YEC - 7/9 - Serious Startups

5 Lessons for Fast Growing Startups

fast-growing

Within our first month of publicly launching Ministry of Supply in June 2012, we sold more than 6,000 shirts and gained 4,000 customers. Our company grew fast because it had to. We were an adolescent trapped in a baby’s body — we had to learn how to sprint before we could learn how to walk, and we had some serious growing pains as we tried to scale production from 300 to 6,000 shirts a month. However, we quickly realized that by empowering our customers and empowering our company, we could truly grow the way we wanted. Everything we do comes down to empowering people to be their best.

As a co-founder, I focus a lot on how we can scale our team, our operations and our distribution. We’re a startup, and face many of the same challenges that startups face. Here’s what we’ve learned along the way about managing fast growth.

Championship vs. Ownership

There are six members of our team, and we all champion different areas of the business. For example, co-founder Gihan Amarasiriwardena focuses on product development and technology. Devin Cook, head of Customer Advocacy, spends all day thinking about how we can make customers as happy as possible. Over the months, we realized that we worked better as a team when we moved away from ownership and moved towards championship.

This philosophy ensures nobody feels possessive about his or her area of focus, while encouraging teamwork and collaboration. So while Devin may be focused on customer happiness, we all chip in with ideas and often have company-wide brainstorms about improving the customer experience. As champions, we’re all really proud of the areas we focus on and are encouraged to get others behind our initiatives.

Holistic Views of the Business

I love knowing what’s going on in all areas of the business, and we’ve found that everyone the team does too. We have an open office space and are constantly talking and bouncing ideas off of each other throughout the day. A few months ago, we realized that our communication wasn’t great despite the fact that we spent all day talking – some people didn’t know what was going on in various aspects of the business because decisions get made so quickly and a lot of decisions get made outside of the office.

We’ve been trying to get better at making sure that everyone in the company knows what’s going on and has a holistic view of the business. Being transparent and giving everyone the opportunity to know as much as they can enables everyone on a team to be their best.

Agile Problem-Solving

We act fast whenever we see problems. When we realized that some of the shirts we were shipping were running too slim, we halted production, created a new pattern, trained our manufacturers, and got better-fitting shirts on the market in three weeks.

Being able to adapt quickly and iterate in real time is a huge benefit of a startup and we will forever try to retain that ability. In this example, by acting quickly to solve a problem, we were able to minimize exchanges — and more importantly, make our customers happy.

Technology Is in Our DNA

As a fashion brand born out of MIT, we use technology to create the best products possible — from our use of thermal mapping to optimize venting in our Aero pants design to the NASA phase-change performance materials we use in our Apollo shirts.

We truly believe that technology can improve everyone’s lives and we democratize technology through apparel. As such, we don’t stop at the use of technology in product development; we leverage technology in every touch point of our brand.

Brand Is Culture

At Ministry of Supply, we all live and breathe the mission. We are intentional about hiring people who fit both our brand and our culture. When we take company retreats, we challenge ourselves to be our best. Our last one included hiking and winter camping in negative degrees. We want our customers to be their best and our employees to be their best. Everything we do comes down to that.

Obviously a startup is a tremendous amount of work and nothing is certain. However, by staying true to our mission and empowering our customers and employees, we know that we’ll be here for the long haul.

Kit Hickey is the co-founder of Ministry of Supply, a brand which is inventing the future of men’s professional wear. The company has been featured in NYT, TechCrunch, Inc., Forbes and Elle Magazine. In addition, Kit is a lover of mountain sports and has half an MBA from MIT. Follow her: @kit_hickey

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

4 Principles of High Productivity

productivity In a time of constant movement, constant communication, continual achievement and an ongoing list of to-dos, at the end of the day we feel we’ll never get ahead. It seems like our days are controlling us, rather than us controlling them. This constant busyness can actually take you off course from your high-value goals; hurt your physical, psychological and emotional system; and even damage or destroy relationships. I have been studying some of the top executives, CEOs, authors, and millionaires in the past couple of years and wanted to share a couple thoughts that might help you work at your productive best.

80/20 EVERYTHING

This is called Pareto’s law. It can be summarized as follows: 80 percent of the outputs result from 20 percent of the inputs. Out of 10 tasks and activities you want to accomplish, two of them will produce more results than the other eight combined. This is a proven fact. Sometimes when we get busy we feel we must get more done rather than focusing on the tasks that create bigger results. I’m often challenged to really think intelligently about what 20 percent of my work I can do with absolute focus that will yield huge results.

MOST THINGS DON’T MATTER

I remember Tim Ferriss stating that “most things make no difference.” Being busy is a form of laziness, lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being overwhelmed is often as unproductive as doing nothing, and is far more unpleasant. Being selective and taking more intelligent action is really the path to high productivity. Focus on the important few and ignore or delegate the rest.

DOING SOMETHING UNIMPORTANT WELL DOESN’T MAKE IT ANY MORE IMPORTANT

Activities that are not connected to an outcome or purpose are the drain of all fortune. Understand that what you do is a lot more important than how you do it. Effectiveness is still important, but it is useless unless applied to the right things. There are a handful of things you could be focusing on that will create exceptional outcomes for your goals. It’s easy to get caught in a flood of trivial matters.

The key to not feeling rushed is remembering that lack of time actually means lack of priorities. Take time to stop and re-focus your priorities as often as needed. Intelligent thinking, combined with the right action will get your productivity to a level few attain. Remember what Jim Collins stated in his best seller Good To Great: “If you have more than three priorities, you don’t have any.”

OBEY PARKINSON’S LAW

Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will become of larger importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion. I have personally found high value in deadlines. If I give you 12 hours to complete a project, the time pressure forces you to focus on execution, and you have no choice but to do only the essentials. If I give you a week to complete the same task, it will most likely be six days of validation, excuses, and procrastination and one day of rushed work. If I give you a month, it usually becomes a mental monster. The results of deadlines are always of equal or higher quality due to greater focus.

Identify the few critical tasks that contribute most to income and schedule them with very short and clear deadlines. If you haven’t identified your critical tasks and set aggressive start and end times for their completion, the unimportant becomes important. Even if you know what’s critical, without deadlines that create focus, the minor tasks forced upon you will raise to consume time until another minuscule task jumps in to replace it, leaving you at the end of the day with nothing accomplished.

I spent months jumping from one interruption to the next, feeling run by my business instead of the other way around. Don’t make the same mistake — instead, adopt these four strategies in your life and business today.

A version of this post originally appeared on the author’s blog.

Peter Voogd (of RealVipSuccess) is an entrepreneur dedicating himself to excellence in every area of life so he can better serve others. He strongly believes the more people you help to succeed, the most successful you become. His mission is to inspire 1,000,000 people through his movement, and has a deep understanding of what it takes to inspire, motivate, and train at the highest level.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

5 Quick Ways To Repurpose Your Content

writing

Smart content marketers know great content — whether it be a blog post, infographic or video. Recycle it, repurpose it and reuse it for different channels and mediums.

Why? Simply because you want to maximize the exposure your content gets, thus extending the reach of your brand and effectively, improving your ROI. You’ve already done the research and crafted the story. It often takes minimal effort to turn one of your best blog posts into a neat SlideShare presentation.

Not only is this useful for getting more eyeballs, it’s an easier way to engage different readers, since some prefer text while others enjoy visual content.

Here are five ways to redistribute and repurpose your content:

Microblog It

One of the beauties of excellent content is you don’t necessarily have to keep it in its original form. In fact, you can play around with your content to suit different mediums while still ensuring your message still adds value to readers. Here are two ways you can microblog your existing content:

To start, you can simply tweet out parts of your content that your audience might enjoy most. For example, if you have a list post, tweet some of its best points.
Or, you can chop up the post into its individual tips and turn each tip into a funny picture or gif for a post on Tumblr.

Repost It

There’s no shame in reposting your work onto other sites. Doing so may actually help you reach a lot of new readers who have not yet visited your site before. Here are three ways to you can easily repost your content.

Medium is one place you can easily republish your content. Simply paste your content and add an interesting featured image, and there ya go. Your content is now available to other Medium readers (and if you’re lucky, the editors might recommend it in their weekly newsletter).
Examiner.com is another place you can repost your stuff. Unlike Medium though (which is now open to everyone), you have to apply to become an Examiner. Fortunately, becoming one is easy. Apply here.
Of course, if you manage columns on other websites, you can always review their “contributor guidelines” to see if they’ll accept republished content (but always make sure to disclose that the post originally appeared on your site and link to the original article so everyone knows the content’s source). For example, I am a contributor to The Huffington Post and republish my best articles on my column.

Syndicate Your Blog

One of the easiest ways to get your content seen by more people is by syndicating your blog’s feed with content aggregators. You set it once and then forget it because your posts are automatically delivered to sites that syndicate your feed, and if the post meets contribution requirements, it’ll go live as soon as it is approved. Two noteworthy examples are:

Business 2 Community (which accepts contributors and blog syndication for content that would be relevant for their readers who are business professionals).
Social Media Today (which accepts contributions and blog feeds related to social media).

Visualize It

Some, among us, are visual learners. Therefore, an 800-word blog post with one or two images probably isn’t going to cut it.

Instead, highlight the article’s key points and add several engaging images to turn it into a fun SlideShare presentation.
Better yet, create an awesome video and publish that on either Vimeo orYouTube.
Or turn your content into a shareworthy infographic. If you’re not a designer, but would still love a sweet infographic, start a project on Visual.ly.

Make It Downloadable

Finally, make it downloadable. Convert your content into PDF form with an attractive design and engaging images (oh, and capture some emails while you’re at it). Two ways to make your content downloadable include:

Creating a whitepaper.
Writing an e-book (here’s one we’ve published about related content).

What are other creative ways you are getting your content seen through different channels?

This post originally appeared on the Shareaholic Content Marketing blog.

Danny Wong is the co-founder of Blank Label (and an Inc. 30 under 30 alum), marketer at Shareaholic, and an occasional writer.

5 Tips For Getting Started In A New Industry

dreamjob Five years ago, my first tech company was acquired. Two years ago, the acquirer IPO’d. As the Chief Strategy Officer, I ended my time at the company with a signatory bell ringing at the NASDAQ. Until that point, my life had moved quite swiftly without much vacation, only letting up to marry my high school sweetheart and raise my son.

After a failed attempt at a vacation, I dove right back into the startup world. I love the energy of startup life. But more importantly, I love the promise of solving a real problem and improving the world in some way. So this time around, I want to build something truly great and enduring – not just a billion-dollar business, but a household brand that delights customers, creates beautiful experiences, and employs an inspired, world-class team who’s in it for the long haul.

When building a company, you want to work for long term, the first decision to make is what market to attack. Opportunity cost is incredibly high, so it’s important — no, critical — to select an industry ripe to support what you want to build. Here are five tips for selecting a market for your startup:

Pick the pursuit of happiness. Attack a problem that you are passionate about solving. When you make the decision to move forward, building a company is a massive commitment and something you live and breathe. Without passion to carry you through the long, lonely nights, you don’t stand a chance.
Don’t reinvent the wheel. There’s no need to focus on inventing a new market. Instead, try looking for an environment where established competitors have shown the space can be monetized and operate in a model that allows new entrants to do things differently, if not better.
Consider social, local and mobile. There are many reasons why a startup should fail. I want the wind at my back, and finding an opportunity where the trends support your efforts helps. Look for macro trends – for us, it was clear that the housing market would rebound, providing more “free” growth as we scaled.
Look for inorganic growth. Organic growth is imperative for almost every startup these days. As a company matures, though, it is important to look at inorganic ways to accelerate growth. A good indication of this is when a market has both fragmented competitors and a fragmented customer base. Consolidation is a great platform to have as an asset.
Maximize your superpowers. Focus on what you are uniquely great at so you can sustain a competitive advantage. For me, I knew I could deploy a business model in topics I know well: providing value to businesses, gaining deep insights through these relationships, and providing an exclusive solution to consumers that solves a big problem. I knew I liked business models that include both businesses and consumers, and models where an opportunity to build a virtuous circle exists (where more businesses provides us with consumers and consumers attract more business customers).

These five steps led us to create Porch, a social home improvement marketplace. It’s a space I’m incredibly passionate about, since it affects every household in the United States and touches the home, where life’s great memories happen. With a few competitors at scale, we are taking an extremely personal, relevant and trusted approach to disrupt the industry. It’s a massive market ($500B in spend) where consolidation opportunities are endless, and has a virtuous cycle of value by nature.

Where will they lead you?

Matt Ehrlichman is the CEO of Porch, where you can get inspired by the best home projects your neighbors have completed, see what any home project will cost, and find the best service professional your neighbors and friends recommend. Previous to Porch, Matt was a founder and CEO of Thriva (acquired by Active Network) and Chief Strategy Officer of Active Network (2011 IPO). Matt lives in Seattle, WA.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

14 Quick Tips For Talking To Reporters

QUESTION: WHAT IS YOUR #1 TIP FOR A NERVOUS ENTREPRENEUR ABOUT TO TALK TO A REPORTER FOR THE FIRST TIME?

LEAVE THE “UMS” AT HOME

“Using “filler words” — ah, um, like, so — will hurt your credibility as an expert in your field. Try to become more aware of the situations in which you use these filler words, and try to replace them with pauses. So many people are uncomfortable with pauses, but used correctly, they make you sound more confident and credible.”

– Justin Beck | Co-Founder and CEO, PerBlue

STAY ON MESSAGE

“Before I started my company, as a business journalist, I regularly interviewed top entrepreneurs and CEOs. To avoid being nervous or providing a bad quote, be sure to create bullets of your talking points and the story you want to tell. “Winging it” leaves far too much room for error. If you don’t have a good answer for a question, don’t feel compelled to answer it. ”

– Antonio Neves | Founder, THINQACTION

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

“Know your business and industry inside and out. Come up with some canned responses for likely questions. Practice saying them so they don’t sound canned. Pretty soon you’ll realize most reporters ask the same things, and you won’t be nervous anymore.”

– Wade Foster | Co-founder and CEO, Zapier

AVOID SARCASM

“Until you are comfortable talking “on the record,” it’s best to avoid sarcasm. You may think the reporter understood what you “really” meant, only to be horrified by what a jerk you sound like when the story comes out. Keep it straightforward until you get a feel for what reporters pick up on and can ensure you can get your meaning across.”

– Matt Peters | Co-Founder & Creative Director, Pandemic Labs

BE DISCIPLINED

“Remember that the reporter is after a story, not trying to tell your narrative the way you think it should be communicated. Be judicious and thoughtful in how you answer questions, and be wary of how things you say might be taken out of context. Stick to your key points, and remember that it’s better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

– Erik Severinghaus | Founder & CEO, Simple Relevance

ADMIT YOUR STAGE FRIGHT

“Most of the time, reporters want an interview to go well — they want great quotes and information for the pieces they’re working on. If they know you’re nervous, they can make things a little easier to ensure they’ll get what they need. You can’t always use this approach — if you’re being interviewed about something the reporter thinks has gone wrong, it won’t fly — but it usually helps.”

– Thursday Bram | Consultant, Hyper Modern Consulting

GENUINELY LIKE THEM

“It’s Psych 101, but if you like someone, they’ll probably like you back. Obviously, this is easier said than done (it depends on the reporter), but if an entrepreneur goes in expecting a battle, it’ll be tough to win the reporter over.”

– Derek Flanzraich | CEO and Founder, Greatist

KNOW YOUR NUMBERS!

“The media loves stats and numbers, so know your industry statistics and trends. However, reporters many times are strapped for time and may have not have done the homework. So if you start off with some strong numbers to support your position, this will reinforce your stance as an industry expert, as well as be impressive and set the tone for the conversation.”

– Marcos Cordero | Chief Gradsaver, GradSave, LLC

SPEAK IN SOUND BITES

“It is easy to stray from your messaging goals when a reporter gets you chatting. A common mistake is to water down great news with other updates. Try to loop conversations back to messaging goals whenever possible so your feature doesn’t become a back story in your own article. You can think of speaking in sound bites: everything printable should still fit your message, even out of context.”

– John Harthorne | Founder and CEO, MassChallenge

JOIN TOASTMASTERS TO PRACTICE YOUR SPEAKING SKILLS

“The more you practice speaking in front of others, the more comfortable you’ll be when it comes time to speak to reporters or other important groups. I highly recommend joining a local Toastmasters club to improve your speaking skills.”

– Allie Siarto | Co-Founder, Director of Insights, Loudpixel

TALK TO SOMEONE

“The biggest trouble inexperienced interviewees tend to have is that they try to answer questions from a reporter as if they are talking to “everyone.” The outcome tends to dilute their answers and leave them sounding insecure, unsure or uncertain. Instead, imagine talking to one reader (even a past version of yourself) who wants to learn about what you have to say.”

– Dave Ursillo | Founder & CEO, The Literati Writers

PRACTICE FOR VCS

“If you’re prepared enough to take questions from a venture capitalist, you’re prepared enough to talk to a reporter. As the interviewee, you can control the interview by knowing the facts about your business and providing the most interesting things to write about. ”

– Matt Wilson | Adventurer in Residence , Under30Experiences

UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY’RE AFTER (IT’S NOT YOU)

“A reporter is not interviewing you to catch you in a “gotcha” moment — he wants to write a story about a topic on which you have expertise that his readership will find interesting. The better the quotes and information he gets from you, the better his story will be.”

– Peter Minton | Founder & President, Minton Law Group, P.C.

BE DIRECT

“Be prepared, prepared, prepared. Know the topics that the interview is going to cover like the back of your hand. Be truthful, professional, direct and interesting and have something meaningful to say. If you accomplish that, you’ll be amazed at the benefits of PR. Being recognized as a leader in your field by the media can easily impact the amount of incoming leads you generate.”

– Jamail Larkins | President & CEO, Ascension Air

How To Kick Your Email Addiction

Hello. My name is Chris, and I’m an email addict.

Email addiction is taking a serious toll on both our personal lives and work productivity. Long gone are the days of handwritten letters, snail mail and faxes. Why use those outdated practices when you can simply type a message from anywhere and instantly send it to anyone in the world?

The problem starts when we abuse email and it begins to replace other, more personal forms of communication. A co-worker once said to me, “It’s easy to be mean over email.” In order to be effective, email needs to be used correctly. Yes, it’s a phenomenal way to send a non-urgent message, a great use of recapping a meeting or telephone call, and possibly the best method for updating multiple people on a project. But it is very ineffective at conducting a discussion, carrying on a conversation, getting to know someone, or addressing a serious matter.

For many entrepreneurs, email has become a crutch. Below is a five-step program to kick the habit for good:

SAY NO TO THE ‘PUSH’

This is the first and most difficult step. The key here is to remove temptation: You can’t kick the email habit if your phone is constantly alerting you that a new email is waiting to be checked. Go into your settings, click on the ‘Fetch new data’ button, and turn off the push notification. Doing this will put you back in control and allow you to check emails when you want, not when the sender sends them. If you are feeling adventurous, take it one step further and set your fetch data to ‘manual.’ This simple change will give you your personal life back.

DISCONNECT FROM YOUR INBOX

Timothy Ferris of “The 4-Hour Work Week” recommends setting up an autoresponse to incoming emails that announces that you are only checking emails twice a day. I’ve tried this approach, but it only pissed off my colleagues.

Instead of announcing to the world when you will or won’t be checking emails, start more subtly. Just do it. Check and respond to your emails only three times a day. The first thing that I do when I get to my office is download my emails. That sounds like an email addict move, right? But as soon my emails are downloaded, I disconnect from the Internet. This allows me to read and respond to emails without getting an instant reply, which could start an unproductive email conversation. I can then review, reread, and edit emails before I go back online — reducing redundant messages and more importantly, allowing me to delete heated messages that shouldn’t be sent in the first place.

When you actually connect again, you can take 15 or 20 minutes to quickly reply to any time-sensitive emails you received.

PRIORITIZE URGENT MATTERS

Efficiency experts in fields ranging from business to coaching agree that time blocking is a very productive habit. Finish one task before moving to another.

As I mentioned, when I get into the office, I immediately download my emails. I scan those emails for any urgent matters first. If there are urgent emails, I pick up the phone and address those issues immediately. Once that is out of the way, I start working on the day’s top priorities.

By dealing with urgent issues in person or over the phone, you can keep the inefficient email conversations out of your day.

SET EXPECTATIONS

The key is to be consistent and train others to expect it. If you always address major matters in person or over the phone, people will begin to call you with anything urgent instead of using email. They will also start to think through what or when they email you, knowing that you will not respond immediately.

Bonus: You won’t have to worry that you are missing something by not always being connected to the Internet.

DEAL WITH RELAPSE

You will relapse. You will carry on an unproductive email conversation with someone and spend hours glued to your computer screen and email account, and you will become angry with yourself for doing it. This will happen. I guarantee it.

When you do, simply start over and get back into the groove of only connecting to emails three times a day, calling or meeting with people instead of emailing them, and blocking your time, including the time spent on emails.

Rinse and repeat until you get your life — and your productivity — back on track.

Chris Hunter is Co-Founder of Phusion Projects, LLC, a Chicago-based alcoholic beverage company that sells its products (including Four Loko, Island Squeeze and Moskato Life) nationwide. He’s also a father, husband, traveler and triathlete.

5 Things to Get Straight Before Starting Up

planning Starting my company Gloss and Glam was the best thing I ever did. But before I opened my business, I spent countless hours speaking to lawyers, accountants, and other entrepreneurs trying to figure out next steps. Save yourself countless hours — and the possible headache of making a huge foundational mistake — by getting these five things straight before you start up:

Own your name. Make sure the company name you choose is one with an available trademark and Internet domain name. To see if a trademark is available, you can do a trademark search online through the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s website. Failure to properly obtain a trademark could put your fledgling business at risk — not to mention that the time and money you have invested in establishing your business name could go to waste if someone else owns the trademark. Don’t assume your new business name is not trademarked because you were unsuccessful finding such name on the Internet, either. Someone could have used the name for a business that closed, or filed a trademark and never used it.
Get in with the law. Understand what regulations, licenses and taxes you will need to follow, obtain and pay for your new business. After doing some initial research on your own, consult with a lawyer and accountant to confirm your understanding and to help structure your business to be in compliance with the law. Generally speaking, you will need to need to (i) ensure you are charging the correct amount of tax your service or product that your business is promoting, if applicable and (ii) obtain all of the proper licenses needed to run your new business, at a minimum. Establishing a successful business is hard enough. The last thing you need is some technical legality or administrative detail to stand in the way of your success.
How much do you need to live? When working on your business plan, do not forget about the most important factor: YOU. You need to take into account your living costs. Rent, mortgages, and health insurance — these are all things that don’t pay for themselves. You will most likely need to cut out all the unnecessary extras you can live without. Make sure you account for unforeseen or unexpected expenses by factoring a little flexibility into your budget for those “just-in-case” moments. You might even consider taking a part-time job until things pick up with your new venture and speak to a financial planner to help you budget yourself properly.
Where are you in your life? Starting a new business takes brains, bravery, and what will seem to be endless hours of hard work. When you own your own company, there is always something that has to get done. You will most likely find yourself working at least 60-80 hours a week for the first two years. With that said, I’ll ask you one very important question: Are you ready to give up your personal life for the next three years?
Don’t over — or under — spend. Starting a business can be incredibly financially taxing on you and your family. You will need to learn where and when to spend. It’s important not to waste those precious seed dollars but it’s equally important to spend where necessary. In any business, you often have to spend money to make money. Don’t skimp out on things your company needs. For example, it may be worth it to put $1500 in an online vendor listing, but it may not be necessary to give every new customer a $15 mug. Be sure to keep up with technology too — there are many time-saving programs and apps (including free or inexpensive ones) that can help you keep track of it all, and as we all know, “time is money.”

Nicole Robinson is the CEO of Gloss and Glam, a premier and largest luxury on-location hair and makeup company. Gloss and Glam provides high end hair and makeup services for runways, magazines, weddings, TV shows, movies, and private clients across the world. For more information or to book an appointment visit www.glossandglam.com.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

5 Typical Business Mistakes to Avoid

I jumped into the world of entrepreneurship a few years back, and it’s certainly been an interesting ride. Don’t let anyone fool you — business ownership requires a lot of hard work. No matter what you do, you’re going to make mistakes in the beginning. However, once you get all the wrinkles ironed out, the benefits of self-employment are numerous.

In order to help you along your way, here are five typical mistakes entrepreneurs make, as well as some suggestions on how to avoid them:

Not doing enough research. One of the worst mistakes you can make as a first-time entrepreneur is not researching the industry or niche you want to penetrate. With the Internet, you have a world of resources at your fingertips, so take advantage of it. Several pieces of information you should keep an eye out for include current demand, competition, average startup costs, and when you can expect to become profitable. I conducted thorough research, and therefore went into business with my eyes wide open.
Not saving money. If saving money is not at the top of your list, sustaining your business over many years will be incredibly difficult. First, create a simple budget by recording all fixed and variable monthly expenses, as well as an estimate for monthly income. This can give you a rough idea of how much money you have to spend — and if you realize you are spending more than you are earning, you’ll know it’s time to cut back. In order to cut costs or reduce expenses, consider purchasing used equipment to outfit your office. Turn down your office heat or air conditioning, and make sure you are not wasting any energy. And if you are spending a fortune on advertising, consider implementing free social media campaigns instead. Many business fail due to money woes, so doing whatever you can in advance to prevent these troubles is key.
Over-reliance on outside financing. Instead of begging for money from angel investors or venture capitalists, look to your own checking account for financing your startup. You’ll maintain more control over your company’s direction and enjoy a bigger percentage of the profits. I financed my own business by bootstrapping, and I have no regrets. Of course, you don’t want to overextend your personal finances and go into debt to start your business, so some outside business financing may be necessary.
Not fully utilizing social media. The best way to gain the most exposure for your small business is via social media marketing, which offers the additional benefit of being free. Start accounts on Facebook and Twitter and post helpful content to your potential customers, making the experience as interactive as possible by personally replying to each person who responds. Once your popularity begins to grow, consider conducting weekly TweetChats on topics relevant to your business, and offer giveaways to boost your presence on Facebook.
Expanding too soon. While my website enjoyed modest success early on, I ultimately decided against pursuing an aggressive growth strategy. Expanding a business too rapidly can negatively affect the level of customer service you provide and can also overwhelm your staff. Once you’ve got a good thing going, the last thing you want to do is cause damage to your brand by overwhelming your workforce. Expand conservatively, and you are more likely to enjoy success in the long run.

Through all of my trials and tribulations, I always relied on one key piece of advice a successful small business owner once gave me. He said, “Andrew, stay passionate about what you’re doing, work hard, learn from your mistakes, and success will eventually come your way.” Entrepreneurship isn’t easy, but once you’ve obtained success, the benefits make it worth all of your hard work.

What other mistakes should entrepreneurs avoid when just starting out?

Andrew Schrage is co-owner of the MoneyCrashers.com Personal Finance website. The site strives to educate readers on a wide variety of topics, including how to budget for retirement, tips to increase your income, and the best small business credit cards. Schrage hopes to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives as they work to gain and maintain financial freedom.

15 Feature Films To Inspire Entrepreneurs

Name one awesome feature film that showcases entrepreneurship. Even if it’s not completely accurate to the hardships of the startup journey, what about that movie is a true takeaway?

1. Forrest Gump

“Although it is historical fiction, Forrest Gump is one of my favorite inspirational movies that has entrepreneurial ties. My takeaway is that everyone has challenges that they have to overcome in life, but how you respond to them is what separates the people who succeed from those who don’t. Also, it is important to persevere and take advantage of unique opportunities presented to you.”

– Lawrence Watkins | Founder & CEO, Great Black Speakers

2. Twister

“I always watch Twister with a sense of awe. Yes, it’s fiction, but the idea that you believe so much in a solution to risk life and limb to get it out there is inspiring. Throughout the film, they continually test and adapt the solution until it finally works. I may not be putting my solution in front of a tornado, but it’s that level of dedication I’m striving towards.”

– Kelly Azevedo | Founder, She’s Got Systems

3. Coco Before Chanel

“This movie talks about Coco Chanel and her journey to starting her company. The true takeaway is that you never know what’s going to work in your business, and that sometimes starting with hats will lead to perfume or vice versa. Being uncompromising about your tastes will also lead to having a strong brand.”

– Nathalie Lussier | Creator, The Website Checkup Tool

4. Zoolander

“Zoolander contains the best entrepreneurship wisdom I know: “What is this? A center for ants?…The building has to be at least … three times bigger than this!” It’s a great lesson in remembering your dreams should be at least three times bigger than what you originally thought – and that they’ll be at least three times as much work!”

– Derek Flanzraich | CEO and Founder, Greatist

5. Dave

“Dave is a classic Kevin Kline movie where he stands in as the President. As the chief, he needs to lead a massive organization: he has to find his own leadership style, rally a team and make compromises on his vision. The most relevant takeaway: he’s successful specifically because he has an outside opinion. Startup success relies on being open-minded and re-examining the way things are done.”

– Aaron Schwartz | Founder and CEO, Modify Watches

6. Boiler Room

“No, I’m not encouraging or condoning anyone who commits fraud, violates SEC regulations, or acts like a sociopath. However, that does not mean there aren’t some great things for entrepreneurs in the movie. One positive takeaway from Boiler Room is Seth’s relentless hustle and scrappiness. He just crushes through problems (both good and bad) and get’s stuff done!”

– Seth Kravitz | CEO, Technori

7. Don Quixote

“From the greatest book ever written, there are lots of movie adaptations, but the 1972 version with Sophia Loren is best. What better representation of an entrepreneur than an idealist who sets out to revive some important value in the world while the world thinks he’s crazy? Through a series of entrepreneurial “adventures.” he comes to greater realizations about life, love, meaning and value.”

– Luke Burgis | Director, ActivPrayer

8. Startup.com

“A film I particularly enjoyed is called Startup.com, which chronicles the short history of the failed website govWorks.com. This site was created to provide citizens an easy way to pay traffic tickets to municipal governments, among other things. The film teaches you that you can’t launch a business based solely on an idea; you must do thorough research it to see if it’s viable and can last.”

– Andrew Schrage | Co-Owner, Money Crashers Personal Finance

9. The Shawshank Redemption

“Andy Dufrense is an entrepreneur, even if it’s not obvious: he grows a small tax preparation business inside prison walls into a library and education system into a full-fledged successful prison break. The scene that sticks with me is when Dufrense finds out that his letter writing campaign has paid off — he responds that he’s going to write even more letters, just like a good founder would.”

– Thursday Bram | Consultant, Hyper Modern Consulting

10. Catch Me If You Can

“Okay, so what the main character does throughout the movie isn’t exactly legal, but the entrepreneurial spirit in this movie is still very present. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the kind of man that can think up a new idea on the spot and execute it with complete confidence – a quality many entrepreneurs use every day.”

– Caitlin McCabe | Founder & CEO, Real Bullets Branding

11. Cast Away

“Tom Hanks’ character, Chuck Noland, in the movie Cast Away may have been a FedEx employee, but he’s got the heart and hustle of an entrepreneur. He didn’t have money to throw at problems while stranded on the island and had to rely on coming up with creative solutions to survive. I also appreciate that he was customer-centric to his core – saving a package to deliver after he made it home.”

– Natalie MacNeil | Emmy Award Winning Media Entrepreneur, She Takes on the World

12. The Social Network

“This list isn’t complete without The Social Network. The true takeaway of the movie is not to build things to make money, but to build things that people want. The money will come eventually.”

– Josh Weiss | Founder and President, Bluegala

13. Flash of Genius

“In this David vs. Goliath story based on true events, entrepreneur/inventor Robert Kearns spends years in courtrooms fighting the giants of the auto industry when they steal his technology for intermittent windshield wipers. It shows closely the unfair power imbalance that exists between the big companies and small entrepreneurs who sell to them. There is much to be learned from Kearns’ story.”

– Emerson Spartz | CEO and Founder, Spartz

14. Baby Boom

“Your great idea will strike in the midst of a challenge. Classic Diane Keaton, career-driven new mom in the ’80s, quits her demanding job to focus on a baby. While in the midst of her breakdown, she discovers an unserved market with a huge demand in natural baby food. The lesson to take away is that opportunities are everywhere – if you’re paying attention!”

– Jennifer Donogh | President, Ovaleye, LLC

15. Glengarry Glen Ross

NancyTNguyenavatar “”You know what it takes to sell real estate? It takes brass balls to sell real estate,” is one of the best movie quotes for entrepreneurs. It does take “brass balls” to handle critics, setbacks, and customers. Everything is sales, and this movie reminds us that “coffee is for closers” and “ABC” really means “Always be closing.” With confidence and closing, you will have a successful startup.”

– Nancy T. Nguyen | Founder/Sweet Sylist, Sweet T Salon

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

4 Best Practices for Scaling Your Startup

Earlier this year, Wildfire (the Google-owned company that helps businesses create social media apps) announced they were retiring their small business offerings. Wildfire also happens to be one of my company’s competitors, so the news caught my attention. Their decision was baffling to me. It seemed like they were shutting the door on thousands of customers by eliminating their basic plans — which meant only a fraction of small business owners would be able afford to use Wildfire’s product.

This got me thinking about scale. Wildfire’s architecture must require lots of manual attention, which in turn requires a huge staff. If a small business client and a Fortune 500 client require the same amount of effort, I can see why at a certain point, they had to cut the strings.

Here are a few things to consider if you want to scale your product or service:

Grow your company without growing your staff (too much).

Social coupon-sharing companies came out of nowhere and revolutionized the coupon concept. And while I can see how they grew so quickly because of their innovative idea, from what I can tell most of the models still require a traditional sales team to reach out to the local small business owners who are the mostly likely to use their product. Yes, they’re making big profits, but they have a huge payroll; I’m not sure the model can be scaled efficiently.

Automate what can be automated.

If I were building the next coupon-sharing business, I’d make offer a do-it-yourself coupon creation option. This is sort of what I did with ShortStack. Before my team created ShortStack, we had a successful web design agency. The company was doing well, but was labor-intensive (follow leads, pitch clients, put together RFPs, etc.) and required more staffing resources than I could manage to grow in a meaningful way.

Soon, I realized I’d be better off if my team created a DIY version of what we were using in house and offer it to everyone. In essence, we switched from a service model to a product model. Yes, we still have some clients who need hand-holding, but the vast majority of our users can use what we make right out of the proverbial box. The automation model allows us to serve 200,000+ users with a staff of 12, versus 20 clients with a staff of 12.

Shift from outbound to inbound marketing.

Not every company can afford to have a sales team out pounding the pavement. People are expensive! Instead, think about how to pivot so you can bring customers to you rather than having to chase after them. I know this won’t work for every type of business, but I’m finding that having a small but dedicated content-marketing team is turning out to be way more cost-effective than spending money on advertising.

My analogy is that blog posts, infographics, etc. are like solar-powered cars. Advertising is the gas guzzler. We have content that was created last year that still gets shared on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. and leads people to our company website and blog. I’d rather devote resources to my development team who work on making our product better and better and to my content team who gets the word out.

Consider the possibility of franchising.

I’ve focused mostly on technology here, but there is a scaling option for other sorts of businesses: franchising. Let’s say you own a successful cupcake bakery in a big city. You get lots of great press and have loyal customers, but opening shops around town might be too difficult. But if you focus on your idea/model/brand — and on packaging the best parts of what is working for you — and offer them to aspiring bakers in any city, you will make a percentage of the sales of several small businesses without having to manage the staff it takes to run them. (Word to the wise: make sure you have have good legal counsel to prevent spawning your own competition.)

If you think about scaling from the outset, you’ll be more likely to grow your company without huge hiccups. And you’ll be less likely to have to abandon the customers who helped make you successful in the first place.

Jim Belosic is the co-founder and CEO of Pancake Labs, a software company based in Reno, Nev. The company is best known for its flagship product, ShortStack, software that’s designed to help small business owners and designers create custom apps that harness the power of social media (www.shortstack.com). ShortStack recently celebrated its second birthday; Pancake Laboratories has several new software products slated for release in 2013.

11 Marketing Tools Your Startup Needs For Launch

Question: What ONE must-have tool should small businesses include in their marketing campaign when launching a new product? (events, pop-up shops, swag, social media campaigns, etc.)

Mailchimp Is a Must

“For every new product launch, we collect emails via MailChimp. We use their email campaign and auto-responder functionality to draft countdown emails so that our customers receive regular updates and pre-specified intervals prior to launch. These email campaigns get customers excited about our launch and result in increased conversion.”

– Bhavin Parikh | CEO, Magoosh Test Prep

Landing Pages with Unbounce

“Landing pages are a must when launching a new product. They let you easily focus the potential consumers attention on the actions that you deem desirable. With new products, money is scarce, so having the highest conversion rate is of necessity. My product of choice is Unbounce — it’s dead simple to use, and they also have new and improved features for the advanced user.”

– Lawrence Watkins | Founder & CEO, Great Black Speakers

Create a Dedicated Email

“As you’re building buzz for your product, there must be a customer and sponsor support team ready to handle incoming questions. Put your email out there everywhere and encourage questions, ideas and communication. Don’t just have the email account, but be ready with resources, FAQs and engagement specialists to nurture your early adopters and raving fans and help them promote you further.”

– Kelly Azevedo | Founder, She’s Got Systems

Set Up Google Analytics Properly

“You can’t have a good marketing campaign without tracking in-depth analytics throughout the entire process. Not only is Google Analytics great because it’s free, but they continue to add more robust features for tracking every detail of each visitor on your site, which will help you understand the location, referrers/keywords, behaviors, site usage, and transactions of each of your visitors.”

– Seth Kravitz | CEO, Technori

Incorporate Retargeting Pixels.

“Use a service like ReTargeter or AdWords Remarketing in order to drop cookies for first-time visitors to your website, so that you have the opportunity to remarket to them later and stay top of mind. Start building your remarketing list from day one.”

– Matt Mickiewicz | Co-Founder, Flippa and 99designs

Utilize Hacker News

“Hacker News is a great place to launch a product. If you submit your site correctly, it could drive thousands of visits within a few hours and collect excellent feedback. Make sure to read how to use Hacker News first though!”

– Ben Lang | Founder, Mapped In Israel

Put In a Squeeze Page

“If I had to recommend one tool for any product launch, it would be a “squeeze page,” also known as an opt-in page. Get an account with an email service provider (ESP), create a squeeze page, and point potential customers to it during your pre-launch. Send emails to your subscriber list building anticipation for the launch, and then offer your subscribers a limited-time offer upon the launch.”

– Pete Kennedy | Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Main Street ROI

Let People Use Your Product!

“If the goal is to get people to use your product and talk about your product, then it seems logical that you should get that product into as many hands as possible. If it’s online, this means a trial. If it’s food, it means having tons of samples. If it’s jeans, give away your jeans. You can talk and hype something all you want, but the product speaks for itself. A worthwhile investment.”

– Luke Burgis | Director, ActivPrayer

Bloggers Create the Buzz

“A lot of small businesses focus on long-lead, print media without realizing the power of blogs. Even relatively small blogs have the power to convert sales with links in a much more powerful way than print ever can — and even have the potential to take on their life of their own through social sharing.”

– Alexis Wolfer | Founder/CEO, The Beauty Bean

Coordinate a Social Media Push

“Including fans in the conversation or decision-making process prior to launch is by far the most valuable pre-promotion you can do. We generally narrow new watch designs or colors down to three or four options before running a vote on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. It’s our “Threadless meets Kickstarter” model: whether we receive 100 votes or 1,000, we learn from our biggest advocates!”

– Aaron Schwartz | Founder and CEO, Modify Watches

Collect Real Testimonials and Reviews

“No matter what else you do to market a new product, you need to have proof that it does what you say it does. Getting people outside your company to try the product and talk about it is the only initial source of that proof that you can set up before the product goes on the market. So make the effort to get testimonials and reviews from beta testers and pre-launch customers.”

– Thursday Bram | Consultant, Hyper Modern Consulting

How to Find the Right Investor for Your Startup

A good team of investors can be the foundation of your startup’s success, but a bad one can obliterate even the strongest ideas. Investors can provide your business with more than capital — they can become resources for organizing, marketing, and realizing ideas. Knowing what to look for in an investor and being able to attract the best kind of investors are vital skills for any new entrepreneur.

Attracting Investors

As a newbie with limited experience, how do you convince potential investors you are worth listening to — and get them to buy into your idea? Here are two qualities I strongly believe are key:

Communication: In a time when people are constantly connected online, it’s essential to be good at correspondence in its simplest form. People hate being relegated to your voicemail, and unanswered emails make it appear that you don’t have time or don’t care about responding.

Our investors know they can call me anytime, and I’ll always pick up the phone or get back to them quickly. Respond to phone calls and voicemail messages and make time — not just to read, but also to thoughtfully answer emails every day.

Honesty: Being truthful is obviously non-negotiable. If you misrepresent yourself or your business, you’ll be dead in the water.

It’s natural to think seducing investors with best-case-scenario figures is the most effective way to get funding for a new project. Actually, the opposite is true. Nothing will torpedo an investor’s confidence in you faster than projecting everything through rose-colored lenses.

Making cautious or even negative projections shows investors you’re honest with them and also capable of being realistic about your project’s potential problems. Underpromising and over-delivering is your best bet, and an honest assessment of a project’s strengths and weaknesses is crucial.

Sealing the Deal

Once you’ve established yourself as accessible and trustworthy, you will not have to go out of your way to land the investment. Take these steps in advance to increase your chances of sealing the deal:

Prove it works. Once you’ve built a business successfully — even a small one — investors are more likely to believe in you. Get an idea going, and achieve small successes to show you’ve got the drive to see things through. As someone who’s been on both sides of the table, I personally feel more confident investing in ideas that have already proven viable.
Build relationships. Every person you meet is a potential investor or a contact who will lead you to one. This has proven true for me dozens of times. I met a guy at Starbucks once who introduced me to a group that invested $250,000 in one of my ideas. We eventually sold that business for seven figures.
Be likable. It’s impossible to raise money if investors don’t like you. Engage people and be friendly. Look sharp and exude positivity. An investor once told me that he chose to invest in my company because I was personable. “I know we have a winner here because of you. I like you,” he said.

Finding the Right Investors

Getting the right investors for your project is just as important as being able to attract investors. Here’s what I advise upcoming entrepreneurs look for in their investors:

Diversity: The more well-rounded your investment group is, the better suited they’ll be to address the challenges your company will face. Look for investors with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Positivity: Supportive people can be the difference between a project’s success and failure. No company can grow without encountering problems. Finding people who remain confident through these times can improve your chances of success.

Investors are vital in far more ways than just providing cash. Depending on the arrangement, the right group can become unofficial consulting firms or even assist in day-to-day operations. My current partner, Ryan Goldschmidt, first invested in a nightlife venue he had neither the experience nor the skills necessary to operate. After an exhaustive search, he found a company willing to invest in the buildout with the skills to operate a large venue and the capital needed to make the necessary improvements.

Of course, some investors prefer to remain at arm’s length. Either way, your team of investors can make or break your startup. Always approach potential investors with honesty and confidence, and don’t forget to be picky when choosing the right people to partner with.

Aaron Pitman and Ryan Goldschmidt are founders of RA Domain Capital, a domain name development firm. Aaron is an angel investor and an entrepreneurial thought leader. He welcomes anyone to reach out to him through Twitter (@aaronpitman) or you can visit him directly at aaronpitman.com.

10 Ways To Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

Question: What process do you use to spur creativity — in yourself and your team — especially when you’re feeling blocked?

Mindmapping Works Like a Champ

“Start with a topic or question, and mindmap your way around it. Don’t censor yourself as you come up with all the surrounding topics and bubbles that go with your initial topics. This type of “hyperlinked” thinking is what allows us to come up with new ideas. You can also go really deep on a thread, which can help spur creativity in other threads of your mindmap. Mindmap as a group, and this takes on a whole new life!”

– Nathalie Lussier | Creator, The Website Checkup Tool

Turn to Your Trusted Resources

“When I hit a creative road block, I turn to other entrepreneurs for inspiration. Usually, I hit those road blocks at weird hours of the night, so I keep a business-related book or a copy of Entrepreneur or Inc. Magazine close by. I find that spending 15 minutes or so digesting other entrepreneurs’ thoughts and opinions does the trick and gets my creative juices flowing right away. I use a similar tactic when it comes to spurring creativity in my team. During our team meetings, everyone is required to share an article, story, quote or anything else that gave them creative inspiration this week. After everyone shares, we take a vote on our favorite creative piece and the winner chooses what is for lunch that day. It is a fun and interactive way to get everyone thinking.”

– Kevin Tighe II | Co-founder and CEO, WeBRAND

Fun Equals Creative Thinking

“It sounds simple, but some of the best ideas come from having fun and not thinking about the business. Get your team out of the office and take them out. Not having an “office atmosphere” allows people to open up and be themselves. Not only will it give you the chance to really get to know them but also the chance to let the creativity flow. If you aren’t having fun, then why are you doing it?”

– Ashley Bodi | co-founder, Business Beware

Look Outside Your Field

“One of the best ways to jog my creativity is to consume media totally outside my field. If I’m at the airport maybe I’ll pick up a magazine about farming or architecture. I’ll watch a documentary about a subject I don’t know much about or go see an experimental play. Listen to a random Pandora channel in a genre you usually don’t listen to. I think ideas tend to slow down when you get into a rut with the things you see every day. Even taking a different route on a walk can help a lot!”

– Caitlin McCabe | Founder & CEO, Real Bullets Branding

Movement Gets Me Going!

“Our bodies provide as much information as our heads, but we usually ignore them in our work lives. You know, simply taking a walk while talking about important things makes the conversation more meaningful. So why do we sit in conference rooms instead of walking and talking? To think creatively, keep moving. What do I do? Bollywood dance breaks! Seriously — I have Bollywood-inspired Innovative Moves workshops.”

– Erica Dhawan | CEO, Erica Dhawan, LLC

Get the Ball Rolling and Don’t Stop

“Creativity comes often when one least expects it: in the shower, walking to work or in the middle of the night. These moments are gifts not to be wasted, but they’re also impossible to schedule into team’s meetings. As a founder, my company relies on me to take the lead on creative discussions, so I created a simple process to get the intellectual momentum going. We start by going into a conference room where we break down a problem or topic into its smallest possible parts. As ideas flow, we post them up onto our walls with flip chart paper. Surrounded by the information, people naturally start connecting the dots and the creative juices start flowing. Once you hit a rhythm, embrace whatever topics come into focus, dig deep and never let ridged schedules derail your flow.”

– Christopher Kelly | Co-Founder, Principal, Convene

Get Completely Uncomfortable

“I’ve always found creative ideas come when you’re trying to do something new… and find out that you’re bad at it. Take a cooking class, try rock climbing, learn to play a new instrument. Inevitably, you will encounter some difficulties when experiencing something for the first time, and your brain will get to work. A lot of times, I end up saying to myself, “This is really hard…why don’t people just do ‘x’ to make it easier?” Or, “This is great, but it would be so much better if ‘y’ were added to the experience!” Putting yourself in uncomfortable situations where your brain isn’t used to operating often is a great way to get those creative juices flowing!”

– David Stankunas | President and Founder, Beard Head, Inc.

Spark Creative Visual Conversation

“By painting our walls with IdeaPaint, we’ve been able to have a lot of conversations by drawing out what we imagine. Instead of our ideas floating around in the air, we put them out on the wall for everyone to look at and soak in. This caters to those who are visual and audio learners and ultimately brings everyone together for a better, more creative brainstorm.”

– Bobby Emamian | CEO, Prolific Interactive

Wine Catalyst to Get Creativity Flowing

“There is a reason why happy hour is such a crucial thing for co-workers to participate in together. Allow your employees to unleash their ideas outside the confining walls of an office over a glass or two of wine. You’ll be surprised how quickly the combination of a relaxed environment, and some vino will transform a casual hang out into an innovative meeting that just might leave you with a whole new creative direction.”

– Erika London | Co-Founder, iAdventure.com

Place, Purpose, and Post-Its

“First, take your team somewhere stimulating. The beach, a grassy field, or even couches will do. If you go outside, be sure to bring some cardboard to use as an idea wall. Next, frame the discussion. “This morning we are generating ideas. Our goal is to come up with as many ideas as possible in 10 minutes. Wacky ideas are welcome – they might lead us somewhere unexpected and exciting.” Throw, slide, or pass colored markers or pencils and sticky pads to everyone. Everyone then captures ideas as fast as they can in 10 minutes before sharing their ideas. Depending on the size of your team, you will have twenty to several hundred ideas. Rinse and repeat. Each set of ideas will spark other ideas. Then your challenge will be moving to analysis mode!”

– Kevon Saber | Cofounder , Fig

Four Rules Every Female Entrepreneur Should Follow

While many business challenges are common for all founders, there are unique lessons that women entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to learn in business. Here are several essential lessons I’ve learned as a successful female entrepreneur and what every female founder should know along the way:

Own your success.
There are several things that, as a woman, you should never apologize for, and at the top of that list is your well-deserved success. The apologetic undertone of some women entrepreneurs is subtle, laced with an excuse, chocked up to ‘luck’ or a dismissed congratulatory pat on the back. Many of us aren’t outright asserting, “I’m sorry that I am successful,” but a lack of confidence and all of the above are bedfellows of the same notion. Ladies, we already face an uphill battle in some cases. Don’t pack more unnecessary personal baggage on your rise to the top. When you earn a congratulatory remark from your peers, embrace it gracefully and confidently. And according to leadership consultant, Rachelle J. Canter, Ph.D., “If you can’t own this success for yourself, then own it for all the other women who look up to you and emulate you.”
Never underestimate your value.
We have all read the headlines that insist women still earn less than men. According to ThinkProgress contributor Sarah Glynn, in the U.S., “women on average make only $.77 cents to every dollar earned by men. Some of that wage gap is the result of women being more likely to work in certain industries or occupations, but about 40 percent of the difference in men’s and women’s wages cannot be explained by any measurable factor.” As a woman, this pay gap may have haunted you in corporate America. But it should no longer hold court in your business. Consider this: you are in complete control of your earning potential. In order to make a shift in your business you must be aware of your gifts and talents, understand what you have to offer within your industry, and monetize your products and services to reflect what the market will bear. Couple all of this with your unique value creation. Tell yourself a positive story about what you have to offer the world. No more excuses. As Albert Einstein notably suggested, “If you put a small value on yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.”
It’s lonely at the top, so bring others with you.
By nature, the front-end of innovation is lonely, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “You do something no one else has ever done and leave everyone else scratching their heads and howling in protest. As the saying goes, ‘You can tell who the pioneers are from the arrows sticking out of their backs,'” suggests MACPA contributor Bill Sharidan. An article published by the Harvard Business Review echoes this notion — it’s isolating at the top. For founders, it can be unsettling. The survey found that “half of CEOs report experiencing feelings of loneliness in their role, and of this group, 61 percent believe it hinders their performance. First-time CEOs are particularly susceptible to this isolation.” Much of the loneliness that entrepreneurial leaders will face is connected to the growing pains of personal development. Or as Jack Welch, former Chairman and CEO of General Electric, has said, “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”
Be unapologetically authentic.
Authenticity is a bankable currency. It can define your business and set you apart from the clutter of a cookie-cutter marketplace. You (and your customers) are not well-served by haphazard attempts to be someone else. According to organizational development professors Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones, “Leadership demands the expression of an authentic self. Try to lead like someone else and you will fail. Employees will not follow a CEO who invests little of himself in his leadership behaviors. People want to be led by someone ‘real.’” The same can be said for your business and its customers. Authenticity in business is a baseline of belief in what you say and in what you sell. It is the courage to offer unique value and market yourself in a way that is consistent with your brand. Being everything to everyone sets you up to be nothing to no one.

Erica Nicole is the founder and CEO of YFS Magazine, the definitive digital magazine for startup, small business news and entrepreneurial culture. As an entrepreneurial change-agent, Erica Nicole been featured in national media outlets including Forbes.com, Upstart Business Journal, Fox Business, MSN Business on Main, The Huffington Post, Black Enterprise and more.