Struggling Entreprenuer

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In this episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur, we deliver a discussion of four key and critical challenges that face the Entrepreneur–especially the ‘solo-preneur.’

This is an elaboration of a presentation for a group of aspiring Entrepreneurs in a local region at a co-working environment. However, when asked if they had the plans to address such challenges and keep them from becoming real issues in their businesses, the would-be small business owners admitted that they did not. This caused concern, because usually, these issues can become real problems later on. The result could be that these new small business owners would become the latest statistics and have their businesses fail within the first 6 to 12 months.

This discussion centers around four top challenges:

- Knowing how to manage the finances for a startup;

- Having the Personal Productivity skills (to accomplish more, in less time, with better quality, and with reduced stress);

- Becoming an effective marketer of their business and generating sales effectively;

and

- Planning and developing the right online presence–on the web and in the mobile environment with the right technology.

Each one of these areas is discussed with the questions that each entrepreneur or ‘solo-preneur’ needs to answer. Has the entrepreneur considered these areas? Is there a written plan that addresses these? Are the plans integrated into the overall written map or guide called the ‘Business Plan’ (however brief that may be) ? And is there a consistency with this integration of all these four major challenge areas so that the Entrepreneur can increase the chances for success and minimize the risk of negative impact, or even failure?

These four challenges facing the Entrepreneur actually come from an evergreen whitepaper that discusses in details the top ten issues. This whitepaper is free, and it can be consumed either as a pdf document or as audio mp3 podcast episodes.  There is both an executive summary version (4-page pdf-document or 8-minute mp3 audio file), as well as the detailed version (39-page pdf document or 3 separate mp3 audio podcast files of 35-minutes each).

You can get the whitepaper in episode 2 at:

http://www.entrepreneurtoolsonline.com

In an upcoming episode, we will deliver some online resources– both free and fee– for the entrepreneur to address these challenges and improve the chances for success.

Copyright (c) 2010, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.

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In this episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur, we deliver a discussion about a topic that Entrepreneurs hardly consider — especially during the first formative years after they launch the small business venture.

This audio episode deals with Exit Strategies for the small business owner or Entrepreneur.

Remember that it is never too early to consider your exit strategy, as this helps you with your long-term planning. And also, the strategy should have the same characteristic as a living document. That is, it is subject to review, revision and update as your Business grows and becomes successful–or as it may morph into a different type of venture than originally conceived.

This brief audio episode by Chris Benjamin is repurposed from the podcast series on Podomatic.com called “The Rogue CFO’s Expert Guide to Launching a Startup.”

Many successful entrepreneurs will tell you that they did not plan an exit strategy, and that the termination of the business was successful when they sold it or when it changed into a totally unplanned type of venture. However, just like a good legal agreement when you are planning a Joint Venture with another firm or individual, a documented exit strategy will tell you where you want to be when it is time for you to leave the business — and it may prevent unforseen confusion or problems when the issue does arise at the point of time for your exit.

As a small business owner, it is to your benefit to know which Exit strategy options you may have.

Copyright (c) 2010, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Chris Benjamin Consulting, LLC. All rights reserved.

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In this episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur, we interview Ken Kowal, an entrepreneur with his firm of www.fillship.com. Ken provides solutions for fulfillment of products for the small business owner. He also has another web site called eRoutingGuide.com, which provides services and information about transportation and routing tools, as well as logistics software.

In this audio podcast, you will hear how he built his firm– and as an Entrepreneur, how he bootstrapped his startup venture with the foundation of his subject-matter expertise based his experience in:

- logistics;

- transportation;

- shipment;

- fulfillment;

- finance; and

- sales

In addition to having a growing business, Ken is his own boss and is fulfilling his own exciting dream of Entrepreneurship, since he is doing what he loves. You will hear the lonely and tough road of being a solo-preneur that can finally become profitable and lead him to develop his own major self-purpose.

But Ken wants to give back to the entrepreneur community. Thus, as you will hear, he is offering to provide small business owners and entrepreneurs with 3 free months of his fulfillment services (for those who are selling products and need fulfillment of them via shipping).

Details are as follows:  if you, as a listener, mention that you heard about Fillship.com from this podcast episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur, then you can take advantage of his offer for 3 months of his services. The only cost to you would be the cost to ship the orders with UPS; and customers who choose to remain as a customer with his service will receive a ten per cent (10%) discount as long as they remain his customers.

this offer is perfect for an entrepreneur who is toying with the idea of selling a few products online, or someone who has a successful e-store and is overwhelmed with the effort to manage the shipping and fulfillment process.

We thank Ken for his words of wisdom within this audio episode, as well as his generous offer for entrepreneurs who want to sell a product.

Copyright (c) 2010, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.

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