Why You Shouldn't Rely On Motivation As An Entrepreneur

Do you know the one thing you should never rely on as an entrepreneur?

Motivation.

Why?

Because your motivation changes faster than David Beckham's haircut.

Think about it.

Let's say you watch a "motivational" video...

You're all pumped up...

You're gonna be the next Bill Gates...

You're invincible...

No one's gonna stop you.

And then...

Two hours later...

You're on the sofa with a large bowl of ice cream watching Jeremy Kyle.

(Okay, you might not sink that low.)

But you get the point.

Motivation is short term... VERY short term.

And as an entrepreneur, I'm afraid to say you have to play the long game.

So what can you do instead?

Well, have a long term goal... Decide what you want to achieve in ten years time. And I mean, really decide what you want to achieve.

When goal-setting, people tend to set goals they think they want, but it's not what they actually want. So if you don't really care about driving the latest Ferrari, don't set it as a goal.

Be specific with your goals, too. If goal setting is to work, this is important.

Write everything down in detail.

Paint a word picture of your ideal home...

Your ideal holiday...

You ideal life.

Anyway, when it comes to goal-setting you should also have a medium goal...

As well as a weekly (or even daily) short term goal.

Then make a plan so you smash every goal you set.

That's it.

No, it's nothing "ninja".

But, is it effective?

Absolutely.

Because you're not relying on motivation to get you through the day.

Instead, you're relying on your goal.

Anyway, no matter what your goals are when it comes to being successful as an entrepreneur, email marketing can help you achieve them.

For literally hundreds of FREE tips, go to [http://www.TomAndrewsMarketing.com]

Oh... and there's also a free gift awaiting you...

Tom Andrews

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Tom_Andrews/2298168

Basic Tips When Starting an Event Planning Business

Is your entrepreneurial spirit kicking in? Do you want to engage yourself in the events planning industry? If you are, then this post is definitely for you. We will give you a quick overview of what you need to consider should you want to make this your serious business.

Know your Target

You might think that being the 'jack of all trades' is a good idea when you are starting your own events planning business. While it is important to know a lot of things, it is also vital to have focus. You have to remember that there are different events. We have the celebrations, education, promotions to name a few. Each celebration calls for different planning. You must know which one would be your forte so you can do more research on that, making you stand out from the rest of events planning companies. Engage in a specific niche that you enjoy doing before extending your network to other type of occasions.

Make Your Business Legal

Secure the necessary permits required for your business to be able to release official receipts to your customers. Being a legal business also increases your credibility as a service company to your clients. Registering business also protects you and your clients as well.

Building Contacts

Quite frankly, building contacts is never easy. And we believe one should be able to invest a lot of time building network. You should start from your family and friends. Tell them that you are starting up a business and would appreciate if they could refer you to their friends. From there, you can build your own potential clients. Just make sure your services are always the best so you can get the best advertising out there - word of mouth.

Creating Portfolio

Now that you have clients, never forget to document your events. Always have your camera ready to take snapshots of even the littlest details. Create your social media accounts so you can have a wider reach. And of course, always ask for testimonial from your clients and politely ask if you could quote them on your pages. Have a media kit as well that can be easily distributed as flyers to extend your services to potential customers.

Get Certificates

It would also be great for your business to get certificates. This is going to look good and of course, big companies would be more comfortable in dealing with you. So while you can, get certified.

An event planning business is a big business and opportunity you can explore. With the right foot forward in starting the business, success is quite easy to achieve.

It is important that you search for party supplies and resources that will help you start with your business. Getting several suppliers is also advisable to always have possible options in case of bulk orders or unexpected circumstances.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Joie_M_Gahum/2200904

Why My StartUp Won't Work?

The ugly truth is that three out of four startups fail. Try being the one that doesn't!

"But that won't be me!" you're saying to yourself. "My idea is brilliant! Everyone wants my product!"

Unfortunately, it takes a lot more than a great idea to launch a startup and much more to make it a successful one. There are thousands of would-be entrepreneurs out there with brilliant ideas that simply didn't take because of funding issues, a bad marketing strategy, or any number of other reasons.

Here are seven likely reasons your big idea is currently on a fast track to the startup graveyard.

o My Business Model is borderline pathetic

A great product idea does not make a business model! If you can't monetize your product while acquiring customers at a reasonable rate, you have no hope of scaling your product or establishing a revenue stream. Unless you are planning to run a charity organization, you're not going to make it very far.

I get it, business models are boring. It's a lot more fun to hit the ground running and turn your idea into a reality. But that doesn't mean you can skip the important steps of market research, competitive analysis, and developing a monetization strategy. If you're so negligent as to skip these important steps, you're only leading yourself on a slow, painful journey toward startup death.

o I am a Know it All... Hmmm...

A mentor? Business advice? Who needs that! With all your brilliant ideas, you've got this covered. Instead of humbly seeking the wisdom of successful entrepreneurs who've gone before you, you're reinventing the wheel all on your own.

Forget venture capitalists who want to guide your startup to a successful launch. They can keep their money - you don't want them meddling in your business! After all, as a first time entrepreneur, you know everything there is to know about successfully launching a scalable startup. Right?

o No one will fund ME!

Any entrepreneur anywhere will tell you, it really does take money to make money. If you can't find access to funding, whether through family and friends, an angel investor, or a business loan, you're going to have a tough time getting your product to market.

o Did I Even Think About a Marketing Plan?

You've been so focused on developing your brilliant idea, you completely forgot to develop a go-to-market strategy. What will your sales process be? Who is your target market? How will you reach your customer with news about your product? Do you have any idea?

The old "if you build it, they will come" philosophy might work in baseball-but unless you've been hearing voices lately, you probably shouldn't expect the same for your startup. No matter how great your idea may be, no one can buy your product if they don't know it exists. If you want any hope of saving your startup from certain doom, you need to devise and implement a solid marketing plan to spread your company's message and increase demand for your product.

o Customers hate ME!

Well, no they don't. Not yet, at least. But that's only because, as we just discussed, you don't have any customers. But if you did magically discover some first-time customers, they would quickly be bad-mouthing you all over town, because your customer experience is absolutely atrocious!

Do you have a plan and a properly trained team in place to make sure your customers are happy? How will you deal with complaints? How will you back up the quality of your product? What will you do when things go wrong?

Oh, nothing is ever going to go wrong? Is that right? Keep dreaming...

If you put yourself in the position of delivering a bad first impression with your customers, you'll never be able to recover. There's almost nothing more dangerous to a new business than a bad customer review.

o I am Stubborn

The truth about the startup world is that things change constantly. You have an idea for a product, but the research tells you to go a different direction. You're halfway through development, and then a competitor shows up out of the blue with a product exactly like yours. Few, if any, ideas make it to launch without several changes along the way.

If you can't roll with the punches and adjust your business model when challenges come up or new information prevails, you're doomed to live out your days talking the talk about your big idea that went absolutely nowhere.

o I am Running Out of Cash

The challenges above may have halted your startup's progress, but this one will be the final nail in the coffin. In the startup game, like in Monopoly, running out of cash equals game over. You're done!

But not for you, right? You've got this. With no set budget, you'll keep the Dom Perignon flowing every night of the week. It'll all work out, right? After all, you have a brilliant plan!

At some point, if you haven't secured funding and don't have a solid plan in place to get a revenue stream flowing, you're going to run out of cash. Even the most frugal of ramen-eating, Grandpa's garage-based startups needs cash to keep the lights on.

Inevitably, this will be the moment when your almost brilliant venture officially goes under. You're out of money. The show can't go on. You've failed.

If your startup is still on life support, stop and re-evaluate. Which of the areas above sounds most familiar? How could you turn around your strategy?

Figuring out why you were on your way to failure might just be your ticket to performing the miracle that turns your near-failure into a real deal StartUp Success!

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Bhavyassh_Agarwaal/2301666

Which Business Structure Should I Be?

One of the most asked questions I get is "should I set up my business as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or an S-Corporation (S-Corp for short)?" And the short answer is - it depends.

Depending on who you ask, an attorney or an accountant, you will get different opinions. So let me equip you with a few facts to help weigh-in on your decision.

Limited Liability Company

An LLC is easier to set up. Most states allow you to complete and file an Articles of Organization and you're all set. This is after you have done a name search to ensure that no other business is operating in your state under the name you chose. Most states, if not all, have a generic version of this form on their website but you can also have your lawyer draft one up for you if you want it contain more detail.

An LLC allows you to allocate your profit and loss between owners more easily. In a LLC, these percentages can be allocated based on the owners participation, or lack of, in the business. With and S-Corp, this allocation is based on their share of stock in the business. It doesn't matter if they were active in the business or not.

S-Corporation

As an S-Corp, you can put yourself, as the owner, on payroll. Not only do you get the tax deduction on your return, but this allows you to have federal and state taxes withheld from your paycheck and paid on your behalf. This can help reduce your tax liability at the end of the year.

As the owner of an S-Corp, you are not liable to pay self employment tax. Self employment tax is the Social Security and Medicare portion of taxes that solopreneurs and the self-employed have to pay for themselves. If is the equivalent to the Social Security and Medicare withheld from your paycheck and paid on your behalf if you were on payroll.

Now if your business is already an LLC, you can be taxed as an S-Corp. This means that a simple form can be filed with your tax return to make this election. If you started your business in the current year then the due date to file this election to file this election for that year is 2.5 months after the date you set up the business. If you started your business in previous year then the due date was March 15th of the current year. This means if you file it now, if won't be effective until Jan 1 2017. If your 2015 is on extension, you may have until the extended due date. I would consult with your tax accountant to determine which option most benefits your organization.

To receive your free audio CD and learn more about how to create, build or maintain a financially thriving business, visit http://www.nitramfinancial.com/FreeCD

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Sherrell_T._Martin/1382292

Don't Stop When You Are Tired - Stop When You Are Finished!

Work ethic has lost some of its importance in the 21st century. If you ask must employees when they work they will respond with very specific parameters. A typical response might be that the work on weekdays only, Monday through Friday, weekends, or some combination and that they work for a specific time, such as nine to five, second shift, or a swing shift.

The benefit of being an employee is that you know exactly when, where, and how long to work. Once the limit is met you can stop working and let the business fend for itself.

This is the opposite work ethic required by the Entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur there will come a time when you get tired of working. Over a period of time the entrepreneur may even experience some burn-out. This will be especially true when the business is not going as successfully as planned.

The reality is that if you are going to be an entrepreneur it does not matter how exhausted you feel. It does not matter how many hours you worked today, or what time the clock says. If there is important work to be finished the entrepreneur must go beyond traditional quitting standards and get the work done.

One of the best strategies to improving work ethic is to do the hardest and most difficult tasks early in your work day. Most entrepreneurs are at the peak when first getting back to work. Entrepreneurs just can't wait for the night to get over so that they can get back to doing something they truly enjoy.

Once the difficult and pressing tasks are completed then work on the items that have to be accomplished to keep the business open. Develop a checklist of things that have to be completed each day. Prioritize the list and then mark items off as they have been completed. Draw a line between all of the items that have to be finished today and those that could be finished if possible.

To be successful the entrepreneur must be dedicated to developing their work ethic. Sometimes this may mean "grunting" through dreaded or tedious tasks. It could mean always being the first in and last out of the office. A strong work ethic means never stopping until the important things are completed.

The moment you lose your work ethic is the moment your business fails. As long as you are able to keep plugging along, you will accomplish your goals.

American Grant Writers Association http://www.agwa.us

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/John_Porter/2296801

Why Do Individuals Go for Self Employment?

Self employment can be categorized within the form of the status in the labor market that can cover a vast range of activities. There are various reasons as to why individuals may go for the option of self employment and this is why the group might be heterogeneous. On the one end, the self employed individual can be seen as a single, entrepreneurial employee having micro businesses whereas, on the other end, a possible spectrum is that a group may comprise those people who tend to fail in finding an appropriate paid employment prevailing within the current market conditions. For instance, those who require working in flexible hours might rightly select it as way of earning an income in case a paid contract of employment that is offering enough flexibility is unavailable. There are others who consider this idea as the only alternative to unemployment.

In order to gain an insight of all the positive reasons that are attributed to those individuals who go for self employment, there is a vast range of motivations that requires consideration. These motivational factors might include the desire of self expression, for status, for independence or for any financial benefit.

Broadly speaking, this concept can be categorized within two sections:

· Individuals who go for self employment for voluntarily purposes such as to attain job satisfaction, independence as well as to earn higher returns, and;

· Individual who have been forced to enter into self employment simply because they do not find any other attractive opportunity.

In case, the motivation behind self employment of an individual is the former one, than the entire scenario can be viewed positively as it will offer the individuals an opportunity to increase the quality of living along with exploring different entrepreneurial opportunities. On the other hand, if an individual enters for any negative reasons or is forced within self employment then there are chances that the individual will be unwittingly encouraged to launch work opportunities or business ventures that are not only poorly resourced but, are ill-prepared as well. Such a situation might also result in a delayed transition towards unemployment.

Why is self employment growing?

There are many reasons to which the growth of self employment can be attributed to and below mentioned are some of the most common reasons:

· The number of people seeking full time employment jobs are quite higher as compared to the number of jobs available in the in the industry.

· Outsourcing of labor cuts a great deal of costs of the employers.

· Improved level of productivity as well as rapid increment in technological advancements tends to replace many jobs.

· The requirement to have flexible working time can be found in many working parents as well as in other individuals.

· The stripping of a whole management layer now holds very less opportunities for advancements.

· The advancement of the internet technology has made the idea of self employment accessible as well as low cost area to enter.

· Younger generation requires more freedom in their work and this is abundantly present in being self employed.

· It can be a part of your portfolio career in addition to your part time job.

Should you try self employment? What to consider?

It is the dream of many people to become a boss one day - by being self employed. But, the question is as to whether self employment is the right option for you or not?

Talking about the positive side, opting to this concept will allow you to be more flexible as well as freedom in your work through which you will be able to make your own decisions. Moreover, if your self employment plan is home based or if you are working from near your home, than it is considered to be a better commute. In addition to the positives, there are negative factors as well which might include the risk of extra stress risk, unpredictable income and most importantly the challenge to attain benefits on your own. You can consider about its pros and cons in a way that if you fall in this category, you go plan a vacation at anytime you want being its pros whereas, the con side will be that no one will be paying you for that trip.

If you want to work for yourself, discussing the topic with other people who are ether willing to start one of their own businesses or are conducting the affairs of a business similar to the one you are planning will be a good idea. Moreover, making a good amount of research of the market in which you are planning to enter along with its related matters such as tax obligations and record keeping will make the task easier.

On the other hand, even if you are planning to start a one-man business such as a graphic designer or a handyman after you have sought some experience in the field; there is still lot to be learnt about the practicalities of being self employed. Following mentioned are some points to consider when one is opted to this concept:

· How much flexibility you can show and what level of comfort you can show when dealing with an uncertain situation. What are your thoughts about the fact when you ought to have various tasks within your work?

· What is the amount of your fixed expenses and what type of resources as well as financial safety you have in your household (household income or savings)?

· What is the growth rate of the market segment in which you are deciding to enter?

· What are your thoughts about marketing and selling yourself as well as your business?

· Do you have the qualities of being self disciplined and self motivated?

· What is your competitive advantage and who will be the rivals in the market?

· Do you hold enough knowledge and information about business topics and market resources?

· How can you test your business plan? Are there any ways through which your business model can be tested initially so as to know whether the plan will work or not?

· Have you prepared an estimate as to what amount of capital will be required to start your business and whether you will be able to pay living expenses of you and your family during the launching phase of your work? Do you have that required amount of capital? If no, then how will you obtain it? Have you drafted any plan about what will you do if your expenses exceed your income than was forecasted?

Why Should I Be Self Employed?

Are you looking for an opportunity to become self employed and be your own boss? Being a boss to own can be a very big decision especially if your routine has been to work for someone else and have a steady amount of salary every month. The question as to why should I be self employed is supported with many reasons or you can also refer them to be the pros of being self employed.

· You have your fate in your hand. You have the freedom to make your decisions as this opportunity is absent in a regular 9 to 5 job in which you really cannot select what to do, why and when.

· You have the opportunity to do what you have been dreaming of. Since all the affairs are in your own hand, you are free to make those decisions to which you have always wished for your own.

· Your earnings depend upon your performance and there is an opportunity to earn as much or as little as possible. There is more freedom to work as well as rest depending on what you feel.

· You will be able to spend quality time with your family members and friends.

· Your work schedule is flexible and can be designed to adjust with your needs and requirements.

· You can control your level of development. For instance, you can learn and work on aspects which you have interest in rather in those areas in which your boss is interested in.

· A successful setup of your own can bring you pride.

· You have the opportunity to follow your dreams.

· The working hours are quite flexible however, remember that the more you work the more you can earn.

Facts to remember

· Motivation is the key towards opting a successful self employment plan. If you want to become successful, you will have to put in some extra hard work.

· You will be held responsible for all your actions and its consequences unless you go for a partnership concern in which all the partners will be held liable.

· Networking on both online and offline courses will be important.

Self employment is considered to be a life changing decision, so, it is very important that you look into every aspect and then start your work so as to become successfully self employed.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Atif_Mumtaz_Khan/2161611

How to Work Smarter Instead of Harder

"What we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

Smart or Hard?

Hard work is important. Those who work hard and are consistent with their work are much more likely to achieve the things that they want.

However, working hard doesn't necessarily mean that the work you are producing is of value and good quality. Other times working too hard may cause stress that leads to producing work that is of lower quality.

I believe that we must put more emphasis on working smarter. Let's look at 5 ways on How to Work Smarter Instead of Harder.

Time. The first thing that you should be aware of is how you spend your time working. It's a good idea to make a plan of what you will be working on, how you will carry out your work and also to decide how long you need to spend working on each task. This way you will learn how to use your time in a smart way so that you can reduce your working hours while being more productive.

Standards. Having standards are different that having goals. Standards mean that you have to obey to them because that is how your mind is conditioned. Setting higher standards mean that you are conditioning your mind to achieve things that you haven't achieved before.

Reflect. A great way to monitor your work is to reflect on the goals that you have achieved and the ones that you fell short on. This way you can understand what works and what doesn't, so next time you can set new goals applying the things that do work.

Distractions. Staying away from distractions will keep you focused while you are working. The main distractions to be aware of are smartphones, emails, social media and music. While working avoid these unless they are necessary in your work. Working without distractions is a great way to work smart and have more time in your day to do other things.

Downtime. Lastly, it is important to know that you shouldn't work for long periods without giving yourself breaks. A nice routine is to work for 45 minutes with 10 minute breaks in-between. Furthermore, you should leave yourself time in the day to be enjoying the things you like to do and spending time with family and friends, after all that is more important than your work.

Remember to work smart alongside working hard. Use your time effectively and plan out your days. Create standards to achieve greater things. Reflect on your goals to find out what is working for you. Avoid distractions that use up your time and prevent you from working smart. And leave room for breaks to enjoy the things that you like to do.

Now that you've understood what it means to make better use of your time, you can apply this in any area of your life including your business.

My Website - [http://lotusnation.com/]

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Ediz_Emin/2298150