Category: Entrepreneurship

Biz Ideas from Twitter

Twitter Business ideas are easy. It’s execution that’s tough.

I recently made that tweet because, well, I believe it to be true. There are many ways to brainstorm and come up with great business ideas. Actually going out and doing it is significantly tougher than that.

Since I began tweeting in earnest, I’ve come up with a few business ideas too. Not all are great. Some are downright stupid, I’ll admit. But hey, that’s the fun of brainstorming ideas. You just let your mind wander, stupid or not. Only after you’ve generated a ton of ideas do you decide which ones are worth it and which ones aren’t.

Here is where mine has wandered so far:

  • Build-a-Bear-like store, except u can mix-n-match animal parts. A bear w/ wings, duck bill & elephant trunk, for example. 9:19 AM Mar 17th

  • Designer oxygen tanks for people in smoggy cities like LA, NYC, Beijing, etc. 3:23 PM Mar 19th

  • Med-to-large boxes should have handles. (Not really a biz idea, more like a packaging idea…) 6:39 PM Mar 19th

  • Barbers & hairdressers that make house calls. Wonder if that’s been done already… 3:15 PM Mar 21st

  • Online niche directory of businesses for at-home web workers & entrepreneurs, like myfax.com, mailboxes etc (online & offline). 4:20 PM Mar 21st

  • Make Gummy Vites multi-vitamins for adults – luv ’em! 10:04 PM Mar 22nd

  • How about a niche blog network of men’s topics, a la GQ + Maxim + Car & Driver http://tinyurl.com/dxtpsn (an older idea of mine) 1:48 PM Mar 25th

  • A CPM ad network for games like WoW, GTA, Wii Fit, etc, where u can upload ur ad or logo & have them appear in the games. 8:28 PM Mar 25th

  • The Office + American Idol = mockumentary TV show about the drama behind the contestants. Or +Top Chef +Survivor +Apprentice, etc. 11:52 AM Mar 27th

Want to see more business ideas? Want to discuss business ideas? Follow me on Twitter at @mikeleeorg! (That was kind of a shameless plug, wasn’t that?)

How to Be a Good Founder

Paul Graham When Paul Graham writes, I read. When he published How to Be an Angel Investor, I bookmarked. I also took note of the following paragraph on how to be a good founder:

What makes a good founder? If there were a word that meant the opposite of hapless, that would be the one. Bad founders seem hapless. They may be smart, or not, but somehow events overwhelm them and they get discouraged and give up. Good founders make things happen the way they want. Which is not to say they force things to happen in a predefined way. Good founders have a healthy respect for reality. But they are relentlessly resourceful. That’s the closest I can get to the opposite of hapless. You want to fund people who are relentlessly resourceful.

Relentlessly resourceful. That is a great description.

If you are a company founder, are you relentlessly resourceful? Even in a sour economy? Even with few resources? Even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds? If so, then you are a good founder.

The Employee, Self-Employed, Business Owner and Investor

Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom Who do you want to be? An employee, self-employed, a business owner or an investor?

Each is a significantly different way of viewing oneself. It is possible to be in more than one role too. Robert Kiyosaki describes these roles in Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad’s Guide to Financial Freedom as:

Employee

A person who earns money by holding a job and working for someone else or a company.

The majority of a population has an employee mindset. They wake up, work hard, get a paycheck, and go to sleep. There’s nothing wrong with that; it’s a very honorable lifestyle. Unfortunately, it often leaves them financially insecure or, if they’re smart about saving up and investing appropriately, financially secure. While this role used to carry little risk, nowadays, layoffs have removed the guarantees this role used to afford.

Self-Employed

A person who earns money working for him/herself.

Some people decide to strike out on their own, to start their own business. They become self-employed entrepreneurs. Maybe they work alone as a freelance designer, business consultant, or financial accountant. Maybe they hire some employees and operate a cafe, a furniture store, or an ecommerce business. Whatever the case, they are now their own boss. Their lifestyle is characterized by lots of hard work and specialization in their chosen field. For their effort, the financial benefits can be greater than that of an employee; financial comfort is a more realistic goal. The risks are higher too. Self-employed entrepreneurs often leverage most or all of their personal savings to launch their business. If it fails, they risk bankruptcy.

Business Owner

A person who owns a business that generates money.

Few others decide to become business owners. This is more than just being a self-employed entrepreneur. The business owner entrepreneur has less control than the self-employed entrepreneur, because it involves sharing & delegating responsibilities & ownership with others. In some cases, business owners don’t even work on a day-to-day basis and have a manager run the operation. Although they don’t have to work very hard anymore, business owners need to be intelligent about how they structure their business. Fortunately, this extra free time allows them to strengthen their business acumen, which is where they apply their knowledge, as opposed to specializing in their chosen field. The financial rewards are high – financial comfort and financial wealth are in their grasp. The risks can be high too, though intelligent business owners learn how to shelter themselves appropriately. It is not easy to become a business owner. You have to work smart, not hard, to get here.

Investor

A person who earns money from their various investments – in other words, money that generates more money.

Even fewer others become full-time investors, such as angel investors and venture capitalists. The investor role, however, isn’t just about doing it full-time. Anyone can be an investor. It is not just about buying stocks. If you have money in a mutual fund or 401k plan, you are already an investor. This role is characterized by being able to assess a company’s or industry’s projected perceived performance. The financial rewards vary greatly; very few can make a living just being an investor. Those who do oftentimes got here because they were self-employed, owned a business, or were an employee of a young company that offered significant equity and later became wildly successful (which is extremely rare).

Personally, I’m shooting for the business owner role. I’m currently in the self-employed role in order to get my business off the ground. But that’s a temporary place to be, not a mindset I have.

Kiyosaki argues that being a business owner and investor is the way to financial security, comfort, and wealth. I totally agree.

It is not about working hard, it is about working smart. If you can structure your business intelligently such that it can operate without needing you everyday (by hiring and delegating appropriately), you will have extra time to think strategically and carry your business further. Or even have extra time for your family.

And that’s who I want to be. What about you?

WebMocha.com Launched!

WebMocha We’ve launched! Our website, at least. We’ve been in operation since July 2008. It’s been one of those cases where we’ve been so busy we haven’t had time for our website until now.

What we do

WebMocha is a California-based web development and technology services company that builds optimized, high-performance, enterprise-level web applications.

We are a team of web development professionals with years of experience from large and small companies such as Yahoo! (YHOO), eBay (EBAY), Scient, Ernst & Young, Simply Hired, Food Network (SNI), HGTV (SNI), and CBS (CBS). This experience has taught us how to develop for massive audiences on a painfully large variety of web browsers and mobile microbrowsers. It wasn’t easy, but we loved doing it. And that’s how we can help you.

We offer development services in XHTML/HTML, CSS, JavaScript/AJAX, SEO, LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), Ruby on Rails, Flash, Flex, ActionScript, XSLT/XML, WML/WAP, Objective-C & iPhone application development, and Java & Android application development.

Okay, enough of the pitch. Now for the nitty gritty.

How we funded it

Along with fellow ex-Yahoos George Diaz and Barney Mok (both of whom are incredibly talented), we started this company with only a few hundred bucks to incorporate it. We funded the design, logo, and other supporting materials as we made more money. Bootstrapping at its best!

How we came up with the name

One of the questions most friends ask first is: “Where did you come up with the name?” We tossed around countless names before choosing WebMocha, from Web 2.0 sounding names to made-up words to names with missing vowels. Barney and I were chilling in Satura Cakes in Palo Alto, CA, when “WebMocha” struck me. I was looking around the store and pre-pending “Web” to everything. Then I saw a mocha cake of some sort. I happen to love mochas (white chocolate mochas, to be exact), we all work late hours & drink lots of coffee, and we’re all about the web. It was perfect. Thus, our name was born.

Why we started a service company

Another question some friends ask is: “Why a service company?” Shoot, why not? Service companies have their pros and cons. One of the major cons is the work involved. Providing a service – and providing it with excellence – can require a lot of time. Especially for fledgling service companies. The major pro is the money made. Profits can generally be made immediately. That’s why we chose a service business model first. In this economy, profits rule.

That’s not to say we aren’t thinking about making products later, however. Let me just say it’s nice to make an actual income and build enough capital to self-fund product development projects. Wink wink.

How we are doing

Another question I often get: “How are you guys doing?” To be honest, pretty darn good, despite the tough economic times. In fact, we’re hiring! All of our clients so far have come to us from word-of-mouth. Our developers come from Yahoo!, Google, eBay, and personal referrals. Not all of them are local; they’re all over the country. And that’s the beauty of our model. We find the clients. We find the developers, wherever they are. Then we match our clients with some of the best, most talented developers around the world. Everybody wins!

How we differ from offshore developers

A common follow-up concern to this is: “How can you different than offshore developers then?” Our core model is similar to an offshore firm in that you work with a project & account manager like me, who coordinates with a team of developers to get the work done. We differ in that we’re in the same time zone and speak the same language. Also, we’ll think critically about the work & your goals, we’ll ask insightful questions & challenge you, we’ll communicate & over-communicate, we’ll apply our proven technical experience to build you a high-quality system, we’ll go that extra mile, and most importantly, we’ll help you to do the right thing for your business & customers.

Let us know what we can do for you!

How to Follow Your Dreams

Photo of Jimmy Byrum Want to hear an amazing story?

I had coffee with a good buddy from Yahoo! (YHOO) this weekend, Jimmy Byrum. I tell you his name because he’s one of those guys who you just know will be famous one day. Then I can look back and say, “See, I called it!”

Jimmy was a rock star developer at Yahoo!. He wrote most of the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code for a previous version of Yahoo!’s home page. The code was so well-written and optimized that an outside reviewer claimed it must have been written by a machine. (I wish I could find the article that stated that… anyone know the URL?)

A quick aside – code should never be prematurely optimized. It should be optimized for developers first (using good programming practices), then users second (using automated tools). Jimmy just happened to be one of those rare people who could optimize his own code better than the automated tools at the time.

But that isn’t the amazing story. The amazing story is that he dropped all that – a rising career, highly-desired technical skills, and a growing reputation – to travel throughout South America and teach English. He could easily be a recognized technical leader right now. Or working at a fantastic start-up. Or starting his own company. Instead, he chose to drop all that.

Why?

Because he chose to follow his dreams.

How many of us can say we’re ready to drop everything and follow our dreams? Yes, it is hard to turn your back on everything you’ve worked for. It’s scary as hell. But what if all that stuff wasn’t really what you wanted? What if your true dreams lie elsewhere? On your deathbed, are you going to look back at your life and say, “Boy, I’m glad I worked so many hours at the office and didn’t start a band like I always wanted”? Probably not. So what’s holding you back?

Why People Don’t Follow Their Dreams

There are three major reasons why people don’t follow their dreams:

  1. Too scared to drop everything for their dreams
  2. Don’t have the ability to follow their dreams (e.g. family obligations, health issues, physical limitations, etc)
  3. Don’t know how to follow their dreams

If you’re too scared to follow your dreams, then you have my sincerest condolences. You’ll probably be trapped in the rat race and either learn to accept your chosen lot in life, or end up a bitter old person.

If you don’t have the ability to follow your dreams, you also have my sincerest condolences. Sometimes there are situations beyond our control that limit our abilities. However, I’d like to introduce you to six-year-old Cody McCasland and former race car driver Alex Zanardi – both of whom are legless, yet still ran 26-mile marathons. They are proof that when you put your mind to something, anything can happen.

(By the way, if money is your limitation, that’s a lame excuse. Jimmy’s example below will prove that money isn’t a true limitation.)

If you don’t know how to drop everything and follow your dreams, let me tell you how:

  1. Determine your end goal
  2. Build a plan
  3. Take each step one at a time
  4. Stay focused
  5. Continuously revise your plan as situations change
  6. Reach your goal

Jimmy’s Example: Traveling the World

Sounds easy enough, right? Maybe too easy. Let me use Jimmy as an example.

  1. Determine your end goal

    Jimmy knew he wanted to travel the world and have new experiences.

  2. Build a plan

    Determining his end goal was easy enough. Building a realistic plan was much tougher. He didn’t sit down and type out a formal plan of any kind though; he followed his heart and his plan revealed itself to him. But if writing out a formal plan helps you, then you should definitely do it.

    Traveling the world requires time, money, and guts. So years in advance, Jimmy began saving up. He lived frugally and taught himself how to maintain a strict budget. This required a lot of financial discipline, but he stuck to it.

    To build up his comfort level, he took baby steps. He read vigorously and moved from the East Coast to the West Coast. This may not sound like much, but some people never leave their home towns. Moving across the country is a huge step.

    Living on a budget and moving across the country gave him money and guts. And if he did this fast enough, he’d have time too, while he’s still young and healthy.

  3. Take each step one at a time

    Then he took his next step – he transferred to the London office. This still kept him within familiar boundaries: a steady paycheck, doing a job he knew, and an English speaking environment.

    From there, he took his next series of steps and did what any North American in London would do – weekend excursions all over Europe, baby! Traveling around Europe and being in non-English speaking cultures further emboldened him to continue forward.

  4. Stay focused

    Many times, he was tempted with raises and offers at other great companies. But he stayed focused. He politely turned down each offer and continued saving his money.

  5. Continuously revise your plan as situations change

    Every once in a while, he adjusted his plans. Instead of traveling the world like Caine, he thought about other, more realistic alternatives. Friends taught him Spanish. Then somewhere along the way, he heard about a program teaching English in South America. That became his next step.

    This way, he could maintain his financial capital, have room and board, learn the Spanish language and culture, and most importantly, contribute meaningfully to the world. And that’s just what he did.

  6. Reach your goal

    What’s he going to do next? You’ll just have to ask him. But you can bet it will be another step closer to his goal!

My Example: Becoming an Entrepreneur

You may be wondering what’s this got to do with business and entrepreneurship? Well, it has everything to do with business and entrepreneurship. Do you dream of being an entrepreneur one day? Of owning your own company? Of being your own boss? I did. So let me close with my example of how I’m following my dreams.

  1. Determine your end goal

    One of my end goals is to start my own business. Those who know me know I have many goals in life. This is just one of them.

  2. Build a plan

    I knew that being an entrepreneur involved a lot of risk and a wide range of knowledge. My specialty is the internet, so I knew I needed experience in technology, UI design, marketing, sales, business fundamentals, finance, project management, people management, leadership, etc.

    My nature is to be conservative and risk-adverse, so I structured my career path to lead me to this goal. I applaud those who jump right into their own companies – I totally admire you guys. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with my approach; it’s just where my comfort level lies.

  3. Take each step one at a time

    My resume kind of reads like my plan. One of my first jobs was doing web design. Then web development. Then a technical management. Then a product management. Each pushed me outside my comfort zone and into new skills and experiences.

  4. Stay focused

    It would have been easy to stay in a particular role and become specialized. Changing roles didn’t always give me the highest salary. In fact, some role switches bumped me down in salary. But I did it anyways because it put me closer to my end goal.

  5. Continuously revise your plan as situations change

    Plans didn’t always go as smoothly as I liked. Originally, I wanted to start a company early this millennium, like every other dot-com hopeful. Then the dot-com bombed and I changed plans. I decided to grow my skills in a stable corporate environment that provided a steady paycheck.

    This gave me time to build up my capital, as well as some other side benefits – growing my network, meeting some amazing people, and giving me invaluable knowledge and experience.

  6. Reach your goal

    Ultimately, I knew that starting my own company couldn’t happen while I had a steady paycheck. The hunger & fear of working without a safety net is a strong teacher. So I finally took the biggest step. I quit my job and became an entrepreneur. After a few false starts, I now have a profitable business (to be announced shortly, once we finish our website).

Dropping everything and following your dreams is scary. But it is possible. Very possible. Just look at Jimmy. He’s now gallivanting around the world with a big smile on his face. And look at me, owning a business and learning a great deal about entrepreneurship. What are you doing?

Photo by: James Byrum

How to Find Writing Jobs

Tokyo Shopping This is the last post in a series on How to Make Money as a Freelance Blogger:

  1. How to Write for the Web and Search Engines
  2. How to Market Yourself
  3. How to Find Writing Jobs

Finally, you will need to find a way to make money as a freelance blogger. No duh. This is going to require a decision:

  • Do you want to make money from your own blog?
  • Or do you want to make money writing for other blogs?
  • Or both?

Making Money From Your Own Blog

Now that you’ve set up your own blog and have been blogging for some time, how do you monetize it? Is it even possible? Yes, it is, but it is extremely difficult to make a living off your blog alone. You’ll have to do a lot more than one blog – perhaps have several.

But never say never, right? Here are some ways to at least pay half of your rent per month. (This list expands on what I’ve written about monetizing blogs before.)

  • Advertising
  • Sponsorships
  • Affiliate programs
  • Digital products
  • Merchandising
  • Donations

Blog Advertising

You have many advertising options for your blog. There’s a whole art & science to optimizing ad payouts, but basically the more in-your-face and relevant the ads, the more likely they will be clicked. As a blogger, you are paid each time a user clicks on an ad. But don’t click on them yourself, or else you will be committing click-fraud and will be banned from that ad network.

Blog Sponsorships

This is only possible with a fairly popular blog and a loyal following. Once you reach that level, you may be able to find advertisers interested in sponsoring some of your content for a set period of time. All you’ll need to do is provide proof of your traffic levels and audience demographics.

Affiliate Programs

Using an affiliate program is sort of like earning a commission each time you sell another company’s products. For instance, you could join Amazon.com’s affiliate program and link to various books (which I do fairly frequently). Every time a customer clicks on a link and purchases a book, you will earn a commission.

Digital Products

You could write a useful how-to guide in the form of a PDF ebook and sell that. Or record a song in the form of an MP3 and sell that. Or create an instructional video in the form of a streaming video and sell that. These are all examples of digital products. You don’t need a fancy shopping cart system to sell them either. There are a few ecommerce engines that will handle that for you, though they require some technical knowledge to set up.

Blog Merchandising

If you’ve branded yourself well, or have fictional characters that may look good on a t-shirt or coffee mug, consider merchandising. Blogs with cult followings tend to do well with branded products. And if you have a web comic, even better.

Blog Donations

If you can manage to get a cult following, not only could you consider merchandising, but donations as well. Some talented starving artists can get by on donations alone, though it is extremely difficult. I’ve gotten a coffee or three myself, but that’s about it.

Must-Read Articles

Here are some must-read articles and resources on making money from your blog:

ShoeMoney

ShoeMoney is a well-known professional blogger and internet marketer whose blog occasionally contains tips on internet marketing and profitability.

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com is another well-known professional blogger and internet marketer with tips on internet entrepreneurship.

ProBlogger

Making Money From Writing for Other Blogs

Some freelance bloggers could probably make more money writing for other blogs than trying to monetize their own blog, mostly because they don’t have the skills, experience, or desire to put a lot of effort into monetization techniques. They would rather be writing. If that’s the case with you, then it’s time to hunt for some blogging gigs using these methods:

  • Word of Mouth
  • Blogging Job Boards

Word of Mouth

This is where your brand, reputation, networking abilities, and social media marketing efforts can pay off. Having a strong network can generate significant returns. If you’re not as comfortable doing the shmoozing thing at parties, do the shmoozing thing on social media sites. But in either case, make sure you always carry business cards – you never know when you’ll run into someone who’s interested in your services.

Blogging Job Boards

There are a ton of sources of freelance writer and blogging jobs out there. If you have your blog and writing samples prepared, start going through these sites. You’ll find that writing gigs can vary from writing blog entries to copywriting to email newsletters to ebooks to standard articles.

Now for a list of must-read articles and resources:

I hope this series has been helpful to you. Yea, I know it’s a ton of stuff to read. Just imagine how many worthless articles I had to read to distill these lists. Whew.

If I’ve missed any important articles, please let me know. I’m sure there’s more great stuff out there.

And finally, good luck with your new career as a freelance blogger! Let me know how it goes!

The How to Make Money as a Freelance Blogger series:

  1. How to Write for the Web and Search Engines
  2. How to Market Yourself
  3. How to Find Writing Jobs

How to Market Yourself

Tokyo Shopping This is the second post in a series on How to Make Money as a Freelance Blogger:

  1. How to Write for the Web and Search Engines
  2. How to Market Yourself
  3. How to Find Writing Jobs

Next, you will need to market yourself and promote your services. This will require a portfolio of published writing samples. To be taken seriously as a professional freelance blogger, you will definitely need a well-marketed blog – which can provide as a source of fresh writing samples too.

This step is pretty involved, however. You will need a good domain name, a web host, some blogging software and some technical knowledge. If you don’t have any technical knowledge (or a technical friend who can help you), there are free blogging services you can use. Blogging services don’t require any technical know-how, but you won’t look as professional when using one.

Also, you will need a presence on social media sites to help extend your reach and brand. Having a presence can educate you about the social media world as well, where potential gigs could arise. Social media sites are sites like MySpace (NWSA), Facebook, Yelp, Twitter, Digg, Newsvine, NowPublic, etc.

How to Set Up Your Blog

You have two choices here:

  1. Set up a blog with your own domain name
  2. Set up a blog on a blogging service

Set up a blog with your own domain name

  1. First, pick and register a domain name. A good domain name is:

    • Short
    • Memorable
    • Easy to say
    • Easy to type

    You can verify whether or not the domain name is available on a domain registrar. If it is available, you can register it through the registrars for a yearly fee.

    Since most of the good ones have already been taken, you can consider using a domain name suggestion service to help you along. Some allow you to register the domain name too.

  2. Second, sign up with a web host. A web host is where you’ll actually place your website’s blogging software. The two registrars above (Namecheap.com and Go Daddy) also provide web hosting.

    After you sign up with a web host, they will give you directions on how to associate your domain name with your new web host account. Contact their customer support if you need help doing this.

  3. Third, pick your blogging software. Fortunately, this is free.

    This is where you’ll need some technical knowledge. You will have to download the blogging software, then upload it to your web host and install it. After playing with some settings, you can choose a theme to make your blog look nicer.

Here are some must-read articles on setting up your own domain name, web host, and blogging software:

Set up a blog on a blogging service

This one is easier than setting up a blog with your own domain name. A blogging service will give you everything you need right away. The drawback is that your domain name will be a mix of yours and theres: e.g. yourblogsname.blogger.com. This doesn’t look as professional has yourblogname.com. But hey, it’s easy and it’s free.

Just sign up and you’re done!

How to Promote Your Blog

Now for a list of must-read articles and resources:

How to Use Social Media to Promote Yourself

And more must-read articles and resources:

Here is one last resource. It is a massive list of 40+ sites for writers. Truly massive list. If you think I’ve already given you too much to read, then you may not want to click on this link. But please do at some point. It also offers a great deal of useful information.

More tomorrow!

The How to Make Money as a Freelance Blogger series:

  1. How to Write for the Web and Search Engines
  2. How to Market Yourself
  3. How to Find Writing Jobs

How to Write for the Web and Search Engines

Tokyo Shopping This is the first post in a series on How to Make Money as a Freelance Blogger:

  1. How to Write for the Web and Search Engines
  2. How to Market Yourself
  3. How to Find Writing Jobs

First, you need to know how to write online. Since reading an article on a computer monitor is different than reading it on paper, online reading behaviors differ significantly.

Second, you need to know to optimize your articles for search engines. Also known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), this means getting your articles to show up high on a search engine’s results.

Now for a list of must-read articles and resources:

Alertbox

Alertbox is a bi-weekly column with a number of useful research reports on general web usability.

Copyblogger

Copyblogger is a popular blog with a lot of useful online copywriting tips aimed at marketers and copywriters.

ProBlogger

ProBlogger is a popular blog with useful writing tips aimed at professional bloggers who make a living writing blogs.

More tomorrow!

The How to Make Money as a Freelance Blogger series:

  1. How to Write for the Web and Search Engines
  2. How to Market Yourself
  3. How to Find Writing Jobs