The Entrepreneur's Roadmap To Easy Street And Business Success

By Tino Buntic

The directions to Easy Street are quite complicated. You cannot always get there and not all roads lead to Easy Street. But, take heart in knowing that there are at least a few successful entrepreneurs living right in your very own town that have found Easy Street and know exactly how to get there. Some will be kind enough to give you directions and some won't.

Business success often leads to Easy Street. But how do you get there? Rand McNally has never published a roadmap to get there. The best way to get there is to get directions from successful entrepreneurs that have already been there, entrepreneurs like:

• Richard Branson: Richard Branson, of Virgin, believes that rules were made to be broken. He thinks that you should not follow conventional wisdom in business.
• Michael Dell: Michael Dell believes entrepreneurs should be willing to experiment and also willing to fail. Too many people are too afraid of failure. Also, Dell suggests to look for ideas and to look for breakthroughs.
• Wayne Huizenga: Wayne Huizenga, founder of three Fortune 500 companies, believes that execution is more important than the idea. There are so many good business ideas but you have to be able to execute to succeed.
• John Johnson: John Johnson, founder of Ebony Magazine, would get angry whenever he encounters a barrier. He says that he would cry and curse. But then he gets a ladder and climbs over it.
• Ray Kroc: Ray Kroc, of McDonalds, believes that you should take your business more seriously than anybody else.
• Howard Schultz: Howard Schultz, of Starbuck's, has one word to describe what separates winners from the pack - persistence.
• Sam Walton: Sam Walton, of Wal-Mart, believes in sharing your profits with all of your associates and also treating them as partners.
• Andrew Carnegie: Andrew Carnegie, of Carnegie Steel Company, emphasizes the importance of self-improvement, knowing your talents, and being kind.

There's no better way to learn to be a successful entrepreneur than to learn from successful entrepreneurs, themselves. The above entrepreneurs give hints as to the location of Easy Street. Now, if they would only give us the zip code, we’d be able to look it up on Mapquest.

Tino Buntic created TradePals to provide free B2B and B2C sales leads without cold calling to business professionals and entrepreneurs across The United States and Canada.

TradePals would like to introduce a new section of the website which provides professional advice by experts on a variety of topics, including advice on being a successful entrepreneur. Submit your advice and receive a link to your website.

Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners: Are You Worth At Least $100 an Hour?

By Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Many small business owners are former executives or technicians who earned considerable money through employment. Their former salaries ranged from $50,000 to $250,000 plus not including benefits. Yet, when starting a small business, suddenly their own value appears to dramatically diminished.

Due to a belief that cash flow is limited when first beginning, these entrepreneurs wear many hats such as: accounting, administrative, human resources, marketing, sales, visionary and general “go-fer.” These hats continue to be worn as the business grows because of the entrepreneurial belief that “No one knows my business better than me” or that “I can do it better and usually cheaper than anyone else.”

Both of these beliefs contribute to a third, mostly subconscious belief, that my time has no value. This is probably the most detrimental belief that any business owner can embrace. Why? Please let me explain.

A Typical Scenario--The small business owner decides to file his own taxes because he can save $500 to $2,000 by not hiring an accountant. Since he has 6 employees including himself, he also takes care of all personnel issues. With an emphasis on sales, he believes that he can save another $5,000 a year by designing and developing all his marketing pieces. His website is professionally designed, but he has the ability to make daily updates. He does allocate $5,000 for memberships in several organizations including a chamber of commerce, a professional association and a formal networking group. This entrepreneur makes many, if not all, of the runs to the bank and post office. And to wear all these hats, he works very long hours. At the end of the year, he looks at his bottom line and possibly he made his previous salary and then some. Now, he feels anywhere from frustrated to really great.

So what’s wrong with this picture? Simply speaking, this small business owner is working harder not smarter. If he focused on his strengths that being developing a customer base, working sales leads and building productivity or profits, would he not have the money to pay for many of those other hats that he has been wearing?

The real answer to this bad pictue is the owner's belief that his daily actions have no measurable value. By applying a $100 an hour rate to every activity, he can then do the math and see an entirely different picture of return on investment for his time. That $100 an hour is what his expertise, intellectual capitol or sweat equity is worth and in all honesty it is probably closer to $200 per hour. Until this small business owner believes that he is worth at least $100 per hour, he will probably continue to work in his business instead of working on his business. The end result is that he is losing tens of thousands of dollars while trying to save a few thousand dollars.

Leanne helps individuals, small businesses and large organizations to double performance in real time. Click here to learn the Secret of Success and sign up for a free monthly newsletter. Please feel free to contact Leanne at 219.759.5601. If you truly don't believe doubling your results is possible, read some case studies where individuals and businesses took the risk and experienced unheard of results.

One quick question, if you could secure one new client or breakthrough that one roadbloack, what would that mean to you? Then, take a risk and give a call at 219.759.5601 to experience incredible results.

Business Entrepreneurs Take Control of Your Business

By Nazir Daud

Don't let your business control you. To be successful, you must drive the business forward. Stop working so hard and start thinking! What do I mean by this? Read the following example:

I visited a business recently and I was shocked to find the manager of the business driving a forklift truck, yet again! Don't get me wrong, there is no rule in business that says that you should not help in the factory floor now and again but, in his case, he seems to spend all his time doing manual work instead of managing his business.

If he spent his valuable time negotiating prices, running his business more efficiently and managing his staff, the return on investment of time would be far greater in terms of profitability.

A lot of business owners seem to think that to run a business successfully, they have to work long hours but fail to understand that by working smarter, they could actually end up growing the business faster with less hours worked.

The basic rules in being an entrepreneur are:

Delegate, delegate and delegate absolutely everything that needs to be performed in the same way on a routine basis. This will free your most important resource, your mind, to look at the big picture.

Get rid of the chaff instantly! You immediately know if someone is not right for the job. So why is that person still working for you? Even 1 extra day spent on training the wrong person is 1 too many. Hire the best people and train them to be even better!

Have a plan and keep evaluating your plan. Set deadlines, goals, to do list etc. By constantly evaluating your plan, you will find out very quickly what works and what doesn't.

Build great systems to take the routine work and make it even easier. Keep records of everything you do so that you can train others very quickly. If you ever get asked a question about your business, keep a permanent record of your reply. This will save a lot of time as most business owners get asked the same questions on a regular basis.

Start networking with other business entrepreneurs in your line of work and outside. By constantly meeting other like minded people, you will be able to keep your company 1 step ahead and learn new ideas and innovations for your business.

Attend all exhibitions that relate to your products. This will keep your product knowledge high and you will become an expert in your field.

Learn new skills constantly. Read business books, buy courses and attend seminars. I particularly like audio tapes, as you can listen whilst doing other things, like driving a car. This will develop your entrepreneurial skills.

Bear in mind, that I am not saying that you should work more hours. If anything, I believe that you can work less hours then you currently do, and still make your business more successful.

Naz Daud is the founder of CityLocal. This Business Franchise Opportunity is for people who would like to work from home and be their own boss.

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Part Time and Full Time Entrepreneurs

By Steve Seah

Who doesn't want to be the boss of his own company? But very few realize this dream. What is the reason behind it? Fear of failure is one of the biggest factors that don't allow a person to turn entrepreneur. After all, we all have families to support, liabilities to shoulder and one misstep could result in problems created for them. And who wants to lead one's family into trouble?

But despite all this, don't you ever feel that you should start a business venture of your own without actually quitting your job. Your job provides you and your family security and safety but there is something that your heart wants and that could only be provided if you turn an entrepreneur. Job satisfaction is something that few care about but few could actually ignore its impact.

So, what needs to be done? What should be the course of action for you when you know you can't possibly quit the job? Well, the answer is straight forward. You can easily take the route of part time business. But let me tell you one thing. The word 'easily' is just not suited for this scenario. Taking this decision could be a little bit easier than actual implementation of this idea. If you are really committed to turning a part time entrepreneur, then only you should venture into the field of part time entrepreneurship.

Well, you would have to spend more of your time working. You would have your regular job and you would also have your part time business to take care of. That is really time-taking.

Before you opt for part time entrepreneurship, I would like to give you a few suggestions. Hope it proves helpful.

The very first thing I would like to emphasize on would surely be your family. Always keep your family up dated about what you want to do. It is true that when your part time business becomes successful, you might think of quitting your regular job but until then you would be a lot busier and your family would have to support you in that period. You would have to convince them that it is for the good of all.

Always have a professional outlook with your part time business. Part time or full time, a business is always a business. So, even if you are conducting your part time business from home, you need to have a room that should be exclusive for your business activities. You would do well to have a separate phone and fax line for your business. The same goes with business license also.

If you plant a tree, do you get the fruit the same day? No, it takes time to bear fruit. Well, it is the same with part time business also. Be PATIENT. Be very realistic about your part time business. Any new business takes time to start running and it would be the same with yours also. Show patience during this initial transition phase.

I sincerely hope that you would take steps to fulfill your dreams of turning into an entrepreneur.

Steve Seah is a corporate business manager learning entrepreneurship. Grab free reports and ebooks from this site http://www.entrepreneur2b.com and http://www.mywealthcreationstrategy.com