entrepreneurship tips

May 1, 2010 — Tomorrow, young and aspiring entrepreneurs [think "Family Ties"' briefcase-toting Alex P. Keaton, portrayed by the inimitable Michael J. Fox] in cities from coast to coast will gather for hands-on lessons about the importance of doing good while doing well. Glass by glass, boys and girls in grades pre-K through 12 will celebrate Lemonade Day, a unique experiential learning opportunity combining academics and life skills to teach youth about entrepreneurship.

Lemonade Day is an initiative organized by Prepared 4 Life, a growing nonprofit network of communities devoted to developing meaningful outreach and educational opportunities for young people. The program is designed to teach children how to start, own and operate their own business — a lemonade stand, an iconic American symbol of entrepreneurship. It provides an opportunity for families, businesses, faith-based community organizations and schools to come together for a common purpose: to train the next generation of entrepreneurs through a free, fun, engaging and experiential activity.

Young Lemonade Day entrepreneurs keep everything they earn. In the spirit of a true business, they are encouraged to open a savings account; pay back investors; and make a further investment in their community by donating a portion of their profits to a charity of their choice.

The annual event started in 2007, with just three flagship cities: Austin, Tex.; Houston, Tex.; and Wayne County, Ind. In 2010, 11 metropolitan cities have been added: Atlanta, Ga.; Chicago, Ill.; Dallas-Ft. Worth, Tex.; Denver, Colo.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Los Angeles, Cal.; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.; Phoenix, Ariz.; San Antonio, Tex.; San Francisco Bay Area, Cal.; and Washington, D.C. Additional communities include Durham, N.C. and East Hartford, Conn.

Through sponsorships, companies can donate or become a partner. Businesses are also encouraged to get employees involved by distributing information, or even creating a companywide family event around Lemonade Day.

For information about how your business or organization can get involved in future Lemonade Day events, visit http://www.LemonadeDay.org/. Or, you can contact Julie Eberly at jeberly@prepared4life.org.

SOURCE: Prepared 4 Life

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TAGS: business plan, charity, community, fundraising, kids, learning opportunity, Lemonade Day, P4L, Prepared 4 Life, Prepared for Life, savings account, small business, social entrepreneurship, youth

About the Author

Kari Larson, editor and publisher of GoodBiz113 [http://goodbiz113.blogspot.com], is committed to showcasing socially responsible small-business policies, partnerships and practices that serve the greatest possible win-win-win good.

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There are many things in our daily lives, keeping our brains busy; Children and their homework, business, dinner, laundry, the car’s service, paying the bills. It is therefore not so strange to lose things. Well, they are not lost, they are just misplaced. You were so much in a hurry from one chore to the other, that you didn’t pay attention of where you put things. The first thing I always misplace, is my wallet.

After I’ve been to the shops to quickly get milk, bread and eggs, it is a mad rush to unload the washer, get the dinner on the stove and see to it that the children have done their homework. Later when they ask for canteen money, you start looking for your wallet. Not on the kitchen counter, not dropped behind the couch, not in the bedroom and not in the car. Where did I put it? Have you thought of calling to the wallet, hoping it would answer? I’m seriously thinking of developing something like that. Installing something in the wallet that would make it respond like a dog when called. Here boy, here boy, where are you? And the wallet making little happy sounds in response. Clever huh, don’t you think?

The same goes for the all the car keys with the garage door remotes on them. You come in from wherever you’ve been, leave the car keys someplace where you have just dropped them once you are inside the house, and now they’re gone, kapoof, missing, AWOL. The pestilence of the fact is, you need those pesky little garage door remotes to open the garage door with, and you need the car keys to unlock and start the car with. So you can’t just let them be, you have to find them. Once again a little “reply” thing would be handy. I know of a gadget which you can attach to your car keys, it senses sharp noises, like clapping hands. If you clap your hands near it, it will reply with a “beep-beep” or some sound. Handy again, don’t you think. The problem is that the darn thing will do it wherever it is, irrespective of whether it was you producing the sharp noise. I was in the library the other day, someone dropped some heavy books off the study desk in the reading section, it made a loud bang, and there my car keys went: “beep-beep”. I can’t begin to tell you the funny stares I got. Although it is handy to have your key ring answer you back when you “call” it by clapping your hands, the thing runs on battery power. And not any regular battery, some fancy special battery that looks very similar to the battery in your watch, but not all batteries are compatible with the little device. And once you let the battery run off, it sometimes slip your mind to have it replaced.

So I propose to introduce a ‘lost and found’ department in my house. If anyone in the household come across anything that is not supposed to be where they find it, take it to the ‘lost and found’ department, which would probably be an unused fruit bowl or something. And next time you start looking for your things,that will be the first place to start.

About the Author

To learn more about garage door remotes visit our site.

With the market still on the ropes after the sub-prime mortgage disaster, businesses are finding it more stressful than ever to be qualified for a typical bank loan. A merchant cash advance could be a perfect solution. A swift approval time, reasonable advance amounts of up to $250,000, and a flexible remittance plan are all motives for obtaining this alternate path for necessary capital.

But, a small business owner would do well to look at more than just the financing they can acquire. The North American Merchant Advance Association (NAMAA) has a list of best business practices in which they support for merchant cash advance funders. If the company providing you a business cash advance doesn’t follow these practices, it is more than likely smartest to look another company. The methods are as follows:

 Provide accurate disclosure of fees – NAMAA does not promote closing fees as part of the application process of merchant advances but believes that any such dues be clearly explained and disclosed. The payback total should be fully illustrated and determined prior to finalizing the agreement.

 Provide clear disclosure of recourse – Actually, merchant advances are not loans, rather they are a purchase of future credit and debit card receivables. Therefore, the merchant could be held personally liable for any capital not returned if the merchant opts to violate the agreement.

 Be sensitive to a merchant’s cash flow – A typical arrangement consists of the merchant repaying a certain percent of credit card receipts each month.

 Promotional documents disclosure – All marketing documents ought to make it transparent that the contract is one of factoring, not a loan.

 Monitor your Sales Agents/ Brokers – Merchant advance providers ought to be certain that their sales agents or brokers are properly representing the product.

 Proper payoff of existing Merchant Cash Advance Balances – assuming a business decides to attain an additional advance with a new company the new advance should immediately pay off the previous balance instead of believing the owner to pay off the balance.

About the Author

For many years, Daniel Samoohi has served as a reputable source of information regarding a merchant cash advance. For dependable answers and advice on a merchant cash advance visit him at Merchant Cash Finder.

Online businesses abound today, allowing business owners to attract a global market no matter how large or small their company might be. However, online marketing provides its own unique set of challenges, particularly in the area of consumer confidence.

While a brick and mortar store can create an environment that attracts customers quite easily, it is not so simple to provide the same type of environment in a virtual store. One way to build this consumer confidence is through joint venture marketing, where you can capitalize on the reputation and popularity of a more established business as you are building your own.

Why Consumers Spend

To understand how JV marketing plays into consumer confidence, it is important to explain why consumers spend their hard-earned dollars in the first place. Psychology plays a key role in getting customers to open up their wallets. Many studies have found that people are willing to purchase products that are effectively advertised, whether they “need” the products or not.

The key to building your business is to find those effective advertisements that will inspire consumers in this fashion. Joint venture marketing falls into this category perfectly because customers who like one company’s products are also more likely to want the products offered by businesses associated with that company.

What’s in a Name?

Plenty, when it comes to corporate branding! Corporate branding is the process of helping customers identify your products and company apart from the competition. Branding sends a strong, consistent message to your customers every time they see your company name or logo. It builds customer loyalty and as a result – profits.

However, when you are a new business, it can be hard to establish your branding with the general public. One way to get customers to recognize you quickly is to associate your business with another company that is already established with the customer base you are trying to attract. While customers may see you in the shadow of the larger company at first, you can eventually build your own corporate branding so customers begin to recognize your name apart from your JV partner.

Reputation

Reputation certainly builds consumer confidence, but it is hard to establish a positive reputation when you are a relative newbie to your industry. By riding in on the coat tails of an established company, you can create a reputation for your business much more quickly. When customers associate you with a business they already trust, they will be more likely to trust you as well. If you provide consistent quality in products and service, it won’t be long before that reputation will transfer from your JV partner to you.

Joint venture marketing is about more than business; it is about understanding your customers’ needs and motivations. When you partner with another company in your industry, you can speed the process of building your reputation and consumer confidence. While potential customers may initially associate you with your JV partner, they will eventually see you as a separate entity that can successfully meet their needs. The process is expedited through the JV approach, so you see a rise in your bottom line and customer base much more quickly and effectively.

About the Author

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Join his free Joint Venture Wealth Report at http://www.christianfea.com/joint-venture-wealth-report/

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When considering a Singapore business venture, you will have the option of forming a Singapore LLC. This will afford many important benefits to business owners. You may also have several questions about LLC setups and operations. Here are some to consider.

1. What exactly is an LLC?
LLC stands for Limited Liability Company. A limited liability company is a separate entity from the original company on foreign soil. The foreign company is not responsible for the liabilities of the LLC in Singapore and vice versa.

2. Is an LLC in Singapore the best option to choose?
This will depend on the circumstances. There are several options for starting businesses in Singapore. Most people will choose the limited liability option, but there are others to consider.
If you are a professional like a doctor or lawyer, you may wish to set up a limited liability partnership. In this way, you can have some protection from a normal business partnership.
Some companies may benefit from opening a branch office, also. This is mostly for companies that are testing the market and unsure where to expand.

3. Do I have to hire a professional service to register my Singapore LLC?
You must hire a professional service to register, but there are exceptions. For example, your company directors, shareholders, and secretary can be Singapore citizens or they must hold a valid work pass. In that case, you may self register.

4. What is the first step in registering a Singapore LLC?
The first thing to do, is submit a company name for approval. If you hire a service, this will be done on your behalf. The process is simple and may take less than an hour, as everything is computerized. It is best to have a unique name. If it is similar to other company names, this may drag out the process and it may be denied.

5. How long does is usually take to approve the Singapore LLC registration, after the name is approved?
If all the documents are properly filled out and signed, it may only take a matter of hours. However, in some case, it can be delayed. For example, more information may be needed about company personnel.

6. Will I need to obtain a business license before I begin?
Most new businesses may not require a license. However, there are some that will need one. They include financial services, travel agencies, restaurants, and educational facilities.

7. Will my new company be subject to GST or goods and services tax?
Your company will not have to pay GST, but may have to collect them. This type of tax is charged to the consumer on purchases of goods and services. However, unless your company does more than S$1,000,000 each year, you will not be required to collect GST.

Summary
A Singapore LLC is a limited liability company. This is the most popular option for starting a business. The LLC in Singapore is a separate business entity from the parent company and is not responsible for the parent company liabilities. Most companies are registered by a professional service, but it is not mandatory (if all of your company officers are Singapore citizens or hold work passes). The first step is to register a name, and then register the company. This is an easy and quick process. Only certain businesses require a business license and you do not have to register for GST if your company turnover is under S$1,000,000 per year.

About the Author

SingaporeStartup.com is a general information portal designed to assist people with learning the basic of starting and doing business in Singapore. If you want to know more about Singapore incorporation, Singapore taxation and Singapore company formation, visit http://www.singaporestartup.com

There are many differences between running a successful online business and a successful brick and mortar.
Being interested in understanding these differences, I decided to compare my Internet Business to my dad’s 25 year old brick and mortar business.

My dad has run a successful upholstery business, here in beautiful Santa Barbara, California, since 1989. I’ve looked up to him my whole life because he came from Mexico, started with nothing, and paved his own way. Running this business for so long, I wanted to get a better understanding of what it took make it happen with a brick and mortar business.

Here’s the general cost breakdown:

Dad’s Summary
Rent: $900/mo
Employee: $2,000/mo
Insurance: $750/mo
Tools (lots of’em): $200/mo
Supplies: Easily $500/mo
Vehicle maintenance (including gas): $250

Estimated monthly total Overhead: $4,600.00/Mo To stay at afloat.

Before he ever makes a profit he has to bring in $4,600.00 a month.

My Summary
Rent: $0
Employee: $0
Insurance: $0
Tools: $300/mo (includes websites, hosting, aweber, marketing tools, etc.)
Supplies:$25/mo
Vehicle Maintenance: $0

Estimated monthly total Overhead: $325.00/Mo To stay at afloat.

My dad has to bring in $4,275.00 more than me every month to be “at par”. I must bring in $325.00 (I make more than this in a day).

Traffic/Leverage:

My dad has been the business for decades and over the years he’s built a following, which has been great for business. Because of this he’s fortunate in the sense that he gets a steady flow of traffic through the shop and has never had to market. He leverages his good name in the industry but this is after years of hard work.

He also leverages his employee. As a business owner that can be considered leverage.

(Lack of leverage) When he does not show up to work, no money is produced. So no work = no income.

I use the internet to drive traffic to various websites (which are basically “store fronts”) and utilize various tools to help make the process easier and streamlined. Leveraging specific tools that save hours of work every day (if these tasks were done manually).
Marketing all over the world because of the internet is another great form of leverage. When marketing online, it’s like opening up a water faucet….the people keep pouring into your site.

Time leverage… when my dad does not show up to work he doesn’t make money. I went to Mexico for a week and made $4,500.00 in a single day (I did nothing). Now that’s leverage.

Profit Margins

When looking at any business model it’s important to understand your profit margins. After analyzing my dads overhead, misc. costs and profits, we concluded that his shop carries approximately a 35% profit margin, which is solid.

After analyzing my overhead, marketing cost, and profits I’ve concluded that I carry approximately a 75% profit margin.

My dad is awesome and will forever be my hero…but as far as running a business, there’s really no comparison. A properly running successful online business will yield much better results than any successful traditional business model 10 out of 10 times.

In the 21st Century, an online business is the new business model.

About the Author

Get more tips from Ruben Ruiz on how to run a successful online business. Click here to see the <a href=”http://RealEntrepreneursWanted.comMost Lucrative Home Business online.

The demand for freelance writers has hit an all-time high as the competition to get the attention of potential clients have increased. More and more people are turning to the Internet to earn a living due to the increased number of layouts and ever-increasing rates of unemployment. Due to this, writers are desperately needed to create promotional letters, e-books, business reports, press releases and much more for affiliate and Internet marketers.

With this need, it can be hard trying to pick a reputable writing company to assist in creating website content. There are a few things to look out for when making your next choice. Here are few:

Where’s The Proof?- No matter how many article writing services you run across, most will have writing portfolios. The nature of these writing portfolios depend on how the content writing service is set up. Do they outsource their writers or do they have a team of professional freelance writers who are actual employees of the writing company? If they outsource their writers, it may be almost impossible to show a writing portfolio, unless they included writing samples and made it clear that it was written by an outsourced writer. Regardless as to how it is set up, it is good to view these credentials to determine if it fits what you are looking for. If you need a press release, it is a good idea to see if they have writing samples on press releases.

What Are Their Editing Policies?- No matter how good or popular a writing company may be, it is always possible to complete a writing assignment with grammar or spelling errors. Sometimes, the writer may have re-read your instructions or missed out on a specific detail. No matter what the problem is, it should be created on their behalf, not yours. Some companies will state that they have infinite revision policies, meaning the client can request as many revisions as they please. In most cases, this will only occur with writing sites that outsource their writers. Also, if you request too many revisions, you can gain a bad reputation where writers will not want to accept your writing projects.

Some freelance writers run their own writing service, which means they probably will have a limit to the number of revisions they will do because if they didn’t they would be writing articles all day.

About the Author

Need an effective and fast content writing service? Get high quality articles as low as $8 along with FREE keyword research at SEO Articles For Sale

Have you possibly been hearing about the Global Information Network and questioning whether it may be an excellent thing for you to get concerned with? Quite a few folks currently are looking at GIN, its benefits and the long-term positive aspects it is delivering to its current members.

The 1st factor to recognize is that which GIN is. Though there is a multi-level marketing or affiliate program attached to it in which you can bring in additional earnings by recommending people to the membership, there’s a lot more to it than that.

The Global Information Network offers a quite real product or service in the form of its association. In order to far better recognize the concept, look at a country club membership that individuals of means become a part of. Have you ever before imagined about why a person would pay over $100,000 to join a country club? Is the golfing really that great or is there anything more to it than that?

Well, there’s more to it than golf. The purpose for why a man or woman may pay 6 figures and over to join a country club is due to the fact they wish to gain access to the various associates. They want to connect with other individuals of means and cultivate associations that can result in much better income, wellness or overall expertise as they achieve entry to privileged information that associates share only with associates.

GIN is comparable in that the information taught through the group is all focused on helping its fellow members attain greater prosperity, wellness and happiness. The big difference is that the access fee is more moderately priced so that virtually everyone can obtain entry and gain advantage from the data shared.

GIN offers its associates with livemonth-to-month seminars that are put on all across the nation. These are tutored by folks who can get paid anyplace from five to twenty thousand on the open marketplace when they speak. GIN associates can go to any of these seminars free of charge or hear the recordings on the GIN internet site if they can’t show up live.

In addition, the networking that’s going on inside GIN is astounding. Quite a few GIN members are forming business alliances and assisting each other with business enterprise assistance and profits. Some folks have even been able to get linked up with various associates who possess the ability to fund and produce capital for intelligent business enterprise ideas.

When you add in the MLM/affiliate program facet of GIN and the no cost Natural Cures association that comes with it, you can see how the prosperity and wellbeing of all associates can be helped. If you decide to be part of this group, simply be certain to have the mindset that you will interact in all that is given and use it to increase your lifestyle in the greatest way possible. If you do, you’ll connect with the many other people that are currently having fun with their GIN memberships.

About the Author

Joining the Global Information Network helps many of its members gain better health, wealth and prosperity. Wouldn’t you love to know why so many people are joining the Global Information Network and what it is doing for them?

How many of us are stuck in the routine of working hour upon hour, day after day, week after week…trying to make ends meet, using every waking hour to earn more money, sometimes just to survive?
The global recession has only added to this, and more and more people are finding that their life is being taken over by the need to pay their monthly bills and little else.
Cutbacks are inevitable, but what do you really want to give up? The odd meal out or going to the cinema? Limiting leisure activities, cutting out the new car or this year’s summer vacation? Any of these cutbacks will reinforce your position as someone who is merely living to work.
Why should any of us have to work just to exist? I thought that the fundamental reason for working and earning money was to have the things we want in life, to do the things we want to do and ultimately to be happy with our lot.
How many people do you know who are still enjoying their lifestyles even in these troubled times? Surely they are the people we should all be trying to emulate. So should we not find out what they are doing for a living. Find out how they are making enough money to enjoy the lavish lifestyles they lead. Try to discover why they have more holidays than you, or why they are always on the golf course when you are busy working all the hours you can and having little time for anything else.
There are a number of people around the world who have a lifestyle that allows them to almost break free. These people have managed to strike the balance between working enough hours to earn a substantial amount of money and having enough free time to spend and enjoy the money they earn. They can afford to pay for new cars, golf memberships, luxurious trips abroad and dining out regularly and not needing to make any cutbacks at all.
So do we really have to live to work or can we simply work to live? It really is a conscious decision for us all to consider. If we are happy as we are, then why not continue. If we are not at all happy, then surely we owe it to ourselves to investigate how a few changes could alter our outlook on life considerably.

About the Author

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I am a Stay At Home Dad,Internet Marketer,Mentor and Sales & Marketing Communications Expert. My mission is to help others to set up and build profitable internet marketing businesses.

Being an entrepreneur can be daunting, but also a lot of fun. Most of the fun is coming up with the idea. Getting your idea to come alive can be more difficult. You can get help without spending a lot of money with creative websites.

When we started with our first product, the SnoreEzzz snore pillow, http://www.snoreezzz.com/, I did not know where to have the components made. I went to a local sewing shop in New York City and bought components that I would cut up and then sew together to try to figure out the actual invention. The woman who ran the shop would always ask me what I was doing with the foam and the cotton parts. I would only say that I had an invention I was developing. It made her so curious and we had fun with it.

Over the years I came to found many resources to bring my inventions to market. This article will mention a few that can help any inventor. While every contact has its own advantages, your determination to investigate these resources bring you closer to getting your product to market.

1. PR is Essential

A great public relations tool is HARO or http://www.helpareporter.com/. It is written by Peter Shankman, who is a PR guru and an entrepreneur. He sends out emails three times a day with a list of requests from reporters for many different stories they are working on. You can find many different requests that may be a good match for your story and invention. Peter’s team sends out a list of requests for stories three times a day. With each you are given a contact name and email so you can respond. You may have your product mentioned in a newspaper, blog or even on a television show!

2. Set Yourself Apart

Want to show you are different right down to your handwriting? A website http://www.fontcapture.com/ will enable you to create your own font that you can use on your documents. It does not transfer with email because the recipient must have that font on their computer. It is great fun to try.

3. Have a Professional Looking Website

There are many companies that will do a website for you. Sometimes it is just as easy to start with WordPress, http://www.wordpress.com.

You an also get templates that are well done and then find someone to fill it in for you. Sign up for http://guru.com/and http://www.elance.com to post your project for free and you will find many people who will create the site and content for you. There is also another good site for writing your content or articles http://www.freelancecontact.com

It was created by another helpful company, http://www.mediabisto.com/. This can help you find expert writers who can bring your content to life and help others understand your product.

After investigating these sites you will feel that you can do almost anything. They will capture your creativity and bring you many hours of fun.

About the Author

Christine Frisbee invented the SnoreEzzz Pillow and is the CEO of
First Impressions Productions