Business

How To Build Your Entrepreneurial Stamina

May 15, 2014 by Marc Guberti 8 Comments

Stamina

Every entrepreneur is encountered with the option of giving up. Every business out there has experienced bad days, and many of them have experienced a chain of bad days. However, it is important to note that every business out there means every business out there. Amazon had some bad days as well as a chain of bad days. Let’s not forget to count Apple, JetBlue, Samsung, WalMart, and Whole Foods Market. The difference between these businesses and the ones that feel apart are that the entrepreneurs behind the businesses had more stamina. Once they discovered an idea they wanted to pursue, these entrepreneurs did not back down. In order to see your startup or product become successful, you need to have entrepreneurial stamina.

In order to build your entrepreneurial stamina, you need to respond to criticism very well. Many people are afraid of the critics. Some people act like the zombie apocalypse just happened when their book gets a 1 star review. Others are simply intimidated when someone says that the idea is doomed to fail.

Another way to build your entrepreneurial stamina is to have a vision in place. Where do you see your business down the road? Having a vision can give you the motivation that you need to keep the business open even when all odds are stacked against you. Apple was falling apart, went bankrupt, and only got saved because Bill Gates and Steve Jobs came to the rescue. Bill Gates came to the rescue financially while Steve Jobs came to the rescue with his vision and innovative mindset. Reading stories like Apple’s also helps towards boosting your entrepreneurial stamina.

A big part of your entrepreneurial stamina comes from your desire to do what you do. If you do not like your business, then your stamina will not last long. However, if you love what you do, then your stamina will be stronger. As a kid, Steve Jobs would create, tear apart, and recreate computers for fun. When Steve Jobs founded Apple, he was the head of a business that he loved.

In order to have a successful business, you need to have entrepreneurial stamina during the developmental stages of that business. You need to see the developmental stage of your business as a stepping stone towards success. With this kind of mindset, your business will go far.

How To Come Up With An Effective SWOT Analysis

May 4, 2014 by Marc Guberti 12 Comments

If you want to persuade someone to do something, then you need to master the SWOT analysis. The acronym stands for Strenghs, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Using the SWOT analysis can persuade people to do almost anything for your business…if you word the SWOT analysis correctly and send it to the people who would care.

The SWOT analysis is designed to do the following:

Identify what is working. These are the strengths. In your SWOT analysis, you need to start off with the strengths to make everyone feel good about the business. By starting off with the strengths, the weaknesses will be easier for everyone to swallow.
Identify what is not working. These are the weaknesses that need to be fixed. The reason many businesses (and countries for that matter) fall apart is because they do not pay attention to the weaknesses. In order to move forward as a business and an entrepreneur, you need to identify what is not working so you can fix the problems.
Give everyone a big picture of the potential that can be unlocked by moving forward. After hearing the weaknesses, some people will get discouraged. This part of the SWOT analysis is to give people a new level of hope and show them how to make the strengths stronger. This new level of hope can be used to increase productivity among your employees and business colleagues to get better results.
What would happen if we got too comfortable and did not try to unlock our potential. Now that you have given everyone a new level of hope, you need to close your SWOT analysis with the threats. Ending off with the threats will make your employees and business colleagues believe that moving forward in the direction of your vision is the best and right way to go.

What are your thoughts on the SWOT analysis? Please share your thoughts below.

Why New Changes Are Not As Annoying As They Sound

May 2, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Twitter has been making profiles of their users look just like Facebook. On the first day I saw several Twitter profiles with the Facebook look, I was outraged. I could not believe Twitter was going to make this move and turn into Facebook.

However, I was quick to remember another change that took place that people complained about (myself included). Everyone–from classmates to business people to relatives–complained about the iPhone’s new design. In fact, many people complained about the design on Twitter (the complaining even earned the iPhone a spot on Twitter’s trending list). I was complaining just like everyone else when the new design came out, but now I could not imagine an iPhone without the new design. The ability to swipe the entire screen to get to the passcode instead of swiping that tiny arrow at the bottom of the screen all the way to the right saves a lot of time.

In addition, I was not a big fan of Alexa’s new design. I despised the new design because it became harder to type in a URL. Instead of having the option of typing the URL at the center of the screen, that option would be provided at the top right hand corner. It does seem like a complaint on a small change, but customers notice the small changes. Sure enough, after a few weeks of using the new design that I did not like at all, I enjoyed the new design. In fact, I now like the new design better than the old design.

I know I am not the only one who thinks this way about new changes. The reason new changes gradually get accepted is because as the complaining reaches a high point, it becomes obvious that the new design is here to stay. When hundreds of thousands of people complained about the iPhone’s new design, Apple did not go back the old way. Now, the people who complained about the new design love that same design.

New changes can seem annoying. New changes such as putting in more work, adjusting your schedule, or trying a different strategy can seem annoying in the beginning. However, once you stick with the new change and decide not to look or turn back, you will gradually become comfortable with the change.

How To Conquer The Fear Of Starting A Business

May 1, 2014 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

The fear of starting a business is more different than any other kind of fear. Starting could result in a powerful business that makes millions of dollars. Starting could mean you being able to earn a full-time income while working at your own hours and vacationing all around the world. Those are just some of the many benefits of starting your own business.

However, starting a business also means more criticism. Starting means giving yourself full responsibility to implement your ideas. Instead of playing it safe and getting paid to be employed, starting means putting the money aside to start something new that could bring in a lot of money later on.

Starting a business is like a double edged sword. While it does involve less money and large amounts of your time in the beginning, managing a business gradually becomes easier, and more revenue comes in. If you are willing to be patient in the beginning, you will be able to see your idea soar.

Once you come up with one thriving business, it will be much easier to grow strong followings for your other businesses. Once you already have a fan base, you will be able to get more new and returning customers when you create another business.

If you decide that your idea is worth it, if you are willing to put in the work and effort, and if you do not care if people will criticize you, then start the business you have been thinking about. You will have to build a team around your business, and that is fine, because no individual can manage an entire business on their own.

The 3 Most Common Startup Mistakes

May 1, 2014 by Marc Guberti 1 Comment

business startup

Millions of startups are being created over a year, and the rate has been increasing. The amount of startups being created now is higher than it has even been for more than 15 years. Although there are more startups, there is also more failure. In fact, 80% of startups end up failing. This blog post is not designed to discourage you from creating and launching your startup. Instead, this blog post is designed to talk about the 20%, and how they avoid becoming the 80%. The startups that fail often make these 3 mistakes. If you are making any of these 3 mistakes, then you need to get these mistakes fixed so your startup can move forward.

Not having any statistics. Do not play your startup by chance. You need to know when your startup is doing well or not so you can determine how to improve your startup. You need statistics that tell you about your demographics, customers, daily visitors, and clicks just to name a few.
Trying to do too much too soon. Many startups want to get themselves on the map as quickly as possible. The problem is that most of these startups give themselves unrealistic goals in order to get themselves on the map faster. The unrealistic goals end up not getting accomplished, and not being on the map simply adds to the frustration. Understand that it takes time to become successful, and although you need to put in the work to make your startup successful, giving yourself unrealistic goals such as going from newbie author to bestseller in 1 month squanders growth.
Trying to do it all by yourself. Most successful startups started as an idea, and the people who came up with the ideas hired assistants to make their lives easier. Although Oktay Caglar, Eren Bali, and Gagan Biyani co-founded Udemy together, contacting Udemy will result in an assistant answering your message. These three people needed each other to turn Udemy into a reality and needed assistants to keep Udemy running smoothly.

With startups on the rise, it is easy to imagine that your neighbor, friend, or colleague will think of a new startup idea. Whether you or someone you know created their own startup, it is important to remember these three mistakes that make most startups fall into the 80% category. By avoiding these pitfalls, your startup (or your friend’s startup) will be more likely to fall into the 20% category.

We All Have Big Egos (And There’s No Denying It)

April 25, 2014 by Marc Guberti 3 Comments

Whether you think you have a big ego or not, you have one. While some people go over the top, we all have a big ego. Who wouldn’t love to tell other people about their accomplishments? If you are not that kind of person, wouldn’t you love it when someone else told their friends about all of the cool things you do?

The truth is that we love it when that happens. Talking about ourselves triggers the same parts of the brain when we think of food and money. I did not just write this blog post to say that we all have big egos. Instead, there are benefits that we need to know about in order to use someone else’s big ego to our effect.

If you want to make a new friend, have a good date, get a new business partner, or make a strong connection, the easiest thing to do is sit back for a while and let that person talk about himself/herself. Let that person talk about all of the accomplishments, successes, and products they have. When the conversation is over, that person will feel incredible about himself/herself. Then, that person will respect you because you made that person feel great.

We all have big egos which means you and the person you talk to. By tapping into the other person’s ego, you will hear all of their successes, and they will love you for it.