7 Risks Every Entrepreneur Must Tak

Risk-taking is almost synonymous with entrepreneurship. To start and support your own business, you’ll have to put your career, personal finances and even your mental health at stake. 

For most, the prospect of making your own decisions and being in charge of your own destiny is worth it. But if you’re going to be successful as an entrepreneur, you have to be prepared for the risks and challenges that come with it.

The following are seven risks that every entrepreneur must take, from ideation to ongoing development:

1. Abandoning the steady paycheck.

Before you venture into the world of business ownership, you’ll first have to say goodbye to your current job, and in some cases, your career. Some people have the luxury of a backup plan -- an option to resume your career in case things don’t go well in your independent business.

But for most starting entrepreneurs, the choice is a risky plunge. There’s no guarantee of your personal income, especially in the first few months and years of your company’s existence, and you’ll probably be too busy to secure or sustain an alternative line of income.

2. Sacrificing personal capital.

Some entrepreneurs are able to start their ventures relying solely on external funding. That usually means a collection of angel investor contributions, government grants and loans, and results from crowdfunding campaigns. But many entrepreneurs also have to dive into their own bank accounts and personal savings to get things started.

You may not need to completely liquidate your nest egg, but you will have to front at least some personal money -- and that means abandoning, or at least diminishing, your safety net.

3. Relying on cash flow.

Even if you have a line of credit, securing a regular cash flow is difficult and stressful. You can position yourself for a profitable year, but still struggle with the day-to-day necessities if your revenue doesn’t match or exceed your costs in a timely manner.

Bills can add up quickly, and if you don’t have enough revenue to support your outgoing cash flow, you could run short of money for paychecks or be forced to dip into emergency funds. Be prepared to address it daily, or at least weekly.

4. Estimating popular interest.

No matter how much research you do or how many tests you complete, you’ll never be able to estimate popular interest in your business with perfect accuracy. People are somewhat unpredictable, which could put a giant hole in your otherwise sound plans.

Even when all the data appears to be in your favor, there’s a chance you’re overestimating the interest in your company, and if your projections are off, your entire financial model could implode.

5. Trusting a key employee.

When you first start a business, you won’t have a full team of employees working for you. Instead, you’ll probably have a small, tight-knit group of people working tirelessly together in an effort to get things up and running. You’ll have to put an overwhelming amount of trust in them, especially if they have special skills that are hard to find and are willing to start work at a lower salary than the industry standard.

For example, if you hire a single, experienced lead developer to work on your product over the course of a few months, you’ll need to have absolute trust in their ability to get the job done on time. Otherwise, your timeline (and your product) could be fatally compromised.

6. Betting on a crucial deadline.

Startups are, by nature, forced into strict timelines for their product launches and milestone goals. Their finances are fragile, and their investors are eager to start seeing the wheels turning. As a result, most entrepreneurs are forced to make multiple goals contingent on a handful of deadlines, and those deadlines become absolutely critical.

Be prepared to stay up at night worrying about your ability to hit those deadlines, and coming up with contingencies if you cannot.

7. Donating personal time (and health).

Entrepreneurship takes a toll on the average person. You’ll spend countless hours doing work to make your company successful, and your remaining hours worrying about what you have or have not done thus far. You will lose sleep, you will miss out on personal time, and you will experience much more stress than usual.

The rewards of entrepreneurship often outweigh these personal risks, but you have to be prepared to live this type of lifestyle.

Risks shouldn’t steer you away from pursuing entrepreneurship. Instead, see them for what they are: necessary obstacles on a greater path. There’s no way to avoid the risks you’ll face as an entrepreneur, but by recognizing them, you can prepare for and mitigate them

7 Ways Exercising Can Make You a Better Entrepreneur

We all know fitness is important to our health, but did you know it can also be good for your business? Elizabeth Robinson, a Philadelphia-based personal trainer and creator of VitFit, a mobile app for customizable downloadable workouts and Dega Schembri, co-owner ofCity Fitness Gym in Washington D.C., say regular physical activity can make you a better entrepreneur.

Here are seven ways physical activity can improve the health of your business:

1. Build your network.
Whether working out at the gym or participating in a team sport, fitness can help you network with prospective clients or strengthen existing business relationships. Robinson met several of her business investors and clients through fitness activities. "A lot of barriers break down when you're working out with somebody," says Robinson. Fitness challenges open a window into individuals' personalities and allow you to communicate with others in a very different way and consequently learn more about each other than would normally be possible over a cup of coffee.

2. Get your creative juices flowing. 
Exercise not only tones muscles, but improves brain power. A 2012 study by the Montreal Heart Institute showed aerobic exercise increased cognitive function. This is because exercise increases blood flow to your brain, meaning a jog might be just what you need before a brainstorming session.

3. Reduce stress.
Physical activity reduces stress hormones and increases the production of endorphins that give you a natural high. Getting in a workout, whether before work or during the workday can allow you to approach your work with a calmer mindset. "The more stressed you are, the more unable you are to make really good, rational business decisions," says Schembri.

4. Boost your confidence.

Whether building a business or going through a rough patch, even the smallest fitness win can help you gain the confidence you need to achieve larger goals in your business life. "Having a great workout translates into every area of your life, making you feel more accomplished at the end of the day about everything that you do," says Robinson.

5. Overcome business challenges. 
Training for a fitness challenge such as a marathon can help entrepreneurs re-learn the importance of goal-setting and determination. Schembri participated in her first triathlon when she was 58-years-old and says the vigorous training regime she underwent to achieve her fitness goals helped her to be a more tenacious entrepreneur. Removing the word "can't" from her vocabulary made her view obstacles as simply another challenge to be overcome, she says.

6. Improve your energy. 
Ditch your morning cup of coffee and head to the gym instead. A 2008 study published in the Journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics concluded that inactive individuals who normally complained of fatigue experienced increases in energy of up to 20 percent and decreased fatigue as much as 65 percent by participating in regular, low-intensity physical activity. "Exercising regularly helps you sleep better, and if you sleep better you’ll have more energy during the day," says Schembri.

7. Learn to let go of control. 
"A lot of business owners think that they have to do it all, [but] there's a lot of stress that goes along with that level of control, power and decision-making," says Schembri, who argues power-hungry entrepreneurs can benefit from a personal trainer. "When you hire a trainer you're acquiescing to someone else, accepting that you're going to let them direct you," says Schembri. Participating in team sports can also teach control-freak entrepreneurs about the importance of entrusting others with important tasks, proving they don't have to do it all on their own to have a successful business.

The Most Important Career Choice You'll Ever Make

When it comes to navigating your career, each of you has a choice to make: settle for what comes your way and make the best of it or reach for the stars and tackle every obstacle that stands in your way.

I know that sounds like a very “black and white” decision, but, when it comes to this particularly thorny question, I do believe you ultimately do have to choose. There simply is no “middle of the road” answer that works, in my experience.

While it’s clearly a tough and very personal decision that nobody should deprive you of, knowing what to expect from each of the two paths might make your decision and maybe even your journey a little easier and perhaps more successful.

Since I decided long ago that the path of least resistance was not for me, I can’t tell you much about that. But I can tell you everything you want to know about the road less travelled – the one full of possibilities and pitfalls, opportunities and obstacles, and dreams that at least have the possibility of coming true.

Why didn’t you take the easy path?

For me that was never really an option. I was born with very little to parents who hated their jobs and were miserable about it. They always managed to make ends meet, but it was a constant struggle, to say the least. And it was hard to miss how those boring dead-end jobs wore them down day after day, year after year. That alone provided powerful incentive to search long and hard for a fulfilling career.

It certainly didn’t hurt that my dad wanted a better life for his kids and never let us forget it. The particular path was ours to choose, but a strong work ethic and sense of self-reliance was drummed into us from an early age. Besides, life growing up on the streets of a crowded inner city was full of challenges and adversity. There was simply no reason to expect work life to be any easier.  

How did that line of thinking shape your career?

Once you accept that competition is just life’s way of weeding out the weak, you eventually figure out that confronting challenges head on and with a can-do attitude will lead to positive results. And that in turn leads to the conclusion that you’re at your best because of life’s challenges, not in spite of them.

From there it’s just a short step to the realization that you should constantly challenge yourself, so that’s what I’ve always done. If the company I worked for wasn’t cutting it or I wasn’t moving up as fast as I thought I should, I networked and interviewed until I found a better opportunity somewhere else. I never settled for less than I thought I could achieve. That kept my professional growth and career trajectory moving up and to the right.

What about the popular wisdom that you should do what you love?

It should come as no surprise that doing what genuinely interests and excites you will probably lead to the best outcome. But what people generally don’t realize is that’s by no means a simple or static equation. I’ve always said that when work stopped being fun I would do something different and I think that’s pretty solid advice.   

Our lives are constantly in flux. Events change our perception and our perspective changes with experience. It’s only natural that our personal and professional goals and interests would also evolve over time. So don’t feel pressured to find that “one thing” or do it until the end of time.

Life is long and your career is a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t hesitate to pivot and change direction as needed.

What’s your most counterintuitive observation?

Two things. First, I was surprised to learn that the hard road turned out to be the fun road. There’s a simple reason for that. When you challenge yourself to do your best work, things generally turn out well for you. A great career is its own reward, but material success doesn’t hurt either. Both give you freedom to follow your dreams and do what you enjoy for a living. There’s another word for that: fun.

Second, while I spent nearly twice as many years climbing the corporate ladder as I did running my own business, at this point I have to say that the former was far easier for me than the latter. I certainly don’t regret the decision and the jury is still out on the outcome, but one thing’s for sure: the entrepreneurial life is by no means easy, it’s not for everyone and nobody should take that path lightly.  

What’s the single most important piece of advice you’d give those starting out?

The most important lesson I learned in 30 years, hands down, is to take big risks and set aggressive goals. Do it when you’re young and have little to lose and plenty of time to do it again and again.

I learned early on that those who stick their necks out to help their companies and solve their customer’s problems are richly rewarded. That’s how you make a name for yourself, develop a reputation as someone who gets things done and build a successful business career. It’s the same whether you work for yourself or someone else.

Actually, there’s one more thing. Try not to take yourself too seriously. A little humility and a sense of humor go a long way. 

22 Quotes to Inspire Your Marketing Efforts

We all need inspiration on a day-to-day basis, be it in our personal lives or to do our work. And especially if you’re trying to build a successful business. Startup life can be quite daunting, as I’ve experienced myself and while mentoring numerous entrepreneurs.

One of the toughest aspects of building a mobile-first business is trying to get customers to use your app (downloads) and get them to come back to it again and again regularly (retention).

Marrying the two, I’ve got some awesomely inspiring quotes from some of the best entrepreneurs and marketers to help you with inspiration while marketing your mobile app.

1. "Content is the atomic particle of all digital marketing." -- Rebecca Lieb

2. "When you start with what’s at stake for the buyer, you earn the right to their attention." -- Jake Sorofman

3. "SEO is not something you do anymore. It’s what happens when you do everything else right." -- Chad Pollitt

4. "The key ingredient to a better content experience is relevance." -- Jason Miller

5. "Your website is your greatest asset. More people view your webpages than anything else." -- Amanda Sibley

6. "People share, read and generally engage more with any type of content when it’s surfaced through friends and people they know and trust." -- Malorie Lucich

7. "Increasingly, the mass marketing is turning into a mass of niches." -- Chris Anderson

8. "Focus on the core problem your business solves and put out lots of content and enthusiasm, and ideas about how to solve that problem." -- Laura Fitton

9. "If you have more money than brains, you should focus on outbound marketing. If you have more brains than money, you should focus on inbound marketing." -- Guy Kawasaki

10. "You can’t expect to just write and have visitors come to you. That’s too passive." -- Anita Campbell

11. "Word-of-mouth marketing has always been important. Today, it’s more important than ever because of the power of the Internet." -- Joe Pulizzi & Newt Barrett

12. "As you’ve noticed, people don’t want to be sold. What people do want is news and information about the things they care about."-- Larry Weber

13. "To be successful and grow your business and revenues, you must match the way you market your products with the way your prospects learn about and shop for your products." -- Brian Halligan

14. "Marketing is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content marketing is showing the world you are one." -- Robert Rose

15. "Not viewing your email marketing as content is a mistake." -- Chris Baggott

16. "The media wants overnight successes (so they have someone to tear down). Ignore them. Ignore the early adopter critics who never have enough to play with. Ignore your investors who want proven tactics and predictable instant results. Listen instead to your real customers, to your vision, and make something for the long haul. Because that's how long it's going to take." -- Seth Godin

17. "Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department." -- David Packard

18. "What you prefer or what your designer prefers doesn’t matter if it’s not getting you conversions." -- Naomi Niles

19. "If your stories are all about your products and services, that’s not storytelling. It’s a brochure. Give yourself permission to make the story bigger." -- Jay Baer

20. "The key is, no matter what story you tell, make your buyer the hero." -- Chris Brogan

21. "I don’t care much for best practice. I care about conversions. That’s why I test." -- Michael Aagaard

22. "Don’t be afraid to get creative and experiment with your marketing." -- Mike Volpe

4 Questions You Must Think Critically About Before Starting a Business

Entrepreneurs are an eager bunch. That’s part of what makes us so great!

We’re go-getters. We wake up early. Mondays excite us. (Okay, maybe that last one is a bit of a stretch.)

I’ve had the pleasure of working with thousands of entrepreneurs via my coaching business. Their enthusiasm fires me up and propels me to work harder every day. But working hard isn’t enough. Many of my students come to me after having jumped in too soon. Instead of making smart, calculated decisions, they’re flying blind and rapidly spending their hard-earned cash.

You don’t have to let that happen to you. Before you start investing in your idea, you must think critically about the following questions. You’ll avoid a lot of hardship in the long run if you do.

1. Where is this industry headed?

Some ideas are ahead of their time and some are behind the times. The only way to be sure that your idea is timely is to study the marketplace. Note that most successful ideas don’t reinvent the wheel. They make small improvements to existing products. Ideas that are too progressive often require re-educating the consumer, which is costly and risky.

Every idea exists within an industry and a category. (If your idea is so radical no similar products exist, that’s a huge red flag.) What are the popular products in that category? Has the industry been changing? If so, how?

If the industry has been stagnant, that points towards the possibility that it’s ripe for innovation. How is your idea different from what’s already out there? To be successful, your idea must have a point of difference.

2. Is this idea better suited for licensing or venturing?

Friends of mine recently came to me and said, “You were right. We should have licensed this idea.” They chose to start a business instead, and now they’re faced with the reality that they’re going to be ripped off. Even though they were first to market, their product is too expensive. Someone is going to be able to make it for less.

The question of whether to license or venture is a serious one. There are those of us who long to start and manage our own businesses. But some ideas are just better suited to licensing.

3. What is my proof of concept?

Can your idea for a product be manufactured at a reasonable price point? If it’s an idea for a service, can you drive down costs low enough to be competitive? You must take the time to answer this question.

No matter how great your idea is, if it costs too much to make, it will never see the light of day. I know this for a fact, because I lived it. My rotating label innovation was too expensive to manufacture when I first came up with it. Years later, as technology progressed, it saw the light of day again.

4. Where is my proof of demand?

So you think there’s a huge market for your idea. That’s great, but not enough. There’s only one way to be sure that consumers are willing to pay for your idea, and that’s by testing the market. Thankfully, there are many ways to do this.

First, consider showing your idea to a retail buyer. Are they interested? You could also show your idea to an industry expert. What do they think? The advent of crowdfunding has made testing for proof of demand easier than ever -- so consider launching a Kickstarter campaign.

If you are willing and able, you could also create a limited supply of the product and try to sell it. This is a much smarter investment in the long run, even though it will cost you up front.

Don’t let your eagerness cloud your judgment. Work smarter, not harder.

3 Steps to Happier Customers

Everyone has heard the saying: The customer is always right. But we all know real life isn’t that simple. For business-to-consumer companies that rely on regularly returning clients, the fine art of keeping these people happy can be a frustrating, confusing endeavor.
Digital companies in particular face unique challenges when it comes to keeping their customers content because there are few face-to-face interactions and a sale may often involve intangible products or services. What’s more, these companies also occupy an exceedingly social space where reviews are currency. Dissatisfied customers can quickly find a sympathetic forum for voicing their negative opinions loudly and anonymously.
How can a digital company maintain customer satisfaction with so many hurdles along the way? The answer is deceptively simple: Humanize your customer service. Just because a company may live in the cloud does not mean everything is or should be automated. Here are the practices I’ve found to be most helpful in maintaining customer happiness.
1. Don’t just be friendly. Be a friend.
Maintain a personality and have a conversation with your customers. Consider all the time you have spent in shaping a voice when selecting your logo and fonts and creating marketing materials. Why not apply this thinking to your customer service as well?
Bonobos, an ecommerce clothing company, offers one of the best examples of humanized customer service. Its customer service reps, called ninjas, transform shopping and the occasional refund into a virtually painless process. The company's emails are fun and in sync with its branding. They are never patronizing or packed with legal mumbo jumbo.
The worst customer-service responses are canned and scripted. Hollow “insert name here” responses treat customers like another number in a support queue. When replying to a customer, ask yourself how you would approach a friend in need of assistance.
2. Quality and quantity.
Here’s a common scenario: A customer needs help and is complaining loudly. You’re scrambling to troubleshoot the issue as quickly as possible, but it’s taking longer than expected. What now? Instead of delaying a customer-service response because you don’t yet have the solution, take a few minutes to send an email apologizing for the issue, while noting that you’re hard at work getting to the bottom of things.
Who said you needed to accomplish everything in one email? Avoid generic responses, use your customers’ names and thank them for bringing a problem to your attention. Building a relationship so that each individual is acknowledged and treated like a person will only benefit your company. Check in frequently, be honest if there’s a delay and build rapport. These are all the steps of a company with a more humanized brand.

3. The Rule of 5.

Sometimes you will encounter an unreasonable customer, someone who will make it difficult for you to stay calm and not take things personally. Humans have that fight or flight response. When they feel cornered or attacked, they make snap decisions.
In the customer service world, snap decisions can sometimes result in the sending of angry, defensive emails that are almost immediately regretted. When I find myself on the receiving end of a vitriolic email, I take five: Some days that means resting five minutes. Other times, it means answering another five emails before drafting a response. The Rule of 5 lets you disengage and then return to your customer-service task when your fists aren’t up and ready to fly.
Humanized customer service has a philosophical core: Being human means that mistakes will be made. Accept this. There will be glitches, website downtime, faulty code and unreasonable customers. How you handle them makes all the difference.
It’s easy to panic when the complaints come rolling in and the angry emails start piling up. And it's even easier to let your emotions take over and become annoyed and defensive in the process. Humanizing your response means acknowledging the issue with a touch of humility and maybe even some humor as well. Whether that means sending an email blast, posting on the company’s social media handles or replying to individual complaints, a human touch can make all the difference. After all, behind every computer screen is a person.
Ideally 95 percent of the time, your customers are happy and excited to continue with the company’s products or services. But when the remaining 5 percent of cases occur, you’ll be glad that you’ve already built a solid relationship with your customers so that you'll be able to keep them onboard, even through rough waters. No two companies are alike, but these best practices can be adopted whether you’re at a large, established company or an early-stage technology startup.

The 3 Most Important Questions Every Entrepreneur Must Answer

The ultimate goal of every entrepreneur is to succeed – and to be happy doing it. But not every entrepreneur gets to achieve it. Indeed, hundreds of new businesses are launched every year but success eludes most of them.
One reason is that entrepreneurs are faced with some of the most difficult questions on a daily basis – and how they answer them could depend on if the startup sinks or swims.
To ensure success, here are the three most important questions entrepreneurs must answer.
1. What are my goals as an entrepreneur? Most entrepreneurs find it difficult to separate their personal goals from their business goals. And that makes sense. Think about it, entrepreneurs are often trying to turn their personal passion into a business – and just need to find others to help achieve their goals. While I get that sometimes they are linked, the ability to separate your goals can help you focus your personal growth and the success of your business at the same time. So set goals.
You are more likely to achieve something significant if you ensure your goals are specific, measurable and attainable. For instance, some entrepreneurs want a lifestyle business while others prefer a highly scalable tech business. Or some entrepreneurs have exit strategies and others may refuse acquisition proposals regardless of the profit they will personally make.
Define your goals right from the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey. It will guide you to know what to embrace as an entrepreneur and what to avoid on your way to success.
2. Do I have the right strategy? What are your short-term and long-term strategies for achieving your goals? Successful entrepreneurs know what they need, who they have to bring on board and how long it will take to achieve their milestones.
Having this blueprint will help clearly define your vision, attract the right people and ensure there is a game plan for your decision-making process. Plus, having these strategies in place can guide you through the problems and confusions that come with being an entrepreneur.
When you create your strategy, employees, investors and partners should be able to understand why you are taking a specific path (hopefully, one that focuses on the bigger-picture growth). If they can't, you may need to make refinements.
3. Can I execute the strategy? This question is probably the hardest to answer. Great ideas can't guarantee success. Most entrepreneurs are failing because they just can’t execute a brilliant strategy. (Even with funds, people still fail because of poor execution.)
This is why investors invest in people, as they want to be sure the founders are capable of executing on their promises. Almost everybody can put together a great document that spells out what he or she wants to accomplish but not everyone can execute on the best plan. And this is why teams are so important.
Your team is your greatest asset as an entrepreneur. If you hire the right and smart people, they will figure things out when things gets tough.
Once you are able to successfully get past the hiring stage, focus on building a great culture that makes room for creativity, as your workplace environment has a big influence on how well you can execute on your strategies.
Entrepreneurs must constantly ask themselves tough questions about where they want to go, what it takes to get there and how to get there successfully. Your success depends on finding the right answers to the tough questions.