Can’t land a job? Create your own

Can’t land a job? Create your own

Turned out of the corporate world, entrepreneurs find a way to make a living

By Kirsten Valle

kvalle@charlotteobserver.com

Posted: Sunday, May 24, 2009

They’ve left big salaries for uncertain wages and traded corner offices for garages and spare bedrooms.

As the recession has made layoffs common and job openings scarce, more workers are replacing the corporate world with the freedom – and risks – of starting their own businesses.

Many say they’re drawn because of the earning potential, the chance to be their own boss and the opportunity to follow a dream. Others are starting a business because they’ve lost their job or fear a layoff is imminent.

“There’s a significant contraction, especially in six-figure jobs,” said John Brader of Focus Four Inc., a coaching firm that advises business owners. “There’s less opportunity to go into those jobs right now. It’s waking a lot of people up.”

Brader, who started the firm after a two-decade corporate career, has lunch several times a week with workers, particularly bankers, toying with the idea of starting a business. Many clients have launched new ideas even before leaving their old jobs, just in case, and a new company program that counsels budding entrepreneurs has been a hit, he said.

No job Create your own!!!!!

CNN.com/US

Editor’s note: Peter Bregman is chief executive of Bregman Partners, Inc., a global management consulting firm, and the author of “Point B: A Short Guide to Leading a Big Change“.

He writes a weekly column, How We Work, for HarvardBusiness.org.

Peter Bregman says the best strategy in the downturn may be to create your own work. NEW YORK (CNN) — Madame Alexander was one of the great innovators in the doll industry. According to the company that bears her name, she made the first doll with moving eyelids, the first doll based on a licensed character (Scarlett O’Hara from Gone with the Wind), the first doll fashioned after a living person (Queen Elizabeth) and many others. But what’s most interesting is how and why the company got started. Beatrice Alexander’s father owned the first doll “hospital” in New York City, where broken porcelain dolls were sent to be repaired. That got her thinking. Maybe porcelain wasn’t the best material for a doll. So she sat around her kitchen table with her four sisters, and they started a business sewing dolls out of cloth. Theirs were not the only cloth dolls (Raggedy Anne was already popular), but they created a Red Cross doll, a smart choice so soon after World War I. She put all the dolls in a big suitcase and lugged them around to local mom and pop stores where she made small sales.

No bank would lend to her; she was a 20-something woman in the early 1900s, a poor risk. So she scraped together what she could and just started. Eventually, she found someone who was willing to loan her $1,600, which she paid back in half the time she was allotted.

Do your clients understand you? You might be surprised!

Do your clients understand you?  You might be surprised! 

A PhD candidate named Elizabeth Newton performed an incredible study in 1990 involving communication that surprised many of the study participants.  The study offered insights into many of the preconceived notions that we all have with respect communication.  – Andrew R. Spriegel

Here is a great article from www.businesspundit.com involving the study:

The Curse of Knowledge – Why Communication at Work Is Sometimes Difficult

Once you know something, it’s difficult to imagine what it is like to not know it. It’s called the “curse of knowledge,” and it is the root of many different workplace problems. It affects communication between employees and with customers, and it can cause all your good intentioned new products to fail. It’s why designing for someone who isn’t like you can be so difficult. The curse of knowledge was explored in 1990 by a PhD candidate named Elizabeth Newton. For her dissertation, Newton asked participants to tap the rhythm of a well-known tune. The tappers predicted that listeners would be able to identify the songs 50 percent of the time, whereas in reality the listeners could only figure out the tune about 3 percent of the time. The reason for the disconnect, Kruger says, is that tappers would inevitably “hear” the whole, orchestrated tune in their minds as they tapped, whereas listeners heard only an irregular series of taps. The tappers had WAY too much confidence that listeners would understand their tapping. The concept was further explored in a paper last year entitled “EgoCentrism Over Email: Can We Communicate As Well As We Think?” The paper examines a study showing that email readers don’t pick up on sarcasm and other tonal aspects of writing as much as the writer believes they will. I struggle with this when I talk to business people, because I frequently forget that most people haven’t read business books covering all the major management theories, business models, and marketing strategies. Mrs. Businesspundit came home from work one day several years ago and said that her boss was supposed to read about the “balanced scorecard” but had never heard of it. She was surprised that she knew more about it than her boss. I wondered how someone could study business and not at least hear the term and have a general idea of what it means (at a general level, it has to do with measuring your company on dimensions other than just profit). I’m not entirely sure how to solve the curse of knowledge, but I do have some suggestions. First, create a culture that is open to questions. Nothing is worse than sitting in a meeting and only partially understanding the subject matter because of all the acronyms and industry slang people use. Encourage people to speak up when they don’t understand something. Teaching is part of being a good manager. Secondly, try to take small steps, not big intuitive leaps. If I say that liquor stores generally have good returns, many of you will say “of course they do, liquor licenses are limited, and that’s a barrier to entry.” Not everyone will make the connection that quickly though. They many need to understand what barriers to entry are, why they lead to higher profits, and that government licenses (when limited) can be a good barrier to entry. Take the time to explain each step. When it comes to designing new products, the curse of knowledge is even more harmful. My personal solution to this has always been to think of myself as an actor, and to create a persona that is in the target demographic. Then I try to think about how I interact with the product or service if I am that person. Over time, as I watch real users, I get a better understanding of that mindset. For more discussion, check out these links.

Measure Your Authority and Reach with Your Audience!

Did you know that www.Hubspot.com offers a Twitter site grading tool at: http://twitter.grader.com.  Neither did I, here is my score.

Shown below is a post from: HubSpot’s Inbound Internet Marketing Blog

All Hail The (New) Twitter Elite List

Twitter is all the rage as illustrated in this report on the State of the Twittersphere report.  The information in this report is based on data from Twitter Grader.

Twitter Grader is a tool that measures the authority and reach of a twitter user.  It has really taken off since it’s introduction a few months ago.  The software has now graded over 900,000 individual twitter accounts and gets used over 20,000 times a day.  The Twitter Grade is a score from 0–100 based on the power and authority of a twitter user.  It is used to build the Twitter Elite list — a compilation of the top twitter users.  (We also generate a list of the top twitter users by keyword and by geographic location).

Need money to start or expand your Business!

Do you need money to start or expand your Business?  KIVA just might be the answer when banking money has dried up!  Whether in the United States or anywhere else in the world, people can gain access to money through microloans.  The money can be used to create a business or expand a business.  My son, Matthew Spriegel now living in China saw the value of microloans when he was in Kenya for a semester, studying abroad.  These loans are catching on in the United States as individuals search for ways to raise capital.  – Andrew R. Spriegel

Here is the story about KIVA from their website at: http://www.kiva.org

The KIVA Story: Beginnings

In 2004, Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley witnessed the power of microfinance firsthand while on a trip which would become a life-changing experience. Visiting East Africa – Jessica conducting impact evaluation surveys for Village Enterprise Fund and Matt filming interviews with small business entrepreneurs – they were able to see and hear firsthand how small grants of only $100 – $150 had been used to build small businesses which could then support a family. They heard stories of people who were able to sleep on mattresses instead of dirt floors, afford to take sugar in their tea daily instead of occasionally, and buy fresh fish for their families a few times every week rather than once a week. Instead of meeting the poor and helpless, they found themselves meeting successful entrepreneurs who had generated enough profits from their small businesses to create a real impact on their standard of living.

Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer

This is a tool that I find extremely helpful.  If you don’t grab your audience with the title of your post it is likely they won’t read it.  The Advanced Marketing Group Headline Analyzer is free to use and they offer great marketing advice    - Andrew Spriegel

Here is a link to a great website of the Advanced Marketing Group:  http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/index.htm

What is the Headline Analyzer?

This free tool will analyze your headline to determine the Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) score. As you know, reaching your customers in an deep and emotional way is a key to successful copywriting, and your headline is unquestionably the most important piece of copy you use to reach prospects.

Your headline will be analyzed and scored based on the total number of EMV words it has in relation to the total number of words it contains. This will determine the EMV score of your headline.

You can be a Successful Inventor by avoiding these Mistakes!

Below is an excellent article from www.inventorinsights.com

Obstacles to Success

Challenges Faced, Marketplace Obstacles Encountered and Common Mistakes Made by Independent Inventors

Failure to obtain solid market research information about target industries.  “Patent holders often believe that asking a few of their friends and family members what they think of their inventions is sufficient research. While this may be a convenient start, it is simply not enough. Good market research for patent holders includes an assessment of the market size, examination of industry trends, analysis of the competition, feedback from the channel, and identification of the target market (potential licensees). Feedback from the channel (frequently retail) is often overlooked by inventors. Although retailers rarely license product patents, their endorsement makes it much easier to license them to manufacturers.”  (Business Wire, “IP&R Shares the Top 10 Reasons Patent Holders Fail,” January 16, 2007)

DIY tendency to take on too much and do everything yourself.  “Many inventors initially try to do everything themselves. But obviously, taking a product to market is not a do-it-yourself project. Taking on the job of a licensing manager, salesperson, engineer, marketer and designer is too much for one person. It’s much more effective to have a team of professionals working for you.” Where to find inventor help resources and invention assistance. (Business Wire, “IP&R Shares the Top 10 Reasons Patent Holders Fail,” January 16, 2007)

New Jets Will Come Equipped With RFID

InformationWeek

Tags on Boeing and Airbus aircraft will make it easier to track and replace parts

By Elena Malykhina
InformationWeek
November 29, 2004 12:01 AM (From the November 29, 2004 issue)

Next year, as many as 10,000 radio-frequency identification tags will take to the skies, affixed to everything from airline seats to brakes. The tags will contain serial numbers, codes, and maintenance history that should make it easier to track, fix, and replace parts.

It’s all part of Airbus S.A.S’s effort to put RFID tags in its A380, a 550-seat jet that will make its first flight in 2005 and fly commercially in 2006. Not to be outdone, Boeing Co. is using tags on many of the parts in its upcoming 7E7 Dreamliner, a smaller commercial jet that’s set to fly in 2007 and be in service by 2008.

Article Rocks: Top 10 Global Trends for Small Businesses for 2009

2009 Trends, Globalization          January 21, 2009     By Laurel Delaney

The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. ~ Winston Churchill

In looking ahead, what’s new and different from our “Resolutions to Do Business Globally in 2008” article from last year? Not much. From embracing the world to exporting like mad to doing whatever it takes to survive (and thrive) in good times and bad — everything mentioned is still relevant.

And even our colleagues at Emergent Research were spot-on when they wrote about 10 trends that would impact small businesses in 2008. One of them was right in line with our “exporting like mad” forecast:

“The declining dollar accelerates the long-term trend towards small business globalization: Several long-term trends are driving the growth of small business cross-border trade and the globalization of small business. These include increased global economic growth, reduced trade barriers and the growth of the Internet and other connective technologies. Adding to these longer term trends is the decline of the US dollar versus almost all free-floating currencies. The dollar’s decline is creating broad, new cross-border trade opportunities for small businesses and 2008 will see substantial growth in small business exports.”

Small Firms Create All Net New Jobs in Pennsylvania, Study Shows

Small Firms Create All Net New Jobs in Pennsylvania, Study Shows

Small Business Development Centers Note Healthy Small Firms Point to Economic Recovery

PHILADELPHIA—The latest numbers released by the US Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy reveal just how important small businesses will be to Pennsylvania’s economic recovery. When it comes to job creation, small businesses matter—big time.

Figures compiled from the U.S. Department of Commerce and Bureau of the Census in the Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories offer compelling evidence: Small firms created all of the net new jobs in Pennsylvania from 2004 to 2005, the most recent data available. By comparison, firms with more than 500 employees in the state reported 40,994 jobs lost during that same period.

With the national unemployment rate at its highest level in 26 years and expected to climb, small firms offer hope as the traditional engines of job creation.