Aug 30

Entrepreneurial competitiveness: “The Will to…”

1 Business Idea, 2 Business Planning, 8 Operations, Business, Challenge, Entrepreneur, Motivation No Comments »

As an entrepreneur using a Mac there is a certain amount of competitiveness in all of us, some more than others. Others, much, much more. Still others add paranoia to their competitiveness, such as Al “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap who drove a number of companies down the drain and out of business. And still others cause human suffering, such as the documentary PBS special “A Dangerous Business” discussing the “McWane Way” showing their version of competitiveness. But if you read the TV shows transcripts (almost to the end of the transcript), you’ll see that there is a business, ACIPCO, that is similar to McWane’s that is doing the right thing by it’s workers and it’s business and is still profitable. So it can be done.

So, regarding entrepreneurial competitiveness, is it needed? In a word, yes! You can NOT get away from competition in the market place.

This means that educational institutions and schools need to have competition in order to prepare kids for the market place, not a competition-free schools. The question is: How much competition should be there be?

There is some truth to the matter that in order to learn competition is not essential.

So, what have we, we have various methods and motivations (see Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) of “The Will to…”

  1. The Will to Survive – Basic human and business needs to stay alive
  2. The Will to Safety – Above survival, but comfortable with safety, but where most businesses “land” and don’t continue.
  3. The Will to Acceptance – Above safety, but accepted by others. This would be about branding.
  4. The Will to Win – Above Acceptance, but wants to win. Beyond branding in some cases.
  5. The Will to Monopolize – This is a take no prisoners attitude and to monopolize the market through whatever means possible.
  6. The Will to Kill – Above Monopolize and willing to do hurtful things to #1 and possibly #2 above.

Having just finished “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt” he was one of the most “honorable” businessmen of his time. He wanted nothing better that to beat others in business, the honorable way. In his terms, he did not want to have the government protect his business as some do, even among some of today’s businesses who are failing want protection from our government.

If you want another viewpoint of competitiveness, read Dan Pink’s book “Drive” and see how competition can be less productive than other forms of motivation.

What are your thoughts about competitiveness?

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Aug 27

Total Cost of Ownership: PC versus Mac

8 Operations, 9 Finance, Apple, Entrepreneur, Hardware, Information, Mac, Planning, Startups, Tips, software No Comments »

As an entrepreneur using a Mac I, like anyone else, tries to control costs of my business. One of the factors in my business is the cost of my Mac. Most PC users point out that they can get cheaper PCs than Macs and therefore Macs are more expensive. While there is some truth to that matter, let’s find out where the costs lie in their argument.

There is a term called Total Cost of Ownership that tries to quantify the total cost of owning and running something, whether it be a car, truck, SUV, or even a computer. So what goes into owning a computer for a business? From strictly the computer perspective there are four areas that part of using a computer:

  1. Cost of hardware – The computer itself, peripherals, cables, etc.
  2. Cost of software – Licensing.
  3. Cost of installation and configuration – How long does it take to install and configure your computer to where you are being productive.
  4. Cost of training, use, and maintenance for three to five years of use – Here is where most people get lost in quantifying their costs because they don’t measure this affect on a user or users.

In my book, “How to Start a Business: Mac Version” I go into more detail in Chapter 2 about these above issues and show additional ones that most businesses need to know and understand that affect the costs of using a computer as a business owner: The Total Cost of Ownership.

To be accurate, the PC users do win the argument “out of the gate” that they are cheaper than a Mac. I grant that to them. But, and this is a big but, what else are PC users not telling you?

So how does a PC stand up to a Mac in Total Cost of Ownership? First, read my friend Mitch Rushing’s OpenSurge blog post “In Mac vs PC cost comparison – Downtime Statistics Key” about how these numbers figure out for Windows vs Windows and then Windows vs Mac.

I’ll let you read the results, but Macs win!

What are your thoughts?

Aug 02

The History of Nikola Tesla – a Short Story

1 Business Idea, Challenge, Creativity, Enterprise, Entrepreneur, Startups, Thoughts, ideas No Comments »

We all know of Thomas Edison, but most are not aware of Nikola Tesla. Here’s a short video about who he was.

The History of Nikola Tesla – a Short Story

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. Thomas Edison

If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor. Nikola Tesla, assistant to Thomas Edison

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Aug 01

Interview of Kevin Cullis by MrNetcast.com about his book

Entrepreneur, Hardware, Mac, Motivation, Startups, Thoughts, Writing, software No Comments »

Hi all,

Had an interview this past Saturday with MrNetcast.com himself, Esbjorn Larsen, about my book and being an entrepreneur. Check out the interview here. Let me know your thoughts.

Jul 19

Full Circle: A Mac Story

Entrepreneur, Small Business, Startups, Tips, ideas, software No Comments »

Today we have a guest blog post by Lena Lapper. Enjoy her Mac business entrepreneurial story.

Full Circle: A Mac Story

by Lena Ludwig Lapper

The quote and subsequent belief that “Necessity is the Mother of Invention” has probably always been a fundamental building block of the entrepreneurial community. As an entrepreneur, I recently had a full- circle experience with this notion.

I have been using a Mac since the late 1980′s but when I entered the professional marketplace in the 1990′s, I found myself employed by PC-using, Windows-loving Corporate America. My life was split between diligent PC use by day and a secret Mac life by night. The differences in performance between the computers were so vast to me that after years of this double life, I simply could not continue to work prolonged hours from a PC any longer. Fortunately, I found the courage to break away from the corporate institutions and in 1999 started my first business, free from the infested PC world.

Although I have enjoyed the freedom of using a Mac to run my business, I have had some obstacles. The main hurdle was finding affordable, Mac-friendly business planning solutions and software. While there are some nice software packages out there, none really provided me with exactly what I was needing. My profession over the past ten years, ironically, has been offering strategic business consulting to small companies.

Then, it happened.

If I am looking for this, hundreds of other Mac users are probably looking for this too! This may be a good business opportunity. I would create a business planning tool specifically for Mac. I already had all of the information required to assemble a package from my decade-long career of building business plans. My product would be a downloadable kit that works with an existing Mac application (iWork), allowing Mac users to build a professional business plan. I did it. And I setup a website and starting getting the word out – and the response was very encouraging. The message was loud and clear:

Mac users want to start businesses and they do not want to give up their Macs to do it.

The activity surrounding this new business has taken precedence over my consulting studio. Other people do want and need this product. I always knew that the Mac would play a big part in my overall business success and happiness, but I would have never guessed that developing a business built from my Mac, because I needed something for my Mac would come together like some perfect storm.

We sometimes feel desperate and anxious when we cannot find something we need. Perhaps we could take advantage of those inner signals and instead think of it as a calling; a summoning of all of the others in need of the same thing, and our job is to help find the solution.

For more information about this business planning solution for Mac, visit: ION FreshStart

****** About Lena Ludwig Lapper: Formerly an engineer and programmer, Lena started her consulting services in 1999, offering strategic and analytical business solutions to her clients. Lena is the Managing Principal at Oyster Park, LLC, ( http://www.oysterpark.com ) a business advisory studio focused on green technology, alternative energy, and sustainable product development. You can also find Lena at ION FreshStart where she helps Mac business owners by providing business planning tools. For more information visit http:// www.ionfreshstart.com or email: lena@ionfreshstart.com.

Jul 17

IONFreshStart Guest Blog Post by Kevin Cullis

2 Business Planning, Business, Entrepreneur, Mac, Startups, Tools, software 1 Comment »

Hi all,

I’ve done a guest blog post on ION Fresh Start’s web site.

Click on the icon and you go to their web site, click here To Business Plan or not, that is the question to read my article.

Tell me what you think.

Jul 12

Entrepreneur skills: negative turned positive.

1 Business Idea, 5 Marketing, 7 Sales, Challenge, Change, Entrepreneur, Startups, Thoughts, Writing, ideas No Comments »

As an entrepreneur, you’re always looking for what it takes to be successful. Learning new skills is one thing,  but translating your current skills from one channel to another is just a matter of changing your mindset.

Watch this NY Times video about Randy Kearse, who served more than 13 years in federal prison, has used the business skills he honed as a drug dealer to sell thousands of his self-published books in the streets and in the subway.

Harlem Journal

You, too, change, turn your life around. Change your mind, change your results.

Jul 09

The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom?

1 Business Idea, Challenge, Change, Entrepreneur, Thoughts No Comments »

The Kauffman Foundation has a new study.

“Key findings: In every single year from 1996 to 2007, Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 had a higher rate of entrepreneurial activity than those aged 20-34, averaging a rate of entrepreneurial activity roughly one-third larger than their youngest counterparts.

  • The 20-34 age bracket has the lowest rate of entrepreneurial activity.
  • Long-term employment has fallen dramatically for people ages 35-64 over the past fifty years.
  • With longer life expectancies and greater health in later life, older generations may continue to start new firms—or mentor young entrepreneurs.
  • Since the first Internet-era recession, transaction costs and barriers to entry have fallen for entrepreneurs of every age.”

Where are you on the entrepreneurial train?

Jun 11

3 Steps: Entrepreneurs, social media, and finding your 1000 fans

5 Marketing, 7 Sales, Business, Entrepreneur, Motivation, Planning, Tips No Comments »

As any entrepreneur will tell you, and using a Mac, it’s about getting who you are out into the market among the rest of the businesses that you compete against. It’s also about connecting the dots when it comes to knowing your customer.

First. You have to have a product or service that you intend to sell to your ideal customer. This is a given, so I won’t belabor this point.

Second. You need social media to attract your customers to you. If you go to the Cool Infographics site you’ll find lots of sweet ways of showing information that you can learn from. But Willis Wee’s post about one graphic he described social media and how it is changing business communication. As an entrepreneur you need to address, as time and resources permit, to working some of these social media channels. But remember, the channel is NOT the customer, it is just that, a channel. What flows IN the channel is the communication between you and your customers and fans. It’s how you communicate with them.

So where do you start first? I enjoy Derek Sivers blog posts and when you watch his TED talk about How to start a movement he gives you some insights about your first customer. He says basically to  connect with them. Hint: It’s the people that are eager to connect with you in the first place, not necessarily those that you think you need to or are chasing. So be careful who you may casually dismiss. Why, because of the next item.

Third. You’re looking for your 1000 fans. The Long Tail is the number of customers as a young business have, and in the beginning very few. The chance they you’ll be another Britney Spears or Rolling Stones or a company like Apple is very slim, sort of the “Top Head” to the left of the of the graph versus the long tail to the right. Not that you can’t or could not get there, but the greater the success the greater the risk and efforts. Most are looking for the just the first sale, but by using the social media tools you can get your 1000 fans that will follow you on a regular basis. The 1000 fans are those that you will have the most influence with and those that will influence you and what you do. You need to be “the farmer” to them and take care of them like an organic farmer does to his land, keep them healthy with health interaction.

Your thoughts?

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Jun 09

Entrepreneurs: Craft, Commercial, or a mixture

Entrepreneur 2 Comments »

As an entrepreneur and startup junkie (I’m just starting) I always wondered how things get started.

When my wife and I were watching one of our favorite shows, Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, I’ve been struck at who started the restaurant and why. Which, by the way, is always scouting for new “meat” to do a few new shows. Most content providers are.

After watching it for a number of years I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the establishments that Guy Fieri showcases is an aspect that the McDonalds and Starbucks has not done and will never do. An entrepreneur has a decision to make:

Going craft, commercial, or a mixture of both.

What do I mean?

I’ll use the example of my wife’s quilting.

Quilting: Handmade, sewing machine made, or a mixture.

Handmade = Craft. First, when my wife has the time she loves to do handmade quilts. I guess it is no different than if I can have a wood shop in our garage. But she loves to quilting and loves the work and the appreciation from those that receive them. They are truly made with love and care. But if you were to sell them one of two perspectives would happen. First, she’d either get paid pennies per hour for her work, or she’d charge an arm and a leg, but even then she’d have to be a top notch quilter to get those prices. But most consider her work “priceless” and therefore won’t part with them for any amount of money.

Machine made = Commercial. Now machine made is broken down into two perspectives, large companies using sewing machines or the ladies using their own. The large companies that employ lots of workers to turn out quilts in volume so that everyone can get a quilt to throw on their bed for lower costs. Or, ladies use a sewing machine to get their quilt done quicker for function, a lower “quality.”

Diners et al.

So Fieri goes for the craft of the food business, the best of the craft of the food. Maybe not the best maybe health- or calorie-wise, but he does showcase the uniqueness of each small business compared with the Olive Gardens and McDonalds businesses. They’re the commercial food companies, with some having, maybe, some craft thrown in with their product.

So describe your business, are you going craft, commercial, or a little of both?

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