Entries Tagged 'Entrepreneurship' ↓

While browsing through my unpublished blog drafts I came across the results of a personality test which I apparently had planned on commenting on and publishing as a blog post. I decided to do some research and find out the source of the test, so I can share it with you in case you wanted to try it yourself. The test was the entrepreneurial personality test by The Entrepreneur Next Door. Below are my results:

Overall Score = 76
Drive to succeed = 74
Social network = 72
Outlook on success = 79
Openness to new ideas = 80

Drive to succeed:
Score = 74
Drive to succeed = 74
Passion = 89
Goal-orientation = 67
Conscientiousness = 59

Social network:
Score = 72
Social Skills = 75
Leadership = 67
Mentors/supporters = 75

Outlook on success:
Score = 79
Self-efficaciousness = 91
Optimism = 84
Status-seeking* = 61

Openness to new ideas:
Score = 80
Interest in knowledge = 94
Innovation = 88
Adaptability = 90
Risk-taking = 78
Risk-management = 50

According to a recent article at Entrepreneur.com the fictional town of Springfield in the popular TV show The Simpson’s is full of examples of entrepreneurship. Among the most entrepreneurial of the town are The Simpsons themselves. From the article:

Perhaps more than any other family in sitcom land, the Simpsons are an entrepreneurial bunch. Homer sees all situations as potential money-making opportunities, and Bart is following in his footsteps. Homer has gone into business with his father, and his long-lost brother, Herb, was a successful entrepreneur–at least until he met Homer. Even Marge ventured into franchising with a pretzel wagon.

The abbreviated list of the many Simpsons’ ventures includes: selling rides on the elephant Bart won in a contest; selling sugar found in the street after a traffic accident; plowing snow; selling Grandpa’s love tonic; running an internet business, which was bought out by Bill Gates; selling kitchen grease to rendering plants; bootlegging beer during prohibition; offering security services; running a daycare center; and selling tickets to see an unearthed angel fossil.

Biggest Accomplishments: Mr. Plow, until the snow thawed; the daycare center, until Homer was forbidden to see the children and kidnapped a few of them; the grease business, until groundskeeper Willie found out Bart and Homer were taking his “retirement grease”

Success Secret: “If at first you don’t succeed–d’oh!–try again the next time you find some free junk in the road.” –Homer J. Simpson

Biggest Mistakes: “All the ones where I got arrested …or bankrupted …or in trouble with Fat Tony.” –Homer J. Simpson

I had the opportunity to attend the University Private Equity Conference, where I got an

in-depth look at the traditionally hidden world of private equity. From panels on venture capital and entrepreneurship to leveraged buyouts, to the basics such as liquidation and legal, UPED tackles all the issues in private equity today.

It was a very good conference. I learned a lot, met some pretty cool people, and had some really good meals (including possibly the best steak dinner of my life). A few notable entrepreneurs that were there who either spoke or who I met personally were Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora.com, Paul Ahlstrom, managing director of vSpring Capital, Brian Beutler, Founder of Alianza Communications, Amy Lewis, Founder of Mediconnect, Josh Coates, Founder of Berkeley Data Systems, Bryan Sims, Founder of Brass Media, Jonathan Greenblatt, Founder of Ethos Water, and Ryan Money, Founder of HireVue. A few takaways from the conference:

• Unlike many other professions there is no clear cut path to becoming a Venture Capitalist. It is a varied and crooked path, with may routes to the same end destination.
• A strong social network is critical for business success. Athough few of the speaker mentioned social networking specifically many mentioned how doors of opportunities where opened because of connections they had.
• It is easier to gain market share in tight nit industries where leaders are know each other because when you do a good job with one company they are more likely to talk to others which could land you new clients more easily.
• Venture Capitals want to invest in companies where the entrepreneurs are committed more to their idea than making money, while the VCs themselves care more about just making money.

• In order for a new innovative product or service to be successful it has to be significantly better than its old alternative. Since it takes money and effort to change, even products that are twice as good as the existing one aren’t good enough to be successful. Products must be ten times as good in order to significantly change an industry. These are the kind of products that VCs want to invest in.

All in all the conference was well worth the time and money. It is something I look forward to attending again in the future.

I just heard that Junto Parnters is accepting applications for their 2007 program. From the Junto Partners Website…

The Junto program is also designed to lead you through a journey of self discovery regarding your true aptitude to be a successful entrepreneur. By working through the content and materials of the program, you will see more clearly your inherent attributes that will contribute to your success as an entrepreneur. And you will also become painfully aware of your limitations which will need to be addressed if you hope to succeed.

The Junto program is designed to emphasize what really matters to your success as an entrepreneur, to help you sort through the “fluff” of starting a business and to clearly understand what activities and strategies will make a difference. As you use the skills taught, you will be able to more effectively prioritize your tasks and your opportunities.

I highly recommend applying if you are a young aspiring entrepreneur in Utah. I participated in 2005 and found it to be well worth my time. I gained a lot of valuable knowledge and experience, and met a lot of amazing people, some of whom have become good friends, and most of whom I still keep in contact with.

I wrote a little bit about my experience in a blog posts a while back, What I Learned in Junto
If you are interested in applying please visit thier website at http://www.juntopartners.com

Mind Valley Labs has come up with a pretty useful list of blogs and resources for entrepreneurs. If you are an entrepreneur or are interested in learning about entrepreneurship it is worth checking out. In their comment section I added the following other blogs that are also worth checking out.

http://www.paulallen.net/
http://www.garrettsmith.info/
http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/
http://brockblake.com/

Aspiring entrepreneur Carolynn Duncan, has begun an experimental project where she will use only $100 to start a business in 30 days with the goal of making at least a $100 profit to start a new business the next month. In her post describing her plans on “The Hundred Dollar Business” Blog, Carolynn states that she plans to test ten core concepts that she has learned about entrepreneurship from her entrepreneurship class at BYU and from the Utah business community.

Carolynn’s business for December is a kiosk at a local mall in Provo, UT, where she is selling bundt cakes, Sign Babies, and Princess Sweet items. Since she has limited herself to only $100 in start-up capital Carolynn has had to be resourceful, such as using a consignment model so she doesn’t have to pay up front or get an investor.

So the question posed in the title of this post remains. Can a Business be Started with Only $100? I believe the answer is Yes. Carolynn has already started the business and I personally think it will be a success.

One thing I remember learning from Greg Warnock, when I was in his Junto Entrepreneurhship Program, was that a lot of money isn’t necessary to start a business. It can help, but it isn’t necessary. When you are on a tight budget you are forced to be creative and leverage the resources you have. Greg taught us that if you have a business idea that you want to pursue you should first try to test the assumptions of why you think your idea will be profitable by going out and selling. Only after you know that your idea will be profitable because you have actually seen a demand for your product first hand should you begin to invest a significant amount of money in the business. It is even possible to make a sale before you have made your product and therefor use your customers to fund your business.

Another interesting aspect of Carlynn’s experiment will be the effect that her Hundred Dollar Business Blog will have on her business. It will be interesting to see how things turn out.

I just started the articles for the terms Parallel Entrepreneur and Serial Entrepreneur on Wikipedia. They are both very simple though. Please feel free to add to the articles. I will probably add more later if no one else does.