Tag Archives for " building a business "

A Call to Action on Behalf of Young Entrepreneurs

If you’ve been here before, you know that this blog is about empowering young entrepreneurs.  I have spent a lot of time writing about empowering teens and young adults to develop an entrepreneur mindset.

Now it’s time to move to the next step; empowering teens and young adults to pick their passion, put their stake in the ground and take the first steps to start their business.  The next step for this blog means writing articles about how to decide what the business should be, how to decide on a niche and learn what they need, branding and other action steps to create and move a business forward.

As I plan out the articles for this next step in the series, I’m issuing this call to action to provide your input.  Will you help by answering these questions in the comment section?

How did you decide what business to start?

How did you find your niche and decide what they needed?

What would you advise a young person about to start a business?

Thank you in advance for your input.

 

Feeling Good / Feeling Bad Reflection

“Happiness is the feeling you’re feeling when you want to keep feeling it.”  Author Unknown

There is more to starting a business than deciding on what you are going to do, choosing a name for your business and setting up a website.  You have to develop the right mindset for starting a business, an entrepreneurial mindset which I address in my book, 31 Powerful Lessons: Empowering Teens and Young Adults to Develop an Entrepreneur Mindset.

The first step is making a decision that you want to have your own business.  Part of this decision making process should include taking stock of your life and giving yourself a reality check.  It requires complete honesty with yourself.  There is no point in trying to fool yourself into something that isn’t real because in that way, you set yourself up to fail.

The benefit of having a clear picture of what you are feeling about your life is that you can take steps to transform the things that are negative.  It is important to remember, that, whether you know it or not, believe it or night, it is TRUE that your thoughts create your reality.  The more positive your thoughts are the better chance you have at creating success.

Here’s the challenge I present to you now.  Look at the 12 areas in your life listed below.  Look at the words and ask yourself truthfully, which one describes you most closely?  Circle the one that most accurately describes your life, then answer the questions below.

                                       

 

 

                 

      Feels Good                            VS.                              Feels Bad

1.  Lifestyle                                                                    1.  Student/Workstyle

2.  Balance                                                                     2.  Disorder

3.  Financial Freedom                                                   3.  Financial Stress

4.  Great Health                                                             4.  Poor Health

5.  High Energy                                                             5.  Tired

6.  Love                                                                         6.  Fear

7.  Spiritual Connection                                               7.  Spiritual Disconnection

8.  Living on Purpose                                                  8.  Lost

9.   Healthy Relationships                                           9.  Toxic Relationships

10. Mental Clearness                                                  10. Mental Confusion

11. Experiencing Life                                                   11. Being Stuck

12. Being Satisfied                                                       12. Being Frustrated

 

Look through your responses to this activity.  Now answer these questions:

Which column has more descriptions of your life circled?

What do your responses to this activity tell you about your life?

 

Now you have something things to think about.  What can you do to transform those things that are in the Feeling Bad column?  It would be a good idea to prioritize in terms of which would be easier to take action on to change as quickly as possible.

Marcia Wieder calls this process of transformation completion.  You do what you need to do to change, fix, clear out, whatever is keeping you in the negative column and you have completed those things and find yourself in the positive column.

What have you identified as being in the thumbs down column, what is making that so, and how can you transform that?

Have you read 31 Powerful Lessons: Empowering Teens and Young Adults to Develop an Entrepreneur Mindset?  If not, why not?

Create a List of Five “Daily Musts”

There should never be a moment during your working time when you don’t know what to do.  To avoid this situation, here is a simple little technique.  Create a list of five things you must do every day.  The idea is that as long as you get these five items checked off, you have successfully moved closer to reaching your goals.

Interact with your current community (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc, return emails)

Prospect to find customers (both online and at events in your area)

Prospect to build your list (contact people to joint venture with)

Create content (blog, create freemiums, write an ebook or report)

Increase your expertise (study your passion and learn more about marketing)

What are your five daily musts?

Laying The Foundation For Success

Building a business is like building a house or other structure.  You start with the foundation and build up.  You have to even out the ground, lay out the outline of the bottom floor and pour the cement.  When you are done, you have the foundation.  Then you build the frame of the structure, put the roof on, install the plumbing and wiring, finish the walls then get to the smaller details until your house is complete.

The next step is to turn that house into a home.  You need to decide on paint color, furniture and the like.  Once everything is in place, you have successfully built a new home.

In business, evening out the ground is equivalent to deciding what business you will have and doing the research necessary to make informed decision.  Laying out the outline of your business consists of making decisions on the name, what your URL will be, or whether or not to have a website or other tools.

Next, setting up the systems for your business, the website, an autoresponder and other systems is pouring the cement for the foundation.

To frame your business requires determining your sales funnel; what will your products be?  What will you give away to attract people to your business?

Creating your products and having them ready to sell is putting the roof over your head and finishing the walls.

Now to turn your venture into a real business, you need to find customers/clients; you must build your list and create and work a marketing plan.

Finally, to make your business a home, you need to invite people over.  Once your customers/clients start visiting, you can call your business your home and it is time to have a housewarming party.

Welcome home.

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