An article in Inc.com tells a story about entrepreneur Craig Knouf who reportedly has revised his business plan more than 120 times. While this might seem a bit extreme (or as my student Joe called it, ?compulsive?), I think that it illustrates a critical function of business plans.
Carnival of the Capitalists
This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists is up and running. Visit it at Admiral Quixote’s Roundtable!
What’s in a name?
Wharton’s on-line newsletter has an article on the generations old practice of entreprneurs naming their businesses after themselves. Companies from Ford to Dell have followed this custom. But, when the founder of one these businesses has significant ethical or legal issues arise, this can create a public relations disaster, such as that now facing Martha Stewart’s namesake business. This article examines the marketing a p.r. advantages and disadvantages of naming a business after its founder.
Entrepreneurs give back
One of the implicit rules of a healthy free enterprise economy is that those with wealth recognize their obligation to give back to their community and to the broader society in which they live. The National Dialoge on Entrepreneurship reports that the Slate 60, which lists the top sixty philanthropists each year, has good representation of entrepreneurs among this year’s honor roll, including “Joan Kroc, widow of McDonalds’ Ray Kroc, who donated more than $1.91 billion to various causes such as the Salvation Army and National Public Radio. Michael Dell ranks No. 2; his Dell Foundation made more than $673 million in grants last year. Other big entrepreneurial givers include Ted Turner, Paul Allen, and Pierre Omidyar of Ebay.”
Tech Start-ups dead? Maybe not!
The day of the technology start-ups is dead. Tech entrepreneurs were the wave in the 1990’s, but are no longer being found. If you didn’t make your fortune in the dot.com frenzy you are out of luck. Or are you?
Bootstrapping Long distance costs for small business
Free2Innovate sent me an interesting link regarding the emerging use of VOIP (that means using the Internet for phone calls for those of you, like me, who are not techies) by small businesses for their long distance phone calls. Like many costs, small businesses can pay an average of much more per employee for long distance calls than larger companies so savings offered by new technologies like this can offer real savings for the bootstrapping-minded entrepreneur.
Predictions
Well…the Packers fell short, the Belmont Bruins came within a couple of games of the NCAA but didn’t get there, and Kentucky………I hope my other predictions do better…..
Carnival of the Capitalists will be here next week!
The Entrepreneurial Mind will be hosting the Carnival of the Capitalists next week. I have received many interesting posts already, so it should be a great installment. For those who have not experienced Carnival of the Capitalists, it is a gathering of blog sites in one location that offers a variety of entries dealing with various aspects of business, commerce and economics. It gives you an opportunity to sample many different writers in one location. I have found many new favorites by becoming a regular at this site as it roams about the Internet.
To see this week’s Carnival of the Capitalists you can check it out here.
Ethics and Entrepreneurship Conference At Belmont
The Belmont Center for Business Ethics and our Entrepreneurship Center will be jointly hosting a conference on April 1, 2004 from 7:30 – 11:00 a.m. The conference title is “Integrating Faith and Work: Building your Business on a Solid Moral Foundation”. Our keynote speaker is one of my favorite people, Dr. Michael Naughton. This address will be followed by a panel of entrepreneurs discussing how their values have influenced their business practices.
This should be an amazing event, so I hope any of you who are local can attend. Contact gannb -at- mail. belmont.edu for more details on how to register. The cost is only $30 and includes a continental breakfast.
The right kind of growth
Rob over at BusinessPundit recommends a book that I am definintely going to buy: Ram Charan’s Profitable Growth. Go for batting average, not for homeruns. Focus on growing profits, not just growing revenues. Some of the best words of wisdom we can off any entrepreneur!