http://sisarina.com/posts/feed Website blog for sisarina.com Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400 http://sisarina.com/posts/start-a-biz-the-importance-of-partnerships by Greg Kihlström of Carousel30 Interactive Starting a business takes a lot of work. A lot. So, being the type of person that works long hours, sometimes doing things that I never intended to do while studying design back in school (Accounting? Contracts? HR?), I have always looked for ways to work smarter instead of simply working longer hours. When I started Carousel30 Interactive just seven years ago, it was a four-person company with some complimentary skill sets amongst us, but it didn’t take long to realize that there were plenty of types of expertise that we had none of. At first, the temptation was always to read up on a topic and become an expert of it, but fairly soon it became clear that it made more sense to form partnerships with experts than to try to do it all ourselves. Carousel30 Interactive is a digital creative agency – this means that we do online advertising/marketing campaigns and interactive and mobile design/development. But there are a lot of complimentary types of work that we are involved in, and it is due to our partnerships that we are able to be involved in a much wider variety of opportunities. This has been everything from video production crews to augment our video/motion graphics post-production capabilities, to hiring writing talent to help shape our online campaigns’ messaging. The most dramatic example in my experience is this: in 2008, Carousel30 acquired one of our primary software development vendors because the partnership went so well. This has been a great move for all involved, and it all started with a strong partnership that grew over the previous 2 years. From a business owner’s perspective there is also a bit of relief in the thought of not having to be an expert at everything, too. You can be truly great at your core capabilities and be honest and upfront when something is a little bit beyond your company’s expertise. Instead, you do what you’re great at, and suggest an expert that you feel comfortable working with to fill in the gaps. In my experience, clients are much more impressed with a straightforward approach in these situations. Pretending you are good at something you are not can cause a lack of confidence in even your core capabilities. My suggestion is to never stop looking for partners and potential partnerships. At the very least, you will expand your network considerably, and you might even land some new work due to reaching out to the right people. Good luck with your new partnerships! --- Greg Kihlström is Chief Creative Officer and a principal at Carousel30 Interactive, a digital creative agency based in Alexandria, Virginia that specializes in interactive strategy, design and development. Website: Carousel30.com | Twitter: @gregkihlstrom & @carousel30   http://sisarina.com/posts/start-a-biz-the-importance-of-partnerships http://sisarina.com/posts/start-a-biz-just-do-it by Heather Coleman, Future Entrepreneur But...but...but…I can’t. Wait, that’s not true! The real truth is I just haven’t… yet. I am holding onto the hope that someday (in the not so distant future) I will start my own business. I often daydream about what the business will be named, what the office space will look like, the types of people I will hire and how I can help other struggling small businesses with my savvy communications skills. So what’s stopped me? The usual culprits—fear, confusion, time and money. Let’s break them down, one by one: FEAR When I think about quitting a secure job to do my own thing, I get the same feeling that I get when I think about riding a roller coaster. I guess I am just not a thrill seeker. However, I would appreciate any advice from other entrepreneurs that might help calm my nerves. I think the two biggest factors are the fear of the unknown and the fear of failure. I asked Pamela Slim (@pamslim) author of Escape from Cubicle Nation what one piece of advice she would give for overcoming fear and she says that “breaking down the big tasks into really small, doable steps will make things more clear, feasible and actionable.” CONFUSION The task of starting your own business seems to be so daunting, I sometimes become confused about what all of the smaller tasks are and what order they need to be completed in. What is the first thing I absolutely need to do? Where can I find guidance to help me through the process? Who’s going to be there to hold my hand when I need it? The Small Business Association has a lot of resources on this topic and even outlines the steps and decisions you need to make along the way. Another resource might be my local economic development organization. I will keep an eye on my peers and the advice they have on how they started their own business through Sisarina’s blog and the Women Grow Business blog. As far as someone to hold my hand, I’ll have to look to my friends and family to find out who has my back on this one. TIME We could all use more time in the day, that’s a given. More time to spend with our friends and family, more time for work, more time to answer all those pesky e-mails or to harvest all our crops in Farmville. Whatever it is you enjoy doing or have to do, it always seems like you need more time to get it done. But we can’t change the number of hours in the day. So I have a hard choice to make. I have to reprioritize how I want to spend my time if I’m going to truly make starting a business my life goal. It may be as simple as 30 minutes a day where I can work on a draft business plan, research the market I’m interested in, or ask questions of someone that is knowledgeable on running their own business. I recently had a great phone conversation with Don Mayer, the owner of an Apple reseller company in Waitsfield, Vermont called Small Dog Electronics. I contacted him after my father mentioned hearing about the socially conscious small business on the local radio station. He started the business out of his house in 1994, and now has over forty employees and is just about to open his third retail store. It was great to talk to and get advice from someone who is actually a serial entrepreneur and loves what he’s doing. His best advice to someone contemplating starting their own business: “Just do it!” He said it is an incredible feeling to have made a much larger imprint on society than he would have as an individual. MONEY Just like time we could all use a little more of it. I would probably start by researching all of my financing options and identify what I needed to do in order to secure additional funding beyond my own resources. But, at the very least I can test the waters. That would only cost me time. I can reach out to potential customers and determine if I they would like to use my services on a trial basis. I would gain experience and the customer would get a low or no cost service for a short period of time. Once I get ready to transition to the real thing, I will reach out to my peer network to determine the right pricing strategy and draft a budget for the business. Are there any other resources that you’ve used that I’ve missed? Any special advice you’d give to a borderline entrepreneur such as myself? I’ll leave you with what has become my new favorite quote, from W.E.B. DuBois: “The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become.” P.S. Don’t be too surprised if I just happen to pop up on your radar with a pitch for my new biz! --- Heather Coleman is currently a strategic communications specialist working as a government contractor for the Army. Her background is in website design, content management, SharePoint collaboration and social media marketing. She earned her MBA from the University of Maryland – go TERPS! She’s also a mother of two, but enjoys a reprieve every now and then to attend social networking events in the DC area. Twitter: @boones6433 http://sisarina.com/posts/start-a-biz-just-do-it http://sisarina.com/posts/start-a-biz-real-talk by Evelyn Bandoh, RFC of EAB Creative Planning Services For over 8 years, I have been either teaching about, growing my own or helping to grow businesses. Currently, I have my own small business while working to establish two fashion industry related non-profits and teaching about small business and creative entrepreneurship on an academic and professional level. I won’t say that I have “seen and heard it all”, but I have seen, heard and experienced A LOT. Here is a list of things I've learned through my own experiences & those I've helped. 21 Points to Ponder Before Starting a Business 1. Entrepreneurship is not for the weak willed; it’s not for punks or for those who have no interest in responsibility. Evaluate your entrepreneurial potential. If you are getting started on the path to entrepreneurship, EAB’s seven key questions are a good place to start to do an honest self assessment. Decide if you want to be a biz owner or if you just need some good career coaching and counseling. 2. Lots of people will think that you are crazy. It’s perfectly normal. Embrace it. Accept it. 3. You will question your faith, hope and your DECISION to embark on this path many times before you accept the new you. Embrace it. Accept it. 4. You are not going to feel energized and excited EVERY DAY. It’s OK to have a bad day. Its Ok to have a few bad days or even a month of Sunday’s of bad days, but don’t stay in that “bad place” too long. Let me reiterate. If you feel off for a day or a few days, it’s probably ok. If the “bad feelings” are a persistent dull roar, please stop, re-evaluate and address the things that are causing you grief. If you are not emotionally healthy, your business will not grow. 5. Develop intuition. I suspect that we are not naturally factual creatures and that we are actually naturally intuitive creatures. We learned about logic and facts as a way to adapt to a technologically advancing world. However, before we had fact, we had our “gut “ and our six (yes I said six) senses. Learn to use your “gut instinct” and ALL of your senses, because once you fine-tune it to the frequency that serves your best and highest good, it will never lead you astray. 6. The power of positive thinking works…but only if you have an unwavering faith in what you are thinking… or choosing to believe. Understand that “thinking good thoughts” is nothing more than a waste of brain energy if you put no action behind it. Creation is a process and without visualization and authentic action, the thought is just, well, nice. 7. Define your energizers and drainers. What feels good? What doesn’t? Spend time on what feels good (energizers) because that is eventually where you are going to make the most money for your business. 8. Understand how you are going to fund your life. If you are not the type of person who does well with financial uncertainty, or don’t feel up for the adventure, do yourself a favor: save as much as you can, and pay off what debt you can BEFORE you start on the adventure. If you are comfortable with money uncertainty then… 9. Accept that there will be a bout with brokenness and/or bad credit. Unless you are coming from a situation where you have a lot of cash, or a lot of funding. One of the worse types of anxiety to deal with is “money anxiety”. Save yourself the grief and set yourself up for success. Real Talk. 10. Personal relationships will change. Your friends and family may or may not understand and they may or may not support you in your entrepreneurial pursuits. In the natural order of progression, you will let some of those relationships go and some of those relationships you will be willing to fight for. Pick and choose your battles wisely. 11. Your friends cannot be your only customers and clients. Friends are a great source of support, but they will not keep your business financially viable. Be clear about who your target market is, how large the target market is and how you will access your target market. 12. Failure is GREAT. Through failure comes your best learning experience (if you choose to learn). I won’t lie; it is a tough pill to swallow though. Grace and humility through the ordeal, makes “the failure” all that more relevant and poignant. 13. Sit down and write out some type of plan. It may not be a full-fledged business plan, but answer some basic questions about why you are choosing to do what you do, what you are doing, who you are doing it for, how much you are going to charge them and how much it’s going to cost you. 14. Separate your home and workspace. This is particularly important for new business owners. The benefit of being in an office space is that you are able to (hopefully) be around other entrepreneurs just like you and you will be energized and motivated by that natural energy present. 15. Being “self-centered” is to your benefit. Being “selfish” is to your detriment. Contrary to popular belief, there is a difference in the two. 16. Integrity & Honesty mean everything. Period. Point. Blank. 17. How you listen and how you talk to people will play as big a role in the success of your business. When people hear your name, you want the first thought about you to be positive and welcoming. If people are cringing when they hear your name, that’s a problem for you and it will eventually become problematic for your business. 18. Romantic Relationships. There is a lot to be said about this point, but let me keep it brief. If you are not in a romantic relationship, it’s important to find a mate/partner etc, who fully supports your entrepreneurial endeavors, and is more than OK with it. Anything less is just not going to work in the long run. 19. Organized chaos is good. Confused chaos is not. 20. Safeguard your health with your life. The entrepreneurial lifestyle will quickly take a toll on your work-life balance and on your health. Eat well, drink water, get plenty of rest AND exercise, minimize stress and take time to enjoy life. This is a lesson that I am working on more and more every day. 21. Through it all- HAVE FUN! --- Evelyn is a writer, teacher, scholar, healer and creator. She uses her talents, skills and abilities in financial and business planning to help creative people become successful and financially independent creative entrepreneurs. In addition to the fun stuff, she is also a jewelry designer and a freelance makeup artist. Websites: eabplanning.com & fiscallyfitfashionista.com | Twitter: @evieb & @f3fashionista http://sisarina.com/posts/start-a-biz-real-talk