So you want to be an entrepreneur. But what are the criteria and how do you learn the basics of entrepreneurship and the values and knowledge needed to chart a course in a field based on following your own path? First, immerse yourself in knowledge. Whether taking an academic path or learning by doing, entrepreneurship is about gaining the information necessary to test your ideas against a real market with real customers, and about figuring out how to operate within real regulations and limitations as well. We’ve put together a small crash course, along with a list of academic opportunities should you choose to follow that path. It’s time to start the learning process. Good luck!
Policy
How does the current Congress scores on small business? The summary of this score card says it all. “?The legislative thrust of the 111th Congress has been decidedly anti-growth and anti-small business — an endless wave of bills that increase costs, paperwork, red tape and taxes on the nation’s job creators. In addition, unhinged spending has created a precarious and unstable fiscal environment that threatens to undermine our nation’s competitiveness and ability to support robust job creation and investment.” Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Startup
A business life cycle. From raising money to starting up to finally selling off the company to a larger buyer, Jim Fowler, founder and former CEO of Jigsaw has seen it all. And here he tells all in an interview on entrepreneurship with Brent Leary. About raising funds, Fowler says, “One of your key requirements as an entrepreneur, especially in tech, is to raise money and be able to sell your idea to people who will give you the capital you need to grow.” Small Business Trends
Partnering
Want to expand or reach new customers? Consider a joint venture. Spending more or developing new expertise isn’t always the answer when trying to expand your operations and reach new customers, especially in an economy where both capital and credit can be tight. Happily it’s possible to avoid the expense and time necessary to ramp up your own expansion by looking to other business owners or entrepreneurs instead. Creating a joint venture is a way of maintaining your independence and control of your own company while deciding to work strategically with a partnering entrepreneur or small business with complimentary expertise and product offerings to reach a shared goal that will benefit you both. Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Self-development
Learning from failure. Sometimes an entrepreneur can learn as much from what doesn’t go right. Marc Hedlund, former CEO of Wesabe explains one hard-learned lesson: “Focus on what really matters: making users happy with your product as quickly as you can, and helping them as much as you can after that. If you do those better than anyone else out there you’ll win.” Marc Hedlund’s Blog
Operations
Giving employees the best incentives. Creating the proper incentives for employees can be critical when trying to motivate and get the best performance. But would it surprise you to learn that bonuses, paid holidays and other formal employee benefits may not be the best ways to get quality work out of teams or individual workers. So if these most obvious solutions aren’t necessarily the answer, what can insure you receive the best out of the talent you’ve painstakingly recruited? Here are five possible suggestions. Small Business Trends
Marketing
How would you rate the quality of your online marketing? In the title of his post, Stoney deGeyter compares the range of quality in your online marketing as the difference between, say, a Camry and a BMW. But in the end, put the quality and the bells and whistles out of your head. It’s the kind of online marketing campaign you really NEED that counts. Search Engine Guide
Education
(Editor’s Note: The numbers are out. Each year The Princeton Review produces a list of the finest entrepreneurial programs at colleges and universities after conducting exhaustive surveys of the programs, faculty and other factors. If the path for your entrepreneurship lies through an academic program, you owe it to yourself to check over these findings.)
Top 50 entrepreneurship programs at colleges and universities for 2010? The Princeton Review compared more than 2000 institutions to come up with their annual ranking and now the results have been published. Are you looking for a college or university to serve as the launch pad for your entrepreneurial ambitions? Check out the ranking today to start making your selection. Entrepreneur.com
Explaining the ranking. There was a time where many held the opinion that the only way to learn entrepreneurship was outside the classroom in the so-called “school of hard knocks” where small business owners learned as they went along from personal experience. Not so today. But providing a detailed list of the educational institutions able to provide the best education in entrepreneurship and to potentially operate as the best incubators for entrepreneurial endeavors was the major challenge, as Rob Franek explains in this video. The Princeton Review
Best 25 undergrad programs for entrepreneurship. The colleges and universities named include such institutions as the University of Houston, Baylor University, Babson College, and Brigham Young University. Do any of these names surprise you? Check out the rest of the rankings and the links above explaining how these selections were made. Do you believe college and university settings can be a good launching ground for entrepreneurship? The Princeton Review
Best 25 graduate programs for entrepreneurship. Colleges like Babson College F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business again top this list, but there are also links to other great ranking like “Greatest opportunity for women” you may wish to peruse. There is also an opportunity to request a brochure in some cases and, as always, more details are available about the details by which schools were ranked with just the click of a mouse. We hope you’ll find it useful. The Princeton Review
10/09/2010
Small Business News: A Crash Course in Entrepreneurship
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