Struggling Entreprenuer

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Struggling Entreprenuer

205- Six reasons that stunt an Entrepreneur’s business growth

April 26th, 2013

 

For Entrepreneurs who have recently launched their business, frustration may set in when they don’t see their business growing as they would like. This may be due to problems that stunt business growth. These two articles from blog posts describe the problems, as well as the symptoms.

For aspiring Entrepreneurs, these may be the issues that can be addressed before launching by creating strategies to deal with these symptoms when they appear, and to execute solutions if the problems challenge the growth of the business.

As you will hear in this audio episode, the number “6″ is common when addressing the problems that deal with stunting the growth of your business.

The two articles are located on the web at these links:

(1) Top 6 Reasons Why Your Business Isn’t Growing by Tracey Lawton

and

(2) Six Reasons Your Business Won’t Grow by the Casey-Cardinia Referral Network Small Business Networking Group.

How similar are these reasons to one another? How visible could they be in your business? What strategies can you create to address these before it is too late?

Recognizing the symptoms will be important. Then, executing an existing contingency plan to address the problems will be critical.

Copyright (c) 2013, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Tracey Lawton and the Casey-Cardinia Referral Network. All rights reserved.

204- Entrepreneur Gary Leland succeeds in Retail Sports, Podcasting & Video Marketing

March 31st, 2013

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Sometimes the Entrepreneur who takes the risk and enters a new area as an early entrant or early adopter becomes successful in the new environment.

Such is the history of Gary Leland, an Entrepreneur who made his mark in the Retail environment with a “brick-and-mortar” store — and has also seen success in the tech environment via podcasting, video and information marketing — and is now launching into the online training environment by teaching his successful methods of e-Commerce.

Gary not only has built his small business to include the largest wallpaper store in Texas, but he has also been a success in a Sports store — with a niche in Softball.

However, he was an early adopter in Podcasting — and he learned how to monetize that with a couple of shows that he created, as well as being one of the first to create a Podcast Directory (which is still maintained, after 8 years in the Podosphere).

In addition, he moved into video and has over 200 episodes of Softball video. He also entered the virtual world of Second Life several years ago and had a fun run with Podcast Island, with a fair ROI.

Gary has shown that he will never stop getting creative ideas for new opportunities to monetize a situation, a product, a service or technology.

With his latest venture called Success With Online Stores, he will now be the PRODUCT of his own membership site to deliver the training needed for entrepreneurs who wish to understand and implement the world of e-Commerce from one who has been successfully doing this since 1996.

Note: for any of our subscribers or listeners that wish to get this training, Gary is offering a 20 per cent discount if they include the following text when signing up:  “I like Fred’s hat.”

This shows his never-ending sense of humor, and so he will always remain for us with his nicknames of “P-dilly” and “Podcast Pickle.”

You can find out more about Gary Leland and his info properties at:

GaryLeland.com
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His fastpitch video shows are at Fastpitch.TV
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Have you seen his new Softball Magazine Fastpitch Magazine for the iPad??
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His networks of sporting goods websites SportJunk.com
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You can visit PodcastPickle.com for a great selection of podcasts.
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You can visit his wallpaper & decorating store at LelandsWallpaper.com

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Copyright (c) 2013, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.

 

203- Free Online Advice and tools for Entrepreneurs – ChooseWhat.com

March 24th, 2013

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We examine the update to www.choosewhat.com and explore both the FREE ONLINE ADVICE forum, as well as an update to the Startup Guide and the Reviews that Compare Business Products.

In a past episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur, we gave an overall description of the online tools offered at www.choosewhat.com.

Here, the update includes free online advice for entrepreneurs and small business owners by means of a forum. This can make the search for resources and comparison of products much more detailed and targeted for your own business requirements rather than search for endless hours in a FAQ (frequently asked questions) log or document.

Copyright (C) 2013, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.

203A- CC Chapman – Entrepreneur with Passion for Social Value

March 8th, 2013

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Select this link to listen to the interview with CC Chapman at the SXSW (South-by-Southwest) event.

At the South-by-Southwest event (held annually in Austin, Texas, where 3 weeks are dedicated to music, film and Interactive), we had the opportunity to re-energize an old relationship with CC Chapman. He is an author, public speaker, podcaster, blogger, world traveler, photographer and multi-business or “concurrent Entrepreneur” (he does not feel comfortable with the term “serial entrepreneur.”

His passion for Social Value is his trademark, and it shows in his discussion. His passion for meeting people drives his love for world travel. In fact, his mantra (which he has tattooed on his forearm) is:  “Not all those who wander are lost.”

As you will hear in this audio episode, CC took the plunge by quitting his day-job in academia and launched a business. With luck and determination, he has been successful in so many fields that his real value now is HIMSELF as a brand.

CC has been successful in his many fields with the following intellectual properties:

He has his flagship podcast, Managing the Gray.

He also has written 2 books:   Content Rules and Amazing Things Will Happen.

(n.b.: The links are to www.amazon.com, but they are available everywhere books and e-books are sold.)

He has also been a blogger since 2002:

His aspirations include a couple more books to write and publish, and also to grow his new business, the Cleon Foundation.

At the event where we held the interview, CC will be doing a live reading of his book. Success at this key event is proof of his demand as a public speaker.

Copyright (c) 2013, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.

202A- REPOST- Successful program helps Veteran Entrepreneurs – VETREPRENEURS

March 4th, 2013

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This is a REPOST of former episode 202. Due to technical difficulties, the final audio file was corrupted and could not be open. So, we bypass the music and audio intro to get you to the meat of the interview with Duncan McGhee. We apologize for any inconvenience that the corrupted files may have caused you.

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Besides funding and capitalization for a small business, two of the other top three challenges for a startup entrepreneur are addressing the feeling of being overwhelmed, as well as knowing where the resources for help are and have access to them.

This audio episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur delivers the success of a program for a growing type of entrepreneur — The Veteran Entrepreneur (also known as the Vetrepreneur).

As you will hear in this audio interview, Army Veteran and serial Entrepreneur Duncan McGhee describes the program he is building to address these issues for the returning military veterans who are moving to start their own business and become Solo-preneurs. The program has launched as part of the Texas Veterans Commission, and Duncan is the new Director. His success is proven — as he helped 10 small business launch within just a year (and another 20 more are on the way now).

You will also hear in this audio episode about the other resources available — from funding to mentorship to information specific toward the planning and launching of a startup or small business.

One of these resources is the Vetrepreneur Magazine.

In addition, this interview also mentions the ability for Vetrepreneurs to start their own local communities via the MEETUP facility at www.meetup.com.

In Austin, this community has already launched as the Austin Vetrepreneurs Meetup. Meeting at a central location, Veterans who are aspiring Entrepreneurs will gather to learn about free resources available to them for funding, training, education, bidding for government contracts, marketing skills, finance courses, and overcoming the situation of being overwhelmed as a solo-preneur — among many other topics with guest speakers.

As Duncan McGhee states, the knowledge needed to start a small business correctly and the resources needed are available as education and training for these Veterans. However, the key qualities of LEADERSHIP, EXPERIENCE in critical situations, the ability to improvise, address problems and overcome — these are what veterans bring to the table immediately. And, in some cases, these are learned qualities from experience that the MBA student fresh out of college may not have.

Duncan also addresses the growth of an employer force, as many of these Vetrepreneurs will hire other Veterans down the line.

Copyright (c) 2013, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.

201- Business Show presence is successful Business Development – Dave Jackson

February 28th, 2013

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An earlier episode in this series (#180) dealt with the lack of value and ROI in going to specific business and trade shows and conferences. In fact, we used as a case study BlogWorld and new Media Expo in New York during 2012.

However, we stand corrected concerning some of the statements we made in that episode. Why? We explored the situation of another entrepreneur who chose to plan attendance to this same conference at a later date and gain tremendous value.

In the case of Dave Jackson — an entrepreneur who is a web designer, Internet consultant and Podcast coach — there was significant value and ROI when he attended the January, 2013, conference of the New Media Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dave Jackson has multiple podcasts. Among them is his flagship podcast series called The School of Podcasting. Others include podcasts for musicians, web designers, podcasters and consultants — and other religious, physical fitness, monetization, motivational and human interest topics.

In this audio episode, you will hear from Dave Jackson, himself, what the ROI was for him in attending this Industry trade show and conference. He describes the VALUE received in executing a well-made plan and executing it for the benefits received for his business (and this includes NOT gambling at all while in Las Vegas, but concentrating his efforts on networking, interviewing, creating content, creating relationships, as well as energizing and reinforcing relationships, and gaining education on the latest hardware, software, products and services within his niche of New Media and Podcasting.

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We can then examine some of the questions that we asked in earlier episode 180 about the ROI and value for an entrepreneur in attending a conference or business show event, and then compare it to the situation with Dave Jackson (the bold items were questions that were given in episode # 180):

Key questions for YOU as an entrepreneur could be:

- Do you know which events relate to your industry, niche, product, service, audience or community?

* Dave Jackson realized the importance of his industry niche (podcasting and new media). Although initially, he did not plan on attending this specific event, he decided that since this conference was only ONCE per year (instead of twice), he had to be there to accomplish his business objectives for 2013.

 

- Do you have a list of these events for the coming 12 months?

* Dave Jackson has a list of Podcamps in Ohio, as well as national conferences like this one.

 

- Do you have a set of MEASURABLE CRITERIA for ROI?

* Dave Jackson had to pay for all his expenses. Thus, the ROI had to be planned — both in quantitative and qualitative terms. In speaking with him, his ROI in revenue was met with the clients he developed for services; and his qualitative expectations were exceeded.

 

- Do you apply a cost-benefit analysis for each one?

* Dave Jackson had a cost-benefit analysis in mind, and he was happy that his costs were contained by using prudent cost-savings in travel. His new clients and their potential revenue were also reviewed for their positive results.

 

- Do you have an EVENT PLAN for your business that compares and contrasts each event for the best ROI?

* Dave Jackson had done this in late 2012. He knew which events would be of value. He compared and contrasted them in terms of ROI — both qualitatively and quantitatively.

 

- Do you have a STRATEGY for your planned events? For example, would you be an ATTENDEE, SPEAKER, EXHIBITOR or COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTOR?

* For Dave Jackson, this was the biggest positive action. Since he had been a speaker in the New York 2012 New Media Expo, he decided that 2013 would be a year of going to the event as an ATTENDEE, not as a speaker. In addition, he decided NOT to attend the sessions, but to purchase onsite, at the event, a Virtual Ticket (which allowed him to get a video recording of ALL the sessions). Thus, he planned his schedule and used his time for networking, business development, interviewing and creating content for his shows, etc. And he was satisfied greatly with the results.

 

- Do you have a PROCESS that you apply for follow-up AFTER attending or participating in each event?

* In our discussion with him, Dave Jackson was creating a task list to follow up with his new clients, with his energized relationships and industry contacts. He was executing his plan by including content that he had obtained at the show (in the form of recordings) in his podcasts and deliveries of video and audio in 2013.

 

- Do you include a LESSONS-LEARNED item in your follow-up process to ensure that you improve your ROI criteria after each trade show or event?

* In our discussion with him, Dave Jackson had demonstrated that he has been creating a matrix of Lessons Learned in his follow up. He would compare the results of the past events with the actions of the current conference, thus summarizing the ROI for the event. In a couple of interviews with him, he verbally gave the Lessons Learned and plans for improvement in his mind during the last day of the conference.

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Thus, with a well-developed action-plan for execution during a niche Industry trade show and conference, an entrepreneur can reach (and exceed) the objectives and expectations for benefit of the business in terms of ROI and VALUE — especially in the area of Business Development and Professional Networking (i.e., creating, energizing and reinforcing relationships).

We wish the best for Dave Jackson and his follow-up from the success of his Business Development and Networking at the New Media Expo 2013.

Note: this audio episode was originally recorded for the benefit of Richard Cleveland of www.nakedapeprod.com (a podcaster and internet broadcaster who could not attend the conference in person).

Copyright (c) 2013, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.

200- Entrepreneur succeesds as a Public Speaker and author- Kenn Renner

February 14th, 2013

Financial success as an entrepreneur may come in many fields and in many ways–and you don’t necessarily need to have an MBA as part of the route to reach your goals.

Enter Kenn Renner, a self-made small business owner and independent contractor initially in the business of mortgage financing and as a real estate broker. And now Kenn is on his way to becoming an online  media business owner, author and professional public speaker.

As you will hear in this audio interview, Kenn has entered into the area of audio books, hardcover books, ebooks and seminars/webinars. He has also created a course on producing videos, so that his clients can take advantage of using a YouTube(R)  channel. In addition, he is also a musician and used to play in music bands.

However, his passion is now in public speaking — both on the “big stage” at large conferences (as a keynote, for instance) and the “local stage” (where he can present to others in a smaller setting).

Kenn has wanted to help other entrepreneurs and small business owners in the skills of goal-setting. His book, Power Goals, is available on www.amazon.com, as well as other outlets.

And he is in the process of finishing his latest book (as a co-author), which will be called Maximum Dream Achievement (scheduled for release in 1st Quarter of 2013).

As you will hear in this audio episode, he shares his lessons learned by over-extending himself when his business was booming and successful–and yet, he rode out the tough times and negative cycles. He feels that this is the best time to start a new business, where you can be your own boss and plan for your success within your planned niche.

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A SPECIAL OFFER:  FREE COPY OF HIS BOOK POWER GOALS:

Kenn has offered to give away his book, Power Goals, for FREE to the listeners of this podcast series. All that is required is payment for shipping and handling. To get a free copy of the book, contact Kenn at:

email:  Kenn [@] BuyAustin.com

Telephone:  512-423-5626

and mention that you listened to his interview on this podcast series, The Struggling Entrepreneur. And then Kenn will send you the book for free (just pay shipping and handling).

We wish Kenn the best in becoming a well-known passionate motivational public speaker (for hire) and his quest to help others in creating and achieving their goals for success.

Copyright (c) 2013, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.

199A- Lessons Learned from CONFESSIONS of 2 real Entrepreneurs- Jason and Jeremy – Compromising your “passion”

February 7th, 2013

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Lessons Learned from small business owners are key cases in point that help us to avoid pitfalls — especially when they are CONFESSIONS from entrepreneurs who have been successful.

What are some ways that you can stray away from what helped you become a successful entrepreneur? What are some signs to look for in different “traps”? And what are some elements that draw you to others’ business models like a hypnotic trance, when it could be the wrong model for your business?

Jason Van Orden and Jeremy (whose stage name is “Sterling”) reveal this in their podcast episode # 182 from their flagship podcast and membership site business called Internet Business Mastery.

Now, I myself have met Jeremy at a New Media Expo in 2008. And I have known Jason Van Orden (and have interviewed him years ago in an earlier audio episode on The Struggling Entrepreneur). Thus, I applaud them for being open about their mistakes and their LESSONS LEARNED.

In this bonus audio episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur, we recommend listening to the audio episode #182 found in either iTunes(R) or on the blog site for Internet Business MasteryThis business started in 2005, and the reached success as a flagship entrepreneur venture in the 2008-2009 time frame.

However, starting in 2009, they started to compromise their passion, their fulfillment (as they call it), their values and their business model when they tried to imitate others, adopt different business models and seek success only as a measure of revenues and profits.

Their passion was compromised, and they were not being successful in “their own way.”

Frank Sinatra said it best when he sang the words “I did it MY WAY.”

In addition, there are three other mistakes that were made by this team, as they confess in their audio episode.

We recommend that you listen to these, so that you can recognize the signs of the luring glitter of seeking others’ success when it is NOT your passion or business model, or when you are following the implied “dictates” of other entrepreneurs from their books or CDs — or, as Jeremy puts it — listening to the screams at the corporate table of the guy at the head of the table who is telling you how to do and what to do (from his perspective).

If you want to go directly to the podcast episode, you can either:

go to iTunes and subscribe to the podcast series Internet Business Mastery;

or

You can listen or download the audio episode #182 of Internet Business Mastery from their website or blogsite.

Copyright (c) 2013, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved. iTunes is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. Links provided to the web site for Internet Business Mastery at www.internetbusinessmastery.com.

199- Giving back to the community – Free training courses for Entrepreneurs

February 1st, 2013

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This audio episode is about giving back to the community of our listeners with free audio training courses of:

- Finance for Startups ;

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and

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- Gain Control of Your Day;

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Why are we giving away Premium Content to our listeners?

We consider the year of 2013 as the Year of Giving Back to the Community of our listeners.

Well, it has been our misfortune to see that many aspiring small business owners and entrepreneurs did not become successful. They either ran out of money and resources (because they did not know what they needed to know about Finance for Startups); or they became too overwhelmed as Solo-Preneurs because they had too many things to do and not enough time to accomplish them. The latter led to frustration, unnecessary stress, and problems with their personal life — and, thus, they saw that their business was no longer fun. Without the passion, they folded up their startup or business.

So, we have seen that the 2 courses that we are delivering are of tremendous value and deliver great results to those who have taken the courses and put them into practical application. We have testimonials for each of them.

And thus, we want to give these 2 courses to our community of listeners for FREE from the podcast blog sites, delivering one episode each week (as bite-size chunks) of the PREMIUM content for their benefit. In this way, they can get the training and education to learn the skills and topics which they can internalize and make habits for themselves as lifelong skills.

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How you can receive this Premium Content for FREE:

As you will hear in this audio episode, we deliver to you these topics:

- The reason for this FREE distribution;

- How to get the audio episodes FREE from the blog site (and, in the case of Finance for Startups, an optional way to get the content is by subscribing to the podcast in iTunes(R) );

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and you will also hear in this audio episode the topic of:

How to get ALL the CONTENT at once as soon as possible via DVD:

- How to get a DVD disc with ALL the content.

(NOTE:  there is a charge for creating the DVD, which will include all taxes, shipping-and-handling with tracking number, royalty payments and cost-recovery for creating the DVD.  For Finance for Startups, the cost is $20 US; for Gain Control of Your Day, the cost is $10 US). The process for ordering the DVD disc, the scheduled availability and details of this option are all explained in the audio episode).

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List of Course Content by topics of each Module in both courses

There are 2 documents available to give you this information.

(1) For Finance for Startups: (starting with episode 32)

- Select this link for the list of mp3 AUDIO FILES ONLY for Finance for Startups that will be delivered FREE via the audio podcast;

- Select this link for the list of ALL the CONTENT for Finance for Startups that will be included on the DVD disc (with a cost-recovery charge);

(2) For Gain Control of Your Day: (starting with episode 14)

- Select this link for the list of ALL the CONTENT for Gain Control of Your Day that will be included on the DVD disc.  (NOTE: the delivery of all these audio episodes and pdf documents will be available — one episode per week — via the audio player or the download function only on the blog site of

http://www.gaincontrolofyourday.com/podcast.

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We hope that our listeners will benefit from the FREE delivery of this  PREMIUM CONTENT of training and education seminars for both Finance for Startups and Personal Productivity.

Copyright (c) 2013, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.

198- 10 Essential Tips for Starting Entrepreneurs

January 28th, 2013

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We deliver to you in this episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur a list of 10 Essential Tips for Starting Entrepreneurs.

This episode is an audio narration of a repurposed article written by Terri Zwierzynski which is called “10 Essential Tips for Starting Entrepreneurs.”

This article was re-published on the web and email on 2 January 2013.

Image of Terri Z with 10 tips

For the Aspiring Entrepreneur, it is interesting to highlight the subtitle or tag line on the web post: “Ignore these at your peril!” 

For those of us who may not have had the benefit of a mentor or prior startups, we generally end up learning these 10 tips the hard way by experience. As one entrepreneur had put it years ago, “Good judgment comes from experience; and experience comes from bad judgment.”

As you will hear in this audio podcast, some of these tips are common sense from good judgment. But some of them can be good tips to help the aspiring entrepreneur avoid falling into the ranks of the 67 per cent of businesses that fail (see tip number 2).

Contact information for www.solo-e.om:

- email:  Solo Secrets <news@solo-e.com>

- web site: www.solo-e.com

- Course or e-book mentioned: “25+ Entrepreneur Experts ~ 350+ Years of Wisdom ~ Their Must-Know Advice: Priceless”

- Printed article:  For a pdf file of the article printed from the buttons on the email from Terri Zwierzynski, select this link: PDF file of the article.

Copyright (c)  2012, Terri Zwierzynski of www.solo-e.com

Copyright (c) 2004, Accel Innovation, Inc.

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