-By Mike Mulhall, The Entrepreneur
In the books, magazines, and blogs I read, everyone is talking about the power of visualizing your success.
One book in particular said that visualizing your goals in your mind is one thing, but creating a tangible visual aid is even more powerful.
I always tell colleagues one of my ultimate goals is to be on the cover of Wired magazine. So, instead of just imagining the light at the end of my entrepreneurial tunnel, I made it shine right in front of my face literally. Honestly, deep down, I can see it happening! It’s a great feeling.
I used Adobe Photoshop, but I found some great sites anyone can use to create magazine cover. Let’s face it, if you make it onto on the cover of your industry’s magazine, you’re doing well. The sites are:
But look beyond my example. A magazine doesn’t have to be your beacon. Visualize whatever it is for you and then make a tangible reminder to keep you on track. Get creative and try having fun with it. Maybe your goal is to buy a new car or a house in the near future. Try it out and see what happens.
REBLOGGED FROM SHEY.NET:
Tumblr launched one of its first revenue-generating programs today, allowing a select group of blogs (not sure how they’re selected, but the three options it gave me happened to be my three most popular blogs) to feature themselves in the Tumblr directory for a nominal fee — categories range from about $9 to $19 to feature your blog for a week. Here’s the link.
The process is ridiculously easy and fun — I tried it out and featured shey.net in about ten minutes (including Photoshop time) while visiting the Tumblr gang at their office today. The results were almost instant — as soon as the feature went up, I saw new followers start popping up in my timeline (thanks, guys!).
Screen shots of the process below.
1. Enter your info:
2. Get thanked:
3. In your face, Gary and Dens!
HERE’S WHERE I CHIME IN:
This is a great assist for a money-making basket (follow the basketball metaphor please); however, you still have to shoot a three-pointer not a lay-up.
The traffic comes your way, but to pay the rent from your blog you must:
- Maintain their attention.
- Manipulate tumblr to facilitate ads.
Neither can be done by a rookie.
Tim Shey, who blogged this entry, is actually a headof the one of the web’s largest video content distributors, NextNewNetworks (that co-produced TMI and LifeExperiment). That didn’t happen over night. On a MUCH smaller scale, I came into the blogosphere with a built-in audience and guidance from other leaders in the industry.
Your Tumblr blog can be monetized, it’s just not as easy as a click. That’s all I’m saying.
UPDATE from Twitter: @Moth (TimShey) The lovely + intelligent @MaryRambin points out why my last post was titled “Make Me Famous” and not “Make Me Rich.” 
-By Mike Mulhall, The Entrepreneur
Fruit for the entrepreneurial mind…check out one of my favorite sites Springwise.com. Springwise is made up of a weekly compilation of good (and bad) ideas that entrepreneurs all over the world are pursuing.
I can’t tell you how many brainstorming sessions and eureka moments I’ve had from reading this site.
-By Mike Mulhall, The Entrepreneur
Going into business with a partner is a lot like marriage, so treat finding one like dating. The last thing you ever want to do is jump into a financially committed “relationship” with someone you don’t know well. I’ve made that mistake more than once, and it can be devastating financially and emotionally.
Business partners are going to go through a lot together. That’s just the nature of business. The partnership will be tried, tested, stretched, pulled and stressed to the limit. Therefore, compatibility on multiple levels is crucial. Partners should be comparable in reliability, intelligence, financial stability and character. Those are the four big qualities I’d focus on, but there are many more.
Don’t let the excitement of starting a new business cloud your judgment when considering a partner. I’ve seen many people make fatal decisions because of hope and inexperience.
Here are a few pointers for finding and maintaining a good partnership:
- Family members don’t make good business partners. We’ve all heard it, but most of us ignored it until it was too late.
- Make sure the risk is split fairly between partners. Financially lopsided partnerships experience even more pressure.
- Don’t be afraid to run a background check. If I had done that with my very first partner, I would have saved myself a fortune.
- Ask around town. A person’s reputation can tell a lot about them.
- State the goals, duties and expectations of each partner (in writing!) before commencement of the business.
- Hire a lawyer to protect your interests and ensure the partnership is fair. I know this sounds aggressive and expensive, but it will save you should things go sour.
- Create a strategy to maintain high levels of communication and interaction between the partners. Weekly or even daily meetings are a must.
- Maintain non-business interactions as well. Periodic dinners and recreational events are great ways to ease any tension that may be present.
Remember that good partnerships can be beautiful while bad partnerships can be ugly and life altering. So tread carefully, don’t rush into things and always trust your intuition. You wouldn’t marry a stranger (I hope!), nor would you enter into one of the most important business relationships of your life without doing your due diligence. This is probably the most important advice I could ever offer an entrepreneur.
-By Mike Mulhall, The Entrepreneur
Here are some cool apps I’ve used which will help any entrepreneur. Enjoy!
I just started using this app a few weeks ago and I love it! I use it to organize my thoughts, ideas, notes and even my blog posts. I especially like it because it’s based on their servers, meaning you can access your notes from any device connected to the web.
This is one of my favorite online apps for small business owners and independent contractors. It allows for invoice creation, tracking and collection. It’s done completely online and its simple to use. Because of its professional look and streamlined operation, this tool will help improve the perception your clients have of you.
If you’re not already using Gmail or Google Calendar…start. It’s simple in that Google way and very powerful. Cool features include: Users can share their calendars with others and post events on other’s calendars, and it runs on Google’s servers which means it can be accessed from any device or desktop.
Campfire is like instant messaging, but designed exclusively for groups. There’s a few sites out there like this. Google Wave is another that just came out, but Campfire has been around a while. There’s nothing to install and it’s very secure. You can share text, files, and code in real time. You can also conduct business negotiations with a group.
An very simple app that has saved my butt many times. It basically an online calendar on steroids. Setup it up to remind you about tasks or events via sms, email, instant messenger, skype etc.
I love this app! I’m all about sticky notes, so this is a dream for me. It allows you to place sticky notes on actual webpages. Then you can go back any time and look at the notes you left. If you do a lot of online research (bloggers, etc.), this may prove to be an invaluable app.
This is a fascinating concept that seems to be working very well. You essentially upload all of your bank-account and credit-card information, and the site maintains a running list of every transaction. Other Wesabe users can observe your spending habits and offer advice on what you should do or change. Scary but effective!
Another great tool for the independent contractor or someone who does a little work on the side. This site will hand your tracking, invoicing and reporting. It takes a very tedious task and makes it simple.
A great app for anyone that doesn’t have their TI-82 anymore. It is a highly intuitive online calculator that can actually be quite fun to use.
One of the entrepreneurial questions I’m asked most (some friends were asking me last night which inspired this posting) is in regards to the legalities of forming a business. I’ve formed so many LLC’s and “Incd” (that’s lingo for incorporated) so many companies that it’s no longer a very complicated process for me. In fact, I’ve had to find the easiest and cheapest methods available to form these business entities, and now I’d like to share them with you.
The name of the game is limit your liability. I put that in bold because it’s very important. As an entrepreneur, your going to take risks, a lot of them. Picture a corporation or an LLC as an artificial person that you’ve created. Now all of the business you do, the bank accounts you open, the merchant credit card accounts you start and the lease you sign will all be through this artificial person that you’ve created. If for some reason the business goes belly up or some one decides to sue you for any reason, they can’t go after you personally. They can only go after the LLC or corporation and its assets. So your car, your house, your money outside of the company is safe!
If the business can’t pay the bills, the business goes bankrupt not you, unless you’ve signed personal guarantees on anything (which they will most likely make you do when leasing a building, etc).
A sole proprietorship is the exact opposite of what we’ve discussed above. YOU are liable for your business and anything that happens to it. I don’t recommend this as your liability is far too great and you have no artificial person protecting you.
Anyone can start an LLC or corporation, for just about any reason. Whether you have a blog, a restaurant, an Ebay business or you’re a tutor, anyone can run their business through a company. In fact, it is very wise to do so. To provide a good example, I own a restaurant and I have plans on opening many more. What should I do? Open them all under my name or a corporation / LLC. Both would be wrong. I would open each restaurant under a separate corporation or LLC, thereby limiting each restaurant’s liability to themselves. So if one restaurant fails, the others are protected under their own corporations. That’s something they don’t teach you in college! It’s tricky at first, but gets much easier over time. It’s amazing how many novice entrepreneurs (my former self included) have jumped recklessly into ventures and not considered how to limit their risk exposure. It’s a crucial element of the game!
Now that you know why you need an LLC or corporation…it’s time to learn how…here is a very simple breakdown that will explain EVERYTHING you need to know:
- Corporation – Planning on going public? Then this might be for you. But if this is for a small business, you’ll probably want to form an “S-corporation.” If you form a regular corporation, you will be taxed on both the corporate earnings as well as your personal earnings, which means you’ll be double taxed. That’s no good! An S-Corporation stops that from happening. So you’ll most likely want to form an S-Corp. Drawbacks to forming a corporation are paperwork, record keeping requirements which very state to state and a large lack of flexibility. The main benefit from using an S-Corp is employment tax savings. So only the salary you collect can be taxed, not the profits you collect depending on the amount of shares you own.
- LLC (Limited Liability Company) – This is what I usually recommend to anyone who wants to start their own business. For all intensive purposes, an LLC is treated just like a corporation, BUT there is very little paperwork, almost no record keeping requirements, complete flexibility in ownership (have as many partners as you’d like), you can distribute the profits however you like and you are still protected by that “artificial person.”
- Sole Proprietorship – Don’t do it…
So odds are you going to want to start an LLC. Don’t go to a lawyer or accountant to do that! They’ll overcharge you for a service that a monkey can now do (I’m going to catch heat for that one)! There are plenty of online services that you can set this stuff up on. I use Bizfilings.com, they are very reliable and very fast. With a few clicks of the mouse and $150, you’ll have your very own corporation or LLC. A lawyer would charge you $2000. Thank me later….
On a final note, you can form your new LLC or S-Corp in any state you like, but I recommend forming it in the state you’ll be doing business in. Delaware and Nevada are both great places to form these types of entities because of their corporate laws and lack of taxes, while California is probably the most unfavorable place due to their minimum tax of $800 (you have to an annual $800 no matter what, unlike most other states) and their higher taxes. It all really depends on the business. Example: I own a restaurant in California…I formed that LLC in California. The various internet companies I own are mostly run through LLC’s in Nevada and Delaware because they’re based on the internet, not an actual physical location. So why not benefit from less taxes and better laws.
So that covers it all…now go start your company and get the ball rolling!
–By Mike Mulhall, The Entrepreneur
Making the perfect business card is tough. But here are a few tips that may help:
- Don’t skimp on cards! – Business cards are important. They’re great marketing tools and they’re the usually the first visual item that people see representing your business. So forget the perforated business cards from Office Depot everybody. You need to find a real printer.
- Use quality stock - The thicker and sturdier the card the better. Flimsy cards don’t say anything good about you or your business…trust me on this one.
- Use the back – Depending on the industry you’re in, why not try to fit as much marketing material on your card as possible. As you can see from my card above, I put a map that even points out parking locations for customers.
- Don’t forget the vital info – For god’s sake, don’t forget any vital contact info. If you’re an internet company, don’t forget your website or email. If you’re a lawyer, a fax number would probably be important.
- Be different. Be original. But don’t go crazy – Your card should represent your brand and your ideas. Too plain of a card and it’s just boring. Too much and it’s just annoying. This really depends on the type of business your in. Try not to clutter the card. Sometimes less is more or more is just more…it really depends.
- If all else fails, hire a designer. If you don’t feel confident in your design abilities, there are plenty of services that can create a card for you. I use a service called Logoworks for all of my designing needs. As for printing, I use a company called Printplace.com. They can do everything, from business cards to brochures to stickers and they have the best prices I’ve ever seen. I just ordered 5000 full color double sided business cards for $50! Eat your heart out Kinkos…
Well if I had seen this before I opened a bakery / cafe, I may have thought twice! I came across this while surfing google images looking for funny bakery artwork.
I had a meeting with a friend of mine today who happens to be a business consultant, and who also happens to be doing some work for me. He brought up a term that I had to laugh at called “Pop Ups.” And while we weren’t discussing the internet, these pop ups are just as annoying.
He was referring to the sometimes relentless pace at which problems can arise while operating a business. Now I’m not talking about big problems. I’m talking about the little tedious tasks that can sometimes swallow up your time like a fat mid-westerner at a hot dog eating contest.
A quick summary of my day today: We’re out of receipt paper, we need it quick…a customer just called in and wants a different cake, they’ll be here in 3o minutes…repair guys are here to fix the walk-in freezer, wouldn’t it be funny if the health inspector came today…the health inspector just got here…we ran out of lettuce, can you get some…oh, we’re out of sugar too, can you go back…the phone lines are down…there goes the internet…what!? Our credit card machine is hooked up to the internet…one of your vendors is here to yell at you…make that two vendors…can you go to Home Depot real quick…oh, you already went, can you go back? I forgot about payroll, oh well…gotta do the books, pay the bills, count the drawers, open the mail, get change and somewhere in there consume about 4oo calories for the day.
Yes, this was my day today, and this was only half of it. The point of the story is this, get an assistant! Ha ha…I’m just kidding. The truth is, all business owners will have to deal with this in one way or another. The restaurant business just happens to be one of the best at creating these problems. But there’s always problems in every business, whether it be brick and mortar or virtual. This is where delegation comes into play. If one were to focus entirely on these tedious little tasks, you would never get anything done.
Sometimes I feel so discouraged from having to deal with these problems over and over, but that’s where the strength of being an entrepreneur and a self starter comes into play. Learn from everything! And never stop fighting…running your own business is not an easy task, and it’s much harder to give effective orders than to take them.
I designed this logo a while back and I feel it portrays everything I’m about. I also think it portrays exactly how every entrepreneur should think. I printed this out and taped it on my wall a long time ago. Whenever I’m brainstorming or working on ideas, I like to look at this picture and let my mind drift out of the box.
Most who know me know that I usually think waaayyy out of the box. Is it a gift or is it an ability developed through years of practice? I believe it is the latter. ANYONE can develop this skill! When I look at anything, whether it is an object or business, my mind is constantly deriving ways of how to improve that concept. And this is something I’ve practiced since I could use a pencil and paper.
Funny example of this is when I go out to a bar or club. Many misconstrue my quiet demeanor as not having a good time, when in fact my brain is actually working overtime…analyzing the flow of the business, the behavior of the cocktail servers, the POS systems, how they handle the cash, the layout of the club and how it could be improved, the music selection, the demographic stats of their customers…and so on. It can be quite enlightening when one stops, watches and learns from their surroundings. Of course, it’s nothing a few shots of tequila can’t remedy.
My point of the story is this…don’t go with the crowd…go away from it, go against it, go in circles around it…just don’t go with it! If you’d like to start a new venture similar to an already successful business model, don’t copy it, improve it! EVERYTHING can either be improved or broken down and simplified.
Case in point: Ebay is a monster in its industry. In fact, any auction site that tries to compete directly with Ebay loses. A few entrepreneurs recognized this and started analyzing Ebay. They realized that Ebay did not allow the sale of guns on their site. This spawned the creation of www.gunbroker.com. Within their first year of business, they were already doing $1 million per month in sales. And the site is not even designed that well.
These entrepreneurs recognized a niche that Ebay was ignoring, and they seized it. Find a niche and embrace it! This is the age of niches…the age of personal preferences and individual tastes. (That’s so going on my quote page!)
That is the kind of thinking that you must do if you want to succeed big! It may take a little while to hone your skills, but practice it everyday. Everything you look at, you should analyze and try to improve. Whether it is a business, a gadget or just an ordinary object. If some person out there could look at a fork and spoon and realize that putting them together would make him a millionaire (yes…I’m talking about the spork), just imagine what else could be done!
