the rest of its customers. Sure, it was never the week-or-two head start that would give you a chance to rub your new phone in the faces of your friends, but it was a nice perk nonetheless. Now, all Sprint subscribers will be on a level playing field when it comes to new releases.

Sprint will be phasing out the benefits available to Premier members based on their type of membership and when they joined; current benefits will last at least through the end of the year. After that, you could have up to another year to take advantage of an upgrade opportunity, depending on your circumstance; check with Sprint for details.

We're sad to see some of those perks go, but if it lets Sprint keep costs down and offer unlimited data, so be it.

Source: Sprint

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Starting a Business: It Takes More Than Just an Idea

I have got a brilliant idea that going to make me a lot of money! That's the pitch I usually get from budding enthusiastic entrepreneurs. My questions now are these:

Is a brilliant idea all it takes to start a business? Does a smart business idea guarantee success when starting a business from scratch? Is a business idea the minimum, most important requisite for starting a business? Will a million dollar idea see me through the entrepreneurial process of starting a business from scratch? Well, you will find out further down this article.

Sometime ago, I went into a fast food outlet to honor an appointment and I met some youths in the lobby. From my observation, they were waiting to be interviewed for a job at the fast food. Just immediately, an idea cropped in my mind and I joined these young lads waiting to be employed. While in the waiting line, I started a conversation with a young man who should be in his mid 20s.

The young man, who turned out to be a graduate told me he had a passion for cooking. He told me he had a plan to set up a restaurant and based on the detailed plan he gave me; I knew this guy has something innovative up his sleeves and I loved it. He even had a name for his dream restaurant. I asked him what's holding back the dream of starting a business from being made real and he said he has been trying to raise capital from his wealthy relations.

"There are fast ideas and slow ideas, just as there are fast trains and slow trains. When it comes to money, most people are on the slow train looking out the window watching the fast train pass them by. If you want to become rich quickly, your plan must include fast ideas." - Robert Kiyosaki

In as much as I loved the young man's idea; I nodded my head, shook his hand and bid him good luck. On my way to honor the appointment, I kept thinking about this young man. He was cool, smart, enthusiastic; and had a brilliant idea backed by a university degree. I really loved the guy and his idea but it's a pity; the world is filled with brilliant business ideas and I just wish I had told him that. But how would he take it?

I am not writing this to discourage budding entrepreneurs from coming up with creative ideas. In fact, I am writing this to encourage you to think and come up with good business ideas. But most importantly, I want you to think beyond the idea because a business idea is just the starting point to starting a business.

"Dream more than others. Think practical." - Howard Schultz

The world is filled with budding entrepreneurs carrying business plans and seeking investment capital. The sad news is that 85% of these entrepreneurs are never going to go beyond the initial planning stage and that's the hard truth.

Now what does it takes to start a business?

That may be the question on your mind. While I believe there is no conventional answer to this question; I will try to provide street smart answer but before I do, I suggest you ponder on the following questions:

Did the successful entrepreneurs and richest school drop out billionaires become ultimately rich because of their ideas? Did Rachael Ray start a restaurant business before harnessing her cooking potential? Did Debbi Field's wait to raise millions of dollars in capital before starting her cookie business? Of the entire social networking platforms available; how did Facebook emerge the most popular thus, making its founder Mark Zuckerberg, the youngest billionaire in the world?

"A business idea is just another idea. But an idea backed by a strong feasibility, a thorough business plan and a smart team is no longer an idea. It's now a solid business opportunity worth pursuing." - Ajaero Tony Martins

In answer to the illustrations and questions asked above, I want you to know that Rachael Ray didn't start a restaurant business before she began making millions from her cooking recipe. She simply took her business idea, struck a deal with a local television network and became a self made millionaire. No restaurant, no external funding and no million dollar infrastructure. All she had was just her cooking recipe and a television network joint venture; that was all.

Debbi Field's did not wait for some investors or Venture Capitalists to invest in her passion for baking cookies. She simply looked for a good business location, baked some cookies with her own money and walked around her vicinity giving away free cookies.

Facebook was not the only social networking platform available online; in fact, Myspace has already been in business long before Facebook came on board. Was it Mark Zuckerberg's idea that led to Facebook's success? I don't think so.

These three selected entrepreneurs all possessed average business ideas but they had something which other entrepreneurs lack. In this article, I am going to reveal to you five things you need to start a business and become successful other just than an idea.

This write up will help reduce your over concentration on the business idea and shift it to developing the most necessary requirements to starting a business. Building a business around an idea requires everything you've got. You are the ultimate key to the realization and utilization of that business idea. To start a business and build the business of your dreams, you need a little of the following:

Starting a Business: Five Keys to Starting a Business Successfully from Scratch

1. You need guts to start a business

"The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week, but today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer." - Nolan Bushnell

Starting a business out of the planning board require guts; quitting your job to start your own business require guts, believing in your business idea even when everyone says you are nuts requires guts and facing business challenges also require guts. That's why I listed guts as number one.

Without entrepreneurial guts, just forget about starting a business. If you want to really know the importance of entrepreneurial guts to the entrepreneurial process, I will recommend you read the following articles.

"You are nuts and you should be proud of it. Stick with what you believe in." - Trip Hawkins

2. You need business skills to start a business

The next thing you need to make your business idea a reality is skills. What are you bringing to the table? This is the question you must answer when seeking joint ventures and business partnerships. Your possessed entrepreneurial skills are very important to the realization of your ideas because your skills can be a strength or competitive advantage for your business. Skills are a necessity when searching for a business team.

"The ability to sell is the number one skill in business. If you cannot sell, don't bother thinking about becoming a business owner." - Rich Dad

Have you heard the phrase that "entrepreneurs are generalists? I think there is an atom of truth in that statement. Entrepreneurs are generalist, they need to know a little of everything that pertains to business. That's where your business skills come in. As an entrepreneur, you need to know a little of accounting, investing, sales, marketing, operations and business management in general.

Before ever starting a business; be sure to hone your sales skills, marketing skills, communication skills, negotiation skills, accounting skills, leadership skills, people skills and every other entrepreneurial skill that's required to succeed in business. For further insights, I will suggest you read the article below.

"Skills make you rich, not theories." - Rich Dad

3. You need the right mindset to start a business

You probably must have heard this over and over again but I think it's worth repeating. You can't build a business if you lack the right mindset. Entrepreneurship is not really about starting or building a business.

"Starting a business is like building a ship and embarking on a voyage, armed with a plan, a map and a team. You will have to sail against storms, unpredictable weather and uncertainty. If your ship sinks, it's either you quit or you swim back to shore, build a new ship and sail again." - Ajaero Tony Martins

Entrepreneurship is simply a change in perception or core value. It's the process of developing your mindset from being job dependent to being financially independent. It's a shift from being handicapped to challenges to being a problem solver. In all, entrepreneurship is simply a change of mindset.

4. You need capital to start a business

I believe you know that no business idea is worth a pinch of salt without capital. I don't want to stress much on this because I believe you know the significance of capital to any business. But in retrospect, I always advice my protégés not to be deterred by lack of capital. I encourage them to get creative when it comes to financing their small business startups; where there is a will, there will surely be a way. To help you get started, I will advice you read the article.

"There are three components to starting a business. One is the right plan; two is the right team and three is the money. Rarely do these three components come together when starting a business. It's the duty of an entrepreneur to grab one piece and start the business, the remaining two pieces will be found along the way. Finding the remaining two components may take a year or more than 10 years; the point is, start with what you have." - Robert Kiyosaki

5. You need the right business management team

"Individuals don't win in business, teams do." - Sam Walton

Finally, you need the right business management team in place to build a business around your idea. For your business idea to leave the planning phase, it's going to require the right business team. If you can assemble the right team to deliver on your plans, I bet you will find the venture capital because a strong business team is an essential ingredient to the process of raising capital from Venture capitalists.

Now how do you find the right team? I don't know. How do you know you've found the right business team? Once again, I don't know but what I do know is that the right team is a team that complements your weakness and adds value to your business. A good way to know you have the right team in place is that your business will take off like wild fire and gain grounds seamlessly with little or no effort on your part.

As a final note, these are the five things I believe are fundamental to either starting a business from scratch or building a successful business. So don't get too excited because you feel you have a creative idea up your sleeves; instead, start strategizing on ways to assemble the five elements listed above for your business.

In conclusion, I hope you've grabbed the lesson that starting a business takes more than an idea. The world is filled with brilliant million dollar ideas waiting to be funded but the world lacks seasoned entrepreneurs. Take this lesson to heart and I will see you at the top.

And just before i drop my pen, if you really want to learn How to Start a Business from scratch; please feel free to visit our blog. In addition, you can also get quality information on How to Become a Millionaire in less than a year

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Intel takes movie making social with The Inside Experience

Christina Perasso found herself locked in a dark room Monday, unclear about where she was or how she got there. Her only link to the outside world has been a laptop, which she has been using to post requests for help on Twitter and upload photos and videos to Facebook and YouTube. Here’s one of her recent Facebook updates:

“I can’t climb up to the windows I’ve tried a couple of times… a bunch of sites are blocked, like Skype, Google Earth etc. but I’m going to keep trying, a lot of other sites seem to work… whoever is doing this seems to be one step ahead of everything I try..”

Relax, there’s no reason to call the cops. Perasso is a fictional character, part of a new interactive movie called The Inside Experience that was launched by Intel and Toshiba to promote the laptop used in the film. The 20-something is played by Emmy Rossum, who previously appeared in movies like Phantom of the Opera and The Day After Tomorrow, and the show is directed by D.J. Caruso of Disturbia fame.

Both companies started brainstorming about ways to combine a branded movie with social networks back in Janaury, I was told during a phone conversation with Intel’s OEM partner marketing director Ryan Baker today. The idea really started to take on a life of its own once Caruso got involved, who Baker credited for bringing a lot of Hollywood folks on board. Filming started in early June, and now it’s up to the online community to take the film to its final conclusion.

Perasso has already started to post a bunch of clues on her Facebook page, including various receipts from take-out restaurants and furniture stores. Users have eagerly begun to go over those clues to locate Perasso and help her to find a way out of her captivity. The pace and order in which these pieces of the puzzle are solved directly influence what kind of videos get posted next. “The clues have an impact on how the film plays out,” said Baker.

This also means that we won’t know for some time how long this movie actually is, and when it will end. Baker said that the team estimates viewers to solve the entire puzzle by mid August, but admitted: “We are not exactly sure.”

The Inside Experience is in many ways similar to Alernate Reality Games, which have been used to promote shows like Lost by blurring the line between reality and fiction. However, the movie doesn’t even pretend to be the real deal. Part of this obviously has to do with liability: You don’t even want to pretend for a second that an abduction could be real. However, Baker also said that this was more about exploring new ways of storytelling: “We had always conceived of this as a fictional story line.”

There are a few things that I find interesting about The Inside Experience: First of all, it obviously seems to capture the imagination of its audience. The trailer to the movie was seen 1.75 million times before it even launched, and the publishing of Perasso’s first video even briefly took the movie’s web site offline. Also intriguing is that Intel is willing to go rather dark with its old “Intel Inside” tagline. Sure, the laptop is Perasso’s most powerful tool, but she’s also held inside, against her will. Exploring this double meaning is pretty ingenious.

And finally, there’s the promise that we will eventually be able to see The Inside Experience as a complete movie, with edits and story line depending on all the social inputs that are gathered while the mystery unfolds. The movie’s audience also takes part in its completion, or in other words: We’re all inside, even if we don’t know it yet.

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Starting a New Business - Do You Have What It Takes?

Are you thinking of starting your own business, but you're afraid, concerned...actually, you're freaked out? That puts you in good company with many others who have come before you and asked the same question: Do I have what it takes? According to the dictionary, an entrepreneur is someone who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. That sounds pretty straight-forward, doesn't it? We all have some degree of organizational skills. How's about management skills? Were you dressed when you left the house this morning? Then somewhere along the way you managed the process of picking out clothes and putting them on your body, right?

Congratulations! It appears that you qualify as a bona fide entrepreneur...or do you? Read the definition again - I think it says something about "assuming the risks of a business or enterprise". That is precisely where most potential business owners consider themselves unprepared, mainly because they have never had to assume such risks. Never had to make a payroll, never had to escrow money for quarterly tax payments, never had to borrow a large sum of money (and then start paying it back whether their business was profitable or not). Notice that I did not use the word "unqualified" - I used the word unprepared, which could be exchanged for the phrase "not ready". The good news is, through mentoring and education, potential entrepreneurs can get themselves prepared and ready to assume such risks.

In my 25 years of business management and being a consultant for business owners (and want-to-be owners), I have learned much about what it takes to operate a successful, profitable business. My views on the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur come from my own personal experiences (managerial successes and failures both), observations, continuing education, and in interviews with business owners on what characteristics they feel make for a successful entrepreneur. Let's explore these characteristics together with hopes that you find yourself within. Although these traits are numbered, it is not implied that one is any more important than the others...they are all critical.

1. Work Ethic

Actually, this one is listed first for a reason. As a young boy my father instilled in me a tremendous work ethic. He had the means to shower me with money, with possessions, with all the things I saw my peers getting from their fathers; however, he chose to teach me to work for what I wanted, to earn it. At the time I resented that and I didn't understand his method. It wasn't until I was through college and out on my own that it hit me in the face like 100,000 tons of bricks: in the real world, one must work if one hopes to eat, and those who work harder and smarter eat better and more often than those who don't. I am talking about being able and willing to actually get your hands dirty, hitting the ground running and using a little elbow grease if that is what it takes to get the job done. At the age of 15 my first real paying job was as a dishwasher in a pancake house. Every Saturday and Sunday morning my mom would wake up and drive me to my 6:00 AM to 3:00 PM shift. Let me tell you, this wasn't a job with two 15-minute breaks and a nice 30 minute interlude for lunch (apparently, there were no enforced labor laws in Oklahoma in 1976). I am talking about 9 hours straight through, washing some of the nastiest dishes imaginable - and this is back in the days when you could still smoke in restaurants. I never actually saw a sign to this effect, but I have to believe that this pancake house had some sort of rule that EVERYBODY was required to smoke and they were required to flick their ashes onto their plate. They also must have been required to stay and smoke for no less than 2 hours - sitting there smoking and flicking - because by the time I got those plates the ashes, the cigarette butts and syrup had become chemically sealed to the plate.

So here I am, a 15-year-old kid living in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Oklahoma City, in a beautiful 5 bedroom home (my parent's) right on the 18th fairway of the country club golf course I find myself scraping other people's filth from plates and racking them up and running them through a commercial dishwasher. The only break I ever got from that task was when I had to wash the pots and pans that the cooks would bring over and stack at my feet. What the heck was I doing working this awful job making minimum wage? The answer is simple: I was earning my spending money and learning the value of a good, hard day's work. Again, at the time, I would have welcomed someone just giving me the spending money I needed. But when I look back over my life it is clear to see that that job was one of a series of significant events that helped mold me into the person and businessman I am today.

This concept of having a strong work ethic truly manifests itself in the world of business ownership, where you will find that a successful business is run by someone who is proficient in most/all of the tasks associated with operating that business, and will be able to do them well. When your employees see you working in the business and exhibiting consistent energy and a "roll up your sleeves and do it until it's done right" attitude, they will adopt the same attitude and you will inspire a sense of team pride. There really is something to the phrase "early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise". I believe it refers to preparing yourself for a productive and diligent work day- there is no getting ahead in the entrepreneurial world for those who compromise the important tasks at hand in favor of slothful behavior or a lazy, "that's not my job" attitude.

2. Goal Driven - but keep life balanced

As people look to start a business, they will always have one particular goal, or maybe a set of goals, associated with the endeavor. I have never known anyone who just woke up one day and thought it might be a good idea to start their own business, but don't know why they are doing it or what they want to do. Here is a short list of some of the goals I hear my clients talk about as they look to ramp up a new business:

*To bring a unique idea or product into the business world;

*To work for themselves and be in charge of a business;

*The business is something they want to do with another family member and aspire to pass it on to their children;

*To prove to themselves that their product is as good as people tell them it is, and that people will actually pay for it ;

*To conquer the sheer challenge of getting a business started;

*To have a business that will grow equity over time and provide future wealth and retirement stability;

*To earn a comfortable or above average income;

*To have a more flexible work schedule, creating more family time.

As you can see from this list, some of these goals are wrapped around a sense of accomplishment, some of them involve purely economic reasons, and some of them have to do with more personal aspirations. I feel it is important to define what your personal goals are while you are dreaming up your new business endeavor, and then mold your business operation in such a way that it feeds into your personal goals. Take caution if the expectations you have for your business only include feeding your financial goals - this may cause your personal life to become unbalanced. Your new business should make possible the achievement of other important goals that are not financially motivated: family and social commitments, spiritual growth, community involvement, your own health and wellness, etc. Trust me, you don't want the only time you see your children to be when they are already asleep because you are always working late, or that you don't take time for a routine date night with your mate, or have a night out with friends on a regular basis. Schedule and follow-through on those important things - in the end you will be glad you did, and your business will be better off for you doing it.

Hopefully I have made my point that I believe in not focusing simply on money and financial gain while developing your goals in the world of business ownership and entrepreneurship. I tried that as a young manager and it did get me the promotion I sought, but it also left my personal life very much out of whack. The key message from this section is that successful entrepreneurs are goal-oriented - they wake up every day and have their to-do list to get accomplished and they work hard to finish that list before the end of the day, because they know tomorrow will have its own list. To be a truly successful entrepreneur and to sustain that success over a period of time will require you to have a well balanced life. Yes, I see the how television and movies portray the hard driving, smart and cut throat businessman who runs five different businesses and makes tons of money, and they then show what a romantic they are and a sophisticated socialite - but I am talking about the real world, not Hollywood. Since you and I live in this real world where there are only so many hours in the day and we all possess only a finite amount of energy, we must allocate that time and energy appropriately. Set your goals carefully and with balance, budget your time and energy well, and you will find that your entrepreneurial project will be much more rewarding and profitable in the long run.

3. Competitive

Entrepreneurs strive to be on top, to be successful, and to win. They are typically competitive by nature and this competitive drive is one thing that can lead them to the top of their industry or trade. They want to win the negotiation process; they want to win the sales contract; they want to win in the hiring process in landing key employees; they want to be the most profitable; they want to win customers away from their competitors. This competitive nature will also sustain them through the process of getting a new business venture off the ground. There are so many things that need to be accomplished just to get a business started and a lengthy list of tasks that require stick-to-itiveness and continual accomplishment. For the less competitive person it is easy to give up along the way, as the road can be rough and bumpy when it comes to writing business plans and securing financing, for example. Of course, I am not saying that if you lack this competitive drive that your are doomed as an entrepreneur - what I am saying is that most successful entrepreneurs possess some degree of competitiveness which drives them to be successful. If you have an internal stirring that is driving you to start-up a new business, that can be construed as being competitive in nature. I find it interesting that three of the most common synonyms for the word competitive are gung ho, spirited and ready for action. I think we can all agree that anyone who takes on the tasks and responsibilities of starting up and running a business would possess these qualities to some extent.

It is important to point out that truly successful entrepreneurs also focus on achieving these "wins" by staying within the guidelines of accepted rules and practices...maybe bending them a bit...maybe even finding new and legitimate ways around the rules, but doing so with a great degree of integrity. Victory gained through unscrupulous means will lead to short-lived celebration, as no business entity can successfully exist for the long haul while cheating and breaking the rules. At some point those businesses and their devious practices are always exposed. Raise your hand if you have ever heard of Enron! We will address these points more in depth in just a moment.

4. Multi-Task Ability

The job functions required to operate any business can be broken down into two categories: technical and managerial. The successful entrepreneur understands the relationship and dynamics between these two and how each depend on each other, and will be able to multi-task his or her attention to both and understand that at times they are equally demanding of attention. However, there will be times when one will dominate their time and focus. The technical side of the business is the production of the goods, the performing of the services, the (I am not fond of this phrase, but will use it this one time) "blue collar" side of the business. To operate a business there is almost always going be technicians painting a home, making a widget, operating a cash register or flipping a burger. The managerial side of the business focuses more on sales, financial records and analysis, employee oversight, and process improvement. One does not laud over the other because they depend on each other to exist. A successful entrepreneur will understand the relationship between the technical and managerial responsibilities within the operation, which means they are balancing the needs, successes and challenges of each of them.

As you venture into your new business start-up, you must determine whether you are planning to focus your day-to-day involvement predominantly on the technical side. I have worked with many clients who started a business and planned on being the repair person, the delivery driver, or the cashier in the shop full time. There is nothing wrong with being an owner/operator and putting yourself in the role of lead technician in your business - but you must understand that if that is your business model, it will usually prevent you from growing the business past a certain point. Most new businesses must begin with the owner as lead technician, but the business model is for the owner to vacate that position by hiring someone to fill that role once the financial statements prove that the business is ready for such a transition. In making this transition the business owner is now freed up to concentrate on the "big picture" and is better able to balance her time in overseeing both the technical and managerial sides of the business, which ultimately will drive the growth of the business. A truly successful entrepreneur will plan for this transition in their pre-opening financial projections and will strive to make it happen at the appropriate time.

5. Character/Integrity

When we talked about being competitive, the phrase "win at all costs" was never mentioned. A truly competitive person in the business world will persevere based on their superior skill, their cunning intellect and their managerial prowess...those are the true components of victory and success. I will refer to the grand old game of golf to provide an excellent example: You are playing a round of golf and during the course of your game you allow yourself a few "re-do" shots (mulligans), you miss a really short putt - then decide to "give" that putt to yourself, you conveniently choose not to charge yourself a penalty stroke for hitting a ball out of bounds...so your results are greatly enhanced due to your own generosity in scoring. At the end of the game, you add up your score and it looks pretty decent, doesn't it? Later that day a friend asks you what your score was for your daily round of golf and you proudly proclaim to him the score you totaled on your scorecard. The problem is that deep down you know that your scoring system was flawed and you cut corners - you really did not score as low as you bragged about to your friend. A successful entrepreneur will only take pleasure in winning above board, beating his competition fair and square in a pure capitalistic environment. A true entrepreneur can take no pleasure in saying he shot an 84 when he knows deep down he really shot a 94. To take it a step further, the next time he plays golf with his friends they will expect him to perform at a level that he is not accustomed to, his reputation will be tarnished and future bragging about his artificially low scores will be written off as falsehoods. The same goes for the business world: if you make false claims about your business' goods, services, or capabilities, and fail to deliver what you promise, it won't be long before customers see right through your false claims and they will not take your business seriously. Once you compromise the integrity of your business and damage your brand name, you begin its downward spiral. I believe this principle with all of my heart.

Always operate your business with the utmost integrity; gains achieved through unscrupulous means will ultimately spell your demise. Your good name is priceless, and you must protect it and enhance it - in each sales transaction, with every service provided, every single day. It will be your biggest asset for years to come, and will increase the equity in your business more than you can imagine.

6. Persistency - Embrace Rejection!

Never give up, never say die. If you have ever been employed in a sales capacity, or in the marketing field, or if you intend to own and operate a business - a never give up, never say die approach to everything you put your hands to is absolutely, positively imperative. Close your eyes and imagine for a moment that you are a door to door sales-person: you knock on 5 doors and make zero sales...are you going to get discouraged, pack it up, go back home and crawl into bed? Or are you going to trust your statistics that tell you that you need to knock on 25 doors to find 3 people who will allow you to offer them your 4 minute sales pitch? Do you cling to your research that tells you that for every 3 sales pitches that you present, you will get one sale? Can you see where I am going with this? A successful entrepreneur understands that not everything comes easily or on the first try. But if you knock on 5 doors and no one will allow you to present your sales pitch you can rejoice because that means you are one door closer to that one who will listen to your sales presentation, that will buy your product or service. Embrace rejection, for with each rejection you know that you are just that much closer to a success. That is a characteristic of a successful entrepreneur. In starting up a new business there will be successes and failures along the way, not everything runs as smooth as silk the first time around. If you are destined to be a successful business owner, you will stay with it and keep plugging away, keep working on every aspect of your business until you have things operating the way you want them to operate. Never give up, never say die.

7. Self Motivated

If you still depend on your mother to wake you up every morning and help you get your day started, please close this book and put it down - then go find a job working for someone else. There is no shame in needing others to motivate us - it just doesn't bode well if you are going to organize, manage and assume the risks of a business or enterprise. A successful entrepreneur and/or business owner will be a self starter, someone who makes a to-do list each day and completes it before the day comes to its conclusion. Nobody has to tell them what to do or to motivate them to start doing it. Successful entrepreneurs are self-driven and set goals for themselves, and they work diligently until they achieve those goals. Taking that concept a step further, you must strive to complete the tasks of each day on that day. Procrastination in running a business can be compared to the poor little frog in the pot of boiling water - you usually won't realize the negative effects from putting things off until you realize you can't pay your bills because you never sent out those invoices to your customers (cash flow woes), or when your employees don't show up for work because their paychecks are late in being disbursed - because you didn't submit their payroll sheets until the day after the deadline. Getting your work done on a timely basis requires self-motivation and discipline and is an important characteristic of a successful entrepreneur. Successful entrepreneurs take pride in taking care of responsibilities quickly and efficiently, while not having to be told to take care of them - they do it from an internal motivation.

8. Forward Thinker.....the Great Chess Master

I clearly remember my early days in sales and marketing - including one particular job that required me to start out in the telemarketing department. In training me to be successful in that particular job, my boss taught me the art of thinking one step ahead - he likened it to a great chess match. Great chess players, or Chess Masters, are always thinking one, two, three moves ahead: I will move this piece here, and if I do he will move here, then I will move there...or if he moves there, then I will do this. A successful entrepreneur will manage his business like a great Chess Master, always calculating how any move or decision he or she makes will affect the business' profitability, or the market in general, or how it might affect their relationship with a customer. This is a very important concept when it comes to making financial decisions in your business.

This Chess Master mentality is also engrained in the most successful of sales people and usually manifests itself in the phrase "overcoming objections". This is important because with few rare exceptions a business owner will also wear the hat of salesman in his or her business - at least for a period of time. This salesman role may be actually writing and processing sales orders, or it may be answering customer's questions while running the cash register in the store. It may mean attending the local chamber of commerce meetings for the old "grin and grip" sessions with other local business owners; or it may mean preparing and submitting bids for customers. Whatever the sales process may be in your prospective new business, it will serve you well to learn the ways of the Chess Master. Becoming a forward thinker in all areas of you business will pay huge dividends, especially when your competitors are not "playing chess" while running their operations.

9. Open Minded

This is the one characteristic that usually surprises people when I mention it in describing entrepreneurs. You might think that an entrepreneur is supposed to already have everything all figured out. He has already made his plans and is ready to carry them out. Well, this may be true, but anyone who is venturing into a new business will seek the input of others - if they are smart! There are so many angles and responsibilities associated with starting a new business - few people are able to tackle them all alone, and tackle them with the expertise necessary to ensure that they are done well. There will be contracts to review (leases, employment contracts, sales agreements, etc.), there will be marketing plans to create and implement, and there will be strategies to forge. A successful entrepreneur will leave their ego at the door and seek the advice and ideas of others - even if they think they have the best idea already. It doesn't hurt to hear what someone else thinks or believes...after all, since you are the boss you don't have to take their advice once it is all said and done. The importance of accepting help, insight and mentoring from others more experienced than you will be covered in more detail in Chapter 5.

10. People Skills

When I was fresh out of college, I got a mid-level management job working for a large company in the food service industry. It was decent pay and it had a great deal of potential for advancement. Although I had studied accounting and finance in college, and this job wasn't exactly in my field, I was ready to take on this position and work my way straight to the top. The first few weeks in the new job were a transition, and I tried hard to apply my accounting prowess and financial skills to the job on a day to day basis. The more time that went by, the more I realized that I was dealing with managing people much more than I was managing numbers. I was never trained to manage people: what to do when someone calls in sick, how to handle disputes between employees, how to motivate people who are making near minimum wage to perform at a high level in order to make ME look good. At that job, I was very fortunate to work for a man (I will call him Carl) who was extremely gifted in the area of managing people. Carl was very firm but very fair, and people loved to work for him. He got the best effort that they had within them - and he ran a very successful operation because of that. I watched and learned from him, oftentimes mimicking him as I handled employees. In essence, I did what he did. Throughout my three years of working for Carl and watching his outstanding people skills, managing people successfully became more and more natural for me. As time went on I was able to blend the people skills I learned from him with the financial management skills from my education, and in doing so I was indeed able to advance up the ladder during my early years in food service management.

The people skills and employee relations skills I learned early in my career were a huge asset to me later as I transitioned out of food service management and became successful in a sales position, then as a sales manager, and finally as the general manager of a large operation. Being able to work well with people, understand people, motivate people, and manage people is such a huge part of being a successful business owner and a successful entrepreneur that I advise individuals going into business that if they don't possess those skills, hire someone who does and learn from them. The business will be much better off for you doing so.

11. Education: how important is it?

Of the 10 previous characteristics of a successful entrepreneur that we have looked at in this chapter, some of the traits within these characteristics will be ingrained in you, and some must be learned. In that regard education usually plays a role in becoming a successful entrepreneur. This education will either take place in advance of your "Big Idea" - meaning you went to college and learned the skills necessary during the early 20's stage of life - or you acquired the skills and abilities once you realized what it is that your new business required. It is important that you possess as many of the characteristics as possible that we have covered here, so it is incumbent upon you to know what skills and traits are required for your new business start-up and to make sure you possess them, or hire someone who does have them.

These days education and training are available from so many sources (online classes, colleges and universities, trade schools, working in an actual business, local SBDC classes) that there really is no excuse not to acquire the skills and abilities necessary to open and operate your business. I have counseled many people who did not have practical training in the industry they were looking to open a business in and have suggested they go get a job in the industry to gain some real, working experience. This suggestion is usually greeted less than enthusiastically - as a matter of fact, NOBODY wants to do that, and very few ever take my advice. Here's a little hint: banks and investors really don't like to loan money to people or invest in a business venture where there is no perceived "expert" involved in the proposed endeavor, and they hate loaning money to people who have no working experience in the industry at all, people whose first exposure to the trade or industry is their new business start-up. So don't be too proud to get out there and flip a few burgers or run a dry cleaning machine, and don't be so impatient to start your own business that you forego getting the necessary skills and training that will ensure that business' ultimate success. You won't realize the importance of this concept until after you have ignored it, and find yourself struggling to keep your new business afloat.

Now Get it Done!

Are you ready to take "the plunge" and move on to the next step - to actually start your own business? I suggest you buy my book for some sound advice - "How to Turn Your BIG IDEA into a New Business".

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What it Takes to Be Successful With a Home Business Opportunity is Revealed in This Article

Effective Marketing: The Key to Building a Successful Online Business

You can have the greatest business idea in the world, but if you fail to market it properly you will never build a successful online business. Just like a traditional brick and mortar business, operating a business online requires you to reach out to the people who are interested n the goods or services you have for sale. If you are unable to reach your target audience-those most likely to be interested in what you are selling-you will not be able to reach the number of people necessary to truly become successful. Simple promotion of your website may generate a few sales here and there, but you need an effective marketing plan in order to bring visitors to your website and increase your sales volume.

One thing to understand is your marketing efforts need to go beyond simply submitting your website to the search engines. While this part of marketing is important-if you don't submit your website to the search engines no one will be able to find it in a search-it is certainly not the only marketing you should do. In fact, if search engine submission is the limit of your marketing efforts, it will take you quite some time to draw enough visitors to your website for you to achieve success. In fact, when you are first starting your online business, you want to reach as many potential customers as possible.

When you build your advertising platform, it is also important to identify your target audience. You don't want to waste efforts promoting your website to those who are not likely to be interested; the key to a successful online business is working hard and expanding your marketing efforts in order to reach those who are most likely to buy your products or services.

Choosing the Right Online Business Idea: Identify Your Specific Needs and Goals

In order to choose the right online business idea you have to first identify your own specific needs and goals. Do not choose a business idea because it worked for your brother, cousin, or best friend because their needs are different than yours. You need to personalize your business so that it will be able to meet your expectations; for this reason you need to analyze and evaluate exactly what you want from your business. You need to set specific and realistic goals, not just simply saying you want to make a lot of money. How much money do you want to make? What is your time horizon for making that money? How do you plan to market your business in order to meet your goals? All of these factors are important in order to identify what kind of business will meet your needs and help you achieve your goals.

It is also important to choose an online business idea that interests you and falls within your area of expertise. Many people make the mistake of choosing a business because they have been led to believe it has the potential to help them become wealthy quickly. It is essential to understand that wealth never comes overnight for anyone; there is always a great deal of work necessary for anyone to reach that level in any business. That doesn't mean it never happens-there are always exceptions. Sometimes a person just happens to be in the right place at the right time and happens to get lucky.

Choosing the right online business idea is not a decision anyone should make quickly. What you need to do is look over each possibility and compare it to your goals, aspirations and expectations before you make a decision. You also have to look at it in terms of the time you have available and the type of investment you may need to make in order to achieve the level of success you desire. Only when you have followed all these steps are you ready to make a final decision.

Finding the Right Online Business Opportunities: Read and Research First

One of the most important aspects of any online business is making sure you conduct enough research to make an informed decision. With so many online business opportunities it's important to take the time to research what is available instead of attempting to make a quick decision that may turn out to be the wrong one. It's every easy to think you have enough information about a business opportunity to make a decision, but unless you take your time and compare several different opportunities you do not have enough information to make an informed decision.

Is it really that important to research online business opportunities before you make a final decision? That depends-ask yourself another question: how important is it for you to make money with an online business? If you're looking for something to gain a little experience and earn some extra money it probably isn't very important to conduct a great deal of research. On the other hand if you are looking for an online business opportunity that will generate enough money for you to earn a substantial part-time or full-time income you will need to research several opportunities before you have enough information to make the right decision.

In order to choose the right online business opportunity you need to evaluate your own personal situation and ask yourself some questions such as:

* What are you seeking in a business opportunity?

* How much income are you looking to generate?

* How much time do you wish to devote to promoting and working your online business?

* What kind of experience and skills do you have?

* What is your educational background?

While you do not need a college degree to operate any of the online business opportunities, your educational background will allow you to evaluate your options and determine the best type of business based on your education, skills and experience. Those potential entrepreneurs with a business background will find it easier to learn the importance of keeping accurate records with any business. On the other hand, any person who has the desire to learn can develop the business sense necessary to create a successful online business.

When you finish reviewing potential online business opportunities you should have enough knowledge o choose the one that will provide what you need whether it's to replace or acquire a full-time job, allow you to earn a steady income working a few extra hours or just earn a few extra dollars to have some extra cash. Making the right decision will allow you to turn your business opportunity into whatever you expect it to be. You can't rush it or you will surely make the wrong decision.

Testing the Waters: Are You Ready for Online Entrepreneurial Success

Certainly there are many people have dreams on online entrepreneurial success, but the big question is: are they ready to pursue those dreams? The idea appears appealing when you first think about it, but the problem comes later when you find you have taken on more than you were expecting. One of the reasons this happens is because people are of the mistaken notion that they can start on line venture and do very little work. This is perhaps due to the many advertisements they read that actually make this mistaken claim.

While there are online businesses that will earn income for the owner without his or her active participation, there is plenty of work required before the business will reach that level of success. Regardless of the type of business you are interested in operating, there is a certain amount of work you must do in order to achieve online entrepreneurial success. First and foremost you must attract visitors to your website, and you can only do that with a strong and efficient marketing plan. In order to generate sales you must bring in visitors, but in order to do that you must first reach out to them and let them know you have something that will interest them.

If you have entertained the idea of online entrepreneurial success, you must first ask yourself if you are prepared to engage in the amount of marketing and promotional work necessary to reach that level. For those who are working full-time this may add additional hours to an already long business day, but at the same time it has the potential to provide financial freedom and flexibility of working hours. While you may still have to work the same amount of hours you have always done (depending on the venture you pursue), you will be able to work at home and have some control over the hours you spend tied to a desk.

Generating Online Income One Step at a Time

While the Internet has created a good many opportunities for people to make money at home, it has also caused many people to think making online income is going to be an easy undertaking. They want to believe some of the advertisements they read that tell them you can make money without doing any work, but the real truth is there is no way to make income online or offline without doing some work. You may not have to do the manual work that is necessary to become successful in a traditional business, but it is still necessary to work hard if you want to have a successful business.

Of course, this also brings up the topic of residual income, and most people see residual income as income that you earn without doing any work. While this is true, there is another thing you have to consider: when you earn residual income, this means you have already done the work necessary for you to earn that income without doing any more work. It doesn't mean you don't have to do any work at all to earn a residual income because there must be a starting point. It doesn't matter if you are working toward online income or income from a traditional business-in order to earn residuals you have to first build the business to a specific level of success.

Before you even begin trying to make online income you have to make sure you choose the business opportunity that is suited best for your needs. That means you have to first evaluate what you are seeking from an online business and what skills you have to bring into a business. It is also important to determine how much time you are willing and/or able to put into building your business. All of these factors will have a direct bearing on which business is right for you and will allow you to generate the most success.

Building a Successful Residual Income Business

While having a business that generates immediate income can be very important for the day to day expenses you incur, a residual income business has the ability to take care of you and your family even if you are no longer able to work. It doesn't matter if you don't do another day's work in your life, once you build a business that has built in residuals, you will collect those as long as your business remains operational. Of course, this also means you must do a great deal of work to promote your business so that it reaches the level of success that is necessary for the payment of residuals.

Most people think the only form of residual income is when you work some type of network or multi-level marketing business, but there are many different businesses that also offer the opportunity for you to earn residuals. In a way you might say real estate is a type of residual business because once you have the property and tenants in place you will earn money no matter where you are. However there can be catches here, especially if you do not have tenants and the money is not coming in.

Affiliate marketing programs and e-Commerce also provide ways for a person to earn residual income. The problem with affiliate programs and e-Commerce is a person must continue to promote the programs in order to make sure you continue to reach those people who might be interested in what you are promoting. While in some ways they operate with residuals, it is only in the sense that once the websites are set up and you do the work to get them before the public, you do not need to do anything more. You can still earn money when you're on vacation because your website is doing the work, but you have to do plenty of work promoting the website and your products as well.

Choosing a Residual Income Opportunity

If you are looking for something that will provide income in the future rather than immediate income, there are a number of ways you can earn residual income. Most people who think of residuals immediately think of network or multi-level marketing schemes, and while these are certainly very popular outlets for generating future income, they are not the only sources available for building future income. One of the most important things for anyone to understand before they become involved in a residual income opportunity is the meaning of residual income. For those who are unfamiliar with the terms, residuals are income sources derived from working hard to build a business-bonuses that are paid later are called residuals.

Why would a person want to invest time into a residual income opportunity instead of making immediate income? There are many different reasons that residual income is preferable to immediate income. One of the most important reasons a person may invest time into building a business that offers residuals is because it will provide income for retirement. Even if you are currently working and have a pension or 401K plan, it is always good to have an additional cushion since many retirement plans do not have built in cost of living increases-some people retire and never receive any additional pension payments in spite of increases in the cost of living.

Another reason that someone may prefer a residual income opportunity is because many programs allow the transfer of the residuals when you die. That means you can build a business, and when you did your survivors will be able to cash in on the bonuses you earn from that business. If this is what you are seeking you need to check the program before you become involved in order to ascertain whether this option is available. Do not assume each program that offers residual income is structured the same way.

Three Things Every Home Business Owner Must Know

While many people often believe they could make a success of a business at home, the fact is, success does not come easily. Many of the businesses that get started in homes across the world often fail very quickly. The problem is that the owner has not taken everything into account that could cause them to fail. The following are the three things that every home business owner must know:

1. Operating a home business takes a lot of self-discipline. People may think that working at home is going to make their lives a lot simpler, but the opposite is usually what happens. They often find themselves pulled in too many directions and leave many important matters pertaining to their work unattended. Staying on task is the only way that success is going to come your way. To do this, you must practice self-discipline and never take anything in your business for granted.

2. One way to ensure your success is to stay up-to-date with all of the technological advances. The computer is going to be your key to success. If you want to effectively promote your business, you must create an Internet marketing strategy. With the Internet, you have no limit on the amount of people you can reach in your target market. Without the knowledge of the computer and technology, your business will have a difficult time taking off.

3. You also must understand that home business does not mean a small income. Truthfully, there are many businesses that are operated from the home that bring in well over $100,000 a year. Yours can, too, but you have to learn not to settle for less. Don't be happy with $500 a week. Always push for more and, while it may take some time, you, too, can enjoy the earnings that your business can provide to you.

Utilizing the Internet for Small Business Marketing

With the Internet so easily accessible to just about everyone, it has become a cheap and easy way to market your small business. Small business marketing has become a task that can be managed by any small business owner, thanks to the convenience of Internet marketing. All that is needed is some understanding of how to reach the most people with the least amount of effort.

The most important component of small business marketing on the Internet is networking. Networking can be accomplished on a variety of sites, however, the most popular sites should be utilized. The popularity of the networking site can help boost the number of people your posts reach. Sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace are great sites that are used by every age group. Making a profile on each one and updating them regularly will help you build up a following and gain more clients.

Using your Internet networking is not only a great way to get the word out, but also to receive feedback from customers. A big part of promoting your business is showing potential and current clients that you are a business that cares about its customers. Reach out to customers and ask for their input. Communicating with the public will help build a name for your business and will help you make the most successful business possible, by changing to meet your customer's needs and desires.

Marketing is a big part of every business, however, small business marketing can be difficult. Without the big marketing budgets that large corporations have, it can seem daunting to get the advertising you need. The great thing about marketing on the Internet is that there are a variety of ways to market for free. The sites mentioned before are great sites that are free. They take little maintenance, so you don't have to waste your time and money on marketing and can focus on your business.

What It Takes To Be Successful With a Home Business Opportunity

Many people are often so anxious to start a business of their own that they do not stop to think about all that it will entail. They often forget about some very important details. With the statistics showing that the majority of new businesses fail, it is imperative that you think everything through. The first thing is to understand exactly what it takes to be successful with a home business opportunity.

The first step is choosing a home business opportunity that suits you needs and pertains to something that interests you. Get bored with your new business and you will soon be out of business. The worst thing is jumping into a business, investing your money, and then finding out that it is not something you would like to continue with.

Next, you will want to create a business plan. You must. It's that simple. Those who fail to write a business plan are the ones that fail. This plan will provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to grow your business or, in other words, make your new business succeed.

Last, persistence is going to be what will help you achieve your goals. Without a little perseverance, you and your new business are not going to go anywhere. What you may not know is that no matter which opportunity you choose to invest your money and time in, it will take time. Nothing is going to happen overnight and if it does, you can consider yourself one of the lucky ones.

It takes a lot to be successful with a home business opportunity. You have to find something that you like to do, work out a plan for your business, and stick with it, even when it seems like it will never produce any income for you. If you can't do these three things, you may want to start looking for work outside the home.

My name is Joel Martin and I am a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. I am very excited about the Plug-In Profit opportunity created by Stone Evans and look forward to growing my business.

http://www.JoelMartin.ws

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YouTube takes automatic captioning international

YouTube rolled out automatic captioning for Japanese videos, utilizing the same kind of speech recognition technology that is also used to auto-caption videos in English. The video sharing site announced the launch of the feature late last week on its Japanese blog, and a YouTube spokesperson confirmed Tuesday via email that this is the first time automatic captioning is available in a language other than English. “We look forward to continuing to expand this feature to additional languages over time,” he added.

Users can now select automatic captioning for Japanese videos by clicking on the CC button and then selecting Transcribe audio:

YouTube rolled out auto-captioning for English-language videos in late 2009. The site expanded the feature to all of its English-language videos in March of 2010.

Captions for online video recently came into the spotlight when disability advocates sued Netflix and CNN for failing to provide subtitles for each and every video the companies are serving up online. YouTube’s effort to bring auto-captioning to Japan has been hailed by the country’s Federation of the Deaf, but Google Technical Program Manager for Accessibility Engineering Naomi Black cautioned on Monday that publishers should merely understand the auto-captioning provided by the site as a starting point. On Google+, she explained:

“As someone who posts content to YouTube, I wouldn’t rely on auto-captions without review, but it’s a great starting place for making accurate captions, since the video owner can download and edit the captions. And as a viewer, if the video owner hasn’t provided any captions, it does give you some insight into what the video is about.”

There’s also another big benefit for publishers and Google alike in expanding automatic captioning: Captions make videos searchable, expanding the discoverability of videos both on YouTube itself as well as via Google. This could help to add more views and improve monetization of video assets.

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