A question I often ask entrepreneurs about ideas they present to me is, “But, does it have legs?” It is too much risk and pain to start up a business that will only last a short period of time. I also believe that there are some serious ethical issues with get rich quick business ideas. Many of those who help you get rich don’t get much benefit out of the deal, such as employees, the local community, and sometimes even investors. This article from Entrepreneur.com examines what makes something a trend versus simply a fad. If you are going to go through all the trouble of starting a business, pick something that can be around for a while making you and those who support your efforts some decent returns.
Teach your children well
The SBA recently launched a web site that is aimed toward educating teens about entrepreneurship and free enterprise. It serves as a gateway to many good sites that educate young people about managing money and starting up businesses.
What’s in a name?
Deciding on a name for a new venture can be more difficult than one might think. Here is an article that discusses this challenge in today’s world of branding.
April Employment Data
A report on State and Regional employment data for April has just been released.
Some of the highlights:
Highlights:
* “Over the past year, the unemployment rate has fallen in 47 states.
* “Non-farm payroll employment increased in 45 states in April.
* “Over the past year, employment has increased in 44 states.
“The latest state-by-state data are consistent with recent job growth nationwide. In the past 8 months, over 1.1 million new payroll jobs have been created. Over 800,000 new jobs have been created in 2004 alone. If the current pace of job growth for 2004 continues, over 2.6 million jobs will be created this year. In addition, the current unemployment rate is 5.6 percent, well below its recent peak of 6.3 percent and below the average unemployment rates of the 1970?s, 1980?s, and 1990?s.”
Student CEO’s
More and more students across the country are starting businesses while attending college. Many of these are much more than simple side businesses. This article illustrates how wide spread this phenomenon is becoming. We recognized nineteen such students here at Belmont this past spring.
This and that before I hit the road…
I will be hitting the road for a few days, but before I go I thought I’d clean out my “TO BE BLOGGED” file…..
I often tell entrepreneurs to go for the low hanging fruit. Or, if that metaphor doesn’t work for them, hit for average and not home runs. Or even, keep it simple, stupid! Start-up Skills has a great post on why it is so hard to come up with something really new.
Rob over at Business Pundit (one of my all time favorite sites) answers two questions that I am sure are ringing in the halls over across the street at Vanderbilt (sorry, I just could not resist):
What is Zenpreneurship, anyway?
and,
Aren’t all corporations just psychopaths?
By the way…my comments are indeed turned off due to a really bad spam attack by some folks that obviously don’t know that I work at a religious school. Looks like Loic’s Blog got hit, too.
This site is worth visiting if just for the name….Duct Tape Marketing. Some great bootstrapping ideas.
Small Business Trends has a thought provoking piece on finger print technology use in small restaurants. Call me paranoid, but this one kind of gave me the creeps.
Maybe this is something you never really wanted to know, but VentureBlog answers the question: What do venture capitalists do all day?
Visit Carnival of the Capitalists here. NOTE: Where “here” is changes Monday to a new “here”.
If that isn’t enough to keep you busy until I get back, go root around in some of my archives!
Entrepreneurial Activity Down Under
Even though there is an increasing interest in entrepreneurship in Australia, entrepreneurial activity still seems to be a bit sluggish. A report called Innovating Australia from the Committee for Economic Development in Australia (CEDA) was highlighted this week by the National Dialogue for Entrepreneurship that makes some recommendations on how to fix this perplexing problem.
“(T)he overall economy remains highly dependent on resource-based commodities, and performs poorly in key measures of innovation (R&D spending, patenting activity, etc.). So, what to do? CEDA recommends that government agencies support more aggressive public and private investment in leading sectors like biotechnology, nanotechnology, and IT. Creating a true Australian innovation system will complement the many competitive advantages that already exist for the nation?s economy. “
I hope that rather than take this central planning approach, Australians look to the most probable causes: too much government regulation and an overly socialistic political system. Both of these are major impediments to creating an entrepreneurial economy. To their credit, the Aussie’s have an outstanding record for educating entrepreneurs, so they do have that much already in place. The strength of organizations such as SEAANZ are helping in their educational efforts.
Start-up financing tips
The Inc.com blog site has a great post on tips for start-up financing. Check it out here.
Educating Entrepreneurs
Educating entrepreneurs is one of the two most important tools we have to support our entrepreneurial economy (getting government out of the way is the other). Several examples have come across my desk and to me through the web over the past couple of weeks, and it got me thinking about what a rich array of programs that are already in place.
There are now hundreds of college-based programs for start-up entrepreneurs as seen in the ranking article at Entrepreneur.com. Twenty years ago there was only a handful. These programs work with every type of business venture from small start-ups to high-tech, high growth ventures. Universities have developed co-curricular programs to provide experience in the world of venture capital, such as the Venture Capital Investment Competition at the University of North Carolina.
There is also an explosion of community-based programs. One of the best know is the FastTrac program supported by the Kauffman Foundation. But there are also countless programs popping up like mushrooms after the rain all over the country. Many of these are supporting a critically important population of entrepreneurs: immigrants. For example, just here in Nashville there are two wonderful examples in Conexi
More evidence of economic growth in April
The Joint Economic Committee shows more growth in April in this report just issued.
Highlights from this report:
* GDP grew at a 4.2% annual pace in the 1st quarter. Private forecasters see growth of 4.6% in 2004, the highest in 20 years.
* Payroll employment increased by 288,000 in April, bringing job gains to 1.1 million over the last eight months. Unemployment fell to 5.6%.
* Consumer price inflation has risen. Excluding food and energy, core consumer price inflation accelerated in March to 1.6% from 1.2%.
* The Federal Reserve kept its short-term interest rate at 1%, a 45-year low, but hinted that rates will soon gradually rise.